Oh, and I will say (I tend to forget since I stopped taking it back around the first of June), that there were a couple of things I noticed:
I was loopy - especially the first couple of weeks when I was titrating up onto it.
I had wild dreams - I only took the full dose for about three weeks, then dropped down to half the full dose (no, I didn’t ask my doctor, I just did it), and quit taking it before I ran out of the pills.
The first time I stepped up the dosage, I had an irrational reaction to someone who was just joking with me about something - I mean irrational like a 13 year old girl. Once I was aware that it was a possibility, I could control it, but that first time, it was like there was a part of my brain watching the other part and knowing how irrational it was and yet unable to stop it.
I’d go through it again. Every bit of it. I hope it works for you, that you’re one it works ideally for.
Nope. Smokers typically (according to my doctor) take it for three months, although some take it for six months or (my doc kinda begrudgingly said) up to a year. Like I said, I didn’t even need it for the full three months, and I haven’t needed anything since. I occassionally miss smoking - like now when it’s fall and sweater weather! - and will occassionally mildly jones for a smoke, but it’s nothing like when I’ve quit before and I’d kill my mother - or your mother! - for a cigarette. I just didn’t need to fight the urge to smoke. In an earlier thread on quitting I described the craving as an itching under your skin. I’ve not had that sensation once since I’ve used Chantix.
My PCP’s nurse smoked for more than 40 years. She finally tried Chantrix; she didn’t even particularly want to quit, she just didn’t want the health effects of smoking any more (by which I mean, she wasn’t really motivated). She took it for about 3 weeks while continuing to smoke. Then one morning, she woke up and didn’t feel any real desire for her morning cigarette, which she had always considered the best of the day. So she decided not to have her morning cigarette. That day, she didn’t smoke a cigarette until about noon. Same thing the next day. A couple days after that, she went until dinner time without a cigarette. A few days after that, she had her first smoke-free day. She had two or three cigarettes after her first smoke-free day, but hasn’t had one in months, and says she doesn’t have any desire for one.
Took it for a couple months back in December/January. Though it didn’t completely relieve all of my cravings, it helped a lot, and what cigs I did smoke didn’t provide nearly the usual amount of reward. My wife continued to smoke in the house, which didn’t help.
Unfortunately, I had to have a colonoscopy in late January, and the GE didn’t want me to take any meds for two days prior. Between the lack of Chantix, lack of food for a day and a half, thermonuclear laxatives, and living with another smoker, I fell off the wagon pretty quick.
The most awesome side effect I got was the constant flatulence. I’d have to let one rip every couple of minutes for the entire time I was taking it. I farted so much that it stopped stinking after a couple of days.
You start out with a low dose, in the case of Chantix, 0.5mg once a day for…3 days, I think. Then you take 1 mg once a day for a week, and finally you’re on the full dose of 1 mg twice a day.
