I am trying to improve my health by stopping my smoking habit and I am now on my second day without having one. With the program that I am on which I told you about in an earlier post, you can smoke the first week when you start taking these pills because it needs to build up in your system and then on the 7th day that is your quit day and you also start taking a higher dose twice a day.
I can tell you right now that even with these pills it is still a struggle, but I am assured that it will abate over a period of time, but I can’t help wishing that the time was already in the future because it sure isn’t easy. I have tried to break the routine I normally had before, so I can disassociate the things I did when I felt the urges to smoke. They tell you to get rid of ashtrays, lighters and all things associated and to wash all your clothes to get rid of the smoke.
They also have online support for a year that you can sign up for and I may have to do that because I really thought today was going to be easier than yesterday, but so far it hasn’t been. I said I would keep you updated and I’m sure this is going to be the hardest week I have had in a very long time.These pills have no nicotine in them unlike other products, what they do is activate the receptors that nicotine would normally attach too and block them.
The booklet explains how when you smoke the brain has those receptors that nicotine attaches to and then send a message to another part of your brain and it releases a chemical called Dopamine that emanates a feeling of pleasure and since it doesn’t last long your body starts craving more and more nicotine. This treatment can cause many different side effects and so far I have had the headaches and some weird dreams that I actually remembered.
The booklet also tells me that the carbon monoxide level dropped to normal after my first 12 hours, now that’s a good thing. Between 2 to 12 weeks my blood circulation and lung functions should also improve. I’ve been concerned with my blood circulation so I’m excited to learn how quickly that should improve and I’m also hoping for more energy which I am assured does come.
I’ll update again in a weeks time for anyone that is curious. You have to remember that I’ve been smoking for over 40 years and I never would have even made it to the second day without Chantix because I tried before on my own, this may take my system a couple weeks to really kick in before it really helps with those cravings and urges, maybe after I have the second pack finished it will be easier, I hope.
If you want to see a list of ingredients some companies use you can view the list that was released here http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a/cigingredients.htm
