If you’re workied about becoming a raving lunatic and putting on a few pounds when you quit smoking, you might want to consider a quit smoking aid such as Chantix.  They can help you stay sane and normal while your body is going through that deprivation stage.  I’ve heard of some people having crazy dreams while they’re on it too - some bad but some good also.

Do you think you need the help of a stop smoking medication to kick the habit?  Read the below and think about why you actually smoke.

Cigarettes are not just loaded with nicotine.  They’re also full of 50+ other chemicals, some of which might be addictive (and harmful to your body.)  The main problem with quitting, though, is just breaking the habit.

We train ourselves to think of our body as ‘needing something,’, a sensation we try to alleviate by smoking a cigarette.

When we try to stop smoking, we still get these ‘my body needs something’ sensations, and we still feel that we want a cigarette. We have to train our body to be more selective. When we feel we need something, we have to work out what it is that we actually need.

A glass of water is an excellent substitute if nothing else comes to mind, as it helps with the clearance of the toxic substances in our body. Another good substitute is a bag of salted peanuts, used in combination with the water.

Another thing to do is to find an activity which occupies the mind or body. Go swimming - nobody wants to smoke while they are swimming. Slowly, as our body adjusts and translates the ‘want something’ feelings into something other than cigarettes, then the feelings begin to go away. We know its not a cigarette that the body really needs, because as soon as we’ve had one we still have the feeling, and want another!

It’s proven that nicotine is horribly addictive, and so I get tired of hearing people talk about how it’s all about willpower and that people who smoke are week.  Why else would we all be here??  :)  There are so many different ways to stop smoking cigarettes now, from good old cold turkey top prescribed aids.

Surround yourself with supportive people, even if you have to join a group.  Stop hanging out in smoking establishments.  Keep your hands and mouth busy with suckers or gum.  And if you have to find some kind of aid, then DO IT!  There’s no shame in doing whatever you can to quit a habit that’s so bad for your body.

Someone recently asked me about a new type of potential stop smoking pill using the drug mecamylamine.  I hadn’t heard of it, but this is what I found on Wikipedia:

Mecamylamine is also sometimes used as an anti-addictive drug to help people stop smoking tobacco, and is now more widely used for this application than it is for lowering blood pressure. This effect is thought to be due to it blocking α3β4 nicotinic receptors in the brain.

When you’re pregnant, you’re not only damanging your own body, but choosing to impose all sorts of potential health risks to your unborn child.  Quitting can be hard, but when you consider low birth weight and asthma statistics, what better time to really kick the habit than when pregnant?  Talk to your doctor if you think you’ll need to try a quit smoking aid, as some may be damaging to a developing baby.

I looked up this interesting quot smoking product and found this:

ZEROSMOKE is a self treatment product designed to help you quit smoking without patches, gum or pills. Become SMOKE-FREE in as little as 30 days. This product has sold over 2 million in Europe and has just been approved by the FDA and launched in the US. Zerosmoke features two small magnets that are placed opposite each other on a determined point on the left ear. The inherit property of the magnets keep them in place by attraction and there is no risk of them falling off. The treatment is similar to auricular therapy or the stimulation of acupuncture points in the ear (Triggers the release of endorphins, produce good chemicals in the brain.), without the use of needles. The electromagnetic therapy activates the production of neurotransmitters in the brain, removing the desire to smoke. The magnets are composed of 24K gold, both for its highest conduction properties and to eliminate allergic reactions. According to the manufacture guideline: Treatment use of Zerosmoke for three to four hours daily for six days, while continuing to smoke as normal. On the seventh day or sooner, users quit smoking without the cravings, while wearing the magnets for an additional 20 - 25 days to complete the cycle. Zerosmoke costs less than conventional use of nicotine chewing gum, patches or pills. In 2003, according to study conducted by European Smoking Prevention Centre, 650 individuals (340 women / 310 men), utilized the Zerosmoke method to attempt to quit smoking over a four week period. Conclusion of the study, more than 84% (550 smokers) had quit the addiction to smoke. Participants that used Zerosmoke, overcome the strongest withdrawal symptoms.

Anyone have any stories about this one?

I haven’t personally tried the stop smoking laser, but I’m pretty sure it’s not dangerous.  I know some people here ‘laser’ and they start thinking Star Trek and furtuistic weapons, but this kind of laser therapy works much like accupuncture.  The skin isn’t pierced or anything; from what I understand, the laser stimulates certain pressure points that encourage specific chemical reactions in the brain.  In the end, supposedly, you’re more easily able to kick the nicotine habit!

A lot of people hope to be occasional smokers (which only really works for a small percentage of people and is STILL unhealthy!) or try to just by ‘light’ cigarettes because they think they’re not going to kill them as quickly.  The truth is, the best thing you can do for your body is Stop Smoking Cigarettes!

The only kind of “cigarette” you should be using is the kind they use as part of nicotine withdrawal treatment. There is no “good” kind of tobacco for you to smoke. Chewing tobacco is a risk factor for cancer of the mouth.  Try throwing all the money you spend on smokes in a jar for a year and buy yourself something with it. Or fill up your gas tank at least once (ha!).

I thought this was an unusual story of someone who hasn’t needed to use quit smoking aids to be a (mostly) non-smoker:

I had been a smoker for almost 20 years when I found myself in the hospital, not from any illness of my own, but to support my father as he recovered from a heart attack.  He’d been a smoker for many years also, and had to make a lot of lifestyle changes, including quitting smoking.  So I said I’d quit with him.  Hospitals don’t exactly welcome smoking, so just being there was an aid in quitting.  And of course, I was my father’s partner.

Unfortunately, many of my friends were smokers and I found myself going out like I did before and being tempted to light up.  We routinely go out once or twice a month.  I actually found that if I limited smoking to just the nights that I went out with my buddies I was able to not smoke the rest of the time.  In fact, sometimes the smell of the smoke on my clothes the next day is pretty sickening.  So I actually consider myself a non-smoker, even though I do indulge once in a while.

I know this occasional smoking thing doesn’t work for everyone, but I find in limiting myself to special occasions like this I’m still a lot better off than I was before.

A neighbor has been prescribed Lexapro and Ativan for a depression/anxiety issue.  So far she’s thinking that it’s working (and I think she seems much happier, to be honest.)  She smokes about a pack a day and has decided that it’s time to quit.  Has anyone else had experience quitting while on these medications?  I’ve heard that Ativan may help reduce nicotine cravings because of the way it works in the brain.  Her doctor said the only stop smoking medication he knows of is Chantix.