Unfortunately, Medicaid does not cover the cost of any type of quit smoking pill or aid.  Apparently, they’d rather just deal with the medical costs of dealing with lung cancer!

Got this letter:

“I have tried so many quit smoking aids in the past and have had such terrible luck.  Smoking to me now tastes terrible and I have begun to hate it but I still get the craving to light up. I have Chantix and many other aids and I seem to have a bad reaction to them all. I have to do this without the aid of patches, pills, gum and I have even had hypnosis and that didn’t work as well. Any advice on what might help me. Please Help!!!!!!!!”

Well, it’s fairly common for many types of quit smoking products to have negative side-effects associated with them, especially Chantix, which seems to cause nightmares and panic attacs in sensitive people.  If you’re really ready to quit, and smoking already tastes bad to you, toughing it out might just be your best option.  Give cold turkey a chance!  Suck on hard candy, drink lots of water and practice some deep breathing.  In time, the cravings will subside.

Someone wrote in with this quandary:

“I love being a non smoker I have not had a cigarette since I got laser treatment a year ago, and I just think it was the greatest thing.  My sister says she wants to stop smoking but claims it cost too much (about same amount she spends on 1 month of cigs).  How can I convince her to try this technique?  Should I just pay for it for her as a gift?  I don’t know how it works but I am proof that it does work!”

Good for your sister for wanting to quit!  It’s great that you’re pointing out to her that the costs associated with laser treatment are equavalent to what she’s already using as ‘disposable income.’

Laser therapy works like accupuncture, only using a laser instead of needles to stimulate the pressure points.  It’s also risk-free – no side effects using the laser, as opposed to with many of the other available quitting smoking aids.  I don’t know about purchasing it for her as a gift, but if you have a lot of your own non-smoker disposable income, maybe you can go in halves with her as a sign that you believe it will work for her like it did for you!

There are many benefits to taking a stop smoking pill.  For one thing, you only have to take a pill once a day, as opposed to chewing gums throughout the day or wearing a patch around.  Also, at least with the pills I know about, you wean yourself off of smoking slowly over the course of a week or two, so the technique is less scary than quitting cold turkey.  Whatever works for you!  The important thing is that you’re trying to quit.

It’s so good to hear something motivational:

Next month I will have stopped smoking cigarettes for three months. I smoked a pack and a half for about 20 years. Your right about changing your other habits that go along with smoking. I used to play online poker and smoke all day long. I went to the doctor to get help because I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. He prescribed Wellbutrin, and I was to take it for 10 days before quitting so it would be in my system. On the 10th day I still had 1/2 a pack left. I wanted to be in control of the cigarettes and not them be in control of me. I grabbed the pack, all the ash trays and lighters, and threw them in the outside trash. I only took the Wellbutrin for one month and have NEVER craved a cigarette since. This was my first attempt to quit smoking and it was a complete success. I knew I could no longer sit and play poker all day so I started working out (because I gained 8 pounds in one week!!) Within one week of quitting, I could mow my lawn without losing my breath. I always heard you have to replace one habit with another if you want to be successful in stopping. I only exercised for 6 months, which was great and when I stopped working out I still never went back to smoking. Also, sour candy works really great to give your mouth something to do. Jolly Ranchers are fantastic because they last a long time.
Anyway, good luck in your journey to a healthier life, and just don’t give up. I feel 100 % better now that I can breathe and my breath isn’t knocking people out…lol.

This guy is about to make a great decision and is nervous about the withdrawal:

When I quit drinking (praise the Lord) I had been given campral. This helped alot. But it does not work with smoking, according to the research I have done.

I am not looking forward to the withdrawal. I am not wanting to become a screaming manic to my family. I do not want to go through the withdrawal only to fail and start smoking again. (Happened too many times with the drinking over the course of 20+ years). Can not afford on line support groups that I have seen.
Can not afford the doctor. I am unable to make it to AA meetings so a stop smoking meeting will not work for me. I am hoping to find something along the line of pill form. Does any one have suggestions? Oh candies and gums are out also, due to teeth issues.

I emailed him back and told him that an affordable option might be the stop smoking medication Chantix.  His insurance will probably cover it, and if not, it’s still pretty affordable considering how much cigarettes cost!

Someone wrote into me with this story and is hoping to get some encouragement!  Leave some comments if you can:

This is well over my fifth attempt to give up smoking, I’ve smoked for the past five years. That may not seem like a while but to me it does, and the habit is woven into my everyday life.

As most smokers know, it’s a rocky road ahead after quitting. There are so many triggers such as a favorite beverage that goes great with a smoke like coffee, after a meal, boredom, after an accomplishment, driving and of coarse stress and many other triggers.

If I am serious about qutting and staying with my goal, what can I do instead? I thought about crocheting or knitting?? Any good gums or quit smoking aids that can be recommended? I’ve heard about Chantix working well. The patch did not work for me. I am almost out of the two packs of nicotine gum I had saved from the last time I quit. What should I do when I run out?? What are some things I can do to take my mind off of smoking?

A doctor wrote in and had this to say about the stop smoking pill Chantix:

The biggest complaint I get from patients pertains to odd dreams, not always bad, but vivid. There are others as with any pill, but this seems to be the most discussed. It is 20% more effective after 6 months than Wellbutrin, so the hoped for side effect is cessation.

This was a list of other side effects I found:

• Nausea
• Sleep disorder
• Gas
• Sleeplessness
• Constipation
• Headache
• Loss of taste

Although there are so many innovative quit smoking products on the market, sometimes you just need to hear something really motivational.  The other day someone sent in this bit:

The simplest way to quit is to just STOP. However ,this is easier said than done, as nicotine is a very powerful and habit forming drug. I gave up smoking many years ago and, fortunately, had no after effects or cravings. I just ‘chose’ not to smoke rather than give up. Not everyone can do it though so here’s a few tips.

If you need support get nicotine patches. You can get them on prescription from your doctor, so it’s cheaper, and they come in three strengths. You use them over three months, strongest first, weakest last.

Tell yourself that you have made the decision not to smoke. No-one has forced you or told you. This is what happens:-

After an hour you will feel like having a cigarette.  Don’t do it. Make the choice. Your body, being dependent on nicotine, is asking to be topped up. Think of something else to take your mind off it and tell yourself that you could smoke if you wanted to but have chosen not to. Later the craving may come back. Do the same and continue in this fashion. As time goes by you may feel worse as your body starts to rid itself of all the toxins (There are more than 1200 poisons in tobacco smoke.) You may have a bad taste in your mouth or feel sick. Persevere. It doesn’t last long. After three days you have beat the craving. Your food will taste better as all the poisons start to go so don’t make the mistake of substituting food for cigarettes, that just makes you fat. Your sense of smell will improve and you’ll start to realize just how foul cigarette smoke really is. Your breathing will improve and you’ll start to feel fitter and better. Each day will increase your feeling of well-being as your body starts to recover from the damage it has sustained.

After three or four weeks you’ll wonder what the fuss was about. You are now a non-smoker. Other smokers may try to persuade you to have a cigarette. Refuse saying ‘I don’t smoke’ NOT ‘ I’m giving up.’ Otherwise they’ll tell you that just one won’t hurt. Yes it will. Once you have one you’re a smoker again. If it helps put the money you would have spent on cigarettes in a jar and see how it mounts up. It will take years for your body to get back to how it was, up to ten, but it’s worth it. Think of the benefits:

Your health is better
You save money. (20 a day costs, in England, about £1600.00 a year.)
Your clothes don’t smell bad.
Your bad breath disappears
Your hair smells clean again
Your house won’t be as dirty
Your food tastes better
Your sense of smell improves
Your breathing is easier
You get fewer colds and flu
You live longer
You get fewer illnesses
Your friends respect you
Non-smokers no longer avoid you or start to invite you to their homes again.
Your car doesn’t smell and is cleaner.

Finally remember this, and I have personal experience. Prior to my retirement I was the manager of a bank. One of my duties was to provide life insurance and pensions to customers. As part of the application there was a question asking if the applicant was a smoker and, if so, how many cigarettes a day were smoked. The client had to be truthful as he was reminded that in the event of death from a smoking related disease the insurance people could ask for a post mortem report before paying out to determine the extent of cigarette damage and whether it was consistent with the claim on the application. So, knowing the amount of cigatettes smoked, we deducted 6 minutes from the life expectancy of the client for each cigarette smoked. So if he smoked ten cigarettes a day he was losing an hour’s life expectancy each day. That means that for every twenty four days a day’s life was lost. Every twenty four years a year was lost. Smoke 20 a day and you can double the loss. Not only that but it is probable that the smoker will suffer more illness during his life. Because of this we loaded the premiums for the life cover as the smoker would die sooner and we would have to pay out earlier. If you were given the choice at,say, 70 years of age in dying today or in three year’s time which would you choose?

You will always find someone whose Great Uncle Joe smoked 100 a day from being 10 years old and died when he was 105. That may be so but there are two things to remember. If he didn’t smoke he may have reached 120 and the other thing is that the cemeteries are packed with people who smoked but didn’t last anywhere near as long as Joe. Smokers will also defend their habit by saying ‘I could be knocked down by a bus tiomorrow.’ Maybe, but they wouldn’t die voluntarily would they?  Smokers do all the time.

Hope that inspired someone!

I’ve heard a lot of about the stop smoking shot, both good and bad.  Apparently it’s just one little shot you get behind your ear that contains a couple of different medications, similar to motion sickness medication.  I’ve heard that the medicine is actually taken from the deadly nightshade plant, but I can’t believe that’s true.  Does anyone have any more information on this?  Leave me some comments!