Stop Smoking

Smoking is a very addictive habit that feels nearly impossible to quit. You are an intelligent being and know that you did not come out of your mothers womb with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth, so therefore you must not need it in order to survive. However, once you pick it up and get past the coughing and gagging, which should be a huge indicator that you shouldn’t be doing this, your body then begins to become addicted to the nicotine in the tobacco. It is recorded in medical journals that quitting nicotine is the equivalence of trying to get off of a major drug called heroin. This should show the profound difficulties in stopping. Most people who are on heroin need to seek drug rehab and go through detox and learn how to live without it for a minimum of 30 days, and still people fall right back into the drug.

Every time you go to your doctors office, they pull out their stethoscope put it on your back and tell you to take a deep breath in and out, and they have you do this several times, then breathe regular when they place the stethoscope on your chest, by the time you get through this small drill you are coughing and gagging once again. As a former smoker, I can say from experience that most of my visits to the doctors office normally left me walking out with antibiotics and an inhaler because I was diagnosed with either bronchitis or pneumonia, this is not a fun diagnosis and can even cause death.

So many non- smokers say, “Why don’t you just stop? My great grandfather quit cold turkey, you just have to have willpower!” It isn’t always that simple, but congrats to your great grandfather. But it this day and age we now have options that help you to slowly quit, like I said before it is like a drug, therefore we must detox.

One version is the nicotine patch- It helped a lot of people quit but for me personally it had side effects I didn’t want to deal with, It can cause strange and disturbing dreams/nightmares.

Another version is the nicotine gum- It has a nice little sting that hits you because it is packed with nicotine. You are suppose to chew 2-3 times then pack in between your gum and cheek, moving every so often to chew again to release more nicotine. For those who are like me who have TMJ it stopped me from doing this method because it was like chewing on rubber, a rough chew and the strong nicotine effected my acid reflux issues, so for me, no help there.

Another is the nicotine lozenges- I must be honest when I say I have not tried this method, however, I have been told from medical professionals that it is in theory the same as the nicotine gum just in a candy like form.

The method that actually worked for me and was simple to follow is the prescribed medication *Chantix* The first week you take one small pill and continue to smoke like normal. The second week you take one pill in the morning, then one in the evening and stop smoking all together. It did take a little bit of determination, however, it did stop the immense craving for a cigarette.  There are publications warning against Chantix, claiming depression, suicidal thoughts, rage, etc.  Personally speaking I never had even the smaller forms of side effects like a mild headache. It worked, bottom line!

Now with findings indicating  that second hand smoke is just as lethal as first hand smoking, why not try to quit today and stop trying to kill your family, friends,pets, and those around you? Do it for yourself foremost and those you love next. I am certain that they would love having you around for many more years to come.

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