[jims69camaro]

chantix is a drug to help you quit. without willpower, nothing happens. you can take steroids but if you don't get your ass to the gym it won't give the desired result.

lots of people who do not know the true meaning of addiction (which i noticed did not come up during this discussion) make light of it and belittle those who are addicted. they scream and shout "Just stop!" all the while not understanding what the person trying to kick the addiction is going through. those physical withdrawals can be nasty in combination with the psychological needs/habits. it's not as easy as just making up your mind to stop. but it does help if you have the motivation to quit, as the Chantix will not help if you are not ready to quit.

what i have noticed in the past few weeks is very slight physical withdrawal symptoms. since i have been taking the drug since the second week of december, i have allowed the drug to do its work before i started doing mine. since i don't have the physical withdrawal symptoms to deal with, i can concentrate on the psychological effects. this has made quitting so much simpler. i have tried to quit in the past and have used everything from cold turkey to the patch (you used to need a prescription for it) to an anti-depressant (Wellbutrin) to a computer than attempted to wean me off of cigarettes in about the same method as i used to become addicted to them. none of that worked for me. and it's still not been an easy road, even with the Chantix.

some people have compared quitting smoking to quitting smack. since i've never even tried heroin, i have no idea what the physical addiction is like, so i can't make that comparison, but i have watched others give up the drug and seen the physical effects the withdrawal caused.

there are times where the psychological effects have me reaching for a pack. certain habits are so ingrained that they are done with no thought. i have found that they can be the hardest to overcome.