Question:
Do prescription drugs to help you quit smoking really work and how?
Do prescription drugs to help you quit smoking really work and how. I have a consultation appt. for surgery in two weeks and am having a really hard time quitting. I know that this surgery is going to be the beginning of a new life for me and I want to be as healthy as possible, during and after surgery and I really want to quit. I have quit cold turkey three times before, when I was pregnant and started again after I had my forth child I have been smoking again for 8 months and I cannot believe how hard it is for me this time to quit. Please don't bash me here, I know how bad it is and how much it could harm my healing. I just need some advice. Thanks. — Dawn H. (posted on May 1, 2001)
May 1, 2001
Quiting smoking was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I smoked for
twenty years and I am convinced I could not have done it without nicotine
patches. They really helped me. It did take me three tries before I did
finally quit. Good Luck! You can do it!
— Helen C.
May 1, 2001
I took Zyban to stop smoking. I have not smoked for three weeks now. I had
to stop smoking or else the surgeon will not do the WLS. I have smoked
since I was 16 and I am now 43. I quit when pregnant and always went back
to smoking. Also quit cold turkey one time when I found out I had diabeties
for one year. This is the easiest time I have had quitting. Zyban has
wellbrutrin in it and other chemicals. The cigs started tasting bad and
eventually my desire to stop just went away. It took about two weeks for
this to happen. I did not want gum or patch because I wanted the nicotine
out of my system immediately, which I am told takes around 3 days. After
that if you still crave a cig it is the other chemicals that the tobacco
companies place in the cigs and habit. Good luck quitting. I feel better
already and I am glad I can now call myself a non-smoker.
— Celtic B.
May 1, 2001
actually zyban IS wellbutrin.....i am taking this as well to quit
smoking...we'll see
— [Anonymous]
May 1, 2001
Hi Dawn,
Let me know I you do it, I have my first visit scheduled with My
prospective surgeon and if he approves me I intend to quit smoking that
day, ouch!!!
Diane
— Diane B.
May 1, 2001
I quit smoking in 1993 thanks to the nicotine patches. I had tried several
times to quit smoking on my own and I failed. The patches worked for me in
just a couple weeks. The only downside was that I gained weight once I no
longer smoked. Good Luck to you.
— Susan B.
May 1, 2001
Another former smoker logging in. I quit on the patches. Cold Turkey off
the cigs. And the patches step down...so I could wean myself off them.
I couldn't even smoke ONE cigarette, though, after I quit or I would start
right back up. I know because I tried to quit for a year...on a week, off
a week...what a pain.
I can't imagine that I ever smoked, now. (I quit well before I started
considering WLS. But now I think this would have been a real motivator!!!)
Best of luck. Chew on celery sticks or suck on cinammon sticks. Brush
your teeth often...you know, all the things they told us to do when
dieting!! LOL ;-) Good luck kicking the habit!!
— blee01
May 1, 2001
I have been taking the generic Wellabutrin and it actually has helped.
They taste nasty and don't do anything for me anymore. I am having a
harder time getting out of the habit more from the bordem stand point than
anything else. I would suggest getting on them ASAP as they do take a
while to get in your system. I have my first appointment with my doctor in
a week so I stopped all together today. Better late than never right??
Good luck to all of you!
— Cara C.
May 1, 2001
On July 27, 2000 at 4 pm This ten year smoker smoked her last ciggerette.
I started taking zyban and took it for one week and chose a date to quit
and quit. I continued to take the zyban for 3 more weeks (total 30 days)
and never wanted one never thought of having one and havent had one since.
Now I will admitt even now at stressful times I will crave them but I have
to pause and think of what it does to the body and then I am fine. I will
admitt I began smoking as a way to loose weight obviously that didnt work.
I was so addicted that even while I was pregnant I still smoked a few. But
with the Zyban it was like some one turned off the craving switch. Now the
smell repulses me. I never realized how much the smell got into things
like clothes and hair even of non smokers that live or visit smokers. So
in answer to your question yes they work if you want them to work. Good
Luck
— Robin C.
May 8, 2001
I was reading thru old questions and I came across yours. I have been
quitting now for 3 years. I was smoking 3 pkg. of menthol 100's a day and
wheezing and coughing and all that. I can smoke while I work, it's really
been a struggle. But I started by changing to lights, then ultra lights
then the real skinny cigarettes, then I gave up the menthol. and now I'm
down to about a half a pack of Capris a day, If that much. My doctor said
he heard changes in my lungs 3 years ago and I needed an inhaler, now he
says my lungs sound good (for a smoker). Anyways, now my husband is trying
my method and he's down from 3 pks of Marboro's to almost 1 pk. of Capri's
a day. Now when he smokes a regular cigarette, it's like a cigar, he says.
When I'm busy, (EXcept for the damn computer) I can go for long periods of
time during the day without a cigarette and I'm getting real close to
limiting it to 5 a day.
The point being, if you haven't been able to quit, at least head in that
direction. That's how I got my husband to get where he's at. That is
amazing in it self.
We bought a new car and don't smoke in it. And when I finally paint the
walls in the house, there will be no smoking in the house. I really hate
smoking when I have to stand outside and puff it down. I guess you can get
the idea from all this. It's Progress but not Perfection, But it's
better than nothing. Good luck.
— [Anonymous]
June 20, 2001
06/21/01 5:47AM CDT I had smoked for the past 35 years and smoked the
little cigars for the past 6 years because of the price, I had quit twice
before, once cold turkey and once with the help of wellbuterin which worked
fairly well for a while but i never quit completely, the other time i quit
cold turkey and did real well until my father died and then i got on the
bottle and stayed drunk for five and a half months and started smokeing
again, not an excuse just the truth, then on april 21 this year i was
hospitilized due to my lungs and other co-morbility problems and stayed 8
days haven't smoked one since, and now i've a surgery date for 7/20/01 and
im surely not going to start back, i haven't even wanted one and i dont
know why!!
— ROLAND M.
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