Free Chantix? If you qualify…

Sometimes I take it for granted what I think people already know. I told a friend of mine that I had quit smoking on Chantix over a year ago. She said she would like to quit but Chantix was to expensive. I suggested she try to apply for help with her prescription through Pfizer. She did and both her husband and herself get Chantix for free for one year!! Woo Hoo! Isn’t that cool. So she is all excited and told all of her friends. This is what she sent to all of her Facebook friends:

A NOTE TO ANYBODY WANTING TO QUIT SMOKING! A friend of mine recently told me about a program that Pfizer offers for people wishing to quit smoking. If you meet the income requirements Pfizer will give you Chantix free for one full year! They make you re-apply every year, so technically you can get it for longer than a year, as long as you still qualify! Ed & I received our first 3 month supply yesterday! What a great deal! If we hadn’t found out about this program the medicine would have costs us $136/month each! We started the medicine today & already can see it working! Cigarettes taste horrible! You go to www.Pfizer.com to get information & the application! If you qualify Pfizer will send a 3 month supply to your doctor’s office, for free, every 3 months, for an entire year! Ed & I are very excited to quit smoking, we have a lot of hope that this medicine will help us do it!!! Wish us luck!!!

Go to Pfizer.com for more information.

chantix

Smoking Cessation Resources: Quick List

Here is a Quick List of Quit Smoking sites on the internet. This is by no means a complete list but some of my favorites that helped me along the way:

QuitNet
WhyQuit
American Cancer Society -Nationwide network of free local quit lines at 800-QUITNOW, questions answered by e-mail, message boards, brochures, other information on quitting smoking
American Lung Association -800-LUNG-USA-Freedom From Smoking online program, information about quitting smoking, facts about lung diseases and treatments, more
Chantix
Smokefree.gov
National Cancer Institute -877-44U-QUIT-Detailed information about tobacco and how to quit, surgeon general’s reports, live messaging service at Cancer.gov/Help
Nicotine-Anonymous.org -415-750-0328-List of local meetings in the United States and worldwide, publications in nine languages

Quit Meter
FREE >>> Download SilkQuit v2.60 for Microsoft Windows << FREE

chantix

addiction
quit smoking
smoking-cessation

One Year Smoke Free!!!

Yay! Yippee! I made it. It’s official.

Tough decisions we make.

On January 1, 2009 it was one year without a cigarette. According to Quitnet.com that is equal to
Your Quit Date is: 1/1/2008 10:00:00 AM
Time Smoke-Free: 371 days, 7 hours, 10 minutes and 16 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 12995
Lifetime Saved: 3 months, 9 days, 6 hours

Now that is awesome! Thanks to Chantix, lots of prayers, and good old determination, I haven’t given in to any cravings to smoke for over a year! It is truly a miracle and I am soooo grateful.

I was scared that I couldn’t quit. It seemed I was doomed to a short life of smoking forever. Then a long came Chantix and I tried it a couple of times. The first time it made me sick and I thought. Forget it. I don’t want to throw up all the time. It’s not worth that!! Then I remembered that Chemotherapy makes you throw up. There are no easy choices here. So I tried it again and this time I resolved myself to the fact that indeed I was going to throw up and I would just have to change the way I walked into my building at work so there was bushes near by to vomit in so now one would see me. Yuk, I know but…I was determined to quit this time. I didn’t care if I threw up every day, I knew I had to quit. I wanted to quit.

Fortunately, the nausea doesn’t last that long and I never did vomit in the bushes. But, the fact that I was willing to do that, to go to any length to quit smoking was something I had never done before.

I gained weight pretty fast, like 20 pounds the first month. The second month I gained 7 pounds and that was it. I have not gained or lost any more weight. Losing weight, depriving myself of anything is not on my agenda today. Today, I don’t smoke cigarettes. Period. That’s it. I’ll diet, deprive myself of food or chocolate later. I suppose if I gain any more weight I might have to think about a ‘Diet’, but not now. As long as I am eating healthy and walking a couple of miles a day, then I’m not worried. I read once that a person who quits smoking would have to gain 70 lbs. to do the damage to their heart, etc. that smoking does. Wow! 27 lbs is a long way from 70!

I’ll write more later. I plan to include tips and “How to’s” the entire month of January. So check back often. And if you have started with Chantix, hang in there. It really does work.

chantix

addiction
quit smoking
smoking-cessation

Coming Soon: One Year Without a Cigarette

On November 19, 2007 it was the ‘Great American Smokeout‘ and I had decided to try once again to quit smoking.  I didn’t think I would make it through the day but I was doing something different this time. I had decided to try Chantix.

Now you may be asking yourself, wait a minute, that was over a year ago. What happened?

Well, I was doing fantastic. Not smoking, cravings weren’t bad, so I decided to quit taking the Chantix. That’s typical of me. I find something that works and I quit doing it. Kind of like walking with my dog for 30 minutes every day. I felt great when I did that so I quit doing that! Why? Who knows.

Anyway, back to quitting smoking with Chantix. I quit taking it and 18 days later I was smoking again and it happened to be on January 1, 2008. I thought that was funny too. I started smoking on New Year’s Day. Most people quit on New Years. So, January 2, 2008 I smoked my last cigarette at 10:00 a.m. on my way to a Doctor appointment that had been scheduled a while back to discuss my Osteoporosis. As it turned out, we discussed that and my quitting smoking. He gave me a new Rx for Chantix and sent me on my way. I started on the Chantix again immediately and haven’t smoked a cigarette since. I have been off the Chantix since April, 2008 and I am happy to say, I am somewhat sane and still smoke free.

Yes indeed, I am a living miracle. It is almost as if I never smoked and it’s almost as if I never quit. Does that make sense? After smoking two packs a day for 27 years it’s hard for me to truly believe that I am a non-smoker. After this long without a cigarette, it’s hard for me to believe that I ever smoked at all. It’s very strange. I am looking forward to my one year anniversary without a cigarette. I am so thankful for all the support and encouragement from my children and family and friends.  I do have my moments when all I want to do is light up once again, but it does pass eventually. Don’t believe them when they tell you the cravings only last a few seconds and then pass. Some of mine have been days of crying and cursing, wanting some relief. It is God’s grace that has gotton me this far.

I have had many dreams where I smoke and I am always so relieved when I wake up and realize it was just a dream. That is how this last year has been for me, a dream, but a happy one!

addiction
quit smoking