Depressed mood, agitation, suicidal thinking and suicidal behavior have been reported among some users of the pill. Today Chantix is getting a warning on its U.S. label that asks doctors to monitor for these behaviors. Pfizer points out that people giving up smoking, or people who are smokers in the first place, tend more toward depression than their nonsmoking peers. While Pfizer says a causal link between behavioral symptoms and its drug hasn't been proved, the seriousness of some of the events prompted the stronger label.
From the Wall Street JournalTrucker heard about this on the radio today and called me... scary stuff. He's been really crabby all week, but I didn't think it was the pills. (He ended up putting a snowmobile suspension in by himself because he was being a dick and I told him I wouldn't help him if he was going to be like that!)
Anyway... I'm still taking the pills. I think I'm actually in a pretty good mood, considering. But this is just an FYI for anyone else thinking of going on Chantix.
It must be day 7 because tomorrow is my Quit Day. Today is my last day of smoking. I just had my last "morning cigarette". It was kind of sad....
Am I ready? I don't know... all week I've been smoking less, I'm down to 1/2 pack a day instead of a pack or better. The last 2 days I have forgotten my evening pill, though.
I mentioned to my parents (who are very close to the 1 month mark!) that I'm down to 1/2 pack and they said; "smoke 'em up! When they are gone they are gone!". I don't want to smoke them all... well, I do, but as I'm smoking I don't like it, it tastes like shit and I hate the taste it leaves in my mouth.
Amazing that a stupid pill can do that!
The only side effects I've had is tiredness, but yesterday I didn't have it. I felt like I had taken NyQuil or something. Supposedly it's worse the week you stop smoking, but then it goes away. At least thats how it was for my parents. We'll see. I suppose you can't smoke if you are sleeping. :)
.... but you can't sleep with an 13 week old puppy in the house either! (she can fetch, sit, lay down on command already - but the potty training? Ha! Thats a joke.)
Oh... and to my "daily blog readers" - you know who you are, but I don't. I can see there are returning visitors to this site via Statcounter, but I don't know who they are. But, you know who you are and I've gotten quite a few more daily readers since my non-smoking road. Thank you - maybe you are here to see if it's worth it or maybe you are just nosey or maybe you have some office bet going to see if I do this or not... but thank you just the same. It's nice to know that someone is checking in with me to see how it's going.
(Would be nice to know who you all are! LOL Leave a comment! Don't be shy!)
Nothing major, but I smoked less today without even realizing it!
Day #2 on the Chantix. Nothing to report. No changes... although I have smoked less today, but it might be from the headache I have.
Saki!! Sort for Kawasaki, of course :) She is a 10 week old golden retriever that we brought home this morning. Cute little thing, isn't she?
The husband & I both got a prescription for Chantix yesterday. It's that new quit-smoking drug that seems to be the drug of all drugs. You take the pills for a week before you actually quit - it's really interesting. Supposedly the cigs will start tasting like shit before your week is up. We'll see... I take my 1st pill today.
Official "Quit Day" is the 19th.
I started smoking when I was 15. Heck, it might have been the end of 14, I'm not sure. 15 for sure. I'm 35 now. Easy math, I can figure that one out! It's depressing though - 20 years of smoking. Yikes. Yep, I think it's time to quit. I'm already having trouble breathing a lot and I've always got crud in my lungs.
My mom died of coronary heart disease at the age of 46. I was 5 days away from 8 years old. I had a hard time when the demons were 7-8 years old, I really did. Funny how that works. My oldest brother is past 46 and he told me that he had a very hard time with being 46. If he could make 47 he'd be ok.
My dad is 72 now and has COPD, Emphysema and has an oxygen tank in the house for when he needs it. He smoked for 60 years (yes, he started at age 12 - a prescription from a doctor, believe it or not! For hay fever!) and I believe he is about 2 weeks of being smoke-free thanks to this Chantix.
My bestest friend in the whole world is on her first week of being smoke-free. Yea Misikins!
One of the side effects is changes in dreaming... I already remember most of my dreams and some of them are way out there...
...a litter of raccoons were sleeping in my slippers last night.....
....I can just imagine what sort of things I'll be dreaming about now!
So bear with me over the next few weeks, it could be a bumpy road. I'm sure most of this blog will be about smoking for awhile now so if you wanna skip it for a few weeks - I'll understand.
The demon stayed home. She isn't dying, but she's sick all the same. It's now 1p.m., not a.m., p.m. and whats going on? She's sleeping and I'm not. I'm tired, so is she - but she's sleeping on the couch, snoring away like a baby, probably having some sweet dream. She's all comfy and warm under a quilt... ok partly warm because of the fever she has, but warm just the same.
And here I sit. Tired, not warm but very tired.
I hate being a mom.
Not sleeping, that's for sure. Demon #2 has been waking me up since 11:30 whining about a sore throat, fever and stuffy nose. What can I do about it? Go lay on the couch... geez. Why wake me up? Does that make you feel better? 
Ironically the kid has a doctors appointment at 8:30 tomorrow this morning for a meds check-up/blood work follow-up, so I guess the doc can see if she's dying from some strange cough-due-to-cold disease, too. And they better not try to give me antibiotics a day into a stuffy nose/fever cold either 
... but I doubt our doc will - she knows me well enough now. I won't give my kids antibiotics unless they are dying from an infection. They need all the immune system they can get, I don't break it down with a drug if the body can fight off the infection itself.
The next few weeks are going to be filled with getting stuff together for the big snowmobile show in Waconia. This is one show that I don't miss, although I am skipping out on the ride this year. Last year I had just a wee bit of an incident that involved a sled, my knee and a pile of rocks. That's all I'm saying about that... the memory is too fresh. This year the ride is on the lake, so I should just get on a sled and shut up, but I won't. Last year the ice wasn't thick enough so we had to do this "other" trail ride which consisted of a lot of ditches. I hadn't drove in a sled in over 20 years... it wasn't a pleasant experience, lets just stick with that.
But anyway, we'll be at the show - big neon green snowmobile and snowmobile banner and all. Look for us. We'll have a bunch of stuff from SledderWear there, along with a catalog of all the designs available. Stop by and say hi... and bring me a hot cup of coffee.
I hope it's not freezing.
Decided to get my ass in gear and do some stuff to my InsanityWear shop. Always paying attention to SledderWear... always neglecting InsanityWear.
Bad. Bad.
Good for you snowmobile t-shirt junkies, though. (Yeah, new stuff at SledderWear.com too... but isn't there always?)
Anyway. After what feels like a year, I finally updated the "Whats New" section. Of course, some of the designs in there aren't even new anymore. Pathetic. Well, some of them are. There are new Valentines Day & St. Patrick's Day ones. Go check it out. You should... really. Because I said so.
So yeah. I did it. There you have it and now you know. And you are a better person now for knowing, too.
