RedRuby

So I slipped today. I dug in my gross ashtray and smoked a gross cigarette butt. I didn't take my Chantix last night, thinking I'd be OK without it for one dose. I woke up craving. I took the Chantix again and now I'm not craving, but I have Chantix brain.
When I'm on it, I'm just spaced out. I feel like I'm in a fog or something. When I'm driving I feel like I'm in a video game. I'm irritable. I honk at people that probably aren't doing anything wrong. I'm looking straight ahead. I just don't want to be around people. I do things I don't remember doing and I watch things happen like I'm watching a TV. I'm just...not myself. I hate that feeling, but I have no cravings for cigarettes, so it's working.
Then there's the dreams, the horrible drawn-out, epic nightmares. I woke up during one the other night and the dream didn't stop. I was hallucinating loud noises in my bathroom. I almost cried out, I was so scared. But I sure didn't want to smoke.
I don't want to eat. The medicine can cause taste distortion, coupled with my irritability. My appetite is just no there. I don't want to eat, but I also don't want to smoke.
I guess I'm not as strong as I though. I need this crazy medicine to make my body not want nicotine. I learned that this morning. I need to throw that stupid ashtray away before I smoke a filter or something.

greeteachday

Wow...the side effects you are expereincing seem rather dramatic...Have you talked with your doctor? I had the irritability, the nausea if I did not take it with food in my stomache and lots of water and some weird dreams, but my head was clear. I found the irritability actually got worse after a few weeks, so I felt it was the med, not the nicotene withdrawal. Once I stopped thinking about smoking at all (about 4 or 5 weeks into the quit) I started cutting the pills in half and just doing a half dose morning and night. That helped a lot with the stomache stuff and turning into a witch.

Good luck...Quitting is of course important, but please treat your side effects seriously and let your doctor know. There are other alternatives.

Aysha

I got sick when I took it.
My uncle gets dizzy all the time so he stopped taking it.
I am not sure about yours tho. Thats alot of weird happenings. I would talk to your Dr.

KOOKS

I'm not familiar with Chantix but going by what I've read on the forum I gather it's a pill to curb withdrawals.

What you're experiencing sounds really extreme. It would definately be a good idea to go to your doctor and explain to him how you feel.

Your body does NOT want nicotine. Nicotine is poisoning your body......FACT! Withdrawals won't kill you....FACT! It's your mind that wants nicotine.

I used to scream and go crazy when I was giving up and when I was told the nicotine had left my body and it was from then on psychological. I couldn't accept this.

The more I fretted about it, the worse it felt. But I had a long hard think about it. I had to be honest with myself. I was not experiencing pain. It was very irritable yes, and the more I dwelt on it and the more negative I got the worse it felt, till at times I was frantic. I got so bad at times I even smashed things up.

Now that I have accepted the psychological aspect I can think positively, see the feelings for what they are and refuse to get negative about the whole thing.

If I feel the irritability coming on I get up and do something to take my mind off it. Most importantly I have to reinforce the benefits of stopping by reminding myself how good I feel, the money I am saving etc. Also by coming on to the forum every day and sharing how I am doing and getting the help, support and encouragement from others.

I didn't get to this point overnight....it's probably about my 6th attempt to stop having tried all ways....patches, hypnotherapy etc. But it has been by far the easiest and only because one thing has changed.............MY ATTITUDE!

I hope you get things sorted out.

Good Luck and keep us posted on how you're doing.:ghug3

Dime

Hi RR,
Ouch! That old butt must have been nasty. Glad you are posting and are hanging in there because it so worth it to stop for good.

I didn't take any meds when I quit at all because my mind would be trying to figure out if the medication was working well enough or not. I didn't want to think about my perceived cravings or any medication side effects because I think I could have very well induced them myself.

Just remember that the craving are intense at first but they do pass and it will get easier and easier.

Keep going, you can do this!!

RedRuby

thanks, guys. I'm doing alright this morning. No crazy dreams last night. I don't feel out of it all the time, just a few hours after I take a dose. I took this med last year when I quit and I don't remember all these weird feelings. Maybe it's all just in my head..

KOOKS

Maybe you should still go and see your GP, just to be on the safe side.

RedRuby

I think I'll only be on Chantix for a month. I don't wanna pay $57 for another month of feeling crazy and stomach aches. The dreams are under control. I haven't had a bad one in a while. I haven't smoked in a while now.
I only take half a 1mg pill for my first dose of the day because it hits me so hard at full dose. I'm a small girl. So...the dosage is sporadic sometimes. Sometimes I don't take it at night or forget. I think I'm doing ok though. I take it when I think I'll need it.

I quit the 1st, and smoked a butt on the 8th. It's now the 15th, so 7 days smoke-free. I even went to casinos where people were smoking everywhere, and I was drinking, but I still didn't smoke. Not that I have cigs of my own to smoke anyways...And I made it 5 days while my mom was here and she smokes. She was very considerate.

scaredykat

What do you mean by "it hits you hard at full dose"? I'm a small girl myself, so that's why I'm asking.

I'm on day 4 with the Chantix. So far I haven't had anything bad happening. I did oversleep really bad yesterday. Hopefully that was just because i was over tired and not the Chantix.

RedRuby

Well, I don't eat much in the mornings, so if I take a 1mg pill, I feel it hit my stomach and get stomach cramps and slight nausea. Also, it makes me very spacey for a few hours after I take it. I can't really focus on things, like driving, and I just feel totally out of it.
I overslept today, too, and I'm still really tired. I took the full dose today. I don't know...it's just ups and downs on this medicine.

catch-22

I just finished week two and I only experienced the vivid dreams (but not nightmares) and a silght nausea in the morning. Yesterday it was the first day when I didn't want to smoke. I just didn't. It didn't interest me. I smoked one in the morning and that was it. I haven't touched one since. The cravings are just gone. Disappeared. I didn't even have to set a quit day. If I think abouth smoking (maybe once every hour) I just associate it to the horrible taste the cigs had when I was smoking on Champix (this is what it's called in Europe). For me, it's a miracle drug, but we are all different... I'm going to take it for another month at least to make sure I don't relapse... good luck to you all with it!

chickenVSturkey

i am a smoker i have smoked for years now and i want to quit really bad.

RedRuby

You can do it! Come to the quit side.