Mall of the Planet Shopping Blog

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the people effected by the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan. Google crisis response has set up a good resource center here: 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami.

Sincerely,

Mall of the Planet

I wanted to share with you how I quit smoking and have not smoked since March 2008. I have a son named Asher who was to be born in March 2008 but he came early and was born in January 2008 instead. I not only made up my mind to quit smoking for my health, but also for my baby’s health and my wife Angie’s health who also suffers from Asthma. So obviously it’s not healthy for her to even be around cigarette smoke that gets into my clothes nor is it healthy for a newborn baby. When I was as ready to stop smoking as I’ll ever be I talked to my doctor about it and here in Minnesota we have a program at the clinic to help you quit smoking call the QUITPLAN. Check with your doctor or clinic to see what is available in your area. With the quitplan you receive professional counseling to help you personalize a plan to quit.

There was about twenty of us at the initial meeting all with the same desire to quit this nasty habit. We all set a date to quit smoking and asked what we wanted to use to aid us in ending the bad habit. We were given the choice of nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges, nicotine gum and the newest quit smoking drug on the market called Chantix. Most of us chose Chantix even after hearing out the bad side effects one could experience. We chose it over the other methods because of the high success rate compared to the other quit smoking aids. thankfully I never experienced any of the bad side effects other than difficulty sleeping after quitting but that might not have been directly related to the drug as I just quit a habit I had for over twenty years.

I didn’t make my original quit date of February 14, 2008, but I wasn’t too far off. My last cigarette I smoked on March 9, 2008, was a menthol that I borrowed as I usually smoked non-menthol. I remember having major cravings even though I had already been taking the Chantix for about a month. I used nicotine gum to help control the cravings for the first two weeks of quitting. As they say as first few days will be the worst and that held true but only the strong survive I suppose. I heard others say quitting smoking was the hardest thing they ever did in their life and I have to agree. It’s not that it’s way to much to bear all at once, it’s just that the process takes so long. I was still having cravings up to two years later. They were much more milder but cravings for the nicotine non the less.

What worked for me may not work for you but it might also. Just don’t give up the fight. Try different quit smoking aids if you must and don’t worry about the cost. I mean a pack of cigarettes in New York City is now more than $14 so the quit smoking cessation are a good buy in comparison.