As I write I am finishing off what will be my last pack of cigarettes.First thing in the morning I am going straight to the the pharmacy where a package of Nicotrol Inhaler http://www.nicotrol.com/ will be waiting for me. I know it will work because I have used it before, and because I am as thoroughly disgusted with smoking as I ever have been.
I first dabbled in smoking in high school, but it was not until college, when I came across a coupon for a free pack of Camel Lights, that I was hooked. That went on until February 2000, when I got to thinking, I was getting too old to be smoking anymore, and I didn't really like it that much anyway, so I tried the inhaler. It worked, and I was glad.
But last year, over the course of getting divorced and being in less-than-good company, I slipped. I figured, I could just smoke while I partied that one night, and nothing would happen. And rush of pleasurable brain chemicals was brief, but intense...at once I remembered the way it felt sneaking a smoke in high school.
I knew I was wrong about being able to just have a few cigarettes when the seven-years-dormant nicotine craving came back with a vengeance the next morning. Before I knew it, I was at the store buying a pack. I was hooked once more, and too distracted to be reminded of what a nasty habit smoking is, what a twisted, dissatisfying waste of money it is, how stupid it is. It was in the back of my mind, sure, but I guess the prominence of other problems in my life at the time let me ignore all that.
But now that my problems are manageable, my eyes are once more wide open to the fact that there ain't anything good about smoking. I don't like the way being a nicotine junkie makes me feel weak, I don't like having to buy cigarettes, I don't like the way they smell, I don't like anything about smoking.
I have considered the possibility that I could meet someone new, and they mi
ght like everything about me, but figuratively cross me off their potential friend list just because I smoke. Let there be no misunderstanding: I am quitting for MYSELF, and that is the only reason I need. But if quitting smoking turns out to open up new set of possibilities for me, then so be it!
6 comments:
I, too picked up smoking again while going through my divorce. I quit in 1998 because my ex wife - who was merely my girlfriend at the time - asked me to quit. I never needed the patch or the inhaler or anything. I just smoked one last cigarette and went 7 years without so much as a puff. But when I found myself unexpectedly single, I was going out a lot, and let's face it, even if you don't smoke, the second hand smoke at the Nick is enough to give you a nicotine fix for about a week. I am going on three years now as a "relapsed smoker" although I have found that I crave them less and less these days. But put a beer in my hand and a cigartette will soon follow...
Hmmm...seven years pass after quitting smoking for someone else...that someone splits...then back to smoking again. Could we be onto something? Reckon there is some tacky TV talk show that might give us a free trip to L.A. so they could have us as guests?
I plunked down my $191 to the my friendly neighborhood pharmacist this morning and I hardly felt it.
The inhaler kit has not changed since last time: it still comes with five of what my son called "fake cigarettes", 168 of the nicotine cartridges it uses, and a little plastic box to tote around the fake cig and up to five spare cartidges.
Each cartridge came out costing me about $1.14, and each contains 10 milligrams of nicotine, which is comparable to the amount in 5 to 10cigarettes. A pack of 20 'real' cigs goes for $4.25 nowadays, or about 21 cents each, so when it's all said and done, there really isn't a cost difference between the inhaler and cigarettes!
And oh yeah...after I plunked down my money and got home, I googled the inhaler and instantly saw an online pharmacy ad offering the same kit for $163, plus shipping http://www.rxzone.us/product.cfm/rx/Nicotrol-Inhaler-10-MG-With-Cartridges-168-685958.html
Good luck with the quitting, Shag.
And, by the way, Shag also stands for Shaggy—of Shaggy and Scooby fame—who you look like!
Thanks for letting me know about your blog.
Thanks for checking it out and sharing your thoughts!
I also appreciate the wish for good luck...but so far it's looking like luck won't come into play. This inhaler is working just as well as it did the first time around to help me quit, which is GREAT. Already, things smell better, taste better, and I generally feel better.
I will just have to remember that even though this plastic not-a-cigarette thing will turn the trick to help me quit, staying quit is up to me.
This is the third day off the inhaler, and life is good. It worked just like it was supposed to! Gradually I tapered off the nicotine, until it got to be an effort to remember to carry the inhaler around with me. Then, suddenly, I didn't feel the need for the dorky looking plastic cigarette at all anymore. I didn't even use up all the catridges....anybody really and truly wants to quit smoking and wants to try them...let me know!
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