I smoked since the age of 17 and when I turned 30, I decided that enough was enough, and that I would quit this filthy habit for good. I try many different approaches and failed at them all until my friend Matthew F Knouff told me about a drug called varenicline, which could help me to finally quit the cigarettes. I had some worries about using these drugs to help me quit but they were all above board and after speaking to my doctor about them, I decided to give them a go. This was 4 years ago now, and I have not touched another cigarette since. Champix is the company that sell varenicline and if you are struggling to stop smoking, this drug could be for you, here is a little bit more about it.
What Does It Do?
Most stop smoking aids work on helping you to reduce your nicotine addiction either through replacement therapy, or gradually weaning you off the chemical. What Champix does however, is slightly different from these other options and it actually trains the pathways in your brain to be disgusted at cigarettes. The idea is that you smoke for the first 2 weeks as you take the tablets, gradually reducing how much you smoke. By the end of the 2 weeks, cigarettes taste foul and there is no satisfaction there, this is when you finally quit.
Weeks 1-4
Week one is the introduction week, you begin with 0.5mg in the morning for 4 days, day 4-7 you will take 0.5mg in the morning and another in the night. You should smoke as normal for the duration of this week and you should also keep an eye on how you are feeling. The idea of this week is to introduce your body to the drug. Once you get into the second week, you will take 1mg of Champix in the morning and then another on the night time, by this second week you should have already reduced the amount that you smoke by half. The last day of your second week is the last day that you will smoke and then for 2 and a half months after this, you will continue to take the 2x 1mg dose of varenicline.
Side Effects
This is quite a potent drug so you really must ensure that you are always aware of how you are feeling, both emotionally and physically. In some cases, not very many I might add, there have been allergic reactions to the drugs, and there have also been some cases of depression, if you suffer from depression, this drug is not recommended. The worst thing that I suffered during the 3 months of taking the drug was some incredibly crazy and very dark dreams. The dreams didn’t come every night but they did scare me a little when they did come. Truth be told, I’d take those dreams over ling cancer any day!
