Chantix - Day 14+
I had a terrible headache and went to bed early last night, so I didn't post.
Nothing has changed so far, so I don't see the sense in keeping the blog updated right now. If anything does change I will post about it, but in the meantime it's OK to assume that I'm still having a few cravings during the day and that everything else is going well.
Chantix - Day 13
Nothing new today really. Everything was pretty much the same as yesterday. There were a couple times today where the craving was a little stronger than yesterday, but it was very brief. It's kinda hard to get used to not smoking at work anymore. I've been there for over 7 years and smoked the whole time. I've been pretty busy every day this week, and while I'm working I keep getting to a stopping point and I think "I should go get a cigarette now."
Chantix - Day 12
No cigarettes today, and no problems to speak of. I did have cravings during the day, especially after meals and on the way home from work, but those were negligible.
In the middle of the day I did get a weird nervous/energetic feeling. I don't know quite how to describe it, but the only time I've ever felt it before was after staying up for more than 24 hours straight. That was very brief though.
I feel like it's easier to breathe now too. I don't know if that's really the case, but it feels like it.
I also feel more tired than normal, without the stimulants all day. That's fine though, I can deal with it.
Chantix - Day 11
Today was a good day. I was pretty busy at work so I didn't have time to sit there and think about cigarettes. I had one after lunch around noon, then one around 5:00, and the last one after dinner a little before 9:00. I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be about having no cigarettes left, but we'll see what goes on tomorrow.
I've been having minor cravings all day, but they go away pretty quickly. I think I've had 4 or 5 Blow Pops and some gum. I can't really tell if they're helping or not. I'll just assume they are for now and keep using them :)
They're all gone
Chantix - Day 10
Today went well. I got up around 11:30, had the first cigarette a little after noon (after lunch). I left about 12:20 to drive downtown for the Astros game and didn't have any cravings in the car. I was going to have the cigarettes 3 hours apart and not have one late at night but it didn't work out that way. The second cigarette was after the Astros game at around 4:20. The next two were about 4 hours apart after that.
The good thing was that, after each cigarette, I felt like I could have gone without it. I don't know if that's true or not but I'll find out tomorrow. I'm getting more and more nervous though about what will happen when they're all gone. Right now the cravings are very manageable, but I still have a lot of FUD about what will happen when they're all gone.
I do remember one particularly vivid dream from last night. I was in high school and was in a class (with people I recognized). For some reason the class was meeting in a hallway and the teacher was actually one of my 5th grade teachers. We were doing individual presentations on various subjects. I don't remember what my subject was, but I do know that I was woefully unprepared for the presentaion and that I was wearing a plastic replica WWII-style helmet. After the presentations we were going to have cake. In the middle of class though, the teacher said we were going to take a break and go ahead and have the cake. The cake was in a room off the hallway. It was a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting, and had already been sliced. I asked the teacher how much we could take and she said there was only enough for each person to have one piece. So I grabbed a plate and fork and as I got to the cake there were a bunch of girls around it cutting slivers off the already-cut pieces, saying that they didn't want a whole piece. As they were doing that I saw what was the biggest piece and tried to squeeze in to get it. The girls wouldn't get out of the way though. They just stood there and kept saying "Oh I still haven't had a whole piece yet. I'm going to cut off another sliver."
I don't remember what ended up happening, but I was pretty pissed about not being able to get the big piece of cake. Then at the Astros game, the scene replayed itself. Except instead of classmates, these people were members of the general public. And instead of keeping me from getting cake, they were keeping me from getting to my seat. I was trying to walk, and they kept getting in front of me and slowing down, or stopping, or there were people coming the other way walking right at me and not yielding. I should start running into people to make them understand that they can't count on me to pay attention for them. They need to do that on their own.
I didn't mean to be up this late...
Chantix - Day 9
Well I had a little trouble sleeping in the late morning today. I had a couple of vivid dreams, but I forgot what they were now. I should've posted that after I got up.
Today went well. I got up at noonish, had lunch just before 1:00 and the first cigarette at 1:00. I was going to try for 3 hours today. I changed the oil in my car and got out my table saw to cut some boards. It was about 3:45 then, so I went ahead and had cigarette #2 since I was at a good stopping point. I don't recall any real cravings between 1:00 and 3:45, probably because I was busy with other stuff. I started having some cravings around 6:00 but held off and they went away when I started cooking dinner. I had #3 after dinner at around 7:15.
Now all these days when I've been cutting back and spreading out the smoking schedule, there's been one constant. I've always had a cigarette in the car when I left to go to work, and I always timed it so I could have one in the car on the way home. Tonight I went out to a friend's house across town at around 8:45 - between cigarettes. I did get the craving pretty bad when I started driving but fortunately it went away after 5 minutes or so. I'll have to be mindful of that because I almost ALWAYS have one when I'm driving somewhere more than 15 minutes away. I did leave the friend's house to come home a little after 10:00 and had one in the car then. After I finished it occurred to me that I probably should have just smoked it at their house before I left to try to get used to not smoking in the car.
It's getting close to 1:00 now and I've been having cravings on and off for a little over an hour (I couldn't get the shelves in because of that issue with the studs - I'm gonna have to think of something else. Otherwise I would've been occupied with that and probably not had the cravings). I had a Blow Pop but that didn't really help. I was going to try to skip the 1:00am cigarette since it will be fairly close to bedtime, but I think I will go ahead and have it since I've got a few things yet to do before I hit the sack.
So after that I will have 7 left. 4 for tomorrow and 3 for Monday. I think tomorrow I will do 3 hours again and then not have one late at night, and Monday I'll have one after lunch, one at work, and then the last one after dinner.
