Such a Drag. Review on How to Quit Smoking - Tips and Tricks

It stinks, it is anti social, it`s unhealthy and bad for everyone, it makes people bad tempered, and your money goes up in smoke. I had been smoking for 30 years and I hated it. Then at last I decided to quit on the 25th August. I planned it two weeks before this date as I did need this time to prepare myself mentally, I also had to make my appointment with the doctor, and plan my new approach to my diet. My intentions on meeting the doctor was to show how confident I was and to prove to her that this time I really did mean it. Also my plan was to try and get the doctor to prescribe Zyban, this being a relatively new drug that reduces the urge to smoke through an anti-depressant action on the brain and in turn reducing the craving for food as a replacement to a cigarette. The cost of Zyban, for a one month supply, is approximately £65 and it is recommended that you complete a three month course.

For these last two weeks of being under the DEADLY control of the dreaded weed for so many years, I had already cut down the amount smoked in a day by half and with all my other preparations going to plan then there was nothing or nobody going to stand in my way. My mother died of cancer and so did my mother in law, they were both in their early forties. It has to be said over and over again until everyone understands that although some substances can prompt the abnormal cell growth that we call cancer, cigarette smoke is blamed for 80-90 per-cent of lung cancer cases. The smoke is that deadly because it contains lots of carcinogens. So if you do smoke you are breathing formaldehyde, ammonia and tar. This also includes all those that don't smoke but do breath it in. Multiplying uncontrollably in the lungs a clump of abnormal cells replace healthy ones and this is lung cancer, and with survival rates being very low because most times there are no symptoms early on with this disease. I did keep my appointment with the doctor on the morning of the 25th August, the bad news is that even after begging, well almost, she would not give me the Zyban that I had set my heart on.'It is against the policy of the practice' she said, she went on to explain that they had all agreed, the doctors in that practice, that because of the price and because of the lack of support councillor's then she could not prescribe Zyban.

I had obviously not done my research properly unlike the research I had carried out on GlaxoWellcome the company that produces Zyban. They introduced Zyban to America half way through 1997 and claim to have helped more than one million people stop smoking. Zyban is the first nicotine-free prescription medicine that acts on the central nervous system's addiction channels helping decrease craving and reduce the effects of withdrawal symptoms. GlaxoWellcome got this drug approved for use in Europe in March 1999. Also they offer the'Right Time Programme', once you register with them they will continue to give you help, advice and support for as long as you need it. Once I got home after been seen by the doctor all I could go on about was how I was let down by that doctor and that practice. I must admit she did say I was probably one of the first she had seen who was in the best frame of mind to stop smoking, she also promised me that she would make a couple of phone calls to some of her colleagues and if I phoned her back later on in the day she would let me know if she was permitted to prescribe Zyban.I phoned and was successful. Since that day the feelings that I had of being some sort of Leper, the guilt that I had to live with every day for all of the pollution caused by me and all that money that went up in smoke, had at last finally gone. Yes since that appointment with my doctor, and all the fuss I made about Zyban in the end I never needed it.

From 10:30am on the 25th August up until now there has been no cigarettes, no cravings and no need for the Zyban. At last I am, and so is my family, free from the dreaded weed. It was the first three or four hours that are the worst, once past it is surprising how easy it is to get through.There are many benefits to a smoke free life and only if you have been a smoker can you know what they feel like. I have only a small family and a few friends who have said they will support me, even though I don't need it now.My daughter of seven who understands a lot more now and was, well still is, very concerned about my health, it is emotionally moving when she says things like, 'I don`t want you to die daddy'.

To all you young ones out there now is your best chance of kicking this bad habit, while you are young, and before you have a family.

Good luck to all.