It's been over a year!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:12:55 GMT

Since I quit smoking. In that time I have not had a single cigarette. Not one. I did have 2 cigars in that time and really only smoked those because they were Cubans. There has been a very small handful of times where I felt like cheating, but each time the feeling came and went so fast that there was never really a concern of slipping. So how did I do it you ask? Years ago I was prescribed Wellbutrin as a stop-smoking aid but that didn't really work out. Wellbutrin is actually an anti-depressant and was also marketed as Xyban specifically as a stop-smoking pill. The funny thing is it was exactly the same pill with a different letter stamped onto it. So my doctor got me hooked up with the anti-depressant branded version simply so insurance would cover it. Long story short.. all it did was give me wicked cool dreams and keep me up at night. But stop smoking...? Nah. I have since heard it has a less then 30% success rate.

The next thing to try was the patch. I tried that on a couple different occasions with varying amounts of success. When a doctor tells you that if you smoke while wearing the patch your heart can explode, you generally do your damndest not to smoke. But it was easy to go out with friends on a weekend and 'forget' to wear the patch that evening. Unfortunately for me it only took one night off to fall straight back into the old ways. What finally worked for me was Nicorette gum. I chewed less then a box and a half of the gum before I quit it completely and haven't looked back since. By the time I quit chewing the gum I was sick of the stuff. The inside of my mouth was all chewed up and my lips were usually chapped. My jaws would ache all the time. Humans are not supposed to be chewing gum almost all day long I figure. Anyway, I loved the Fruit Chill version, and if they were smart they would make that flavor available in a non-nicotine gum as I would still chew it on occasion.

This post is actually a couple weeks late, but I never did mark the date I smoked my last square. I just know it was a few weeks after the Colts won the Superbowl, which means it was February of 2007. So since that time I have greatly improved my overall health. Starting around July 4th weekend last year I started dieting and have managed to shed roughly 40 pounds to date. I still want to drop about 30-40 more but everything slowed down. All in all, I am pretty pleased to be where I am right now. So I am not going overboard to push myself just yet. I am getting set to really get back into using the elliptical at home. Just not the first thing I want to do when I get out of work, but it will be worth it in the end.

Generik's Tap: Health and wellness

It's been over a year!