Thank you Danielle for bringing this thread back on track. I sure did not intend this to become a bashing forum just a comment or two on the drug overuse all over the world it seems. Nicotine is a drug, Alcohol is a drug and then we have to come to grips that those drugs are available over the counter to anyone. Seals and Crofts did a song and part of the lyrics was "teach your children well" I think that this is where the world has fallen down, we simply forgot to teach our children about real life. I will add one more and final apology to anyone that I have offended regarding this issue. Duffis [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]2/13/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 921 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 27,630 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $3,223.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 199 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 54 [B]Seconds:[/B] 1

Members, Lots of interesting discussion throughout this thread! As this thread continues to grow, we ask to please keep in mind that everyone will have different opinions regarding this subject. Although you may or not agree with some of the opinions expressed, please keep your posts clean. As we say, take what you need and leave the rest. Danielle, Bilingual Support Specialist

sure ;p I wrote this long post during lunch to reply to this thread and then deleted it and decided that I wanted to say what you said. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/3/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 111 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,110 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $194.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 10 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 43 [B]Seconds:[/B] 14

Thank you, Sue. Would you speak to my children, please? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/13/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 101 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,020 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1,111.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 10 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 16 [B]Seconds:[/B] 4

This is a very interesting thread, indeed. Doctors are quick to prescribe drugs for anything and everything. It is up to the patient to determine if that is the route they want to go. Example: high cholesterol can be controlled in many cases by diet and exercise. Do doctors recommend that as a first course of action? Not usually. Since diet and exercise do not happen to be two of my favorite things, will I take a pill? You bet! Who gets punished? We realize that it is most often the ones who can least afford it. Who gets rich? The drug companies, of course. It wasn�t that many years ago when we wouldn�t have known Cialis from Wellbutrin. We took what was prescribed. Now, however, the drug companies have HUGE advertising budgets to get these names out there so we can all go to our doctors and ask for exactly what we want...the designer drugs! Chantix could be considered one of those designer drugs, and I took it happily. It is expensive!! But it worked. I did 2.5 months of it. I believe you will see more NRT and quit aids come along as smoking becomes outlawed in more places. Where is the competition to drive down the cost of drugs? Current FDA procedures for patents can delay a generic equivalent of a drug for many years! More profit for the drug companies! Many people have blind faith in their doctors and take anything that is prescribed by whatever doctor prescribes it. My 90 year old neighbor (an RN in her day with every one of her wits about her) was prescribed 3 medications by 3 different doctors, all necessary medications. What the 3 docs didn�t know was that each of them prescribed a med that contained some sort of diuretic...she got 3 doses of it daily rather than only 1. She couldn�t leave the house because she couldn�t get that far from the bathroom! Being a nicotine addict and believing in the notion that there are addictive personalities, yes, pill popping is easy for me. I don�t like being in sick or in pain and I�ll take whatever I can to stop it. But that�s just me. If you understand your medical issues and have found alternative methods that work for you, that�s great! If the medications work for you, that�s great too. It�s a personal decision....that�s why they make chocolate and vanilla! Only my 2 cents. Nance [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]2/14/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 189 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 5,670 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $916.65 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 26 [B]Hrs:[/B] 10 [B]Mins:[/B] 5 [B]Seconds:[/B] 8

Unhooked - I agree with everything you said. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/3/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 111 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,110 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $194.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 10 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 5 [B]Seconds:[/B] 41

Duffis, No offence taken at all! Keep telling it like it is - we all have different ways of looking at things and that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.. :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]2/13/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 555 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 16,650 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �4,162.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 89 [B]Hrs:[/B] 4 [B]Mins:[/B] 57 [B]Seconds:[/B] 46

This is an interesting post and I for one did decide to use a drug instead of fighting this addiction head on. The doctor I go to will give you what you need and no more so when she felt I needed Chantix I took it but put off using forever. It did work wish I had taken it sooner but I do also agree we are far to over medicated if you could just take a look around. Lady you are doing the right thing taking what you need to even if you don't like it. Don't ever feel threatened by that but Duffis is right the doctors just write because people feel that is what they paid for. :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/21/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 153 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,060 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $994.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 21 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 24 [B]Seconds:[/B] 42

Now we come to dealing with nicotine withdrawl and the drugs used in this area. Cold turkey, NRT, anti-depressents and just about anything to ease the pain of quitting the cigs. I guess it has come down to just take the easy way out and use the drugs for a lot of people in this country. (quote) I used NRT and group therapy and I don't know the exact statistics on that but the success rate is pretty high. I am still smoke-free without one slip relapse or even puff ever, I am a committed non-smoker and so greatful to have been able to have those tools to help me through the process. I did it twice CT and smoked again, I guess it depends on the individual and those CT quits were long quits 1.5 year and 8 months. Guess the third time is the right one for me. Whatever way you do ,it don't smoke. Just my 2 cents no offense . Marie one day at a time [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]6/13/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 434 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 7,378 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $2,821.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 57 [B]Hrs:[/B] 16 [B]Mins:[/B] 47 [B]Seconds:[/B] 57

OK, nobody meant to offend & nobody is offended. Group hug ((((((((((Everybody)))))))))) & group margarita, I'm still partying. ((((((((((margarita)))))))))) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/13/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 100 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,000 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1,100.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 10 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 31 [B]Seconds:[/B] 44