Help!! What is the best way to stop smoking and not relapse?

Angie Living With It I am a 42 year old lady diagnosed with Bipolar in March of 2005. I... Send Message Subscribe: Angie

Saturday, July 14, 2007
View All of Angie 's Posts

I am looking for advice on how to stop smoking and stay stopped. Do the patches really work? I have tried cold turkey several times and can't get past the second week. And my attitude changes with my moods. My biggest one is: I've had to give up all my other bad ...

Hide Comments | Add comment

Chantix
Chris John
Saturday, July 14, 2007 at 04:38 PM

This seems to be the newest and most successful method. Look up chantix.com.
But this is only help for the physical addiction. The psychological addiction is yours alone to battle.
Good luck.

SMOKING
katsherrae
Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 08:03 PM
I HAVE JUST STARTED THE NEWER STOP SMOKING PILLS CALLED CHANTIX; ITS SUP[POSED TO HAVE GREAT RESULTS AND YOUR MEDICAID/MEDICARE AND MOST INSURANCES ARE NOW PAYING FOR IT. YOU NEED A PERSCRIPTION FOR IT, I WILL KEEP MY PROGRESS UPDATED ON MY POSTS. I JUST STARTED HERE SO GIVE A FEW DAYS TO GET GOIN GOOD. GOOD LUCK HUN !

Thanks!
Angie
Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 08:55 PM

I'm going to look into the Chantix. I am already on a lot of meds, so I am wondering does it have any conflict with usual cocktail of lithium, seroquel, lamictal, zoloft, doxepin, ativan, topomax?

Thanks for keeping me posted!
Angie

Untitled Comment
G.J. Gregory
Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 09:53 PM

Angie - for someone with bipolar disorder, smoking is a form of self-medication. That's why it's difficult for many of us to quit. But I was able to quit, and if I can quit, anyone can.

I took a class, and that gave me the motivation to quit. I'd also check with your doc, they say meds like Welbutrin can help. But of course, be careful taking an antidepressant unsupervised, it can be disastrous for those of us with bipolar disorder.

re: Untitled Comment
Angie
Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 11:35 PM

Thanks, G.J.-
I have such a love/hate relationship with the **** things. My family a close friends don't smoke and are of course!! supportive. But they don't understand why I would want to start again. I stopped my heavy drinking with the help of AA, but after 4 months of ignoring some serious signs of anxiety and depression and being told I needed to pray more and let go of my character defects, I had a terrible suicidal episode and went in the hospital. Be very careful of AA! Bipolar symptoms are not signs of spiritual distress.

Oh, sorry for the I H8 AA speech. It's where my smoking habit really got its teeth.

Angie

QUIT.ORG
QUIT.ORG
Tuesday, August 07, 2007 at 08:31 PM
Free Quit Smoking Calculator http://quit.org

Think twice about Chantix
Rachel
Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 08:16 PM
To everyone who is considering Chantix, or who has been on it a short time, please use with extreme caution. On New Year's Eve 2007, I lost a relative very dear to me. He had been on Chantix to stop smoking for a few months. Yes, it seemed to be working quite well. Then his behavior began to change. Never having had any previous psychiatric problems... and the last person you would ever believe to do so... he took his own life. This, unfortunately was not an isolated incident. A friend of mine, on Chantix a couple months, raving about how well it was working, almost succeeded as my relative had. Her husband got to her just in time to pull the gun out of her mouth. It is my experience that doctor's do not stress strongly enough the downside to this "miracle drug".