Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Chantix, is it really a magic pill?

By Chris James

When all other devices have failed, it has been found by some people that Chantix is the one that finally did help them to quit. Chantix is different than most stop smoking aids. It works as a nicotine blocker, which in turn blocks the absorption of nicotine to the receptors in the brain. This, over time, lessens the desire to smoke as there is less receptors available for the nicotine to attach itself to. Which, of course, makes you want that cigarette less and less.

Many people have quit using this method relatively easily, with very little withdrawal symptoms. Even longtime, three pack a day smokers are amazed. Chantix is available only by prescription, so you need to book a doctor's visit and make sure that your insurance will cover Chantix, many insurance companies are slow to cover smoking cessation medication in general. However, if your insurance happens to cover Chantix, expect it to be in a higher tier of your pharmacy co-pay.

Over a period of two weeks you are prescribed starter pack that will build up the medication levels in your system. Since Chantix is not nicotine based, it is not necessary for you to quit before taking it.

Is recommend that you have a quit day toward the end of the two weeks, although there are people that have extended it up to three weeks, allowing the medication to build up further in their system.

Several side effects to Chantix have been recorded. Naturally they vary from person to person, but are normally short-lived. These effects can be anything from headaches, excessive gas, nausea or in some notable cases, extremely vivid dreams.

To help with your efforts, Chantix even comes with a very good free online support system that not only sends you daily emails to keep you on track, but also provides stop smoking projects to help remind you as to why you wanted to quit in the first place.

Chantix is not for everybody and although it is a very promising medication, some people have more of the psychological addiction to nicotine, than a physical one. In the latter case Chantix could work very well and does offer some behavioral support. However if you have more of the psychological addiction to nicotine Chantax may not be the right medication for you and your doctor may recommend a different medication better suited to your needs.

As with any stop smoking aid, success comes only accompanied with a strong desire to stop smoking. If you don't have the desire to finally quit smoking, there is no miracle pill out there that you can take and suddenly become a nonsmoker. All of the medications that are now in the market are designed to give us a little bit of an edge in our battle to overcome our smoking addiction, but not do it for us. - 15683

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