I stared taking Champix in June 2007 having smoked 20 a day for around 20 years. I'd heard they were coming onto the market and was desperate to give but knew that there was no chance of doing cold turkey, so I waited for the pills to become available on the NHS.
The procedure works as follows: you go to your GP surgery where usually they have a nurse who is qualified to dispense prescriptions for Champix. After a few preliminary questions to determine your level of motivation, I was given a prescription for two weeks' worth of Champix (£6.95) and told that if I hadn't given up within 14 days, I would not be prescribed any more Champix.
I ended up giving up on day 8 and continued to visit the nurse every two weeks to collect my prescription. At first, she checked my carbon monoxide levels to make sure I wasn't still smoking but after a month or so dispensed with this.
Funnily enough, as the end of the three month Champix course was drawing to an end, I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to cope without the Champix. I needn't have worried. It turned out to be easy though I put a lot of that down to the smoking ban which meant that there were far fewer times when other people smoking could trigger my own desire to smoke.
Ten months later, I still haven't touched a cigarette and recommend Champix to anyone I know who smokes and wants to give up. When people ask me how easy difficult it is I always say that if cold turkey is 10 out of 10 of scale of diffculty, then giving up with Champix is about 6/10. It's not a miracle drug but it definitely makes it easier. I know some people suffer from side effects. I had a few but they went away pretty quickly, a squeezing sensation around my heart and a period of having strange dreams. One thing I would say: at the time I gave up, I had just met someone who really hated smoking. That was a double incentive to give up. Would I have found it so easy if I hadn't had an anti-smoking girlfriend? I don't know.
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May 6th, 2008
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