was about ten years ago. It was kind a situational "fall off the wagon" time but I was hooked.

I started taking a prescription medication called Chantix. For me, it was amazing. I had insurance at the time so it was affordable. I don't know the cost now. The only side effect for me was really weird dreams but they were actually very interesting. I didn't consider that a negative side effect.

I don't know what others' experiences with this medication is but it worked wonders for me...

Good luck!

It was around 1995. I know I had been given the real thing because it worked for me. At the time I was smoking two packs a day and had smoked for 30 years. I was completely addicted and couldn’t imagine giving it up because no matter how hard I tried to quit before I just couldn’t.

Long story short I was able to quit much more easily than I thought, and I’ve been a non smoker for 25 years. I’m more grateful than anyone can imagine that I quit. I always recommend Chantix when people want to really quit smoking.

My only side effect was awful nausea but I kept telling myself chemo would be worse.

Like you, I was a 2 pack a day, 30 year smoker. I did keep smoking on the drug a bit longer than you're supposed to but I noticed the cigarettes were mainly buring up in the ashtray. One day I got up and decided if I was going to quit, it might as well be that day. Thirteen years on September 2!

It’s no small feat! It’s been 25 years for me. I’m proud to say I’m a non smoker.

It is nice not to be chained to them anymore.

withdrawal feelings at all. I put them on my thigh instead of my arm so they would be hidden when I wore scrubs to work. After a couple of weeks, I just cut the patches in half and finished up the rest of the box that way. Instead of fiddling with a cigarette, I would buff or file my nails, which helped. A friend put a skinny rubberband around her wrist and when she felt the urge to fiddle with something, she would (gently) snap the rubberband to remind herself why she was wearing it. It seemed kind of weird to me, but it worked for her.

That if you stop now, as you age, your skin will look much better.

I'm older, and when I'm with people my age, it's so easy to pick out the smokers -- they look sort of gray and heavily wrinkled. (Because smoking cuts down on the oxygen that gets to your skin).

As another Libra, I thought this might help. :>