Inquiring Readers

I’ve received a couple of supportive posts from a kind reader, Norm. I wanted to share his most recent message with you because he poses questions that hadn’t occurred to me.

Hi Sue - checking in again. I’d read this post before and your first line keeps niggling away at me; about the one cigarette a day. I know you said you’d looked at that from all angles. What I wonder is, what is the significant thing about having that one. Do you have it anytime? Or at a specific point in your day? What’s the worst consequence of NOT having it? Do you feel you’ve let yourself down when you have it? Or is it a 5 minute oasis in your day; an indulgence.

I’d be interested in your thoughts.

I’m going to take a stab at answering these questions. I have a feeling Norm will know better than I about significance of my answers.

1. Do I have the cigarette any time?
   I sure do. After my 20-minute drive home from work, I go inside through the garage, dump my stuff on the kitchen island, *pet the pooches and say hello to whoever is at home. Then, before I take my coat off, I go outside and smoke a cigarette.
2. What’s the worse consequence of not having it? Well, it gives me a few minutes to clear my mind between work, the drive home (I’m a lousy, nervous driver) and attending to the evening and people at home. I like that break and would find it difficult to give up. It has become enough of a habit that I’d also jones for that cigarette pretty bad.
3. Do I feel I’ve let myself down by having that cigarette? Yes. It kind of ruined the QUIT that I was so proud of. I don’t beat myself up over it–I’m well aware that I’ve come a long way toward my goal. That said, almost every time I have that cigarette I think of the statistics that show even one a day can have a profound impact on your health. I’m frustrated that I don’t seem to have the will to give it up.
4. Is it a five-minute oasis in my day? See my answer to question number two. I’ve explained my need for a little down time when I first get home from work to my family so many times that I’ve given up. What happened to the tradition of dads coming home in the 1950s? You know the routine–the cushy easy chair, pooches bringing in slippers and the newspaper, and dad gets to kick back and–smoke a pipe.(!)

I don’t know what my answers reveal.

Antabuse for Smokers?

My friend, Kathleen, asks if there’s an equivalent of antabuse for smokers. Antabuse is used to treat alcohol addiction. If someone drinks when taking the drug, they get sick–from what I’ve read, very sick.

Currently, there is no such medication to help smokers give the habit a heave-ho by making them feel like…heck.

The new smoking cessation aid, Chantix, reportedly makes some people queasy if they smoke while taking it. Others say the antidepressant, Wellbutrin, can have the same effect. Studies conducted on silver nitrate gum and lozenges have been inconclusive.

More specifically–Kathleen questions whether the powerful tobacco interests have impeded development of a nicotine-aversion drug that would work like antabuse.

I searched and searched for information on this, to no avail. It does make me wonder, however, which industry is more powerful–tobacco or pharmaceutical.

I’d put my money on the pharmaceutical industry having the greatest muscle. And just think of how big the market would be for an antabuse-like nicotine product.

*O.K. Dudley begs for kisses and I’m a total dope about Dudley. I never thought I’d be nuts enough to kiss a dog, much less admit it publicly. The Dog Whisperer would lock me in a crate.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2007 at 5:00pm and is filed under Quit Smoking diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.