Champix

Im 31 and have been stupidly smoking from a young age. With a extremely strong family history of cancer, being a nurse and most of all, having a 7 year old daughter, i decided enough is enough and its time to quit! I knew i couldnt do it "cold turkey" as ive tried before and the withdrawals were that intense i needed 2 weeks off work and ended up failing and continued to smoke. So i aproached my GP and she suggested champix. Having planned my quit day to be day 10 of taking champix i started taking the medication and continued smoking on day 1.

Day 2, took the .5mg tablet in the morning and went off to work with my cigarettes in my hand but it wasnt till lunchtime i noticed, hey i havnt had a smoke and nor did u feel like 1 so i continued on with my day. After dinner that night i felt like a smoke so i went out and lit one only to notice a horrible taste in my mouth and instant nauseous feeling, so i put the smoke in the ashtray and went inside. Today is day 10 and i can tell you the side effects ive had whilst being on champix so far are... 1: strange dreams every night.... when i sleep that is.

2: lack of sleep, ive always been a good sleeper, but since starting champix i either can't sleep, wake multiple times during the night or like tonight i go to bed, sleep for 2 hours and feel like ive slept for 10.

3: food... OMG the amount of food im eating, its ridiculous but i cant get enough.

The biggest side effect would be FEELING SICK....

Every morning i feel so sick and to the point i actually think im going to vomit.

These are side effects though and they wont beat me. Im more determined than ever, I've watched too many family members suffer from cancer and then die. seen the sickness chemotherapy causes and my nausea is nothing to compare that with. My family and friends are my support network and i cant thank them enough.

Most of all though what has done it for me is my 7 year old daughter. When asking her why she thinks i should give up smoking she said....

"Do it for me Daddy"

No more cigarettes for, im done with that horrible habit.

Thanks for reading my story and best of luck to all who are in the same situation.