THREE MONTHS

Yep, I did it! Now for the next 3 months. Any gifts for this achievement? Anyone?

Yeah, figured there'd be none. It has been a lonely journey/challenge, with my mind being my most constant and persistent companion. I'm glad we defeated the Brain and the Body with its unreasonable requests.

G'nite, and thanks for reading. I'll update whenever I feel like it, but I think the goal has been accomplished for now.

Take care!

75 days

Good news. I've been off Champix for.. you know, I can't remember. A week I think.

The moodiness and inability to focus has been there, but it is slowly getting better. Tends to be at its worse during the afternoons.

64 days

Yup, made it past the two month mark.

Now seriously, it is all about weaning off Champix. And if last Saturday (Oct 1) was any indication of how difficult it could be, I'm going to be in trouble. Oct 1 was my fifth day without taking Champix and arguably the most difficult day I've had thus far.

I was not only angsty and short-tempered, but I had a massive headache, blurry eyes and completely unable to focus. My sincere apologies to my wife for the outburst and general pissy attitude which lasted until I finally took a Champix pill to ease the problem.

To be honest, it was exactly like all the withdrawal symptoms one would have BUT without the craving for a cigarette. How weird is that? Quite a mindfuck.

So it seems I am unable to break off Champix just like that. What I've done now is split all my pills and will be taking half pills at 3 day intervals for now - and slowly increasing the duration in between each pill until I no longer need it. I have 20 half pills, but who knows, I might not need as many to get off it.

My first half pill starts tomorrow, well today (Tuesday). This will hopefully be the last stage of fighting a dependence. The next battle, after I'm off the pills, will be making sure I never pick up a cigarette again.