• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

champix and charges

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
A

anita kay

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi
I turned 60yrs old 3 weeks ago. I really need to stop smoking, I have tried gum, mist spray and patches. Would like to try champix. My question is would I need to pay for it, I do get free prescriptions but wondered if it applied to the champix? Does anyone know and can enlighten me as I do need to stop and feel ready.
Regards
Anita
 
Welcome to the forum, Anita. There's always someone here to help with any questions you have.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Champix with a barge pole because of the side effects. The easiest way I've found is to start vaping. (I was a pipe smoker).
The liquid you use comes in different flavours and strengths. It depends on how you smoked. I guess you aren't a sixty a day person. If you are only a moderate smoker, start on the 20mg/ml strength, then reduce it by 2mg/ml every three weeks. All these strengths are available from various websites. You will gradually wean your body off nicotine - you can even get 0mg/ ml, but you may well be able to stop before that stage. It's not cheap, but it is cheaper than smoking. Because you aren't taking in all the tar and other chemicals, you will start to feel better within days.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on - you've joined a little club of vapers on the forum🙂
 
Hi Mike
Thanks for the information. I will look into this as an alternative to smoking cigs. So harmful and so expensive. Wish I had never started.
 
Welcome to the forum, Anita Kay.
If you get free prescriptions for any reason, then all prescribed items are free of charge. The big advantage of precribed medication such as Champix, which is very effective, is that you also get other stop smoking support from clinic prescibers. What side effects concern you? Effects on mental health / mood were reported initially, but more recent research has failed to show any connection with Champix. Prescribers will warn you if you are taking any medication that will become more effective and perhaps need dose reduction, once you reduce the amount of tar you inhale. You don't get the support if you choose to buy your own e-cigs.
 
When I gave up (finally) it was with the help of Zyban on prescription in England so had to pay for the prescription.
 
Champix can help some but not others. My wife tried it & it made her very ill & very depressed. We now vape.
 
I tried gum and patches to break a 20 year pack a day habit, but finally succeeded by reading a very simple book - 'The Easy Way to Stop Smoking' by Allen Carr. I had watched a Channel 4 documentary about him over the New Year, on a Friday evening, and went out and bought the book the following day. I read it over the weekend, smoked my last cigarette at 9pm on the Sunday and haven't smoked since! 21 years and counting! I was so impressed that I told my work colleagues about it and they read it and also stopped - as did their partners, mothers, mothers-in-law etc.! It really does work! I'm not normally this evangelical about a book, but I was astonished and still am 🙂 Definitely worth a few quid before trying anything else. Basically, it works by convincing you that whatever 'reason' (i.e. excuse!) you can think of for why you 'need' a cigarette, he demolishes it! 🙂 The only side-effect was nicotene withdrawal, but that actually takes about 3 weeks, it's the habit that can be harder to break.
 
The symptoms mentioned by Mark are reported by more than a few people who have taken it. As is nausea. Since these symptoms were noted by people soon after taking it, I'm willing to accept the anecdotal evidence, rather than any evidence provided by the manufacturer.

There is no need for support if you follow the vaping plan I described. You just carry on vaping as you would smoke. Half the battle is stopping the habit of putting a stick in your mouth, but that is easily overcome when the addictive nicotine is very low. The other advantage of vaping is that you are not taking powerful medication; you are taking reducing doses of the drug that you are addicted to. Nothing new to affect your brain. Vaping is unique in that you can do this slow reduction. No other system - gum, patches or other nicotine delivery systems works as well. This system is easy to do alone, you don't need any support other than your own wish to stop smoking. No cold turkey, no side effects and a healthier life. It is safe and effective, and easy to do.

As a footnote, Scottish hospitals a couple of years ago banned smoking and vaping from hospital grounds. This year, they lifted the ban on vaping.
 
We had a new vape shop open in our town a couple of weeks back. Popped in for a nosey. Owner was very nice & explained their entire range. Wife & I bought new e-cigs which are much better than the cheapies sold at garages.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top