Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Chantix Side Effects

Hey, y'all!

Just wondering if anyone has tried Chantix to stop smoking and experienced any of the side effects? I've been on it for 9 days (still smoking some, unfortunately) and have gotten headaches, nausea, "foggy" headedness, and strange dreams. Called Pfizer today (makers of Chantix), and they said these are usual side effects, but that people reported that they go away after 9 days. Apparently not for me! Also, wondering if this is maybe a drug interaction with my BP meds, but they said that Chantix was not studied for interaction with other drugs such as BP meds.

Anyone had anything like this happen to you?

Monday, January 08, 2007

Be All That You Can Be

Hey, Y'all!

Sorry I haven't written--just went thru a few bad BP days, due to my neurologist cutting my Topamax in half because of my hand jerking, which he thinks may be due to medication. Haven't slept well, had a 2-day migraine, been depressed, crying, highly emotional, clingy to my husband, totally isolating, etc., since my Topamax was cut in half.

Last night I just had to do something about it, so I took a full dose, slept like a baby, and woke up this morning like my old self again. So I called my neurologist and left a voice mail for his assistant, asking them to let me go back on my full dose of Topamax and that it's worth a little hand jerking to me to not have those BP symptoms.

I was sooo afraid I was going into a full-fledged depressive episode, ya know? Especially cuz it went on for 3 (almost 4) days. My biggest BP symptom is the isolation part. Bill (my husband) told me he was only gonna give me till today anyway before he was gonna make me go outside. He always knows what to do for my BP, especially since he's got BP himself.

Anyway, I stole the title for today's entry from the Army, as you probably know, and because it describes a story I read in one of my readings this morning that I wanted to share with you. It's the story behind the invention behind "White-Out":

"A woman once worked in an office. She was a terrible typist. She kept making mistakes and she was spending all of her time correcting them. She needed her job so she said, “I’ve got to do something about this.” She said to herself, “I don’t have all the typing skills in the world but I am a pretty good problem-solver and a pretty good artist.” So she went home and began to experiment with some of her art supplies until she created the product we have come to call “White-Out” (“Liquid Paper”). She became a millionaire – not because of what she couldn’t do, but because she was willing to use what she could do."


I hope you find it as inspiring as I did. Don't let BP hold you back from being all that you can be.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

Hey, y'all!

Well, it's New Year's Day, and I took my first pill of my Chantix prescription, as I promised myself and my husband, doctor, and everyone else I would quit smoking. I tried to get out of it, tried to make the new quit date Jan. 15th, when it came Quit Date and I didn't want to quit. I hate that! That's why I quit making New Year's resolutions years ago! Then I would always say I don't make them, because I always blow them, ya know? But Bill (my husband) went to take his pill this morning, so I guess I had to take mine (nothing like pressure, eh?). We decided if we were going to do this, the best bet would be to do it together.

Bill said he was going to keep thinking about the new living room suite we want. The thing is going to cost $1200. We figured we're spending $60/wk. on cigarettes between the two of us, and that's for the next to cheapest cigarettes! So that's $240/mo. That's $240 we've got much better things to spend on. It's actually almost my car payment! So, thinking that way, I guess that's a pretty good incentive to quit smoking. So I guess I'll try to keep the new living room suite in mind as well.

Well, here's to a great new year! Hope y'all have a good one.
Remember that God loves you, and so do I!
Love, Michele