Sure, smoking helps you concentrate and can give some inspiration, but you know that before you get anything down on paper you’re going to have cotton mouth, followed by a fit of the munchies and then by the time you get back from the 7-11 it’ll be time to twist up another one, so… what was I saying again?
I thought smoking was just something people did to kill time… I had a friend that worked at a prison once, he told me he took up smoking because during the night shift it was pathetically boring and smoking a cigarette killed at least a few minutes. 
I agree with chainsmoker. When working through a big pile of paper, it is comforting to light up from time to time. If I limit myself to five or so a day, it doesn’t seem to impact my athletic performance, but it sure helps me get through the tedium of paperwork.
I haven’t noticed a need to smoke more, unless I’m out drinking with the boys.
[quote=“Toe Save”]
What about Xanax as therapy? Could this work along the same lines as bupropion?[/quote]
Zyban is by far the most extensively studied antidepressant for smoking cessation. From what I understand, Xanax has a different mechanism of action so there’s no reason to assume it should work the same way as Zyban. You’d also want to look into the adverse effects of “alternative” antidepressants. Zyban is fairly mild as long as it doesn’t kill you or give you a horrible rash. Some of the others are more apt to take away at least one good reason for lighting up.
Good luck! I’m on day 9 without smoking, surviving on nicotine gum and attitude alone for now. I had quit for 8 months earlier in the year but had a relapse in November.
A relapse after 8 months… that’s so uninspiring Jeff. 
Should I even try to quit?? What kind of relapse was it? Did something awful happen to make you start again… because by the 8 month mark, I should think that you would have well and truly been free of the temptartion to light up…
-Dave 
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FWIW… I haven’t done a lot of research on this, but at least one study showed that nicotine enhances cognitive performance in “abstinent” smokers (ie, after not smoking overnight), but not in ex-smokers. But it’s not clear whether or not nicotine enhances performance over baseline levels.
pnas.org/cgi/reprint/98/8/4728.pdf
Here’s an abstract of an article that discusses how smoking might increase attention, enhance enjoyment, etc:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer … t=Abstract
Bupriopion, the only FDA-approved drug for smoking cessation, might work by modulating levels of dopamine (invloved in the reward pathway) and affecting noradrenergic recpetors in the brain. Here’s a related article from Medscape, but you’ll need to register to view it.
LOL!!!
Even though it wastes time because I have to go outside, it seems to help me to complete my work, Hey Rascal ROTL!
thanks formosa
or is it jerry?
smokers should not rationalize their bad habits. the plain fact is that smoking kills. pure and simple. the only people laughing are the tobacco companies. According to AC Neilson (a market research company) they are saying to their corporate clients “When in doubt, sell tobacco.” Think about this next time you light up…
Has ne1 tried this?
I have some co-workers that smoke once a day. They say it helps them to relax after a stressful morning. It does not make any sense to me. I always thought that all smokers were “chain smokers”.
I think eating is just as pleasureful and relaxing. But of course you need to find some low-calorie snacks to keep your buttons from popping.
A good friend of mine just found out he has emphysema. He’s 31, lifts weights and surfs, and has been smoking about a pack a day since he was 18.
I read that the ‘relaxing’ was actually relieving the stress caused by the unfulfilled addiction. I don’t smoke and I rarely need to relax, so it makes sense to me.
I also once read a rather funny book featuring a vampire who had ‘taken the pledge’. The blood thing was just an addiction, and one that was becoming socially unacceptable, so she found a replacement - power politics!!
Just back from Thailand where I scored a box of 60 pills for 1950 baht. Unfortunately the box proved to have only 46 pills in it so the per pill rate was calculated and I paid accordingly. Fortunately I still have some mates in Thailand that may be good enough to get me another box to get me up to the 7 week advised treatment period.
I’ve got the box and description and am about to madly wander Taipei’s pharmacies…keep you posted.
HG
In the interim perhaps Toesave could get onto any mates in Thailand over the New Year?
Thanks for the Thai tip…I just found out that I am getting a healthy tax return and am probably heading that way in a coupla weeks…I trust it’s as available as anything else those wonderful Thais have to offer?
How about clearing customs at CKS? I never even come close to being searched, but would a simple explanation of what they are for suffice?