I have enjoyed reading some of the posts here regarding smoking cessation aids and I thought I would share mine with Chantix.
Bottomline, I think it is far better than the patch or zyban or well-butron or gum... believe me, I have tried them all. The first time I tried it, I only took it for two weeks after I quit smoking and went right back to the cigs shortly thereafter. This time, I took it for two weeks and then quit smoking. I have made it 54 days without a cigarette, and I took myself off the Chantix 4 days ago. I feel fine.
What Chantix does, in very simplistic terms, is block whatever it is in your brain that tells you that you want a cigarette. There is no nicotine in Chantix so it works on your brain sensors. By the end of two weeks I found myself smoking and leaving the cigarette burning in the ashtray forgetting I lit it. After the first two weeks, I kept taking the chantix for about 45 days. During that two weeks I read "How to Stop Smoking" by Allen Carr. It is a great book. Now, when an urge hits... and it is increasingly less-frequent and less-severe... I just remember the things I learned from the book, which mainly is there is nothing enjoyable about a cigarette, except when you are addicted to Nicotine. Then it is enjoyable only because you are fulfilling a bodily need/addiction to nicotine. Since I am no longer addicted to Nicotine, thinking that a cigarette would be enjoyable is only a fall-back to the days when I was smoking to fill that addiction.
I waited until I thought I had the cigarette issue down to start back on Atkins. This is truly a remaking of myself so that I can live longer than my Father, who had all of the same habits and issues... and had his first heart-attack at 40, his last one that caused his death at 69, and several in between with a stroke or two thrown in over the period. He was in deteriorating health by the time he was in his mid-fifties, and spent the last five years of his life in a nursing home unable to care for himself. At 45, I would like to have more than 10 more years of meaningful life, especially since my youngest son is only 7.
Now I am back on Atkins and things are moving much slower this time (last time over 3 years ago I lost over 60 lbs and came within 10 pounds of my goal wt, but went right back to my old way of eating). I lost 14 lbs in induction last time, and so far after nine days I have lost only 4. But heh, thats cool... I am trying to commit to a lifetime here of change... not a fast weight loss scheme.
So, with that diatribe done my only recommendation from an admitted rookie of smoking cessation, the Chantix worked well for me, but better if I waited for two weeks on it before quitting, and then staying on it for at least 45 days afterwards.