I know these are all really excuses, I do. Consider, though, that I’ve been smoking over a half century – around 53 years, or so. It’s like ingrained in me to reach for a cigarette when I’m stressed. I am trying to break that and reach for my vape, lower nicotine and no tar, compared to my normal brand of cigarettes. I was beginning to tolerate the various brands I was using, much better than before, so two packs ago, I went back to my original cigarette choice of Marlboro Menthol 100’s, the “Gold” pack… and immediately went back down to a half pack a day. Mind you, I had inched back up to almost a full pack a day.
The elections stressed me, and I smoked more; I was able to maintain between a half and three quarters of a pack a day, for the most part. Then I got food poisoning, the stomach pains, well, I smoked a bit more. And with no relief, apparently after the food poisoning, I went right into this god-awful stomach bug that’s going around. My granddaughter has it, too – it’s painful (and more, ewww) enough that it sent her to the ER yesterday. Let’s just say the very awful and painful symptoms helped push me up to a pack a day. I still have the bug, although Daughter had some OTC medication that helped relieve one of the main symptoms. So, while I do still have the bug, I was able to drop myself back down to a half a pack a day. Lastly, the Marlboro’s I smoke actually have the lowest tar and nicotine numbers, I think of all cigarettes.
I’m not bothering to refill the last Wellbutrin prescription, either. While I do think the drug helped pull me out of the funk I had been in, I don’t think it’s really contributed to helping me quit smoking. I’ve gotten myself down to a half pack a day, on my own – pre-Wellbutrin, in the past. So why waste the money and put another unnecessary drug in my body, it it’s not helping me? The vape’s I use to use were quite old and didn’t really do what they were intended for, while my new vape handles my needs quite well. So, I’m hopeful I’ll be able to substitute it more and more for cigarettes. Time will tell, won’t it? With that said, I am so outtie….