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Quitting, weight gain, Zyban

So I finally got to see a doctor today and got my coveted (by me)
precription for Zyban. Actually the generic antidepressant, so that
my insurance would cover it. So all good there.
However, the dr. said something that REALLY disturbed me. He said
that (some? a lot? I forget now) people who quit gain 15% of their
pre-quit weight. I have NEVER heard this statistic bandied around!
Is he full of it? Cause frankly 15% is a LOT for me, and would be
totally unacceptable.
And in a similar weight gain vein, I have been using the patch. Have
not totally stopped the cigs yet but cut drastically down. (Only 2
1/2 yesterday and well, not quite so good today.) My question is, if
weight gain is to occur would it be upon stopping cigarettes or
stopping the intake of nicotine entirely, that is, going off the
patch?
Sorry, just feeling very discouraged tonight,

Marian

This entry was posted on Friday, October 15th, 2004 at 9:03 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Quitting, weight gain, Zyban”

  1. dorothea_10 Says:
    October 16th, 2004 at 1:15 am

    Marion,
    I tried Zyban (generic, of course) for the 1st 2 weeks of my quit (1month 1
    week, 5 days) if you don’t count an occasional smoke here or there. :( Anyway, I took it while smoking the 1st week & then set a quit date. Then,
    when you get it built up in your system, you quit. I was able to get thru
    the 1st 5 days with very few cravings. It was more of the habitual urges &
    patterns that needed to be broken then nicotine cravings. So, I think that
    the Zyban helped for that time.
    I quit taking it when I was having severe emotional reactions, crying all the
    time, (I had tried zyban years ago & had the same response-without the quit.
    So, I don’t think it was the nic withdrawl). My doctor had me stop the med.
    He said that some people don’t react well with it.
    Best of luck to you.
    Ellen

  2. Raleigh Missy Says:
    October 16th, 2004 at 11:40 am

    Hi Marion,

    I remember from SmokEnders that the average weight gain can be 15 pounds
    not 15%. Weight gain when you quit is determined by a lot of factors. I
    think the general experience is 1- what we put in our mouths, 2- degree of
    physical activity, 3- conditions, medications, others
    I don’t know. Anyone?
    Steve

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