The medication makes it so it isn't imaginary. It tastes like crap. Some people actually get sick smoking when they are on Chantix.
My doc is also homeopathic and she prescribed this for me.
That's a similar principle to the way that Antabuse works. It actually makes the patient vomit, I think, if he/she takes an alcoholic drink. Aversion therapy -- if it works, well...
I quit cold turkey about 12 1/2 yrs. ago after paring down to 3 ultralights a day. The cutting down was pretty easy because the number of places where smoking was allowed was continuously diminishing. The final quitting was a bit tougher, though. We went away for a weekend with friends who are nonsmokers; I never smoked in front of my husband either, so the opportunity was pretty much nil. The following week we went to a conference and I decided that this would be an ideal time to quit for good; change of scenery, no familiar cues, etc. When we returned home I realized that I'd been through one of the most difficult periods of quitting, i.e. the first week. I decided that no matter how tempting it might become, I knew I wanted to quit and wouldn't be pleased with myself to have to go through that first week again. That sort of philosophy carried me through most of the first three weeks, after which it wasn't bad at all. By then the physical dependence is eliminated and you have just to deal with the cues.
I brushed my teeth a lot to contrast how good that tasted versus the crappy taste of a cigarette. I even went for breaks with my smoking friends so I didn't miss their company. Surprisingly, I wasn't tempted by their habits. It then became November, cold and blustery, and I was happy that I no longer had to go outside as they still did.
I never smoked in my vehicle, so that wasn't a problem. If you did, you should shampoo the entire interior to get rid of the smell. Also, avoid the Sci-Fi classics, because the oldies had people smoking all the time, including in spaceships. I wondered for a time why I had cravings while reading!
You really have to take it day by day, and sometimes have a lot of "talks" with yourself, but it's so worth it! I've never backslid, not even once, and have never regretted it.
