A Romantic Notion

Sheepishly, I wish you a decent Valentine's Day. I say sheepishly because it is one of those contrived holidays that people are either for or against. I always tell myself I do not care about it and will ignore it. But the truth is, it makes me a bear when I try not to do this. So instead, I buy myself flowers or gumdrops and enjoy the day. It is not every day that you can get cinnamon, red-hot hearts.

With all this in mind, I have a romantic little client story for you. I am seeing a client who is giving her spouse a wonderful gift today. She has chosen Valentine's Day as her smoking quit day. For years her husband has urged her to try smoking cessation and now she is moving forward with it. For those of you in the know who are shaking your head, thinking quitting because someone else jeers you towards it will never work, please keep reading. She has been thinking and planning this since January. She used to be a jogger and has decided to go back to this form of exercise. Her lung capacity for air seems much less, and she views this as a sign of potential upcoming issues with remaining a smoker. In short, she is afraid.

Her plan is two fold. She has begun taking Chantix (a prescription medication to help along smoking cessation) and hypnosis. Now some hypnotists will tell you that doing both is overkill. I will agree somewhat, but I feel we all know ourselves. If she already has the mindset that the two will work, I am not going to take that away and convince her otherwise.

What I did not know about Chantix was what it cost. My client does not have a prescription plan with her health insurance (and since I am still miffed with the blue insurance company with a cross to bear I am always looking for options to help defray the cost of medical care in the States). This prescription is apparently pretty pricey. Enter eDrugstore.MD. This company has been an Internet resource for the past eight years and offers very competitive pricing, including $20 off refills (this is for any prescription). What is helpful about this site is that when you view the various drug pages, it provides a lot of easy-to-read information about that particular product. For each, it explains exactly what it is and how it works (and side effects). Chantix, for instance, blocks the effects of nicotine while reducing cravings. It also gives a detailed plan in how to use it - start taking it seven days before the planned quit day...and so on. They also have a section called "Ask a Physician" where you can type in your questions about your prescription and get an answer from a real doctor. This is especially nice for those of us with doctors who do not like it when patients ask questions. This particular online pharmacy also only carries the authentic drugs - no generics (so their selection of available prescriptions is not very inclusive, except for the popular drugs), which they buy directly from the pharmaceutical companies (FDA approved, by the way).

So, here it is, Valentine's Day, my client's quit day. When I asked how she is going to tell her husband about this, she says she is going to wrap her last pack of cigarettes with two pairs of scissors and present them to him. When he looks puzzled, she is going to tell him that she has quit and if he chooses, he can help her cut up the cigarettes as a tribute to his support for her. Destruction on Valentine's Day, I love it.

By the way, hypnotist, they also offer an interesting affiliate program.