It's down to Amitriptyline, it's suppressed my cravings for ciggies more than Zyban ever did. Zyban cost me R350 for a months supply and did diddly squat. Amitriptyline is free off of the state and is a better smoking cessation tool. Of course my main use of it is anti-depressant and anti-anxiety agent. The smoking thing is just a side effect I found. You see the real chemical that causes you to stop the craving is nor-triptyline. Well by taking Amitriptyline a metabolite of it, is nor-triptyline the stuff that reduces cravings.

Why can't the ****ing Doctors and P Doctors tell you this s***. I wasted four months on Zyban to no joy and a lot of money down the drain. Only to find a cheap or free 1950's drug does the same s***?

Arghhhhhhhhh.

Smoke free for five days now.

Wonderful! and good to hear about those "older" drugs still working really well for lots of people.

I think the reason most docs use the newer drugs as first-line treatment is that they have less on-going side-effects (they still have the start-up ones, but they all mostly go away). If the first-line doesn't work, they have protocols for which to try next. I think it's great that your doc hit on the right one for the second choice. Because the "older" drugs are less specific in their actions, they cause more ongoing side-effects as they act on many brain chemicals (eg amitryptiline can cause anti-cholinergic effects like very dry mouth, weight gain, sluggishness, sleepiness - at least it did for me, without even helping my depression much) and many people do not tolerate it well. That's why it's fallen out of favour as a first-line treatment.

But that's not to say they aren't effective drugs.
Congrats...

Hi and Welcome to DF Chrispche

Congrats on being smoke free for 5 days and thanks for the info. That is very helpful.
Smoking is a coping mechanism for many people and oh so addictive.

Trace