doonesbury
KICKING BUTTS

My battle against nicotine addiction hasn't ended in victory yet but I'm still gaining some ground. I've been concentrating on breaking my routines around cigarettes for the last few days. I can see the hardest ones to give up are going to be the morning one with my coffee and the 4:30 break I usually take at work.

I've already developed a tolerance for the wellbutrin to the point that I barely notice I've taken it anymore. I see now why they recommend using a nicotine replacement in addition to the drug. I don't want the patch and I'm not a gum chewer so I've decided to try the thing that looks like a little plastic cigarette holder, I think they might call it Nicotrol.

Coincidently I ran across an article this weekend that explains why some of us have such hard time quitting. Psychiatrist Steven Potkin of the University of California, Irvine, led a study that suggests some people were just born to smoke. While I don't fit the personality type, as I'm slow to anger, I'll bet my brain reacts in the same way to nicotine. I always seem to fall outside the normal parameters.

In any event, target date for my last cigarette is this weekend. Wish me luck.