Hi, Irox1! Nice to hear from you.  Email me any time.  I'm eager to hear how it went.  My email is: larissalle@hotmail.com.  In case the doctor's board censors this, I think there's a way to add my email to my account that anyone can look up who has an account.  I'll look into this. 

Hi all,

Larissale, Well my appt was today, thought fri but I made it. I did have my doc check my Vit D and because I have osteopenia and it's been over 2 years since my last Bone Denisty Test he also doing a scan at the end of the month. I have not had time to read up on your thoughts about vit d yet, though I will soon. Oh and yeah when I finished reading your first post, I thought What about the SMOKING, LOL thanks for the 2nd comment and your ideas.

For the rest of ya, o thanks so much, like I said above, my appt today, well Chantix it is, my doc says thats the best. Though I strugle with Nausea still and he said that was a common side affect but I have to get past any side effects that comes my way, I have to quit smoking. I'll let ya'll know how it goes and wow thanks again for the responses, I wish I would have turned to this site sooner. take care, Tel

hey girl for what its worth.i had a couple of friends on mine that smoked ever since their teen yrs..one of them now 49 stopped cold only when she joined the gym...came to the gym 5 times sometimes 6 times a week to keep herself occupied...she got involved in other things to keep her mind off of smoking...but the big thing in helping her were the people around her ...at the gym at church her neighbors im one of them and just a positive reinforcement to stay away from the stuff....it will be hard nothing in this world is easy (except me ,ha,ha)no just messing but you can do it ...anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it....how bad you want it...well other than that sorry no quick fix...but somehow i believe you can do it...so just do it...and let all of us know about your progress....so if you haven't stopped, right now is a good time..kick it girl i know you can.later mike

Nicoderm patches, and before Chantix there was Zyban.

I have tried to quit five times in my lifetime, I had a break

out from the chantix that I took four yrs ago and I still have

it. You have to be commited to quit and and have the will

to never light up again. Best of luck to you.

Good heavens, I am so involved in educating people about vitamin D, I totally forgot to say congratulations on quitting smoking.  A friend of ours smoked for 60 years.  He stopped smoking because he had got emphysema, and, after continuing to smoke with the emphysema, he got exponentially worse.  One day, he just said, that's it.  I'm quitting.  He was smoke-free for 15 years before he passed away at age 88.  He also did it to encourage a young friend who he mentored for many years.  He wanted to show him by example that he, too, could stop smoking and well before getting emphysema.  Maybe choosing someone in your life to show by example, as our friend did, will help you.  Our elderly friend drank a lot of coca cola after quitting.  The young friend ate licorice whips and chewed gum.  Neither of them ever went back to smoking.  I hope this gives you some ideas and that you find a way that works for you.  One more thing: I once moved into a house where the former tenants had smoked.  I actually had cravings for cigarettes, and I'm not a smoker.  I washed down the walls, ceiling, doors, cabinets, even inside the closets, and I shampooed the carpet three times, and it seemed to get rid of my cravings.  If you have ever smoked inside, you may want to consider a thorough wash down.  You could make it a symbolic, cleansing event.  Best of luck to you.  And get your vitamin D blood level checked when you are at the doctor on Friday!!!!!!  And read my profile so you know what your doctor should do if you have a deficiency. 

People with Crohn's Disease are known to have very low vitamin D levels. Get a 25(OH)D blood test. Get your level to 40-60 ng/ml (optimal level based on the consortium of scientists and physicians at www.grassrootshealth.net). Many people with Crohn's Disease have a hard time assimilating vitamin D, and do not do well taking it orally.  Instead, you would need to use, under a doctor's care, a tanning bed in the late fall, winter, and early spring, and either continue with the tanning bed for the rest of the year or get full body "sensible" sun exposure. There's a lot of information on my profile about vit D, but briefly: sensible sun exposure means that you go out in the sun briefly, about 5-20 minutes or until your skin turns rosy but not sunburned. If you have dark skin, this can be 5-10x longer depending on the pigment of your skin. Every 100 IU's raises your vit D blood level by ~1 ng/ml. Full body exposure done right will give you 10,000-20,000 IU's vit D. Done daily, this would raise your level by 10-20 ng/ml. Vit D synthesis from sun occurs only when the angle of the sun is high enough, or when your shadow is shorter than you. For a New England Journal of Med article about vit D by top researcher and physician, Dr. Michael F. Holick, see: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/357/3/266. Your doctor can contact him at Boston Univ Med Center.