Nicotine Withdrawal Leads to Road Rage!

As you all know I have been utilizing Chantix to help me quit smoking. Things have been moving along swimmingly and I have had no real side effects from the drug or from nicotine withdrawal. I’m thinking this really isn’t so bad, it even kind of feels like I haven’t smoked in months. Until I got a little too confident and thought, eh, I don’t really need the medicine, it’s no big deal I forgot to take it today… the day of my road trip home from Tulsa to Dallas. Now, the reality is I have been a non-smoker for all of ten days and what I discovered on my drive home is that my best friend Chantix really is the reason I’m not dealing with overaggressive agitation.


I’m a cruise control driver. I set the speed to the posted speed limit and cruise all the way home. As a cruise control driver, you deal with the occasional game of leap frog with that car that passes you and then slows down to under your set cruise speed forcing you to then pass them and the game ensues. Or my favorite, you start to pass the guy who is cruising at a slower speed then your set cruise speed and he speeds up as you are trying to pass. You then have to make the decision to speed way up to get by him or to concede that you are just going to have to adjust your speed to his; speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down, and stay behind him.

I’m happily driving along I-75. It’s been an uneventful trip thus far when I come up behind a tow truck. I’m gaining on him at my set cruise speed so I change lanes to pass. What do you think Mr. Tow Truck does? Yep, he speeds up. I’m beginning to feel some tension collect in my neck and shoulders. Now there is a line of cars behind me. The only choice I have is to speed way up to get around Mr. Tow. I begin the acceleration and just as I am making progress, the guy behind me decides to flash his lights at me. In the blink of an eye that tension turned into rage! REALLY? Did you not notice the speed at which we are traveling is increasing and Mr. Tow is not gradually losing ground and falling away behind me or you or the car behind you????? Did it not occur to you that maybe the guy we are all trying to pass is increasing his speed as well? I literally wanted to slam on my breaks and make Mr. Light Flasher have to eat the windshield! Luckily my well trained judgment took over and I was able to get around Mr. Tow and get over so Mr. Light Flasher could go by as I yelled at him and raised a certain finger to show my disgust at his impatience. Meanwhile, my kids, witnesses to my road rage (don’t worry; the shame is not lost on me) quietly ask if I’m okay!! This jolts me back to reality from the furious fight in my head where I have just knocked Mr. Light Flasher out and the crowd is cheering… Oh My Gosh, what has come over me? I don’t act like this!! I stay calm and let people be annoying and impatient and take pride in the fact that I don’t act like that!!! This is when I remembered that I didn’t take my Chantix all day. I reach over for my purse, pull out the medicine and wash it down with a swig of my watered down Diet Coke. I assured my children I was fine and told them that was an example of how not to act!!

I will not be forgetting to let my best friend Chantix do his job from now on!!