Author Archives: Echo

Why I Can’t Take Chantix to Quit Smoking

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Several of my doctors are really pushing me to quit smoking. I know – intellectually – that I do need to quit. The problem is, in 1999 I quit for three years and never got to the point where I was comfortable. I wanted to smoke every single day of those three years. Finally I couldn’t stand it any more and started up again.

This dramatic failure – and the fact that I really enjoy smoking – are two huge factors playing against my even making another attempt.

Still, I was willing to try bupropion (generic version of the antidepressant Wellbutrin and the anti-smoking aid Zyban). This was a major disaster.

I do have e-cigarettes, but they aren’t satisfying (maybe I bought the wrong brand?). Then they died, I couldn’t find the charger, and it took weeks for the company to send me a new one (promised in 3 days). That kind of killed my interest in using them.

My ashtray at the end of the day

My ashtray at the end of the day

But I smoke a lot: at least 2 packs a day. I have developed wheezing when I lie down. I really don’t want COPD, and I was told that smoking could have contributed to the attack of ischemic colitis I had a few years back (which could have been fatal, though I didn’t know it at the time).

There’s one more drug that has a very good record in helping people quit smoking: Chantix. But my doctors refuse to prescribe it because of my bipolar II disorder, and I agree with them. My current meds’ control over my BP and anxiety is precarious enough without adding a drug known to cause problems to people with mental illnesses. Continue reading →

What Happens After a Total Loss

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Things get complicated after your car is declared a total loss. Learn from my experience!

First, a new player showed up from Allstate – the total loss adjuster. Kelly phoned me with detailed instructions on what to do next and what documents I needed to send them.

  1. She had already mailed me an Illinois Power of Attorney form, which I had to sign and send back.
  2. I had (smart lady) bought gap insurance when I purchased the car. This is insurance that will pay any difference between Allstate’s settlement and the actual balance remaining on the loan from the finance company. Kelly said to file a claim with them, then let her know what documentation they wanted.
  3. The amount Allstate will pay is their computation of the actual cash value of the car at the time of the accident plus the salvage value. They’ll also reimburse me for a couple of other items. I didn’t write these down, darn it, but as I recall they are the sales tax paid on either the wrecked car or the car I buy to purchase it, whichever is less, and the fee to transfer the plates to the new car.
  4. Allstate needs a copy of the original bill of sale. The one I have is too faint (being a copy) to fax or scan, so I’d need to get it from the dealership.

So the next step was to call the gap insurance company. The representative there faxed me a form telling what they need: Continue reading →

Total Loss

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In the days following the accident where my beloved Dodge Caliber was smashed into by a semi I learned just how complicated it is to have an auto wreck. I gave a recorded statement to an Allstate representative. Allstate arranged for me to get a rental car. I had to go to the tow yard to pick up my belongings, where for the first time I saw the horrendous damage the poor car had taken.

My left knee hurt a lot, and I had a colorful chest belt bruise, but all in all the Caliber had protected me remarkably well. Unfortunately, there was a LOT of stuff in the Dodge that had to be moved to the rental. I wasn’t supposed to drive into the yard full of damaged cars, but I was damned if I could carry all the stuff from the yard clear out to the parking lot with bad knees (it was my GOOD knee that had been injured), so I pulled the rental in and made the transfers there.

Since I was already having chiropractic treatment at the time of the accident, there was no way to say how much injury my back might have taken, but my chiropractor and I were pretty sure the wreck had undone most of the work he’d done up to that point. It just meant more treatment.

A few days later I was contacted by a property adjuster who had been to see the car and said he thought it was on the edge between being a total loss and being able to be repaired. The car was towed to a body shop, and a week after the accident I spoke to them. While the adjuster had put the damage at $6,500, the body shop, once they got inside the destroyed rear passenger door, found a lot more damage, and estimated it at $9,800. I think I knew then that I’d never get it back, but I kept calling the adjuster to get a final judgment. I got very frustrated – it took a full week for him to get out and look at it himself. Once he did, he declared it a total loss.

Today I said a final farewell to my poor much-loved car. With the crushed passenger rear door taken off and all sorts of stuff ripped out and lying inside, it looked so pathetic… but it protected me well in the accident, and that’s the most important thing. I picked up the plates and went through it one more time to see what was still there that was mine (there turned out to be quite a bit I had missed the first time).

Fear not, O car – I loved you well enough that I will be buying another one just like you. Thank you for taking care of me.