Chantix: Is It Safe?

LOL! They DO taste nasty anyway, don't they! thank you so much for the encouragement, and letting me know it can still happen even if it is not right away! Thank you.

I have prescribed chantix for patients of mine that have been unable to quit by other means. I would use it with extreme caution if you have any other underlying mental conditions (depression, schizophrenia, etc...); but it is an effective aid for quitting. It doesn't work all the time and it isn't for everyone... but hang in there. Smoking things that taste like poo will eventually make you cut down and eventually quit. Another poster alluded to the fact that you have to change your lifestyle and find other outlets for your stress (I always recommend exercise). The medication won't cure you.


Good luck and keep us updated.

reply to post by Amniodarone


Thanks, I have started an excersise regimen, that was suggested by my doctor too to combat stress and weight gain. I feel great after doing it! I am trying to lie to myself and tell myself I am not allowed to go out and smoke while at work (many jobs do ban the habit!) It works a little bit, until I realize I am a liar, lol! Seriously though, I have told myself I cannot smoke in the vehicle, immediatley after meals, when doing my makeup, ect, all the times that I have historically had to have a cig burning. But I tend to 'make-up' for some of those lost cigarrettes when I get in a situation that doesn't apply. I am working on it!

Well I start my first day of actually trying not to smoke tommorrow, the dose goes up and I had a wonderful sexual dream this morning that I will most likely cherish for all of my days, thanx chantix! I was not irritable today, yesterday I was insufferable, I will try my best to not smoke tommorrow, but I am still very stuck on them so we'll see how it goes.

I started the higher dose today, I slept well but had a dream in which I fought 3 women practically to the death, it was so vivd, so realistic, I woke and could not shake it! And I am being downright mean to others, I called my neices husband a bunny toothed d**khead today and he told me to never come to their home again.

Well, maybe he will get over it soon, it isn't as important to me as quitting is. As for how much I smoked today, I have had 6 cigs since 5 this afternoon. It is 205 am now.

reply to post by space cadet

a bunny toothed d**khead

That's too funny! And you can always blame it on the chantix and the stress from being unable to smoke, though he probably deserved it lol.

Only 6 smokes? You rock!!! How cool is that... Like I said you CAN do this.
Keep up the good work. We're pulling for you

reply to post by Sundancer


Thanks Sundancer! I appreciate the enthusiam for quitting! And you are right, he did deserve it! I had just held my tongue about him and chantix or not it was high time someone threw some truth his way!

Hi, when I read the title I thought you had the spelling wrong but I guess the Doc gave me a different brand. I got CHAMPIX last year. Took them for 3 weeks then stopped. They taste vile, made me feel awful sick, but when the nausea went away I wanted a fag (that's UK speak for cigarette).

They did give me extremely vivid dreams though, and I'm wary of anything that does stuff to the head, mood etc., so that, and the nausea, (I'd rather have a broken leg than feel sick) made me stop.

I am starting my 3rd week on Chantix and have had side effects that I should have already talked to my Dr. about but I'll be seeing him on Tuesday so I'll discuss it with him at that time.

I am not depressed and don't have any mental health issues but the Chantix definitely makes me short-tempered and snappy. I'm a very patient person that rarely loses my temper but a few months out of the year I'll have really bad PMS and will get ultra bitchy. My behavior on Chantix is no more extreme than my behavior on the worst PMS days.

I haven't had any of the strange dreams people talk about and am kind of disappointed. Maybe I'm missing out on the dreams because the Chantix makes me pee less during the day but as soon as I'm asleep I suddenly have to use the bathroom and am up every hour doing so. It's highly annoying and probably a major contributing factor to my snappiness.

I've also had facial swelling as well as swelling in my hands and feet. The problem is, for the last 9 months I've experienced this same swelling off and on and though my Dr. and I have worked closely trying to figure out the cause, we haven't been successful and he has referred me to an allergist. I haven't had daily swelling while on Chantix which leads me to believe the swelling is related to whatever has been causing it for the last 9 months as opposed to the Chantix. I do feel itchy - especially the first few hours after first taking the Chantix - and it's similar to the sensation I've had in the past for the first few days on vicoden.

The snappiness, change in urination, swelling in face, swelling in hands and feet are all in the "call your Dr. immediately" list. Chantix is so effective and makes quitting smoking so easy that I would rather stay on it and take my chances with the side effects than go off of it before I'm ready but I will do whatever my Doctor advises when I see him on Tuesday.

Best of luck to you in your mission to quit. Keep us posted!

Jemison

I used chantix also and it made me quit smoking. I do remember having some pretty vivid dreams, but nothing crazy enough to make me stop using the medication. One warning though, be sure to eat something in the morning before taking your morning dosage. I normally did not eat anything in the morning, but man oh man! Chantix really ripped my stomach apart if I didn't eat anything with it. So always eat something before taking it in the morning.

As for some of the other "horror" stories from Chantix users, I cannot compare myself to those situations. They all seem to have some sort of psychological condition that was pre-existing. I do not suffer from any type of those conditions or depressions. My experience was all very good.

After taking the chantix, I noticed that the first week I was actually smoking MORE cigs per day. I think I was trying to make up for the loss of the nicotine getting into my system. As you say however, the taste got worse and worse and worse. I also was sure to warn my friends and family that I was quitting smoking, and that they may see an attitude change in me over the next few weeks as my body changed. My roommate was very thankful for the heads up. I simply told them to tell me if I was acting like an asshole and to let me know. That way I could immediately catch it and bring myself back to balance. Exercise was also key during the time for stress relief, which is needed.

Good luck and stick through it!
xmad

reply to post by Jemison


Have you quit smoking altogether yet? I am curious to know what is has done to help you put them down or slow down.

reply to post by space cadet


I took Chantix for 6 months and it worked for me. I was smoking 2.5 packs a day and after about 4 months just had no desire to smoke. I also take an anti seizure medication. I had no adverse side effects. It did give me gas for about a month and the dreams were fantastic. I was actually sad to stop taking it!

Today I followed along on the on demand exersise channel, did a little yoga with it too, I made it almost 45 min without my first cig of the day, which is practically a miracle for me, but, like the poster above I am finding that I am smoking more right now, didn't think about that I might be making up for missed nicotine.

I worked really hard to control being mean today, I am not a mean person and it really bothers me that I am spouting off things I might normally only think instead of speak. I do not have any exsisting mental conditions, as I mentioned already I generally have a happy disposition, I am not depressed, but the Chantix is affecting me like this.

As for my niece and her husband, they still won't answer the phone today

9 cigarettes today and I came to work without any. I am about to loose my mind though wanting one right now. I am being a straight up b**ch to my loved ones and a few customers (who mostly deserve it for being buttholes) but I am also feeling a sense of empowerment now over my smoking habit. I have not gotten up in 3 days now and went straight for a cig, I wait until at least an hour, by then I kinda forget about it, but as soon as I remember I light one up. But it is getting better. Hope I can stop picking at my hubby soon though, he doesn't deserve that!

I think today was my breakthrough day. I smoked before going to bed and when I got up I smoked a cig but after that I told myself I won't do it again until after supper. We had a great supper and then I went about cleaning and sat down to watch the stupid VMA's and I didn't even think about it until time to come to work again, but I had not smoked!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!

I have been at work since 10:00pm, it is 1:25am and I still just don't won't one!

'Space Cadet does the running man'

I have had a few problems in the past that lead to my being on some common antidepressants and anti anxiety medications. There is some other stuff that is not anything I care to post here in my past but I am pretty normal compared to most people I have met in life. I would say I am almost completely average. I asked my doctor about Chantix and he said that it was the last thing in the world I should ever take and that as bad as smoking is and I do need to quite, Chantix would probably prove more detrimental to me than cigarettes. I thought that was kind of scary.

I only know one person that used it and she said she had some really crazy bad dreams but that was about it. I don't really know anything about it other than this little bit of personal experience but when my doctor tells me to keep smoking instead, something is up.

p.s. by detrimental, he did not mean the pill itself would physically harm me but that by taking it, my chances of becoming harmful to myself and others would skyrocket.

p.p.s. I want to congratulate all of the people that successfully quit and wish good luck to those trying. I have to admit that I am too weak to do it.

[edit on 14-9-2009 by Lillydale]

avoid it if you do suffer from any form of depression, abnormal anxiety, anger control problems

add PTSD to that.
that is the reason veterans can not get chantix from most VAs there are worried that vets with un DXed PTSD would become suicidal.

oh by the way i have heard of one side affect that did not make it to the warning label. bedwetting.
www.peoplespharmacy.com...
patientsville.com...

I don't know why my computer likes to post twice.




[edit on 14-9-2009 by ANNED]

reply to post by space cadet


Congratulations! I knew you could do it!

I could read in your posts how desperate you were to quit.
I know it's hard as hell and I'm pulling for you.

You go girl!!!

Originally posted by space cadet
Off from work for 2 days, I am back tonight and reporting that my cigarettes taste like poo, but I keep on smoking, I have only cut down by about 3 a day. I am ill as a wet hornet. Weird dreams have now set in, nightmares in a sense, I went to bed worried about a family member who is in an abusive relationship, in my dream I killed her husband with much enjoyment. Hell, that could be normal though.

God I know, I have quit four times this year - for almost a month at a time each time.
That weird taste is exactly what I tasted the first two days back smoking, it just tastes off
and doesn't seem to smoke right at the same time kinda like it is not being absorbed right? The ill feeling is the worst, it is like swine flu and psychosis have hit at the same time. I always feel that I could cause an accident as my mind seems to detach, even effects my eyesight. I usually "quit" with nicotine gum which works well enough-

However the first four days are the hardest physically- the three - four week mark is where the real emotional/psychic battle seems to set in for me. I feel like something is missing, like I have lost something very vital to my happiness. It become cumulative,
builds up and wham you say to yourself - hell I can have just one - I've come this far, I
can't take this empty feeling. You fight that notion for a couple days and then you have that re introduction smoke. Which like I said taste f-ed up, does not give you the satisfaction you thought it would and then slowly you get back on the cancer horse.

I am gonna try again tomorrow, TAKE heed THIRD WEEK the emptiness comes, the third month it comes again big time so I have been told.

Be strong + and wish me luck folks