Chantix

[bright1]

Here's my personal experience taking Chantix in case anyone is considering using it to quit smoking.

I'd tried several times to quit in the past few years. After a few days, the crushing depression would drive me back to them. (Nicotine would seem to be an anti-depressant)

I started taking Chantix during the last week in June. You take it for a week, gradually building up the levels in your body, then you quit smoking. I quit on June 29.

By June 30 I was on this forum and posting my suicidal thoughts. I blamed the Chantix, but now I wonder if it wasn't the nicotine withdrawal. And maybe it was joining this forum, but by July 1 or 2 I was feeling much better.

I'm in my 3rd week of Chantix, and it's starting to feel very much like I'm on a regular anti-depressant. I was told that it was not the same sort of medication at all, although I got the same warnings about an increase in suicidal thoughts that I got with other anti-depressants. I'm very "up" emotionally, but it doesn't feel quite real as the problems I had that made me suicidal are still there.

I'll let everyone know how it's going when I have something new to report. I'm most interested in what will happen in two weeks, when I try to stop taking the Chantix. In the past, stopping anti-depressants caused me to have anxiety attacks. We'll see.

 

[Stranger1]

Hey bright1,
Definitely let us know how it goes..They say after you make it thru the 1st week it gets easier.. I have found quitting not so hard, where I have my problem is staying quit.. The longest I made it is three months..Then I got all depressed and started smoking more..Thanks again!!

 

[bright1]

Yes. Chantix comes in 4-week packages, and it's recommended that you get 2-3 refills. I thought about just quitting after a month, since it's not covered by my insurance and costs $180 here in the U.S., but I'm reconsidering.

 

[rojomi]

My housemate takes it-in fact for a couple of years now. He still smokes a lot. And talk about a sloppy drunk-its disgusting. I would move out, but i can't afford it. One of the reasons I come here. I am convinced he is insane.
Has no remorse & is in complete denial for the harm he causes himself, me and the poor dogs. I truly do not have a real friend in the world and he resents the fact that the dogs like me more than him. Go figure. I stopped caring. I think it is only a matter of time before he destroys himself. While the death of anyone saddens me as a human being; in his case-I'll make an exception!:Jumpy:

 

[Brighid Moon]

Chantix turned my 4 pack a day smoking friend into a 3 pack a day violent, homocidal/suicidal psycho before he realized what it was doing to him and quit it.

 

[Hae-Gi]

Chantix/Champix causes people to kill themselves. It's worse than the smoking itself and should be banned. I posted about it on this forum in the end of 2007:

http://www.suicideforum.com/showthread.php?t=39057

 

[twc]

Chantix is now required by the FDA to carry its strongest warning about negative mental effects, including suicide.

I took it a few years ago and it didn't work for me at all.

Thumbs down. :thumbdown:

Quitting cigs is really hard. I suggest tapering and menthol drops.