Chantix (quit smoking pill) and Suicide?

Depression
#1

My best friend was put on Chantix, the “help you quit smoking” drug about a month ago. She took it up until the middle of last week because she noticed a huge difference in her moods while on it. She was VERY ANGRY all the time, since the drug doesn’t stop the nic fits, it just blocks the nicotine from getting into the blood stream.

I was wondering if anyone else has taken this drug, and if it has caused SEVERE mood swings, and/or SUICIDAL THOUGHTS OR ACTIONS (either while on the med or coming off)???

Any info or advice would be helpful as we are trying to find some answers to fill in the gaps.

Thanks.
~Angela

#2

I couldn’t wait for an answer. So I did a keyword search and typed in “Chantix and suicide” and you wouldn’t believe the number of pages that popped up! Frankly, I’m disgusted!

I posted this on myspace as a bulletin and also sent it personally to two friends…one who WAS on it and almost lost her life, and another who is on it now.

This is no joke!

Many people who took the new “quit smoking” medication called Chantix have experienced horrendous side effects, none of which were listed on the product label.

These side effects have been life changing, life threatening, and debilitating.

Side effects include nausea, anxiety, depression, memory loss, sense of failure, suicidal thoughts and attempts, anger, irritability and long lasting changes in one’s personality.

I urge you to do your homework on NEW drugs that you are thinking about taking or are currently taking. These new drugs, like this one, often times are not tested long enough before they are released on the market.

If you are interested in hearing countless personal testimonies from people who have taken this drug, it would be wise to check out this link:

http://www.treatmentonline.com/treatments.php?id=710

Please spread the word about this drug. Many people may be considering taking it to quit smoking, maybe even you. I strongly advise you to think twice. The irritability you experience quitting cold turkey would be a peice of cake compared to the havoc this drug will reak on your body!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you care about your friends and family you will pass this along.

(With warmest regards ~ Angela)

#3

I am SO GLAD that you started this post. I tried Chantix months ago for a week and a half and then stopped. I fell into the most deep depression ever–that I actually went back into therapy, after having been out of therapy for years! The doctor that prescribed Chantix couldn’t believe it~~he said that I was his only “failure.” I felt really bad. It took about a month to finally get out of the depression, seriously. I still have the rest of the pills and I never quit smoking, either. If it blocks the pleasure receptors in the brain, as I understand it, and I am no doctor, doesn’t that tell you that it would depress you? I kept asking myself this question AFTER I stopped taking it. It was a horrible experience and I would never take it again…Thank you for bringing this subject to light. Lindy p.s. These pills are manufactured by Pfizer Labs, but are made in Germany, by the way.

#4

This is worrisome for me. Many people are going to take Chantix as a “quick fix” to stop smoking. So you pick up another bad habit just to get rid of the first bad habit? Yay! DRUGS! But ya never know what they’ll do to you.

My friend…suddenly and without warning…tried to kill herself, note and all…and blanked out for atleast two days and still was confused as all hell as to why she would just do such a thing!

Basically, if you have a history of mental illness, depression, you should NOT take this drug. And, pretty much, if you don’t have a history of mental illness or depression, expect to have issues after taking the drug!

This is just too alarming to me not to share with you people.

Thank you for letting me know your story, Lindystar! It’s really helping all who were involved in my best friend’s suicide attempt to better understand where it came from! I’m sorry you had to experience what you did, and I’m glad you made it thru it alive!

Hugs, I’m fully aware of what you’ve been thru!
~Angela

#6

“If it blocks the pleasure receptors in the brain, as I understand it, and I am no doctor, doesn’t that tell you that it would depress you?”

Maybe you should be!!

p

#7

My husband is on Chantix and was told about all the side effects including the SEVERE moods swings and depression by the doc and was also given a rather long booklet with the medication and it says all this and more. I also finde it desturbing that people take the meds and are not aware of the side effects however these are things that should be asked before starting a new med. As for the progress on the meds well that is a whole diffrent issue he feels that it is not helping and it is a waste of money.

#8

keljo: Because all of the side effects are listed as POSSIBLE side effects, as they are on all informational brochures that come with all medications. I have a medical doctor that I can sit down and actually talk with who never mentioned any of the side effects, not even the possible side effects. When I told him what happened to me, he said, out of the 200 people that he had on Chantix, I was his only “failure.” I felt badly, but I remember thinking that I would rather be a failure than a dead person. Lindy

#9

Lindystar,

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you are a “failure.” Don’t believe them for a second!

Hugs,
~Angela

#10

Lindy,

Tell that doctor he's just fortunate that you didn't need to bring his ass to court--his risk was at as at least as great as yours!--he could be in a courtroom, conferring with his lawyers and/or planning what to wear for his first prison date!

Failure, my ass! Every TIME a doctor prescribes that's a risk to him AND MORE to the patient! Why? The companies would never withhold or suppress "bad" info, right?? If he believes that, I'd be scared, if I was you!

Remind him he has one more thing to be grateful for this Thanksgiving!

P

P.S. While my brother bears responsibility over his effed up life today, the makers of Oxycontin hemmed, hawed and LIED about it's propensity for addiction. He'd been prescribed/abused a semi -truckloadful by then- $5 a huge bottle-- and compliments of Medicaid, too!

#11

See link below for some “official” FDA information. On November 21, 2007 (TODAY) the FDA issued a MedWatch for Chantrix that contains the following:

"FDA is evaluating reports from Pfizer of drowsiness in patients taking Chantix. Reports described patients who experienced drowsiness that affected their ability to drive or operate machinery.

FDA recommends the following:

Healthcare professionals should monitor patients taking Chantix for behavior and mood changes.

Patients taking Chantix should contact their doctors if they experience behavior or mood changes.

Patients should use caution when driving or operating machinery until they know how quitting smoking with Chantix may affect them"

This is pretty much the stuff that would in a “black box” warning on the patient information.

The link to this info is:

http://www.medadnews.com/News/index.cfm?articleid=494286

BTW I googled 'Varenicline FDA" to find this info. Varenicline is the “generic” name for Chantrix.

peace,

c.

added a few minutes later. The “official” web side from Pfizer contains the full Prescribing Information (PI) for Chantrix. The PI includes the following in the section about side effects:

“PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS. Frequent: Anxiety, Depression, Emotional disorder, Irritability, Restlessness. Infrequent: Aggression, Agitation, Disorientation, Dissociation, Libido decreased, Mood swings, Thinking abnormal. Rare: Bradyphrenia, Euphoric mood, Hallucination, Psychotic disorder, Suicidal ideation.”

This is pretty similar for ALL the “mood disorder meds”

For the full Prescribing information see: http://www.pfizer.com/files/products/uspi_chantix.pdf

I’m one of the strange creatures who always reads the entire Prescribing Information from the manufacturer. This is not easy to read, but contains ALL the side effects they found, even those that were very, very rare.

This gives you a whole more information than the sheet that comes with your prescribtions.

again, peace,
c.

P.S I think I’m done now!

#12

Oh, Phoenix that is terrible! A friend of ours’ two brothers are addicted to that and more! One has a good job and so does his wife and he goes to several doctors and gets scripts from every one of them??? I don’t understand how he gets away with that and the other one has lost his job, is losing his house, and his wife has a menial job and he has stolen from his family, stolen from is past jobs, etc. to get drugs. No one trusts him at all anymore. He keeps checking into the psychiatric ward trying to get his family to feel sorry for him and give him money to “get on his feet” just to buy more drugs. It is pitiful and sad. He won’t go into rehab.

#13

That's what active addicts do, Lindy-collect doctors and totally abuse the insurance companies or Medicaid and the entire health care system.

My brother? His disdain for 12 Step ANYTHING knows no bounds, as he cannot make the admission of personal powerlessness with chemicals. After trashing 3 marriages, abandoning his children, (and much more, believe me!) has been basically homeless for 6 yrs and content to abuse agencies that have tried to help him. He has even been banned from the Salvation Army where he was allowed to stay for 2 yr!, his hustle is so well honed. Now he's rooming with 2 murderers. Somewhere in between he got a BPII diagnosis and began hustling psych meds he liked like Depakote, etc. OMG, he walked like an old man with palsy! When they finally got a clue, reduced/changed his meds, he had a meltdown and broke into his soon to be ex wife's supply of pain pills. (I had helped her get a metal box w/ key, just in case. He had stolen or "switched" lookalike pills during their marriage). He had been lying all along he was "clean", although I knew better.

Why? He is unwilling/unable to face the wreckage, the reality of it and reality in general. He blames it all on his illness(s) and assorted physical issues. He has been jobless most of his life. Sis-n-law#3 believes he has even caused deliberate injuries to himself to get meds/avoid work. And if he's cornered somehow, he cries acute chest pain, etc. and ends up getting Demoral and other fun stuff.

Perhaps if he had been diagnosed early in his teens or so as BPII, I'd have my brother back. They didn't have that understanding in the 1970's. So we both turned to alcohol and drugs, although he was more of a straight alcoholic until introduced to pain pills-at first sporadic until he learned to work the system. And eventually quit alcohol when he found Oxycontin. The saddest part is that he was tested out to have an extremely high IQ in high school, thus he uses that to separate himself from people, surroundings and reality. Denial AND a high IQ? Deadly combination. Slickest addict I've ever met.

I wish I could buy a shopping cart with his full name engraved on it. It will be his future, if he lives long enough, exhausts all assistance organizations (he's almost there now), and if my father is no longer around to enable him. He has no hope of his siblings, myself included, as he is also a thief- BIG TIME.

Not to mention the fact-- HE HAS A CHOICE. HE JUST CHOOSES NOT TO LOOK AT REALITY--OR WITHIN : (

He is 50 yrs old. 

#14

That is so sad, Phoenix and I do know what you mean. The brother with the great job with the wife who is a~nurse, if you can believe that one! (enabler), has been to every M.D. in the area, complaining on non-existent, excruciating back pain and even to the Cleveland Clinic to see specialists to find that NOTHING IS WRONG, HOWEVER, he finally found a doctor to give him what he wanteda demerol drip! OH, yes, so all he has to do is press a button and he is just in seventh heaven, with his massive doses of oxycontin and now, demerol. Do you believe this??? I can’t get over this and neither can my husband. What kind of doctor in his right mind would give him a demerol drip when no one has found anything wrong with him? If this kills him, what about the Drs. license and what is wrong with his wife?? I guess I just don’t understand. Our friend is constantly trying to protect his elderly parents from becoming victims of his two brothers. It is just so sad…

#15

Back to the topic at hand…not to disrespect anyone else’s family issues with drug addiction, but I just found out last night that my own brother was thinking of taking Chantix to quit smoking…at the suggestion of his girlfriend! I’ve gone ahead and printed out the 22 pages of testimonies and will be giving it to him next time I see him. I almost lost a best friend, and I’ll be DAMNED if I’m going to risk losing my brother!

And it’s strange that he would even consider it. I know my brother, he’s never had any ailments in all his life, NEVER took pills, not even for a headache, and now he’s considering taking one of the worst pills on the market today??? Boy do I need to educate him!!!