Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix May Cause Serious Mood / Behavior Issues
According to a statement released by Pfizer, patients taking Chantix in clinical trials did not experience such symptoms at a rate higher than those on placebo. However, "[p]atients with serious psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder did not participate in the controlled clinical trial program."
Post-marketing data found that symptoms worsened for some patients with pre-existing psychiatric illnesses. It is not known what effect nicotine withdrawal may have in this data.
If you are taking Chantix or your doctor wants to prescribe it, make sure your doctor knows that you have an existing mental illness and will need to be monitored for symptoms such as those listed above.
~Marcia and Kimberly
Comments
There may be a slight chance of a bad reaction for some taking Chantix, but it’s very important to remember that the mortality rate for those who continue smoking is close to 50%.
My father (who has a mood disorder but is not in treatment for it) experienced similar side effects while taking Chantix. He also experienced side effects similar to an acid trip, or an overdose on cough medicine. He would shake and was overall unable to function. As much as I want him to stop smoking, he was unable to lead a normal life while on Chantix.
I took the drug chantix also. It seems to be that I was the lucky one. I had no side effects, nor did I have any withdrawl like symptoms at sll. I am going on eight months now that my meds are stable, and two times to the phy. ward. my heart goes out to to the families that this drug has affeced. I hope that all is well now with the families it did affect.P.S. I was a smoker for 15 years. With Reguards, Mindy, Arkansas.
Chantix was very helpful for me in quitting smoking after 40 years and has also helped three other people I know, with no side effects that I have heard of. These people also had been smoking about as long as I.
When I first inquired of my health carrier why it was not a tier one drug, however, they told me that it was a tier two drug, the first one which they would pay for to stop smoking being Wellbutrin. As I did not believe and was not advised that my smoking was related to depression at this stage, I paid for my own prescription for Chantix and did not take any Wellbutrin or any antidepressant as a prelude.
Not being a health care professional at all but a patient, I do not see why an antidepressent such as wellbutrin would be prescribed for smoking, But if someone were taken off the anti-depressant and then put on Chantix who knows what the cause would be? Maybe that should be addressed in more articles on this topic.
As I head into my first year without smoking as a result of Chantix I am very happy that I did not start with any other medication for this purpose than Chantix and am grateful to Pfizer for producing this product.
I’m bipolar and Chantix worked great for me when I used it to quit smoking. I’ve been smoke free for two years now. One of the things I liked about it was that my mood stayed stable and I felt great. I asked my doctor if Chantix was prescribed for other ailments. She indicated that it was not. Be that as it may, I had no problems while on Chantix and have recommended it to everyone I know who wants to quit smoking.