Chantix

[SKendall]

Did anyone see the article on MSNBC today on Chantix (sp). It is a medication to quit smoking but also has the same effect on alcohol. Only problem is the alcohol part of it still doesn't have fda, and you would have to say you were quitting smoking to get it in the U.S.

I would post the article but don't know how to import articles.

[memarcie]

Chantix

Here's the link and the article, thanks SK

Anti-addiction pill may curb bad habits - Addictions - MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - A single pill appears to hold promise in curbing the urges to both smoke and drink, according to researchers trying to help people overcome addiction by targeting a pleasure center in the brain.

The drug, called varenicline, already is sold to help smokers kick the habit. New but preliminary research suggests it could gain a second use in helping heavy drinkers quit, too.

Much further down the line, the tablets might be considered as a treatment for addictions to everything from gambling to painkillers, researchers said. Several experts not involved in the study cautioned that there is no such thing as a magic cure-all for addiction and that varenicline and similar drugs may find more immediate use in treating diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Pfizer Inc. developed the drug specifically as a stop-smoking aid and has sold it in the United States since August under the brand name Chantix. Varenicline works by latching onto the same receptors in the brain that nicotine binds to when inhaled in cigarette smoke, an action that leads to the release of dopamine in the brain’s pleasure centers. Taking the drug blocks any inhaled nicotine from reinforcing that effect.

Less rewarding habit
A study published Monday suggests not just nicotine but alcohol also acts on the same locations in the brain. That means a drug like varenicline, which makes smoking less rewarding, could do the same for drinking. Preliminary work, done in rats, suggests that is the case.



“The biggest thrill is that this drug, which has already proved safe for people trying to stop smoking, is now a potential drug to fight alcohol dependence,” said Selena Bartlett, a University of California, San Francisco neuroscientist who led the study. Details appear this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Pfizer provided the drug for the study, but was not otherwise involved in the research.

More often than not, smoking and drinking go together — an observation pub-goers have made for hundreds of years. That a single drug could work to curb both addictions isn’t a given — nor is it surprising, said Christopher de Fiebre, an associate professor of pharmacology and neuroscience at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.

“This is an extremely important paper and hopefully it will convince the major funding agencies that they need to examine the interactions between nicotine and alcohol to a greater extent than they have done to date,” said de Fiebre, who was not connected with the study.

Human studies planned
In fact, the University of California researchers, together with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, are now planning the first studies in humans of the drug’s effectiveness in curbing alcohol cravings and dependence, Bartlett said. That the drug is already Food and Drug Administration-approved should speed things along.

“This is a drug that people are actually using. That’s not trivial — not at all,” said Mark Egli, co-leader of the medications development program at the NIAAA, part of the National Institutes of Health. “There is plenty of animal research that looks pretty cool but there is no way those drugs are ever going to be used by human beings.”

In the new study, researchers trained rats to drink alcohol and measured the effect of varenicline once the animals became the laboratory equivalent of heavy drinkers. They found the drug curbed their drinking. Even when stopped, the animals resumed drinking but didn’t binge.

Just as varenicline doesn’t work for all smokers, it’s highly unlikely it would for all drinkers.


“Is this going to be a cure-all? No, not for smoking or alcoholism because both diseases are more complicated than a single target or single genetic issue,” said Allan Collins, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Colorado who was not connected to the study.

Still, Collins, who’s worked on the topic for decades, called the drug’s potential use in treating alcoholism a “no-brainer.” And Egli said it supports the emerging view that there is a common biological basis for addictions to both alcohol and tobacco.

As for Pfizer, the New York company has yet to decide whether to seek broader FDA approval for the drug, a spokesman said.

“Without having considerable more data on this it would be very difficult for us to say we might pursue it or not. It’s almost a wait-and-see,” said Pfizer’s Stephen Lederer.

[memarcie]

Chantix

I was on Chantix to quit smoking and it worked wonders. I stopped taking it too soon though and have started smoking again. I took it for 6 weeks and 3 - 6 months or more is recommended. I have started drinking again borderline starting to concern me that I'm drinking too much again. I think I will have my doc refill my script for Chantix and start taking it again.

Thanks again for pointing out this article SK.


Marcie

[happycamper68]

Chantix

Wow this is pretty exciting news! Maybe I'll try to get a prescription from my horrible shrink.

[memarcie]

Chantix

Seriously this worked so well, I took a bit longer to quit, they say smoke until your 7th day of Chantix, and I wasn't quite ready yet. Well I smoked until my 14th day, but on day 7 I drastically cut down. I smoked 1 1/2 packs(30 smokes) a day and I went from that to smoking 9 or 10 on my 8th and 9th days and then 5 a day until the 14th day and then done. I had no cravings and didn't really miss it at all. The only part I missed was going outside from work for a break. I did several times in the 2 1/2 months I quit go out with the other smokers just to be outside. I didn't drink much at all in those months and I thought part of it was not wanting to put myself in a situation where I might smoke. I definitely recommend it for smoking, I can't testify to the drinking, since I wasn't really drinking at the time.


Patty I don't remember if you smoke, but if you do, ask for this if not, say you started smoking. If it really lives up to the alcohol indications in the article, it could help a ton of people!

:l

[Beaches]

Chantix

Can you buy without a prescription yet? For example on the online pharmacies?

[happycamper68]

Chantix

I think so Beaches. I googled it and there were sites all over the place.

Marcie, I quit smoking about 5 1/2 years ago, but my hack of a shrink will prescribe it for me I think. He really is a horrible doctor. He wants to "see my face" every 6-9 months, probably to make sure I am still alive, never talks to me about my problems. I send him self addressed stamped envelopes with money and he sends me what I ask him for. I should report him but then I could get in trouble and wouldn't get my scripts!
It's a blessing and a curse.

[SKendall]

Chantix

I may be horribly wrong, but every new drug has to be on the market for about 10-17 years to outrun the patent.

You can try, but I do know that American insurance companies will not prescribe this over alcohol abusers, ONLY nicotine patients.

[tipsynomore]

Chantix

I don't want to be a downer but I gave up smoking in January using Chantix but kept drinking just as much if not more.. I'm probably just wierd and anything is worth a go. The 'nice' thing is that it is socially acceptable to be quitting smoking - hell everyone applauds you - but if you need help with alcohol you're a sad, terrible person. Pretending to smoke to get it might help alot of people with their addiction without the stigma so I say "go for it!!"

[memarcie]

Chantix

Really Tipsy? i wasn't drinking much at all when on Chantix. I think I was afraid to since I knew I might smoke if I was drinking.

[julie001]

Chantix

Hi all,

I quit smoking using Chantix; however, I should have stayed on it the recommended amount of time instead of stopping once I had gone a few weeks without smoking. I've been having a cigarette here or there. I still have a few months worth of the prescription so I'm going to start back on it twice a day. I also cut back on drinking while taking it, probably because I associate the two together, but who knows...I think what's crucial to it working for smoking (and possibly drinking) is to be ready to stop.

Julie

[marcel]

Chantix

memarcie,
Thanks for posting the source of the article. I just read about it in my local paper yesterday and am excited to try it, if I can convince my doctor. I have experienced every single bad sad effect off topa in spades and am anxious to try something else. I am on 75 mg of topa now (down from 200) and revia. AF for 18 weeks minus 2 days (bday cruise for my husbands brother). Those 2 days have made it difficult again, though. Cravings are back and I don't want to go back up on the topa if I can help it.

Blah...blah...blah....blah....too late for long story short.

Thanks again. marcel

[happycamper68]

Chantix

Trying not to get hopes too high on this- but it's ALL over the news in NY, all the newspapers, everywhere.

[gracie29]

Chantix

It's crazy that drinking has such social taboos associated with it whereas, heart disease, diabetes, smoking and any other kind of health issue is oh my, lions,tigers and bears what can we do? I've quit smoking cold turkey twice in my life and haven't found it near as daunting as what I'm faced with now.

Hubby saw Chantix on news also and wanted me to look up but couldn't find anything on drinking until signed onto thread.

[memarcie]

Chantix

After drinking(and smoking) too much again last night. I decided to start taking Chantix again today. The first time I took it I quit smoking on day 14 of the meds, but cut down drastically after a week. I hope this time next week I will be smoke and drink free!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Marcie