Chantix

[happycamper68]

Chantix

Marcie keep us posted, I am very excited to hear how it does for you! :h

[Mags]

Chantix

memarcie

What dosage of Chantrix are you using? Did you have any side effects? I've been thinking of trying Topa but have heard such horror stories about the side effects. Also my husband (an ex-smoker) is bugging me all the time to quit smoking. I figured I could give up only one addiction at a time so have been working on the alcohol thing.

I'm very interested in trying the Chantrix. Thanks for all the info.

[lushy]

Chantix

PLease make sure you do thorough research on this drug before you consider taking it. RJ posted some links over in the Subscriber section and this particular link scared the heck out of me. If you tend to be a depressed or anxious person I would never consider taking this. Read some of the stories on here......

Pfizer's Smoking Cessation Drug Gets FDA Approval

There are also other problems associated with this drug including joint and muscle pain that do not go away even after discontinuing the drug.

[sheshe]

Chantix

OH MY GAWD!!!! Thanks so much for the link Lushy! My husband and I were going to go on Chantix to stop smoking - but after that there's no way in HELL one of those things will pass my lips! You guys may have seen some of my posts re. antidepressants - I can't imagine what this would do to me!!!!

But I guess the drug co's must be happy! A whole new wave of anxiety ridden/depressed/suicidal people who can now be treated with antidepressants and mood stabilizers!

:egad:

[Mags]

Chantix

Thanks Lushy. And thanks RJ.

[nancy]

Chantix

Thanks so much for posting that Lushy... scary reading

[memarcie]

Chantix

I was on Chantix earlier this year and didn't have any issues with anxiety and/or depression. I've been on Effexor in the past, just came off it at the beginning of the year, just before I started Chantix. No problems for me.

Mags, the doesage was .5mg the first 3 days, then 1mg for 4 days then 2mg daily. The only side effect I had was pretty odd dreams the first few weeks of taking it. I'm curious to see if that happens this time.

[happycamper68]

Chantix

Wow I just read all those posts and I am really scared. I am way too depressed and anxious to risk it I think. You may never hear from me again! I don't know.....

[memarcie]

Chantix

Remember the people who respond are the ones most likely to have serious issues. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it didn't happen with me. I've been VERY depressed in the past to the point of attempting suicide(many years ago), and thinking about suicide as recent as a year and a half ago.

You've all also read sx from topa and they are not the most pleasant. Anti-d's have a suicide warning as well. I just want to say to everyone is different and one persons story does not at all mean the majority have the same issues.

Day 1 of Chantix went well, I did go to the bar for a few hours, but surprisingly, I didn't drink nearly as fast as normal, although, maybe I just wasn't in the mood?

[memarcie]

Chantix

I finally became a subscriber today and read some of the posts about Chantix over there. It really did work well for me to stop smoking the first time I took it and I didn't have any of the emotional sx from the drug. However, I know everyone is different.

I am really taking it to stop smoking again, just hoping that it will also curb alcohol issues.

[YoungAtHeart]

Chantix

I'm glad that you didn't have any issues, Marcie. I think it is true too, that you will hear mostly about the bad news on those forums. Nevertheless, I think anyone with a hx of depression or bipolar disorder should be aware of the possibility of those side effects.

[Benjammin]

Chantix

Here's another Article on Varenicline. Was browsing medical news today and just came across it. Did a search here and of course you folks already know about it!

Need A Cigarette And A Cocktail? Just Pop A Pill Instead
13 Jul 2007

Smoking and drinking are two vices that often go hand in hand (one hand clutching a drink while the other holds a smoke). A decade ago, a study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol indicated that as many as 85 percent of heavy drinkers also light up. Smokers have various aids to help them quit the deadly habit, including varenicline, a drug manufactured by Pfizer that blocks nicotine from releasing the pleasure-associated neurotransmitter dopamine. Now new studies in rats show that it also blocks a craving for alcohol.

Eighteen rats were given intermittent access to 40 proof alcohol for four months. By varying access to the liquor this way, pharmacologist and alcohol researcher Selena Bartlett of the Ernest Gallo Clinic & Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and her colleagues made rats crave it. Every time the rodents had access to booze, they upped their intake. "They drink all day and then they don't get to drink," Bartlett says. "The withdrawal makes them want to drink more."

But even after months of this behavior - 37 binge-drinking sessions in all - the rats cut their drinking in half when given varenicline. And when taken off the drug, the rats did not immediately imbibe more (the so-called rebound effect that has plagued other treatments). "That's because we believe [the drug] is turning down the reward system," Bartlett says, "instead of replacing the system."

Bartlett believes that varenicline works by fastening onto receptors in the brain that would otherwise be activated by alcohol (or nicotine). A synthetic drug - modeled after the alkaloid cytisine from the small flowering Laburnum trees of Europe chemically combined with a compound from the poppy plant - it also curbed drinking in seven rats with continuous access to alcohol and 30 rats trained to self-administer liquor when stressed.

Varenicline has been available as a smoking cessation aid for nearly a year in the U.S. and the European Union, 30 countries in all. In addition to already having proved its safety in humans, the drug offers other benefits over current alcoholism treatments, including not diminishing appetite. Also, "it's not metabolized in the liver," Bartlett says, a major plus because "people who have been drinking for a long time tend to have liver damage."

The researchers plan to conduct clinical trials on humans pending permission and funding by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Md. It remains unclear how long a treatment would need to be in order to kick the habit but the drug does linger longer in the human system. "In rats, the drug only lasts for a few hours," Bartlett says, although it still cuts drinking in half. "In humans, it lasts 24 hours." And some alcoholics who are trying to quit smoking may already be feeling the benefits.

"Smokers who use the drug varenicline to help them stop lighting up may discover it also reduces their urge to drink"
By David Biello
Scientific American
Click here to see article online

Article URL: Need A Cigarette And A Cocktail? Just Pop A Pill Instead

Main News Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking

Also Appears In: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs,
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[fsophiah]

Chantix

As far as all these drugs go, most of us here, as RJ's disciples, have expressed willingness, if not eagerness, to try the new treatments that are brain-based. We are reluctant to see AA as the one-and-only, one-size-fits-all treatment. Because of that, we are on the front lines of the new wave of alcohol dependence treatment, and we are guinea pigs. Taking topamax is a pioneering step. I am watching everyone to see how these drugs work, and and I want to see how Marcie feels on this drug and how everyone else feels on the rest of the drugs. Naltrexone is helping me. Not the way topa did. But topa's side effects were pretty extreme for me. All I can say is that I hope we don't dismiss a drug because of the scary things that happen to some people. If I had read about the side effects I was going to experience taking topamax, I might never have taken it, and I wouldn't be on the road I'm on now. But I'm grateful for the experience of knowing that I can change my brain and improve my life. I just don't think we are in a position where we can judge any drug that might be helpful. I think we are at the place where anti-depressants were thirty years and more ago, and a breakthrough is on the horizon, so we have to keep the faith.

[Determinator]

Chantix

if you've ever lost a loved one to a smoking related disease such as emphazema you would do anything....ANYTHING to get other loved ones to quit smoking...it's such a hideous way to die. sorry, but smoking runs in my family and I've lost some of them to it.
Good points Fsophia.

[memarcie]

Chantix

I've been taking Chantix for a week now and no emotional/depression issues. While I have been drinking most nights, it has been less. I'm not sure if that is due to the Chantix or due to just being here more now and reading and thinking about every drink I take.

I didn't have any of the depression/anxiety sx from Chantix the first time either though. And I had been on Effexor and other anti-d's for a few years. I had just come off of Effexor a month before I started the Chantix and still no issues. However, this is just my experience and I know others may not be as tolerant of the meds.

Marcie