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Today makes 9 weeks since I quit smoking and I credit it all to Chantix. I was a hardcore smoker for around 25 years and tried everything and I mean everything out there to quit. After getting two bleeding ulcers that the doctor said was primarily caused by my smoking I decided to try Chantix. I did not follow the instructions exactly in that I did not quit after the first week but when I did quit I didn't even realize it for about 24 hours. I quit on a Friday at 8:30. I put out my cigarette not thinking it was my last and around 9:00 the next night it occured to me I hadn't had a cigarette or even a craving since the prior night. Aside from maybe 5 minutes a day now and then I have not had any cravings at all.
It's pretty expensive, around $ 100 a pack but the savings in the long run are worth it. There are side effects but for me at least they are tolerable. I had the extreme nausea and if I didn't eat before taking the pill I would throw up pretty violently. The only other side effect I had was the vivid dreams. And when they say vivid they mean extrememely vivid and insane. Still, aside from the nightmares which are pretty rare, the dreams are quite fun. Since I am still taking the pills I have the dreams every night. Shoot, I may even miss them when I finish lol.
In the end, I highly recommend the drug for those trying to quit. You just have to choose between uncomfortable side effects for a few months or keeping on smoking.
I know several people who have used it to quit without any side effects but I know some who took it and couldn't handle the side effects. I decided to research it for myself on the internet. One place I checked and read was here askapatient.com and another was here... Chantix Forum: Tell your Chantix Story (http://www.chantixvarenicline.com/chantix_story_forum.htm - broken link)
Since I already have suffered side effects from another drug of Pfizer's, I decided they have done enough damage to me and am not interested..
One story; I have a friend that started acting strange. He came over one day and was telling me about a phone call he had made to his doctors office where they simply could not understand each other, he said it was like they were talking in different languages (although both were speaking English) and neither understood what the other was saying.. I had noticed in previous conversations with him that he just wasn't understanding a thing I said myself so I asked him if he was on any drugs. He had been on Chantix for 2 months and asked why I asked him that. I told him I had noticed he would ask me a question, I would answer, a few minutes later he would say "I asked you such and such and you never answered me so what do you think about what I said?".. I would tell him I DID answer him and would tell him what I had said.. A few minutes later he would scream at me "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION AND YOU NEVER ANSWERED ME...WHY?"
I told him to come sit by the computer with me and we would look up the side effects and we did.. That is when I found the second place I posted. The more he read, the more his jaw dropped. He was suffering from a lot of the side effects he read on there and never connected it to the Chantix.. That was the last day he took the drug and his problems/pain went away.
On the other side of the story, my boss used it to quit smoking, had only the vivid dreams and didn't gain ANY weight, even a year after quitting. He swears by it.
I have met several people who took it and had no effects and said it had no impact on their smoking habits so they quit taking it after several month of no results.
Congratulations on not smoking! I too used Chantix and didn't take the full 12 program and still quit. I had tried to quit a total of 5 times previously to this and lasted 6 months for one of the attempts. The way this happened this time was that I had gone into see my doctor and asked her about Chantix and she hops up out of her chair, writes the prescription and hands it to me...I said to her, "well, I guess I am quitting!". About 3 months later after quitting, I went in for a physical with her thinking I was hot stuff not smoking and she asked me if I had been having chest pain. I said "no". Then she asked me if I was having shortness of breath, again I said "no". She ordered a chest x-ray and I was diagnosed with an upper aortic aneurysm. The smoking didn't cause the aneurysm but I am sure it didn't help it any either. Aneurysms are hereditary. I then began a series of testing that no one ever wants to go through in this lifetime. I had open heart surgery February 25, 2008 and haven't touched a cigarette since July 15, 2007; almost 2 years ago. Even if I had not had to have the open heart surgery, I would still never smoke again and I too owe it all to Chantix and my doctor.
Good luck with your continued no smoking success. It is one of the hardest things to stop doing EVER.
My husband's client, a private investigator, tried to quit smoking on Chantix. He said his delusions and mood swings were so extreme. He always carried a concealed weapon (he has a permit due to his profession), but the day when he just had an uncontrollable urge to "shoot somebody" (his own words) was the day he stopped using it.
I used Chantix, and managed to quit smoking for about a year. Eventually I started again, but don't think I would've quit at all without the Chantix. I used it in combination with Nicotine patches.
I had VERY vivid dreams while I was on it... not good, since I'm already a lucid dreamer anyways. Also, I would become violently nauseous if I hadn't eaten or if I drank orange juice before taking it. However, it was worth it and worked very well. I would still crave cigarettes, but would get no feeling of pleasure from them... eventually you learn to not even want them anymore since they don't "taste"/feel good.
I am kicking myself for starting again, but made that decision and will now need to quit again. However, after reading all of the psychological side effects I am now nervous about taking Chantix again.
I thought it was quite the inventive way of quitting.
he actually wasn't trying to quit, he was using it so he could reduce the breaks he took while he worked, and so he could have a "puff" when he was somewhere you can't smoke. (like when traveling)
An old high school friend tried a humorous (to everybody else) way of trying to get his dad to quit smoking. He mixed black powder (gun powder) in with the ashes. There were small burn holes in the coffee table where sparks from the bright flash would hit. This was back when you wouldn't go to jail for spanking. I think the last spanking his dad gave him, he said his butt was so red you could write stop on it and stand him on a street corner! But he kept using the black powder! lol
Err I don't know anything about Chantix, but I wanted to say good luck on quitting! I didn't smoke for long, but I decided to quit because I was worried about my cats inhaling the smoke. Maybe that's a weird thing to be motivated by, but it worked. I still get the urge every once and a while though, I don't know of anything that will prevent that.
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