Your experience with Chantix

[Backslash]

Has anyone else here taken Chantix, and had any problems with it? I took it for a few weeks, and it never (or didn't get the chance to) really helped me with analogs. It did do something else for me, though.

I stopped it and went to e-cigs due to a particularly disturbing nightmare. I won't bore you all with the details, but as it was happening I swore it was real. Senses were vivid; touch, smell, etc.

I'm a tough guy. These things don't bother me, ever. Normally when I dream (if I do...) I just wake up, roll over and am like, whatev. This time I woke up drenched in sweat and heart pounding with an adrenaline rush. All I could think of when I woke was .... wtf .... I didn't sleep for the rest of the night, and haven't taken Chantix since.

Just wondering if anyone else had any such experience, or if I'm just a freak.

[WILDJC]

It was like living in a Fellini movie without an ending.

[Twister]

Chantix worked for me to quit smoking temporarily. It also made me so depressed that my doctor wanted to hospitalize me. My wife was worried and said that I was zoned out like a zombie. Slept alot and had disturbing dreams. I had no desire to do anything. Took close to a year to get out of my system and of course went back to smoking. People, be careful of this stuff!

[SudokuGal]

I was one of the lucky ones who had no side effects at all. It does take care of the brain craving nic, but not so good for the oral fixation part. I took it prior to some surgery...the moment surgery was over so was my use of it.

[osiris]

I tried this through my doctors last year. It made me feel sick and depressed.

(cough) and not very active in the bedroom department.

[cliff5550]

We took Chantix in early 2008 and actually stopped smoking for about three months but as soon as we stopped taking it, went right back to smoking. Tried again early this year and had the morning sick stomach feeling. Always had the vivid dreams when we took it. Finally went to eicgs at the end of June and have had no analogs (or the desire for one) since the first day.

[amandanator]

I took Chantix for a while. It stopped my cravings most of the time but I never could quite completely stop. But I'm in agreement with SudokuGal, it didn't stop the oral fixation desire. I always had something in my mouth - mostly food!

I did have the vivid dreams, most were not disturbing but I remember I would spend most of the next day or so after the dream convincing myself that it was a dream and not real. I always had an uneasy feeling for many hours after one of those dreams. I remember one particular dream, I dreamed my husband was having an affair - I was pissed at him for days even though I knew it was just a dream.

I would also throw up in the morning after taking the Chantix. It didn't seem to matter if I took it with food, after eating or on an empty stomach, I would always get sick. It was like having morning sickness, but I knew that wasn't a possibly!

I think I would have continued the Chantix even these side effects if it hadn't been for the cognitive problems I experienced while on it. I had a terrible time with staying on task and remembering things. I just couldn't seem to get my act together. At first I thought it was the lack of nicotine that was causing the problem but it just continued. I started to worry I would get fired because I would have a project and if I would have to put it off for some reason, I would forget it altogether. My boss was constantly having to ask for things and I would be scrambling to get it done last minute because I'd forgotten to do it. It got so bad, my husband suggested that maybe I needed to go "talk to someone".

It's taken a year for me to feel like myself again since stopping the Chantix. I can finally multi-task again! I don't know if anyone else has had a similar reaction to the Chantix, but I felt like I was losing a sense of myself and that was not something I was willing to forfeit in order to quit smoking.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first e-cig. It should be here today!I've been reading this forum for quite sometime now, and am hopeful I will have the same positive experience so many here have had with them.

[emeraldjay]

I tried Chantix twice. I didn't experience the sick feeling either time. The first time it was working until I had a college paper to finish and given that my habit was to smoke while on the computer, I ruined my one week off analogs. The second try had no effect on me at all. I always have vivid dreams so I can't say Chantix caused them for me. Both times I was on it, I craved sweets, to the point I was joking with my nursing instructors that if they checked my blood sugar then they would get frosting.

The other thing it did was make my migraines hit faster and stronger than usual, almost to the point my rescue med didn't have a chance to work (20 minute warning sign as opposed to 2-3 hour warning sign)

[bigozone]

despite having a history of anxiety and bi-polar disorder, i too tried chantix at my DR's avid request.
first of all i did quit, and remained smoke free for over 3 months until a very stressful situation required a smoke and more!!!

my experience on chantix went like this...
no problem until day 4 w/o a cig. at that point i was the most stressed out that i've ever been. i had to have benzos just to remain slightly social. after 4 weeks i had quit and thought i would be able to do so w/o any further meds. this worked for me for 2 months until a situation beyond my control placed soo much stress on me that i was needing more of those benzos but was out. so i broke down and smoked a cig, and drank a bit.

i've thought of taking chantix again, but couldn't try take it w/o out something to take the edge off. and the 4th day w/o a smoke brought out almost all of the withdrawl signs but in my case they came out to the 10th power, especially the anger and irratibility.

[thewomenfolk]

Backslash, you are not a freak. I can remember having such a real and terrifying nightmare many years ago, and it had nothing to do with the status of my mental health. I got a prescrip for Chantix about 3 years ago that I've never even opened. I wonder if Walgreens would refund me? (I doubt it...I find Walgreens to be the most greedy pharmacy that exists, they robbed me for a long time before I got wise and got Canada prescrips, and checked out the local grocery stores and Walmart).