Chantix not doing it for ya? Well then....

[AgentAnia]

Let's throw another problematic drug into the mix! Yeah!

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_143911.html
Drug Duo Might Help Smokers Quit Better Than Single Med: MedlinePlus

Two drugs in combination might be better than one when it comes to helping hardcore smokers quit, at least in the short term, a new study suggests.

The drugs -- varenicline (sold under the brand name Chantix) and bupropion (Wellbutrin) -- taken together increase the rates of quitting over 12 weeks compared with Chantix alone, the researchers found. After a year, however, relapse rates were similar using both approaches.

More patients using the combination treatment reported anxiety and depression than those taking only Chantix. "Those are important symptoms to monitor, but we don't feel it's more than would occur with normal treatment," Ebbert said.

More anxious? More depressed? Never mind, we'll put you on suicide watch and you're making our 12-week quit rate look a little better and that's what counts...

 

[patkin]

I envisioned lemmings going over a cliff reading that.

 

[Spazmelda]

More patients using the combination treatment reported anxiety and depression than those taking only Chantix. "Those are important symptoms to monitor, but we don't feel it's more than would occur with normal treatment," Ebbert said.

Is it just me or are the two halves of that statement completely contradictory?

ETA: The data tells us more people experience anxiety and depression when using both drugs, but we really feel it's the same amount??

 

[CalamityJess]

Is it just me or are the two halves of that statement completely contradictory?

ETA: The data tells us more people experience anxiety and depression when using both drugs, but we really feel it's the same amount??

Here's what kills me. I asked about chantix once. But because I'm on Celexa (an antidepressant) for my anxiety, I was told I can't be on Chantix. My husband had to take Chantix classes because he was going to use it. They specifically said you cannot be on any other antidressant/anti anxiety medication with Chantix (He never got his, because he was too busy doing his job to get the pills picked up before his little card expired. We're trying to make vaping his habit now). But if these are conditions for taking it WHY would the pair it with another anti-depressant?

I took Wellbutrin once to try and quit. it made cigarettes taste awful, but that's about it. And as a side effect made me a complete witch to everyone around me. Putting it with a drug that isn't supposed to be mixed with MAOI's and mixing it with an MAOI?? Really???

 

[Spazmelda]

I took Wellbutrin, and it gave me crazy-wake-up-screaming nightmares. I asked my dr for a Chanitx prescription, and he reluctantly wrote one for me, but told me to get back in touch if I got it filled so I could be monitored for bad reactions. I never got it filled.

 

[AgentAnia]

Do I detect a hint of desperation from those profiting (or those who used to profit) from Chantix and Wellbutrin? (And let's not forget Central Kentucky Research's clinical trial on Chantix use by 12- to 16-year-olds...)

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

One thing about those drugs the medical folks just don't seem to grasp. What do we do with our hands? Seriously. I never tried Chantix or gum for that reason because I knew I would fail. (Like so many others).

After 35 years how the hell do you just sit there with your hands in your lap?

 

[Spazmelda]

One thing about those drugs the medical folks just don't seem to grasp. What do we do with our hands? Seriously. I never tried Chantix or gum for that reason because I knew I would fail. (Like so many others).

After 35 years how the hell do you just sit there with your hands in your lap?

New study: combination knitting/Chantix treatment increases success rates 0.037% over Chantix alone at 12 weeks. Dual treatment group experienced a statistically significant increase in snarls, knots, and yarn tossing than Chantix-only group.

 

[CalamityJess]

One thing about those drugs the medical folks just don't seem to grasp. What do we do with our hands? Seriously. I never tried Chantix or gum for that reason because I knew I would fail. (Like so many others).

After 35 years how the hell do you just sit there with your hands in your lap?

That's so true. I have always been a hand to mouth addict, even before smoking. In school with my pencils, and to this day, I always have to pencil in my hand rub the eraser under my bottom lip. Strange habit, but true. I do it still when I don't have my vape in my hand.

 

[Bramble]

I'm amazed that anyone can say, with a straight face, that Chantix is a safe drug and that they don't know if vaping is safe enough.

 

[03FXDWG]

Knitting, crochet, needlepunch, whittling, sketching--anything to keep you from strangling whomever is annoying you!

I was just talking with my brother-in-law's wife earlier. He's been on Wellbutrin for the past 6 years but he doesn't take it to quit smoking. He takes it so he can deal with people without telling them what he really thinks. He was working in the electronics department of a large office supply store when he ran to the doctor to get something to make it easier to deal with stupid people--no joke. The older he got, the more patience it took to deal with day to day issues. We call them his happy pills and you can definitely tell if he misses a dose. He takes grumpy old man to a whole new level without them. He's been vaping for 8 months successfully but he still needs his happy pills. Did the tobacco companies add MAOI's to cigarettes and now they don't? That could explain my brother-in-law's issue--well part of it anyway. His parents and one of his grandparents explain the rest.

One thing about those drugs the medical folks just don't seem to grasp. What do we do with our hands? Seriously. I never tried Chantix or gum for that reason because I knew I would fail. (Like so many others).

After 35 years how the hell do you just sit there with your hands in your lap?

 

[Bramble]

I just wanted to mention that wellbutrin (bupropion) isn't an MAOI, it is an SNRI.

That one actually helped a bit, as far as quitting smoking, but it gave me a high heart rate all the time and kept me from sleeping. Then they were chasing the side effects of it (and the quit itself) with other drugs and so on. Eventually, I was on about 5 medications related to depression, anxiety, and insomnia - all related to quitting smoking. They said it was worth the quit but I was a hot mess. Eventually went back to smoking, and weaned off everything. It was years before I was myself again.

Some years later when Chantix came out, I tried it, quit for a short time, decided I would rather die of smoking than by randomly deciding to drive my car into a phone pole for no reason at all.

The prescribing of drugs is out of control. Why recommend diet and exercise when people would rather take a pill... that's a whole other soapbox I'll avoid right now

 

[rothenbj]

One thing about those drugs the medical folks just don't seem to grasp. What do we do with our hands? Seriously. I never tried Chantix or gum for that reason because I knew I would fail. (Like so many others).

After 35 years how the hell do you just sit there with your hands in your lap?

How dare you suggest that the habit has anything to do with why people continue to smoke? It's been clearly shown that nicotine, a drug more addicting than C or H or booze is clearly why people smoke. Non-smoking prohibitionists, I mean scientists, have offered their best studies (all others are quickly discarded) to prove that If people just chewed nic laced gum or sucked nic laced lozenges or slapped a nic-laced patch or two on their arm a few dozen quit attempts, that addiction to nicotine would be broken, particularly if you'd use them as a permanent replacement to smoking.

What are you going to do with your hands? Perhaps bite your nails or such on a nicotrol inhaler while your on the above three and taking the Redux (fen-phen) of stop smoking alternatives suggested by this study.

 

[rothenbj]

I'm amazed that anyone can say, with a straight face, that Chantix is a safe drug and that they don't know if vaping is safe enough.

There is absolutely no mortality involved with Chantix, just successful long term quit success.

 

[AgentAnia]

There is absolutely no mortality involved with Chantix, just successful long term quit success.

Be careful, rothenbj, or Pfizer will be recruiting you for their PR department!

 

[rothenbj]

Knitting, crochet, needlepunch, whittling, sketching--anything to keep you from strangling whomever is annoying you!

I was just talking with my brother-in-law's wife earlier. He's been on Wellbutrin for the past 6 years but he doesn't take it to quit smoking. He takes it so he can deal with people without telling them what he really thinks. He was working in the electronics department of a large office supply store when he ran to the doctor to get something to make it easier to deal with stupid people--no joke. The older he got, the more patience it took to deal with day to day issues. We call them his happy pills and you can definitely tell if he misses a dose. He takes grumpy old man to a whole new level without them. He's been vaping for 8 months successfully but he still needs his happy pills. Did the tobacco companies add MAOI's to cigarettes and now they don't? That could explain my brother-in-law's issue--well part of it anyway. His parents and one of his grandparents explain the rest.

Tobacco companies don't add MAOI to cigarettes, it comes naturally as part of the minor alkaloids in tobacco. Nicotine makes up about 95% of the alkaloids with 4 or 5 others making up the other 5%. It is possible BT enhanced the effect somehow.

Wellbutrin (Zyban) was the only BP product that got me off cigarettes for any length of time in my 43 years of smoking, 3 months. I had no desire to smoke, hand to mouth was broken and I was feeling great about finally being successful. Then my script ran out. Within a week I was climbing the walls and started taking a few drags here and there. Within a couple weeks I was back to full time smoking.

Some of us need those MAOIs to function normally. When I started vaping, I still needed a half dozen cigarettes to feel normal. Once I found Swedish snus, the need for smoking went away and the need to vape constantly went away. I figure I have minor depression in my physiology and there's enough of what I need in 4-5 portions of snus to keep me level. He sounds like he needs more.

 

[rothenbj]

Be careful, rothenbj, or Pfizer will be recruiting you for their PR department!

My company merged with Pfizer after I retired.

 

[Bramble]

There is absolutely no mortality involved with Chantix, just successful long term quit success.

"I quit EVERYTHING with Chantix!"

 

[Rickajho]

Good lord - no. I smell another Phen-phen disaster right around the corner. But in this case we're gonna have someone take out an entire stadium through an FDA approved quit smoking "miracle."

Don'tcha just love the Chantix commercial with the cop who quit smoking... that then runs into the whole suicidal/depression warning thing? That one weirds me out every time. Just what we need - people whose profession it is to carry firearms getting even more anxious and depressed while trying to quit smoking on top ot it. Why not throw some amphetamines in the mix just for poops and giggles? That seems to be the ethical standard BP is aiming for at this point. Desperate measure to try and cut e-cigarettes off at the pass.

After I got through my quit smoking withdrawal - which, BTW, was the only success I ever had with it - vaping just made me... happy. Anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts? Yeah - that didn't happen.

What the hell is wrong with this picture?

 

[Stosh]

Never tried Chantix, but I took Wellbutrin...found it didn't interfere with my smoking habit at all.