Question on Chantix

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River

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Nov 11, 2009
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I will never touch that crap again as long as I live. I finished the entire program and yes I did quit smoking but the side effects were terrible and everytime I smelled tobacco smoke, even that foul stench that clings to peoples clothing and hair it smelled good. I literally longed day and night for a smoke and the second I broke down and smoked again I took up right where I left off.

After vaping for a month I can hardly stand the smell of a cig and as soon as I tried one after vaping for only two weeks I knew I would never smoke again and never want them again and that I think is where the real victory for vaping over any other method for quitting is.

!@*% chantix, seriously... and the pfizer it rode in on too.
 

Madame Psychosis

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Nov 18, 2009
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Ive also heard Chantix as being cancer causing!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uh...check your sources. Rumors about this stuff don't help smokers who are considering Chantix to quit the habit (one that is most definitely cancer-causing on its own!).

Prior to clinical trials, pharmaceutical makers have to do toxicity studies in animals. Pfizer's disclosure:
Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility
Carcinogenesis. Lifetime carcinogenicity studies were performed in CD-1 mice and Sprague-Dawley rats. There was no evidence of a carcinogenic effect in mice administered varenicline by oral gavage for 2 years at doses up to 20 mg/kg/day (47 times the maximum recommended human daily exposure based on AUC). Rats were administered varenicline (1, 5, and 15 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for 2 years. In male rats (n = 65 per sex per dose group), incidences of hibernoma (tumor of the brown fat) were increased at the mid dose (1 tumor, 5 mg/kg/day, 23 times the maximum recommended human daily exposure based on AUC) and maximum dose (2 tumors, 15 mg/kg/day, 67 times the maximum recommended human daily exposure based on AUC). The clinical relevance of this finding to humans has not been established. There was no evidence of carcinogenicity in female rats.

These findings are almost certainly not relevant to humans given the dosages, inconsistency, and low incidence (I don't know the background rate of tumors in lab rats). If you tried taking the doses required to possibly increase tumor incidence very slightly in three rats over their lifetime, you'd be in the ER for other problems very quickly.
 
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Dkrom68

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Nov 17, 2009
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How true is that. I tried one after vaping for a while and just about got sick from the taste and smell I know Im done for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will never touch that crap again as long as I live. I finished the entire program and yes I did quit smoking but the side effects were terrible and everytime I smelled tobacco smoke, even that foul stench that clings to peoples clothing and hair it smelled good. I literally longed day and night for a smoke and the second I broke down and smoked again I took up right where I left off.

After vaping for a month I can hardly stand the smell of a cig and as soon as I tried one after vaping for only two weeks I knew I would never smoke again and never want them again and that I think is where the real victory for vaping over any other method for quitting is.

!@*% chantix, seriously... and the pfizer it rode in on too.
 

Moleman

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Jan 12, 2010
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Going on week two without smoking - I was pack-a-day for about 25 years and failed numerous times in my quitting endeavors.

Anyway, it does seem to work as far as making "the freakout" jones for ciggies, less pronounced. I also find that it provides stretches of time where I'm not thinking about a smoke. The side effects are noticeable for me - I've been in a sort of depressed cloud and angry on occasion (though, the anger might just come from cig withdrawal). I do have more vivid dreams that I can actually remember, where I would never remember dreams before. This side effect is actually sorta fun - like an adventure every night.

I stopped taking it about 9 days in because I thought I could handle it by then and the weird depressed feeling was alarming my wife a little bit. The next day I had a terrible nic fit and bummed a cig off my bandmate - fortunately I didn't buy a pack, but IT WAS HARD. So I started taking the Chantix again and I'm back to where I was - I can hold off the smoking urge without a total freakout.

Now, I think the e-cig and Chantix together might be a great combo. I have an 801 that my mom bought for me months ago, that I never used. Unfortunately, when I tried to use it last week, the damn thing doesn't work. People on this forum have tried to help me get it going, but I think the atty is bad - I've been VERY frustrated by this because I think it would totally help me. So I ordered a disposable today from MadVapes. I'll let you know how the Chantix/PV experience goes for me - I have a feeling it will be great once I get a working PV!

Good luck! I know it's hard as hell!!!!!!!!
 

Madame Psychosis

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Nov 18, 2009
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Anyway, it does seem to work as far as making "the freakout" jones for ciggies, less pronounced. I also find that it provides stretches of time where I'm not thinking about a smoke. The side effects are noticeable for me - I've been in a sort of depressed cloud and angry on occasion (though, the anger might just come from cig withdrawal). I do have more vivid dreams that I can actually remember, where I would never remember dreams before. This side effect is actually sorta fun - like an adventure every night.

I stopped taking it about 9 days in because I thought I could handle it by then and the weird depressed feeling was alarming my wife a little bit. The next day I had a terrible nic fit and bummed a cig off my bandmate - fortunately I didn't buy a pack, but IT WAS HARD. So I started taking the Chantix again and I'm back to where I was - I can hold off the smoking urge without a total freakout.
Thanks for your story Moleman. I think yours is a good demonstration of how it can work. You're missing the dopamine hit from nicotine (and the alkaloids from tobacco which can be "antidepressants" in a different way) but from what you're saying it sounds like it's also reducing the cravings. It's a pretty well-targeted drug for nicotine dependence.

People with a history (or family history) of depression or other psychiatric issues shouldn't try Chantix because that sudden inability to self-medicate with nicotine/cigarettes could be really destabilizing. But if that is not an issue, then I don't think people should dismiss Chantix out of hand...just weigh the risks and benefits like with any drug.
 

paulspikey

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May 22, 2009
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I tried the chantix and it actually worked for me for a little while....I went a few months without smoking, but it made me feel like CRAP all the time. My appetite dissapeared and certain smells made me vomit. I think it does what it says it does, but the side effects are too risky for me to ever consider it again. Plus I love vaping a lot!
 

uba egar320

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I could never bring myself to take chantix again.That stuff is nasty.Everyone I know that took it still smokes or rubs.And we all had the same experience as far as CRAZY dreams go.Dreams so vivid and real, and most of the time just plain awful that I did not want to go back to sleep.Going on 10 weeks this thursday morning smoke free.I'll stick with the ecigs.
 

martha1014

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I think for any kind of NRT you use won't work if you don't really want to quit. That was my problem. I tried Chantix and thought it would be some magic pill that would make me not want to smoke but it doesn't work that way. I have never completely wanted to quit smoking. The only time I went over a week was when I was in the hospital and the doctor gave me a patch. I really didn't have any withdrawals from nicotine but it stayed in my mind the whole time. I think most of the addiction, once the nicotine is out of the system, is in our minds. My brother quit smoking 10 years ago and he said he wanted a cigarette every day of that 10 years.

When I would think about not getting to smoke the rest of my life I would become very anxious. The only way I have been able to quit was with ecigs and I did not plan on quitting when I first got them. It just happened.
 

Mr. Mom

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Do not use Chantix if you are prone to depression or anxiety.

Chantix operates on your dopamine receptors which is supposed to decrease your enjoyment of nicotine when in reality, it decreases your enjoyment of everything. Turned me into a zombie. Didn't enjoy anything. Food, tv, hobbies, etc. Kinda made me feel like I drank a bottle of Nyquil laced with hallucinogenics. Needless to say, i stopped taking Chantix within a week.
 

OneAsia

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I took Chantix on 3 different quit attempts. Obviously, I failed on the first 2, and on the last attempt the Chantix did not work at all. I actually lasted 6 months on the first attempt since I was jazzed about quitting smoking, but ill-prepared for the day that I got off of Chantix.

I got ......-off about a minor relationship issue, and off to the corner store I went to get a pack of Camel Lights (in a box). I was screwed since Chantix was my last, best hope at quitting smoking.

A couple of weeks after my 3rd and final Chantix attempt, the universe lined up just right, and I saw one little ad for a Greensmoke E-cig on a web site. I was curious how it worked, but I was mostly skeptical and wanted to see how fools and their money were parting ways these days. So I went to the Greensmoke web site, and the testimonials sounded real enough to do further research. That is how I found the ECF (Googled "E-cigarette").

After some recommendations in the newbie forum to start off with a Joye 510, I started my journey, and I have not had a tobacco cig since my 510 batteries were charged up the very first time.
 
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trukinlady

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Feb 24, 2010
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I took Chantix after I had a heart attack several months ago. It did eliminate my craving for cigarettes, but I was very emotional. I would cry at the drop of a hat then 5 minutes later I would be laughing. While I didn't have nightmares, I did have have very weird dreams.
I used it for about a month, then I had to stop.

I'm very glad I found ECF!
 

CES

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Just a note, Chantix isn't directly an anti-depressant. It's a partial agonist for one subtype of nicotinic receptor. It provides a little activation to the receptors that nicotine binds to. It's supposed to decrease cravings for nicotine by making your brain feel like you have nicotine on board. the effects on dopamine receptors is indirect. The receptors that Chantix activates are in many parts of the brain, not just in the dopamine pathway associated with the pleasurable/addictive properties of nicotine. Thus the many side effects.
 

HaploVoss

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Warning for anyone with epilepsy: Don't try Chantix without serious caution. I tried it and 1 week into it my seizures sky-rocketed. I started having anxiety attacks, very disturbing nightmares, and I was simply homebound. If it had not been for my family wondering what had happened and why I had fallen off the face of the earth - I would have seriously just died in my apartment from starvation if nothing else. I just couldn't go longer than an hour without a seizure tops - and I could not tell when they were coming unlike before. I was scared to go outside because of the stairs... whoo! Bad times.

Anyway. Brother came over, found me, figured out what was going on. Threw out the chantix, stayed with me for a week while I got back to just my normal meds, and all was well again.

Scary stuff. I had even discussed it with my neurologist beforehand. I have a new neurologist since. lol
 
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