Chantix-smoking cessation pill

Chantix has also been found to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts in people with anxiety disorders or depression. Please stay closely in touch with your doctor.

That was the scare part. Now the good news. A friend of mine who was a smoker for over 30 years successfully used Chantix to stop smoking. It does NOT take away the craving entirely. The physical part is the easy part. You will still need to have will-power to make it.

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1 lad at work is on them...hes stopped smokin.had no ill effects up too now..i heard they can have side effects.my doctor wont prescribe them..

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oi you..get on yer thread! lol

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well...the couple of times ive tried to stop smoking..the first time..i used patches... lasted a week... i didnt feel they did any good at all...was still craving like mad...and not sleeping too good..the second time i used that inhalator thingymabob... but i looked a twat puffin on it!!
so this time..im going cold turkey!

ive heard a lot of stories about zioban here... but mostly bad reports... ie nightmares... sleep deprivation..and yes i agree with peachy...not best taken with people with anxiety disorders...

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bloating,gas and gurgely noises!!lol!!! worked real well, but like peachy said ,you will still need the willpower to make it!!

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Rubyroo wrote:..the second time i used that inhalator thingymabob... but i looked a twat puffin on it!!...

time out !

that is makin me giggle like an idiot :-)

just when i needed a giggle too :-)

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I tried the drugs they left me feeling woozy. I did the laser treatment and I have been smoke free about 9 mos. here's the website if your interested:

http://www.kickthehabitnow.com/

best of luck :)

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My wife started using Chantix until we saw the information about it increasing the risk of depression and suicidal thoughts.

It did help her reduce her smoking from a pack and a half a day to a handful a cigs a day. But she experienced a heavy grogginess, headaches and nauseau when she upped it to the 1mg the second week. So, she stopped the program.

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Autumn wrote:I tried the drugs they left me feeling woozy. I did the laser treatment and I have been smoke free about 9 mos. here's the website if your interested:

http://www.kickthehabitnow.com/

best of luck :)

Laser Cessation? WTF?

I'm sorry, but I'm calling bullshit on that one.

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agamoto wrote:

Autumn wrote:I tried the drugs they left me feeling woozy. I did the laser treatment and I have been smoke free about 9 mos. here's the website if your interested:

http://www.kickthehabitnow.com/

best of luck :)

Laser Cessation? WTF?

I'm sorry, but I'm calling bullshit on that one.

Okay ...question....how can u call bullshit on something you haven't even tried???

No, I swear to god it worked for me. A co-worker of mine saw me smoking one day and he looked at me and said "you have to quit smoking" and I said "I know I know I have tried, please I hear it all the time" . He says "listen I smoked at least two packs a day" and I said " how'd you quit?.... I know I know cold turkey right" he says " nope, laser treatment" . He told me all about it and said at least go in there and try. So I promised I would. I went in there and I'm like "this is bullshxt" but at least I can say I tried. Even told the guy I interviewed with and he laughed. I started smoking because my Mother died. Figured smoking weed (they do drug testing) would make me lose my job and alcohol would kill me faster than cigarettes. Basically four family members died right behind each other, including my Father. It was a really long and difficult period for me and smoking was my answer to it all. If that makes me weak so be it. It's where I was. So let me tell ya about the laser treatment....

What they do is zap you with the laser in specific areas of the body.

What does the laser do?

It takes away your physical cravings for the cigarettes

how?

When you smoke a cigarette you are being fed unnatural endorphins from the cigarette, through all those chemicals in the cigarette.

When you stop smoking you have withdrawal from the unnatural endorphins and it takes your body two to three weeks for your own body to start creating its own natural endorphins. That is why we go insane and snap at people, can't concentrate etc. because of the withdrawal.

The laser treatment takes away the craving because it causes your body to begin producing its own natural endorphins right away.

I did not believe it either, not easily persuaded about the laser,since I tried just about everything to quit. I was a smoker since 1995 and I was an emotional smoker. If I got angry get the hell away from and let me go smoke a cigarette.

With the laser treatment, it took the irritability and withdrawal away but I still had an emotional addiction which I had to control. My body did not crave the cigarette it was my mind that craved it. So I changed my patterns every morning and when I got angry I was able to control myself enough not to get the cigarette.

The first time I did the laser treatment i was good for about 9 hours then someone pissed me off and I broke a wine bottle in my hand abd went and got a cigarette. The very next day I went right back and got the laser treatment again and never smoked another cigarette....And believe me I have had plenty of reasons to be pissed off and pick one up since then. Everyday is a battle. Also, if you relapse you get the second one free. (Which of course I used). :)

I know I couldn't quit cold turkey because I tried many times...my family and friends used to harass me constantly and at work my partners used to complain about the smell. No one likes that kind of humiliation. If I could've, I would have quit cold turkey. I needed a little help and I found it and I swear by it. I know it may be hard to believe but it worked for me.

I place the information here....if it helps one person then I've paid it forward. Someone helped me ... and it has probably saved my life....it's only right to share the information. Now whether you choose to believe it is soley up to each individual but if your desperate enough to quit, it is worth a shot. Like I said" I tried everything"

Edited on January 30, 2008 at 10:32 AM Quote

autumn wrote:Okay ...question....how can u call bullshit on something you haven't even tried???

my bad Agamoto, have you tried laser treatment or did you mean it some other way?

Edited on January 30, 2008 at 11:11 AM Quote

Autumn wrote:Okay ...question....how can u call bullshit on something you haven't even tried???

It's easy!!!

Here's how you, or anyone, can do it too...

1) Read everything on the site you linked to.

2) Google more websites for: "laser cessation therapy". Keep reading

3) After you've gone through a few, of the them you'll note that all the different companies are CHARGING people to participate in "clinical trials" instead of simply trying to sell the service.

4) Scratch your head and say "WTF?"

5) Go to Google and type: "clinical trials" +"FDA approval" +laser +smoking

6) Read a sampling of the many websites where you'll learn things like how there are several consumer groups (and alternative therapy lobby groups) attempting to get the FDA to shut these "clinics" down, how the FDA has only approved the lasers as temporary pain relief acupuncture devices, and also how the FDA permits these "clinics" to use the device within private medical trials, just like any other medical device that's new.

7) You'll come across mainstream media reports where you'll read this:

"FDA regulations do allow the therapy to be used in investigational clinical trials or studies -- exactly what Freedom Laser Therapy said it is carrying out at its two locations, in Santa Monica, Calif. and Royal Oak, Mich., president Craig Nabat said.

The company charged thousands of smokers to participate in the trials so far but has not collected data on whether the program successfully helped them quit, said Nabat, who wants to open franchises nationwide.

"We are not documenting exactly how many people are coming through -- how successful they are," said Nabat, adding that client referrals vouch for the program's effectiveness."

8) You'll shake your head at the notion of a clinical trial where neither the short term nor the long term effects in any its test subject receiving the "therapy" are recorded.

9) You'll then use Google again to determine if acupuncture itself, which this "therapy" is based on, has any measure of recorded success itself... You'll go to Google and type: +"smoking cessation" +acupuncture +efficacy

10) The results will come back with quite a few links to published research and results from legitimate double-blind medical trials which conclude that acupuncture works no better than a placebo or alternative sham therapy for smoking cessation

11) You'll come back here and call bullshit.

If you're a fast reader and an efficient searcher as I am, it shouldn't take you more than 10 - 15 minutes before you too can pick up the phone and dial 285-7448! Operators are standing by! ORDER NOW!

I'm not trying to belittle you, I know you truly believe what you're saying is the truth, but the rational explanation after looking at the claims, and the sham practices, it seems rather clear to me that you're under the influence of the placebo effect.

The only way this could get more snickerish is if they are also giving you "supplements" to take that include any trace of a central-nervous system stimulant or a dopamine re-uptake inhibitor... Because then we're talking class action lawsuit time for deliberate fraud.

But hey, be that as it may, if it works for you, go for it. It's the stopping that counts.

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agamoto wrote:5) Go to Google and type: "clinical trials" +"FDA approval" +laser +smoking

I know that they told me they are not FDA approved, unless it has changed since I went there. I have to go out but I will do the research later, but if your putting here I assume you took a look at it, so there is probably weight to what you say.

I know your words hold weight but I have to dispute the "placebo effect" . No imaginary effects for me.
One thing I can tell you is cigarette addiction is no joke. It is a very difficult habit to break because of the addiction to the chemicals in the cigarettes. It is known that the cigarette companies started adding more chemicals to keep people addicted. but I will stop here and comeback with some facts....

yep, I agree, it's the stopping that counts....BB :)

edited: I was given no supplements at all

Edited on January 30, 2008 at 12:00 PM Quote

Placebo effect goes beyond both the real and the imagined... Science still doesn't quite have a handle on why it works, but it sure does.

Damn on the no supplements... I'd try it out the therapy just to jump into the class action suit... Banks are paying sucky interest lately, gotta diversify!

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It's so weird that I just happened to come across this thread...I was on it in September and it really worked well for me...be the end of the first week I was down to only one cigarette and the next week none at all...I have tried everything and this really worked the best for me...then I started getting nauseaus in the morning so I stopped taking it...I thought I was getting nauseaus from the pill but it wound up I had an ectopic pregnancy and it was morning sickness...I lost the baby on Sept 25th....I just told my friend this morning I was thinking of going on it again and she told me her mother's doctor told her that 500 yes I said 500 people that were on it committed suicide...I think I'll just keep smoking...I know it's bad but when it's your time it's your time...it's inevitable that at some point in my life I will die from something...whether it be smoking or walking across the street and getting hit by a car...but I definitely don't want to take my own life so I'll just keep smoking...

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Well my therapist says I'm going through post partum depression and I've only been on antidepressants for 4 days now....can't wait til I'm my own happy self cause this really really sucks...good luck with quitting....there are many other safer ways to stop so you do have other choices...hugs...Lydia

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while searching for info on the laser treatment I found this article:

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20080201/suicide-warning-antismoking-drug-chantix

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agamoto wrote:Placebo effect goes beyond both the real and the imagined... Science still doesn't quite have a handle on why it works, but it sure does.

3 pgs to this article http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/features/best-ways-stop-smoking

http://www.quit-smoking-stop.com/nicotine-addiction.html

This link supports the fact that withdrawal from cigarettes is very real and I could not imagine that fact that I did not experience them. I didn't believe in this procedure from the beginning but hypothetically let's say I did...there would be no way I could imagine I had no withdrawal from the drug. To propose that I had a placebo effect from the "laser treatment" is equivalent to saying a heroine addict doesn't experience withdrawal.

I did find this quote in this article
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/06/laser_smoking.html:

"Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Health Research Group director of the Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, decried the procedure's continued availability and the FDA's inaction. "Medical evidence, in the form of properly conducted clinical trials, demonstrates that its effectiveness is indistinguishable from that of a placebo," Wolfe said."

In this article I found this quote that mentions what you said:

"Freedom Laser Therapy (FLT), based in Santa Monica, Calif., has taken the most heat for its website and marketing procedures. But Craig Nabat, FLT president told ConsumerAffairs.Com that the procedure works. "The lower power lasers cause an endorphin release that tricks the mind and body," he said. However, Nabat said that the laser is just the catalyst and that the person must take over-the-counter antioxidants and continue to watch videos that come with the procedure in order to quit smoking."

I never watched videos or took antioxidants. I was encouraged to take B vitamins for energy and to stay away from caffeine. I was told to break my regular routine of coffee and a cigarette in the morning.

In my research, some articles I read mention that each person's body responds differently to smoking which explains why some people develop cancer and others don't and may also explain why laser may work for some and not for others. Ok, I know your going to have a good comeback for my response here LOL but I feel I have presented a solid argument to support the previous statements I made....

agamoto wrote: Damn on the no supplements... I'd try it out the therapy just to jump into the class action suit... Banks are paying sucky interest lately, gotta diversify!

lol, so if I retract everything I said, do you think I can get in on that suit :)

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I've been on Chantix for a month now and I love it. I do get a little nauseous with the 1mg pill but it goes away after a bit and it's still better than smoking. For the suicide claims I really have to call BS on that. A pill like this is not going to make generally happy people kill themselves. I'm going through a very rough patch emotionally right now and I still don't feel suicidal. I feel like sh*t, but not suicidal by any stretch of the imagination.

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I'm a heavy smoker, so is my husband. Our family doctor gave us the prescription for Chantix, my husband had his filled but never took it after reading a lot of negitive things about it, so my son who is 26 years old and smoking since 17 tried it...I can't begin to tell you how much he was throwing up, then a few weeks later he stopped the med but it never stopped him from smoking from day 1 on, what scared me was he started getting mood swings, from hyper to depressed, thats when I said I have to look further into this med, it does have negitive side affects and I recently read about people committing suicide.. YIKES! My son never had depression ever! he is a happy and stable young business owner, but after that med I saw some weird changes, thank god it went away and he is still smoking, as I still am :( it's very hard to stop, the times I tried were a failure, it's more mind power then anything, but my mind is on the cigarettes all day lol, hopefully I can stop soon, especially with singing.

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Could the mood swings be from withdrawl symtoms? I know that everyone I have talked to who has tried it says they didn't have any side effects, and that they didn't have any cravings, but I wonder if the body is reacting to the lack of the cigs. I've been pushing my brother to try Chantix, but now I'm not so sure, but he gets moody anytime he doesn't have a cig. If you look at his songs, he starts almost every one with a cig. LOL He has tried everything else though, and he is up to three packs a day!

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Reply by luv2sing4evaGOLD on April 4, 2008 at 4:00 PM

these answers scared me, LOL

I'm still smoking away........Chantix is collecting dust in my med cabinet...money wasted :(

Ill take them off your hands and try it!! I have to quit no matter what!!! My husband and I both need too, but I have been sick since Jan with upper respiratory probs!! cant afford 2 prescrips for both of us !! Let me know on private message if u would like to free the "dust collector" !! Thanks

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Ive been a nurse for over 7 years at a family clinic. Chantix works for most patients but you have to want to quit. If you do not have insurance to pay for this medication, I may be able to help you get this medication for free. Helping patients get their medications for free when they had no insurance, was one of my responsibilities at the clinic. And I dont mind helping anyone if they want to try Chantix to stop smoking. I will be glad to help. Just let me know.

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I have been a smoker for about 20 yrs and have tried EVERYTHING you can imagine to quit, but nothing worked except for the Chantix! I quit for 44 days, and it was still hard but it was managable hard and not undearable hard. I've read several articles here lately about Chantix causing MANY problems to include heart problems, spasms, etc.

The only side effect I had in the month I was on them and not smoking was that every time I took the pill, I would get severely nauseated! It helped if I ate three or four crackers and took the pill at night as I was going to bed, but I would still get ill feeling sometimes, even then. Occasionall,y I would get so sick that I would vomit, but most of the time, it was just severe ill feeling-shaky, clammy-that kind of thing.

I had a five month prescription for them, but could only afford a month. They were expensive since our insurance pays nothing for Chantix or any other smoke cessation meds. So, within a few days of being off the medicine, I was back smoking. Man, I hate it and wish I could quit.

The articles of side effects are kind of spooky and remind me some of the problems some people had with Phen-fen, but it was worth it to me. I wish I could have been able to afford staying on them longer to see if it could have been a long-term cure for smoking.

I don't understand why these insurance companies won't pay for this kind of thing. They'll pay thousands of dollars if you get lung cancer, or other diseases from smoking, but won't pay a couple hundred dollars in prevention? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Our insurance also wouldn't pay for birth control pills, but would pay for pregnancies. They have changed that, but still won't pay for drugs like Chantix.

http://hk.ibtimes.com/articles/20080522/pfizer-039-chantrix.htm

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CBenton wrote:I've been on Chantix for a month now and I love it. I do get a little nauseous with the 1mg pill but it goes away after a bit and it's still better than smoking. For the suicide claims I really have to call BS on that. A pill like this is not going to make generally happy people kill themselves. I'm going through a very rough patch emotionally right now and I still don't feel suicidal. I feel like sh*t, but not suicidal by any stretch of the imagination.

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well i will tell you.. i was taking chantix for a week and even though they made me feel rather strange and lifeless i could see the difference. i didn't feel much like smoking and the cravings were going away but because they made me so sick i had to stop and here i am still smoking. i am going to give them another try ad just cut back on the dosge . i a a small person adn maybe it was just to strong for me

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I took them for 5 weeks and I got so depressed I had to come off them but I can say that if you ask the doctor to put you on the white tablet only and take two of these the depresson gos so anyone going to give them a go as soon as you fell depression coming on go back and ask for the white only my friend did and now shes a none smoker I'm having to go back to doctor to get them so still smoking yukkk

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I went to the ER with SEVERE vomiting after taking Chantix. If you read the label vomiting is listed there as a side effect.

Of course, I take several other prescriptions and could have had an interaction... I also got really sick once from using a tooth whitener!

I've heard good things from other people...wish I could have used it...I'm still smoking. sigh...

Good luck with your quitting! :)

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