It made me so ill, and while I can't prove it, I believe it's responsible for my ongoing stomach problems.
I loved smoking, 47 days now taking varenicline and I despise it. Wish I would've done it 15 years ago. I have a long history of mental illness but the last 5 years I have it mostly under control (no meds) I actually feel like a normal person on varenicline. 40 days cig free and I feel amazing. A little insomnia and a little nausea during the starter pack but nothing unbearable. Definitely worth the trade off of not smelling like a ashtray.
Guess I am one of the lucky few who doesn’t get the bad or vivid dreams on this medication.
After two weeks of taking the medication I had a seizure that hospitalized me and I have no history of seizures
I smoked for 40 years. I loved smoking but it was becoming more and more difficult to hide from family and friends. I didn’t smoke around my children, grandchildren, friends and colleagues. My doctor suggested trying it. I agreed I would try it, but never ever thought I was actually going to quit smoking. I think the part that attracted me was I could take the medicine and still smoke. I filled the prescription and followed the directions for four weeks. At the end of four weeks I was not smoking and I have never smoked another cigarette again. It has been 15 years. I still can’t believe that this medicine worked!!!!!
I was a 30 year medium-heavy smoker. My doctor gave me both Chantix and Zyban at the same time. The upside is it worked. At exactly the 8-week point, I noticed I watched an entire movie and then started another without wanting to smoke. This was a miracle for me. So I decided to do it and went to work on Monday without any smokes and have never had one since. Though they still smell good sometimes. The downside is I rapidly gained 50 pounds (age 49-50) and my pre-diabetes exploded into full-blown insulin dependence. Still better than dying gasping for air and I felt so much better. It took about 6 months for my lungs to (feel) totally clear (longer than expected, but don't let that dissuade you. It's totally worth it!!!) Also, the weight comes off if you can avoid injuries. I think I gained more weight than most will, but want you to know. I think when younger I would have consider smoking again to lose the weight (so vain), but I saw what it was like to die of smoking-related diseases. Truly a horrible way to go, a burden to your family and nobody feels sorry for you because they think you did it to yourself. Also, you can sit through a whole meeting at work and focus the whole time. I do miss the comradery of the smoking area and still do a little. Also sitting at traffic lights was always a trigger for me. Anyway, best of luck and it is worth it.
I was prescribed Chantix by my PCP. I took it for 2 weeks. I could deal with the crazy dreams, but the nausea was a deal- breaker for me. It affected me at work and I had to discontinue it.
I'm going to preface this story with the fact that I was able to quit smoking while on Chantix and it did make it easier to do so. However, the trade off is not worth it. I took this drug through the starter pack and for an additional week. I was able to put down smokes for good and i have been off of them for over a month now without the Chantix. I had issues sleeping on this drug that I had originally blamed on the fact that we have 2 little kids and one of which at the time was 4 - 5 months old. Noticed that when I started sleeping in a different room that I would sleep but wake up feeling like I had not slept at all. This exhaustion never left but I dealt with the exhaustion because it was helping me quit. Figured that what's being tired if in the long run I'm able to quit. The next fun episode was when we had some people over for a BBQ and I had one drink, that was consumed over about an hour and a half. After which is proceeded to lose my mind. I went tunnel visioned, had no idea who was there or what they were talking about, felt completely trashed but there is no way off of one drink I was drunk. I got paranoid, EXTREMELY angry and violent. Was able to maintain enough sanity to walk away when I was about to do harm to someone and punched the house. Broke my hand in that process which I'm still recovering from. Got violent intentions towards my kids (they are fine, never got near them) realized this and went suddenly suicidal. Tried to drown myself in a steam behind our house while fighting off my wife and step son that were trying to pull me back. All with broken hand. They succeeded and got me back to the house where I put deep finger nail scratch marks in the wood of our picnic table while sobbing about being a worthless father that should die. This episode lasted for about an hour. When it was done i was perfectly sober, no hangover, just very tired and confused about why i acted so wild. I remember every second of it and am extremely embarrassed. We live in town and there was quite the audience that is now leery of me and for good reason. Since stopping the medication my sex drive has gone into the dumps. I normally have a very high drive to match my wife but lately have no interest in sleeping with her. That is putting stress on our relationship. She has also made the comment about my personality being different and she wants her husband back. I should also note that while on the drug my sex drive seemed to go up. Also had multiple random erections that I had no reason for. I'm able to sleep more normally now which is fantastic. The one thing that I just can't shake is my temper now. I go nuts very easy. It is hard to control the rage bursts over nothing. They happen frequently and I spend a lot of time just clinching my jaw and struggling to walk away before saying or doing anything irrational. These outbursts are nowhere near the level of absolute all consuming rage that caused me to break my hand. My ADD has gone absolutely nuts as well. I find it much harder to concentrate on anything. I can start 10 projects without completing any of them in under 5 minutes and not even realize I was project hopping. Work has become an absolute struggle, which pitches the rage and makes it even worse. I had routines to handle my ADD before this, never taken drugs for it in my life. Now I might have to try because I'm going to lose my job if I can't get it under control. Honestly if i had a choice to go back, not quit smoking and not take Chantix, I would gladly have kept smoking to never have taken this drug. Now, all of this just serves as a reminder that I can't go back to smoking. Smoking again would just make everything I went through, and am still going through for nothing. I do NOT recommend this drug for anyone. In fact I will actively encourage anyone to find ANY other way to quit than to try Chantix. Try absolutely anything else to quit before you give Chantix a try. If you do take Chantix, do not have
Chantix is amazing! It did what I literally thought was impossible. Two weeks into my second try with Chantix, I am now a non-smoker after 40 years. I have zero urges and the cravings last only seconds. Now I workout daily and feel myself getting stronger everyday! Than you Chantix!
I took Chantix for two cycles which was 6 months. I slowly weaned off Chantix during the last month. This was 4 years ago and I am still a non smoker after having smoked menthol cigarettes for 31 years.
I succeeded in my goal to quit a smoking using Champix. I however having issues with my sleep and nightmares into about week 5 of taking the drug. I want to continue the full prescription but the interruption in my sleep affects my day and my work. So since I don’t have any cravings I’m feeling confident that I am now a non-smoker I feel like I don’t want to take the prescription anymore I also was reading an article this morning about a carcinogen that was found in champix in 2021 snd a huge recall, so now I’m worried that I am taking a medication that has a carcinogen that could cause cancer even though I’ve quit smoking. So do I get cancer from smoking or do I get cancer from quitting smoking I’m confused. All I know is that the nightmares I had last night were more than nightmares they were almost night tremors and night terrors and I do not want to experience that again I am exhausted this morning and to be honest I’m still a little shaken from the dreams I was having so yes champix helps me quit smoking but it’s also driving me insane at night. I’m thinking maybe I will take my morning pills and not my evening pill and see how it goes I’m definitely going to contact my pharmacy and doctor today to ask them about if this pill still contains the cancer-causing carcinogen that causes the recall1 year ago, and if it happens to still contain this carcinogen I will be quitting this medication and possibly getting a medical review and quite frankly I will be contacting a lawyer.
No benefits for me. I had bad headache in the back of neck and head, for the second week. I became very angry with family and friends. I threw my beloved dog on the floor.I stopped taking immediately after hearing my family and friends tell me how bad I acted. I actually felt my actions were justified. I threw my beloved dog on the floor.
I have been smoke-free for 16 years thanks to Chantix. It eliminated the effect I got from nicotine and cravings.
The BEST way to quit smoking - and I've tried them all! It basically 'takes the edge off' the stress and agitation. I'd missed a dose one night when teaching and was crabby and agitated by the end of the night - so I could see how the dopamine was effective against agitation. I quit SO VERY easily!! And, I was going to stop Chantix after 1 1/2 weeks not smoking....but.... I've decided to give myself some grace and wean off Chantix over the 2nd month so as to 'ease into life's stresses' again. It's great, works great and nowhere near the side effects of other meds/gums/etc!
I smoked for 52 years and tried to quit at least 15 times. In 2019 I gave chantix a try and I have been smoke free for two and a half years now and no withdrawals.
My wife and i took a chantix starter pack and we didnt even finish the 1 mounth supply, and we bolth quite smoking. It has been 20 months since we quite. the cravens are gone, and we bolth live a better life,becuse of chantix. Thank you to this Drug.
I took Chantix at only 1/2 the dose because the 1mg made me too nauseous, and at the end of seven days taking, didn't want to smoke any more... I got through the physical withdrawals from Nicotine and took .5 Chantix for less than 3 months and stayed quit. A few days after stopping taking any Chantix, I noticed my self becoming VERY depressed, agitated, mad over nothing, so sad all the time and always feel like the world is about to end...and think of killing myself quite often. I never thought about killing myself and that has came after 1-2 weeks of stopping taking the Chantix :( Maybe 10 years ago, I had a bout with depression, I got past it. No one counselled me that this drug could make me depressed AFTER taking it, the drug precaution only stated to tell your doctor if you had symptoms while taking it. Other than normal withdrawal from smoking, I had no adverse symptoms until I stopped taking it. I had no idea this drug could change the happy happy me into this sad wants to cry 24/7 me that I can't stand. My family doesn't want to be around me at all. I just a lot of people's experiences who became depressed and suicidal after they stopped, and most are still suffering sever depression years later.
I'm 53 and have to have a full hip replacement. My Dr informed me I had to quit smoking in order to do this. 3 years later, I've accomplished it by taking Chantix. I had already pretty much stopped by my initial week and 2 days in to full script, I stopped a habit I've had for 40 years. I have very few urges and they are easy to get thru. I've not had one single side affect. No weird dreams or thoughts. Didn't mess up my sleep pattern. No physical health changes. Aside from keeping my mind occupied when the urges come. They are short lived also. So glad I finally asked for help. I am now on my way to walking again and couldn't feel better about my decision.
I started taking 2 a day for 2 weeks. At first i didnt notice a difference. I still smoked and had cravings mild cravings but my 3 week my cravings have stopped. I dont really care about smoking. Im going to continue the medicine for another few weeks.1 a day just to be sure but this takes time and it really works.