Chantix: Could Quitting Smoking Be Any Worse?

Washington, DCIt's not hard to imagine why a drug like Chantix is so fully and completely embraced—at least in the beginning. Smoking is a health hazard, not to mention the social stigma. Given the horrendous cost of long-term health care, smokers are trying to prolong their lives and prevent potential financial ruin by getting off tobacco and nicotine dependence.

However, as hard as it is for most Americans to quit, many are finding that Chantix makes it that much worse. While the number of smoking cessation formulas are as long as your arm, most if not all are Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) and focus on the premise that a gradual reduction of nicotine, over time, will reduce dependence and curb the cravings.

Some try hypnosis. Others acupuncture. Still others munch on jellybeans, or read self-help books. The vast majority, however, does the patch or chews the gum in an effort to mitigate the effects of nicotine physiologically. If stark cold turkey is beyond the capability and endurance of the probable majority, a gradual reduction of dependence helps to ease the symptoms.

In the end, all smoking cessation programs achieve their ends by removing the nicotine from the smoker's system, thereby eliminating the cravings. It's up to the smoker to deal with the psychological triggers that might foster resumption of the dreaded habit.

However, with Chantix, Pfizer found a shortcut. It determined the source of the pleasureful aura that comes over a smoker after taking that short puff, and discovered a way to cut it off at the knees—or more specifically, at the brain.

Specifically, by blocking certain receptors in the brain and preventing nicotine from reaching them, these same receptors responsible for the release of pleasureful dopamine (the smoker's high) no longer carry out the function, as the nicotine no longer reaches them.

The upside to this is the potential for an individual who just hasn't got the willpower to stick with the program. Yes, Chantix is meant to help mitigate the cravings. But it also appears to take away the pleasure if you stumble. And some people can't handle that.

There are other side effects, too: headaches, difficulty sleeping and abnormal dreams. Those are the side effects most often touted as being associated with the drug. However, more and more people are experiencing depression, agitation and suicidal thoughts.

Are Chantix, and its UK counterpart Champix to blame? Or is it the sheer drudgery of trying to quit smoking in itself? Or, a combination of the two?

One can only speculate. However, given that Pfizer has blazed new territory with its smoking cessation sensation, which burst onto the market just a few short years ago, the trailblazing appears to have fostered some new concerns as well—concerns that do not appear to have been fully vetted during pre-market testing of the product.

There is no question that smokers have been turning to Chantix in droves. It has been estimated that about 5 million prescriptions for Chantix have been written, with three million users currently on the program.

However, a good number of users are trying to get off the program too, and it has little to do with the need, and the plead to smoke. No, when you suddenly start having emotional problems when you didn't have any in the first place, suddenly not wishing to get out of bed in the morning, and—perish the thought—you suddenly experience suicidal thoughts for the first time in your life, you begin to look at the medications you are taking.

And many have determined that Chantix is potentially the root cause for such dire emotional upset, or has triggered a resurgence of a pre-existing problem that had been, until Chantix, under control.

Just this past November the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to investigate reports of agitation, depression and suicidal behavior. Reports of 400 suicidal behaviors, and 37 suicides were the cause for grave concern.

Two weeks after the FDA released its warning, Pfizer beefed up the labels on Chantix packaging, and both the manufacturer, and the FDA continue to investigate.

While it has been reported that some problems involving Chantix were complicated by the consumption of moderate to heavy amounts of alcohol, it has been reported that an almost equal number of Chantix users experienced difficulty, though alcohol was not consumed.

Others have suggested that agitation is the result of nicotine withdrawal. However, it has been suggested that there have been just as many reports of people continuing to smoke, and still experiencing emotional and psychotic episodes.

Perhaps, the latter is due to the loss of pleasure from smoking, which Chantix appears to quell. Some people may conclude, "oh well—I don't get a buzz from this any longer, so I might as well just throw the damn things away."

Others may lament the loss of pleasure upon taking a puff as akin to the death of a loved one, or valued friend. The grief can be palpable. Is that what is happening?

Time will tell, as the investigation continues. While Pfizer maintains that a direct link between Chantix and psychotic difficulty has yet to be found, that possibility could not be ruled out, either.

And given that the degree and intensity of such psychotic difficulty has not been seen with NRTs to the same degree, the FDA has reportedly begun to suggest that a link between Chantix and serious psychological issues is becoming increasingly probable.

Meanwhile, more and more smoking Americans are eyeing the annual health bill related to smoking, estimated to be about $167 billion annually, or $3,702 per adult smoker.

Deaths from smoking, and smoking-related diseases have been reported by the American Lung Association to average about 438,000 per year.

You could forgive a smoker for trying to quit, lest he or she become a statistic and push that figure to 438,001.Worst of all, would be the possibility that the 438,001st death would not come from smoking, but rather from trying to stop...