Lorraine isn't the only one whose family has been wrecked, allegedly due to Chantix. And it doesn't seem to matter how long you are on this drug: Lorraine only took it for 3 months before she attempted suicide and became violent. "This drug caused me to hit my husband…it needs to be pulled from the market," she says."I am having serious trouble with my family as far as getting along," says Dan. "Chantix caused serious side effects and I wanted to die--I still feel this way. I am very depressed, feel hopeless, I feel like giving up."
Brian (not his real name) says he took Chantix for two months then began having "suicidal and homicidal ideations…and more aggression than I have ever had." Brian tried taking Chantix a year ago but was arrested for violent behavior toward his ex-wife. Now he has an arrest record, and it may prevent him from seeing his kids. "My ex and children are scared to death of me," Brian says. He went through a terrible divorce and he blames Chantix.
"The next time I tried this drug to quit smoking, I actually sat in my friend's apartment and loaded my weapons, and hid them throughout the apartment, thinking the police were coming to get me. I have been off the Chantix for about a week now, and I'm just starting to come down and feel normal again. During this whole ordeal my doctor put me on Prozac, which seemed to intensify the problem. I have had nightmares, insomnia, aggression, and serious thoughts about killing myself and others first. I just want to see this drug taken off the market."
READ MORE CHANTIX LEGAL NEWS
When Chantix was first approved by the FDA, Pfizer, the giant drug manufacturer, allegedly failed to adequately research their medication or provide adequate warnings to users and the medical community about the potential side effects which could increase the risk of suicide or unusual behavior changes. In the wake of hundreds of reports, the drug was given a warning label about the psychiatric side effects and risks associated with the use of Chantix.
READER COMMENTS
Athena
on
What followed broke our marriage. He was an insufferable jerk, constantly mean, constantly and profoundly paranoid, talking to himself while imagining arguments that never happened, blaming me for every slight inconvenience that touched his life, and claiming amnesia of the times he flipped out.
He quit chantix, kept smoking, but the mean behavior continued. He teased and mocked and projected his insecurity. I didn't want to have sex with him because he was mean to me. He said he was mean to me because I didn't have sex with him. Even though we bluntly discussed it, we couldn't break out of the cycle the right way. He even gave me a book about the five love languages with passages underlined about how women must break the cycle by having sex with the mean husband.
Evening arguments became regular. Or rather, he would yell while I would cry. About his head arguments. One day, he almost wrecked the car on purpose because he was so mad that I didn't have any input on where we should go for dinner. That evening he said he was concerned about not feeling right. He said he might put himself in a mental hospital the next day. I didn't believe him.
The next morning he dropped me off at work and said he had some errands to do. His boss called me an hour later and said he committed himself. When I visited him in the hospital he was weepy and said he felt like he was letting our family down and needed some help getting his head together. He was so so sorry for everything. The next day he was slightly weepy but lamented that they didn't allow smoking. The next day he said he asked to leave but they held him involuntarily for two more days. At the end of it, he came home and promised my mom that he would be a better husband and son in law. This was all for our family.
He immediately started abusing his medications. He became intensely obsessive about his own diagnoses and read them to me over and over again. He was either so doped up he couldn't function, or asleep. Except when he laid off his meds long enough to function well enough to drive down the street for cigarettes.
Several days later, he finally admitted to me that he hospitalized himself because he felt an uncontrollable urge to hurt and kill his coworkers. I asked him if he ever had the urge to hurt me. He did. He continued to blame, to concoct, to forget, and eventually tried to cut me off from my family. I left the next day, alerted his boss to the potential threat, and divorce was completed months after.
It's hard to forgive someone for their wrongdoings when they deny it happened, claim amnesia of the events, or when medication caused their behavior. Perhaps he was only a pathologically lying narcissist whose abusive behavior just bubbled to the surface, not-so-gently encouraged by an anti-smoking drug. Ultimately I guess I'm thankful that he at least committed himself and prevented the physical violence. But how can a wife stick around knowing that's lurking inside his head?
Please if you're reading this DO NOT TAKE CHANTIX. It will ruin your life, your family, and most importantly YOUR SANITY!!
Gary
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Tiffanie
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Josh
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terri
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Long story short, I, too, begged my husband of 37 years for a divorce. I HATED him! Never have I ever felt such incredible rage and disdain!! I spent weekends going thru display apartments and furniture stores. Mean, hateful words spewed from my mouth like venom. I could not stop myself.
Had I not taken this drug myself, I would have a hard time believing the stories...but, it's true. this little blue pill is extremely powerful...dangerous and totally unpredictable. Once in your system, only God knows how/where you'll land. Forgiveness and patience will go a long way here. Trust me, your husband is not himself and has NO CONTROL over this pill. It literally distorts your mind, thoughts, dreams and actions. It's bizarre.
Chantix needs to be removed from the market. Undoubtedly, there will be a windfall of lawsuits...as the longer it stays on the shelves, the more lives will be affected, relationships destroyed and lives lost.
Jennifer
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This whole situation this morning took me completely off guard. This is never how he has acted and is completely out of character. He took off this morning in order to make financial transactions on refinancing or trading in our vehicle which already has a very low interest rate and we just purchased our vehicle three months ago, so he wants to trade in a brand new car! Combined with wanting to cancel the mortgage loan with just a matter of days before closing and not taking into consideration the thousands of dollars we put into the house.
I began reading the online information about Chantix today after my husbands episode and I am appalled people do not speak up at getting this off the market. In my opinion, after what has occurred today, I would highly advise people to not take Chantix. I would consider taking a different medication or a different method to quit smoking. My husbands family is now trying to talk sense in to him to stop taking the medication. I've read what the after affects of Chantix has caused some people even after taking it for a short time. I hope my husband is one of the lucky people that is not permanently damaged by Chantix. I hope this experience will allow other people to see what has happened so you won't have to go through something bad.