St Charles, ILKaren's husband was trying to quit smoking and his doctor prescribed Chantix. "Then the doctor asked if I was a smoker—it would be too hard for him to quit if I didn't quit at the same time," says Karen. "We asked him if there were any side effects and he assured us there were none—how wrong he was."
"My husband Ken is on blood pressure meds and two years ago I had been hospitalized because of heart palpitations. We told the doctor about our medical conditions and he said not to worry, he didn't even check my heart. He just assured us that Chantix tells your brain not to smoke and doesn't affect your body except maybe some dizziness and nausea.
"We took it last February. The first dose is 0.5 mg and lasts a week; I got really dizzy and nauseous but I was expecting this and it was no big deal if it meant quitting smoking. Then in the second week the dosage doubled to 1 mg. That week was hell.
I almost lost my job as a volunteer because of my erratic behavior: I yelled at my boss and she is so kind to me. I was short tempered with everyone and I didn't care—I just started yelling. I attributed my temper to PMS or menopause because it didn't even occur to me that Chantix could be to blame.
One night my husband and I got into this horrific argument about food—he didn't want something for dinner. He threw a pair of scissors at me and I threw an ashtray in his direction. We have been married 27 years and never fight like this. Even if we disagreed, we would simply walk away. And I yelled at our 17-year-old son for no reason.
Thank god we talk at the dinner table. Luckily, my son knew we were on Chantix and we started talking about it. He went to the cupboard and got a list of side effects the pharmacist gave us when we picked up the drug. The side effects were listed on a separate paper, not from the Chantix maker. Anyway, my son read a litany of side effects. 'Ohmigod, why would you take this drug?' he asked. We quit, right then and there.
But we both had these doom and gloom feelings—I had never felt so low. I am healthy, I exercise and have a positive outlook. But to this day I still have nightmares. For the most part, the mood swings have leveled off but something is still not right. I talk about it with my husband but he says 'Whatever'—he'll work with a broken arm. And we are both still smoking. In fact I smoked more when I took Chantix.
You don't even realize mood swings at the time. And you wonder about the long term effects. I got my heart palpitations back. There were so many side effects listed such as suicidal thoughts and behavior—it could lead anywhere. What other harm could this drug cause?
After we stopped taking Chantix my husband was listening to a radio show about people who had actually committed suicide while on this drug. We went online and read more about all these poor people. I guess a lot depends on your frame of mind but neither of us had a history of depression, nor in either family. I emailed Pfizer, the manufacturer, and asked if side effects could be long term or permanent but I didn't get a reply.
I just want to let people know that Chantix is a terrible thing and that people are really suffering. It makes me sick to think that some have committed suicide—if you are already depressed, why take this? Why isn't the manufacturer talking to the medical community about the side effects? I already know the answer: they won't make any money.