Mound, MNAmy M. can tell you that the possibility of a Chantix suicide is very real, especially for people who already experience depression. She was on Chantix for just over a week when she began suffering serious side effects. Amy has since stopped taking Chantix, but says she is worried about other people who may be severely affected by the drug.
"I was prescribed Chantix on October 17, 2007," Amy says. "I did not start taking it right away. I picked it up on October 19 from the pharmacy but I did not start taking it until August 21, 2008. It took a year for me to take it. The expiration date was still good and I should have had no problem taking it.
"Before I started taking Chantix, I called the doctor. I have borderline personality and anxiety disorder and depression. I am being treated for all of them and I'm doing fine. I see a counselor and the only medication I was on was 50 mg of Zoloft. I read all the side effects of Chantix and told the doctor that it sounded a little risky, but she wanted me to try taking it anyway.
"So, I started on August 21, 2008. On August 29, 2008 I called the Chantix hotline because I had that support system in place. I was a frantic mess. They [the Chantix hotline alerted the health department to Amy's situation and passed along their notes] wrote down that I had irritability, I was screaming and crying, I was out of control and depressed, I felt like killing myself and I was yelling at everyone around me. I was afraid to eat and I could not sleep. There was probably much more than that, but I do know that I wanted to kill myself and I was out of control. I don't remember everything I said because I was so out of it, but I know I was frantic.
"Then, on September 2 [after moving up to 2 Chantix pills a day] I really went out of control. I called my mom and she told me to get to the ER because I told her I wanted to kill myself and I was screaming and crying. I went to the ER and they asked me if I would kill myself. I said that I would not, which was why I had gone to the ER, so they gave me Ativan. The doctor felt it was safe to let me go because I was not psychotic. I was to take one Ativan every 8 hours until the Chantix was out of my system. Two days after the Chantix was out of my system, I was 100 percent back to myself.
"I would not recommend this drug to anybody. I have heard good and bad about and I am very afraid that it will take someone's life. If this can happen to me, it can happen to multiple people. I can't believe how bad it is. It's not good.
"I would very, very highly recommend reading the side effects before taking Chantix. If somebody is fighting depression, then I would definitely not take this, because I've learned what it does to the brain of people that have depression. I would think twice, even with the doctor's permission. I wouldn't want this to happen to anybody else.
"The hospital said it was the Chantix and within 2 days of not taking it, I felt back to my normal self. There is no doubt in my mind it was the Chantix."