Sulphur, LAHow many more suicides will it take before Chantix is taken off the market? As of last summer, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received 98 reports of suicides and 188 reports of attempted suicides by Chantix users—and that could be just the tip of the iceberg. There are many people like Annette who suffer from depression and don't report it to the FDA. "I have suffered from depression and mania but never contemplated suicide until I took Chantix," says Annette.
"Chantix is bad stuff. One night, after taking it for just three weeks, I swallowed a whole bottle of sleeping pills, chased with a bottle of Vodka—I just wanted to die." Fortunately, Annette recognized her actions as a cry for help: she called her father and an ambulance rushed her to emergency room. "I don't remember much of anything, but I do have a $6,000 hospital bill as a reminder.
"I assumed my doctors knew what was best for me; I didn't know about the side effects. All they warned me about was that it might cause insomnia and bad dreams"
"I had the charcoal treatment; my sister said they did it by IV. The charcoal absorbs all the drugs in your system so I can thank that for my quick recovery," explains Annette. The next day, she was taken to a psychiatric institute where she stayed for a week, and thereafter made visits to an outpatient clinic.
"I knew from the beginning that Chantix was the cause of my suicide attempt because I am on meds for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. I'd been doing fine until taking this smoking cessation med; it was the only thing in my life that had changed. Within one week it had made me depressed.
"I am really mad because I should never have been prescribed this drug in the first place. And this was long after the Chantix warnings came out, just three months ago. I even checked with my GP and psychiatrist before taking Chantix and they both approved it. As many people do, I assumed my doctors knew what was best for me; I didn't know about the side effects. All they warned me about was that it might cause insomnia and bad dreams.
"I stopped taking Chantix the night I got to ER. Once I got to the Calcasieu Oaks Behavioral Center I saw a psychiatrist and told him that I had taken Chantix. No response from him either. He just asked what my normal meds were. Why on earth isn't the medical community aware of this drug by now? "
Although Chantix was approved in 2006, the FDA only recently issued a warning that side effects include severe depression, suicidal ideation and abrupt, uncharacteristic changes in mood and personality in otherwise healthy and emotionally stable people.
According to the Macon Telegraph in March 2010, an autopsy report released on the former mayor of Warner Robins, Georgia, Donald Walker, stated that he consumed Chantix the day he committed suicide. Houston County medical examiner James Q. Whitaker concluded that Chantix caused severe depression, which led Walker to consume large quantities of alcohol on the day of his death.
US and Canadian Chantix lawyers are continuing to investigate thousands of potential cases that are expected to be filed soon. Chantix has been prescribed to more than 10 million people since Pfizer introduced the quit-smoking drug. Sales dropped after the FDA required Pfizer to put a black box waning on the prescribing information, yet some attorneys believe the current warning is insufficient and that Pfizer is taking advantage of desperate smokers trying to kick the habit.
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