Once again the FDA appears to be on the side of "Big Pharma" to help doctors sell us more drugs. They suggest physicians combine counseling with medication, and are encouraged to suggest anyone who wants to quit smoking go on some sort of drug. The latest and considered to be the most effective is Chantix, and even tho the FDA for a second time has instructed Pfizer, Inc. to put stronger warnings on the packages, they push us in that direction.
The new warnings will appear in the WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS sections of the Chantix prescribing information. This a stronger form of WARNING that the one set last year. This warning comes after confirming that 39 suicides have occurred in patients taking varenicline (Chantix). Eighty-seven percent of those suicides have occurred in the United States.
If you google Chantix, you can find many message boards with so many comments, good and bad concerning this drug. Many people have had great success with the only side effects being nausea or wild dreams. Unfortunately there are also the stories of:
1) the guitarist, who after taking the drug for one week, mixed it with alcohol, became extremely violent and confused, beat up his girlfriend, kicked in his neighbor's door, to be shot dead by the neighbor
2)Dad-of-two Wayne Marshall, 36, was found hanging shortly after finishing a 13-week course of Chantix.
Wife Emma, 28, said: "He went downhill so quickly. He stopped going out. He closed himself off completely from everybody."
3) TV editor Omer Jama, 39, slashed his wrists at his home in Bolton last October.
A further 62 suicidal-type reactions have been reported to the medicines regulator. ( Lucy Thornton 21/01/2008)
Due to the fact that when you're having a "psychotic episode" you're probably the last one to know it, the directions tell you to advise friends, family, co-workers to bring it to your attention if they notice differences in your behavior such as increased agitation, violence, or depression.
Lois Biener, a researcher of tobacco use and control efforts at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, said most people who quit do so without smoking-cessation drugs.There's little evidence that these drugs are superior in the long run to quitting without help, and while a few studies have shown some benefit, it's "way less than what is claimed" by medication advocates, Biener said.
I found it interesting that the new guidelines for physicians were headed by Dr. Michael Fiore, an expert on smoking and health issues, and was a consultant to the maker of Chantix. Of course he says he has no ties to the drug, but I can't help but feel he may be a little biased. I also found it interesting that three of 24 panelists who wrote the guidelines reported "significant financial interests" in the pharmaceutical industry, including speaking fees and stock ownership. What a coincidence!
God Bless you if you are trying to quit or have quit smoking. God knows, I should quit, but like other drugs that doctors tout for money vs. my well being, this one scares me a little too much.
Quit Smoking By Suicide?
To Smoke or Not To Smoke
Who all saw "The View" when Whoopi decided to quit smoking? Who all saw the show Oprah did last week on quitting smoking? My hand goes in the air. "Pick me, pick me" I say.
Yes, I have been following Whoopi's progress and yes, I watched the Nation's top experts on Oprah show us why we should quit, and supposedly how. The main Dr. on the show worked with people in the audience and had some cutting edge technology for testing the damage smoking had already done to them. So here I am. A post-menopausal woman who has been a smoker for the last 40 yrs. Since leaving my brick and mortar business earlier this year, I have gained a ton of weight and doubled my pack-and-a-half-a-day habit.
To be perfectly honest, I don't know if I'm feeling like it's hard to breath and I get fatigued easy because of the increase in smoking or the increase in weight, or both. I have always been a huge advocate of smoking, especially when I personally paid for the whole EPA 1993, 526 page report on smoking and found out most of the propaganda the public was getting fed about second hand smoke was BS. In a more controlled study done by the World Health Organization after the EPA study, they showed second hand smoke was so insignificant, and actually children of smokers had 22% less episodes of lung cancer. (For those of you who want to see for yourselves, go here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9776409?dopt=Abstract).
I may feel it's in my best interest healthwise to quit, but I resent the hell out of the Government intruding in my life to tell me I have to.
I have been studying the different drugs, etc associated with smoking cessation. I really thought that Dr. Oz (that appeared on Oprah) had the magic answer, but he just gave the same old plan that has been around forever! I looked at the new drug Chantrix. I read quite a few of the 75 reviews on their site and it scares me more than smoking does! Wellbutrin or Zyban are supposed to be pretty easily tolerated, but there too, I'm not sure enough about my health to know if they would be safe for me. I've also been looking into NLP (a form of changing your behavior to stop old habits) and acupressure. They both seem a lot safer, just not sure how easy it will be or how well they work.
If your curious about NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) for quitting smoking, see the pagehere. Just scroll down the page to the guy lighting up a rolled dollar bill and click on it. It's a very interesting concept and once you learn how to use it, it's supposed to be good in so many other aspects of your life. Maybe I can quit smoking and lose weight! WOW.