Champix IV - Enough Already
Having begun this with a fairly open mind when it came to Champix - a relatively new medication - in the 14 months since I first referred to it in my book, which was the end of May 2007 when its launch was announced in the U.K., I have decided upon a personal stance. I think it is bloody dangerous, and should never have been passed in the U.K. because many of these problems had already surfaced in the U.S., and caution - not hype - is the appropriate attitude for medical bodies to adopt when something new appears.
All you Champix apologists who are trying to claim that adverse reactions are “withdrawal of nicotine”, I refer you to the U.S. Surgeon General. The following link takes you to an article posted on the website of WhyQuit.com, which is not, as you might assume from the name, a pro-smoking group, but an advocate of quitting without pharmaceutical products. The article is called Champix and Chantix linked to Depression, Aggression and Suicide. Anyone considering using Champix should read this article FIRST, then investigate other methods, particualrly hypnotherapy, which involve NO RISK and produce far more long-term success anyway than any pharmaceutical quit-product (see evidence of this site and in the book). If you want to know more about hypnotherapy, visit the Central Hypnotherapy website.
Here is the rather grim Champix article.
Filed under: Champix/Chantix, Drugs on Trial, The Campaign by Chris
I have been taking Champix for 9 weeks now the worst feelings started 10 days ago extreme irritation actually wanting to assault people (didn’t do it though) I felt so angry at everything and everyone, spoke to a doctor a weekago who gave me diazpam to help calm me down considered quitting Champix but chose not to. The last 2 days have been very surreal I went to the supermarket and kept losing my shopping trolley and the panic of realising it wasn’t where I thought it was, yesterday morning I was just really low and felt that if I started crying I would never stop. I am so scared I had my husband hide any potentially dangerous pills and am now waiting to speak to my doctor who won’t be available for another 2 hours. I am scared to take a dose of champix but also I am scared to not take it!!!!
Cigarettes won’t make you suicidally depressed, and neither will hypnotherapy - get off this dangerous drug immediately!
Giving you another medication to quell side-effects like these is too risky. Has anyone ever tested Champix combined with diazepam? No, never! Hasn’t diazepam ruined enough lives all by itself?
Champix is supposed to stop cravings, not make you attack people or kill yourself! Obviously something is seriously wrong with this stuff, get off it immediately before something terrible happens. Hypnotherapy is far more effective anyway if you want to kick the habit, and it is stress-free and risk-free.
Doctors, rebel! Stop prescribing this dangerous and wholly unpredictable concoction before one of your own patients pays a terrible price. Don’t let complacency - or just not wanting to believe it’s true - be the cause of someone losing a loved one. Hypnotherapy and acupuncture have consistently higher success rates than NRT, Zyban or Champix. You know those medications have all been hyped, but this stuff is freaking people out - this is no time to close ranks, there’ll be personal tragedies all over the place. “First, do no harm.” It is your personal professional responsibility. Don’t shirk it, or you are personally guilty of causing that harm. How many more cases do you need to hear about, for God’s sake?
It is fairly explicit that you should be leery of using Champix if you are prone to depression. If you find yourself getting aggressive or melancholy then stop using it. BTW I’m on week 3 of Champix and this is the longest I’ve gone without a smoke in 25 years.It works. I don’t plan on going the whole twelve weeks but am going to wean off. (one week of 1mg daily-one week of 0.5mg daily) Has anyone else done this?
I’ll re-post and let you know how it goes. One more thing. Somebody with a book to sell does not come over as a disinterested third party.
Mark
“It works” Mark? Don’t you mean that for three weeks you have not wanted to smoke? That might be a good start from your point of view, but it is a bit early to start recommending it, especially when you consider the other posts in the Champix section of this blog (see replies to first Champix post), many of whom reported the same apparent ’success’ at first.
If you read around other sites on the web you will find many instances of people who have never previously been “prone to depression” suddenly becoming suicidally depressed on this medication, but not always immediately. I sincerely hope that does not happen to you, and I entirely agree with you that anyone who starts feeling like that should stop taking it immediately. Trouble is, we are being warned by sufferers that this doesn’t necessarily return them to normal.
One more thing. I am not, and have never claimed to be a disinterested third party. This is a campaign website, and although it wasn’t originally about Champix but the stupidity of Nicotine Replacement Poisoning, I believe my stated view “I think it is bloody dangerous and should never have been passed in the UK” in the ‘Enough Already’ post does rather indicate that I’ve come down off the fence regarding Champix.
Does the U.S. Surgeon-General have a book to sell? No. Do any of the people who committed suicide already? No, and they never will now. Do any of the contributors to my site, or any other that is collecting the Champix horror stories? No.
Does anyone have to buy my book to know my opinions, read any of the evidence or even read parts of the book for themselves? No, because plenty of it is published here on the site. This isn’t about selling books. I’m not a professional author, I’m a professional hypnotherapist. But if I hadn’t written it all down, people would be saying: “Where’s the evidence?” The book is the result of four years of research. It is a compilation of evidence, and some of it is published on Truth Will Out for free so you can assess it without buying anything. I’m not impartial or disinterested at all, Mark, I’m bloody angry at the lies and misinformation fed to millions of smokers by a gigantic money-making machine, and I’m out to prove once and for all that there is no such thing as ‘therapeutic nicotine’ because smoking isn’t a drug addiction in the first place. My real aim is not selling lots of books, it is to expose the 1.2 billion-dollar-a-year international poison factory that is Nicotine Replacement Poisoning, and hopefully destroy it as soon as possible. Anyone wanna help? Link up, spread the word.
I stopped smoking with the aid of Champix on 30th June 2008. I didn’t complete the 12 weeks’ Champix course but stopped taking them after about 8 weeks and successfully went cold turkey. However, although I no longer have any desire to smoke, my health has mysteriously deteriorated. I seem to have undergone a complete personaility change; I’ve been sad, depressed, aggressive, extremely angry (flying into a rage at the slightest thing) and utterly exhausted. Not just tired. Exhausted. And breathless - as though I’ve been running a race! Not like me at all - I am quite an energetic person.
It is very worrying to think these changes have probably happened because I took Champix.
Does anyone know how long it will take for these effects to weart off and I can get back to normal?
I would really like to know.
I feel your pain mary. I am living in the UK and was prescribed champix to quit. Was given no warnings to the harmful effects…3 weeks later I was having anxiety and anger problems. My girlfriend and I almost broke up. That was followed by a deep depression, which sadly has stayed with me even though I stopped the tablets almost 2 months ago. I have never suffered from these sorts of emotions before and I am a strong, gogetter normally. These tablets in my opinion block your pleasure sensors from cigarettes and somewhere in there it affects general enjoyment of life.
Some people are not effected by these symptoms, but we are all different and our brains function differently. I have been finding life an absolute battle since champix and if anyone is reading this wondering wether to use them, dont. The reason Mary’s health is deteriorating is becasue she is depressed and when you are depressed this can manifest physically. Do lots of excercise, thats the only thing that has helped me