Chantix Champix Kills: But Don’t Tell The Smokers!
by Chris Holmes
*Update: If you or a loved one has suffered a bad reaction to Champix and you are based in the U.K., you can report it to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) here. The more people do that the clearer the true picture will become. Protect others! Report it.*
The Real Threat to Doctors, Pharmacists and the Medical Profession
To learn the truth about Chantix Champix, all you have to do is Google “Champix suicides” (or Chantix suicides) and read all about it for yourself.
But why should smokers have to do that? Most smokers assume that their doctor or their pharmacist would warn them of any serious risks that their patient might be running if they take Chantix Champix. Some do: in fact, we have heard anecdotally of one or two doctors who have refused to prescribe it. However, these are the exceptions.
Reading around the blogs which are dealing with the Chantix Champix controversy it becomes frighteningly clear that most smokers are left completely in the dark by doctors and pharmacists about the serious side effects of Chantix Champix, and only warned about the minor ones. The fact that this negligence is leading to injuries and deaths must surely be actionable. We are talking about a medication that is currently under investigation by the FDA for serious and dangerous side-effects. It has been very clearly implicated in many suicide attempts and a considerable number of deaths. Many other people have had other horrible reactions that have left them hospitalised, terrified and emotionally damaged, and also Chantix Champix has wrecked relationships and families.
Your doctor and your pharmacist may decide, though, that they’d better not tell you that in case you decide not to take the damn stuff.
One recent contributor to this blog, Kath (see Champix 4: Enough Already. Comment No.98) - was particularly angry about that point, once I had explained that she was not alone. She said:
“Chris thank you for taking the time to respond to me. As I read your reply what really stuck out is that when I had a weird episode of behaviour at 4 weeks, I would have known where it was coming from if I knew that Champix has side effects. If my doctor had warned me to watch for behavioural changes I would have been off this drug much sooner, before it made me into a blubbering mess. That is what bothers me the most.
I was having a conversation with a friend today about how even the doctor makes money when he writes a script. That is really effed up. How can my doctor have a financial benefit to prescribing a drug? What the hell kind of world are we living in? How can we expect to get proper health care when the gp’s make money for giving us life-threatening drugs?”
How indeed. And this is the real threat to the future of the medical profession. It is obvious why Chantix Champix is getting the whitewash treatment, and it all comes down to money. Doctors are treated to free trips, lavish treatment at ‘conferences’ and all kinds of incentives to promote medications which can all be summed up in one simple word: Corrupt.
How stupid are you, all you medical professionals who are just sitting on your hands and pretending it is okay to keep taking the incentives and keep your mouths shut about killer drugs like Chantix Champix? You keep pretending nicotine replacement is a real medication even though you know it doesn’t work at all, you keep prescribing Prozac and Seroxat even though we all know now that they didn’t perform any better than placebos in the trials… Your professional credibility is rotting away even as I type this, and the stench of your corruption is making even the most conservative of patients wince. If you continue down this road there will BE no medical profession, it will all become Medico-Pharmaceutical Inc.
Think I’m exaggerating? Then have a look at this report by one of the few exceptions, a blog edited by practising Canadian pharmacists called Canada Pharmacy News. The story points out that The Canadian Lung Association fails to mention any serious side effects associated with Chantix Champix. This is a very serious omission, but it is no different from what most doctors are doing. The blog also informs us that The Canadian Lung Association received funding in the form of a grant from… Pfizer Canada, the Canadian arm of the global drug giant Pfizer, who make Chantix Champix. Only a few days ago, the Justice Department in the USA announced that Pfizer had been ordered to pay a record settlement of 2.3 billion dollars for “fraudulent marketing”. Nothing to do with Chantix Champix, that one, by the way. But this is (link).
The credibility of pharmacists and doctors was originally based on hard science, but it has all been hijacked by the medico-mafia of the drug companies and their well-placed friends in the medical authorities, the medication approval bodies, academia and the press. Once you’ve lost that credibility in the minds of the public, Doc, you will never get it back.
Filed under: Champix/Chantix, Drugs on Trial, Publicity by Chris
Our Military now has the highest Suicide rate ever and our Military leaders just can’t understand why. They are pushing Chantix on our Military Men and Women to get them to stop smoking. Who came up with the phrase ” Military Intelligence.” It’s so hard to find. Is it that they would rather be Politically Correct or is it, they don’t have a clue?
Pfizer, the drug company that makes Champix/Chantix, continue to assert that there is “no proven link” between the suicides and the drug, despite the fact that it now carries a warning that it may cause “suicidal ideation” (i.e. it might make you seriously entertain thoughts of killing yourself).
Pfizer are, of course talking from a strictly legal point of view. What they mean is that it has not yet been proven in a court of law beyond reasonable doubt that Champix is responsible for all the horrible side effects including wholly-out-character-aggression, attempted suicide and successful suicide, simply because the case has never been tried. So from a legal point of view they are free to go on saying that however many people kill themselves whilst taking Champix.
It was never proven - in that sense - that Lord Lucan killed his childrens’ nanny and then attempted to kill his wife before disappearing into the jungles of Bolivia, or wherever he actually tipped up. Never mind his wife’s horrific account of her recollections of the night in question, the fact he did a bunk AND the little matter of a home-made cosh found in the boot of the car he abandoned near the coast which just happened to be identical to the murder weapon found at the scene of the crime. Pfizer’s lawyers, were they handling Lord Lucan’s case, would not hesitate to point out that this is all hearsay and circumstantial evidence - nothing has been proven.
So technically Virjilk, from a strictly legal point of view, Lord Lucan is innocent and Champix/Chantix has never caused any unnecessary deaths. Thanks God we have Justice, and lawyers here in the Free World, to protect the ‘innocent’.
Spread the word, and don’t take the Suicide Pills. Hypnotherapy, The Allen Carr method (which is a form of hypnotherapy anyway really) and acupuncture - these all perform better in long-term outcomes than any of the pharmaceuticals and unlike the drugs, they are natural methods that have never harmed anyone.
Well ok, acupuncture might not be strictly natural, but it certainly isn’t dangerous! And it works, for a good proportion of smokers according to research published by the University of Iowa in 1992. See the Evidence section on this site for the success rates of all these methods. This site is all about Evidence, not hype.
If you seriously worried about the side effects of drugs you would not take them. I have very successfully completed a full 12 week course of Champix, and yes I got the nausea, headaches, sleep pattern problems, but I never felt like killing myself.
Pfizer has stated in the huge paper insert to the drug packet the full details of the drug, the possible side effects, the reasons for taking it, the people that shouldn’t. The doctors here are very good at making sure that you are suitable, and they do monitor you for a number of weeks before giving you the second pack. The other problem with this drug is that the people in quiestion might not actually be getting the support of a smoking cessation clinic, New Leaf as it is here, some supermarket pharmacies do a smoking cessation clinic too.
Has anyone really dug up the dirt about Zyban in it’s full history, and how come most anti-depressants come with a warning “This drug can make you suicidal” and a side effect of Prozac, “can cause depression!!” Mad or what!! The drugs have to be monitored by a doctor very closely, and with the help of a quit clinic, and a doctor, depression or suicidal tendancies can be noticed BEFORE they set in!!
Sorry I am very much for Champix, it helped me, and probably many millions of people worldwide, yet a few hundred unfortunate people fell foul to the side effects, it is very much a shame, but it is like any other drug, paracetomol has many side effects, but drug companies don’t list them!
John, I don’t mind if you are very much for Champix - and thanks for your contribution by the way.
I had nothing against Champix eighteen months ago, because I really didn’t know much about it. They said it had a 44% success rate. It doesn’t. When the results at one year are reviewed, it is more like 20% at best, and we are likely to see that diminish as the enthusiasm generated temporarily by the hype dies off, just as we saw with Zyban.
They said Champix was safe enough for general use - they have now revised that position somewhat, but nowhere near enough.
I don’t know whether you know this or not John, but half the smokers in the trials who were not smoking at 12 weeks (the so-called ’success rate’) were back on the fags by 28 weeks, so that’s a bit of a drawback too, isn’t it?
I hope that doesn’t happen in your case, but if it did, would you still be very much for it? What if someone you know and love HAD killed themselves whilst on the medication, but showed no earlier symptoms of something being wrong that might have been picked up by any kind of ‘monitoring’ - as has happened - would you be very much for it then?
The fact is, I don’t personally know any of these victims. What I do know is, if they had been advised by their GP to use hypnotherapy instead, then NONE OF THEM WOULD BE DEAD, and most of them wouldn’t be smoking either.
That’s why I am very much against over-hyped wonder drugs and very much for hypnotherapy. Call me crazy.
I honestly believe that people divide up into two camps now: those who still assume that the approval system for new medications is genuinely scientific and gives adequate protection and reassurance… and those who have actually looked into it lately. Those who believe their doctor truly has an expert opinion when it comes to a drug like Champix, and those who know they are just prescribing what they have been told to prescribe, really… and there’s a lot they haven’t been told, quite deliberately.
Those who believe that pharmaceutical companies work tirelessly for the benefit of all mankind… and those of us who have realised that they are really working tirelessly to get all of us - every single one of us, in the end - onto some sort of medication. And if it kills a member of your family, John - they’re not going to lose any sleep over it, are they? They have very well-paid legal people, and… well, you haven’t.
Chris I have to tell you I am with John on this one. I had been a smoker for 20 years and given every possible method of asisstance to quit a try, from NRT to Zyban to cold Turkey. Champix was extremely successful for me, and I have been smoke free for 18 months now. I think the underlying factor in quitting successfully is the decision that one makes to no longer be a smoker , regardless of the method he or she chooses for help with quitting. I also believe that people need to be aware of their mental states and make sensible choices about taking medication. If you feel depressed , when you have never suffered depression, or you are so irritable that you are ruining your relationships with familiy and friends, for God sakes be a little smarter and stop taking the pills! Anyone who truly cares about themselves even a little, will surely do some research on a drug before taking it., we have all been given the power to think for ourselves after all!
Mikey, I’m very much in favour of people thinking for themselves. The fact is though, the way people are thinking will be affected to some extent by what they are told, or not told.
Were you told that this drug has caused some people to suddenly kill themselves with no warning whatsoever - no personality changes or bad moods before it?
Were you told about Karen McGhee, who was found hanging from the bannisters by her nine-year-old daughter, almost dead, having risen from her sleep and immediately attempted suicide? By a miracle she was saved, but her heart had to be restarted a number of times. Afterwards she had no memory of the incident, so it does make a bit of a nonsense of your suggestion she should have been “a little smarter and stop taking the pills”.
I’m not having a go at you, you probably had no idea such things had been happening, because smokers are not being adequately warned. And anyway, if a drug starts to affect your personality and distort your thinking, are you still objective enough to make sound judgements? Read around the blogs and you’ll find numerous examples that suggest that the answer to that seems to be no.
My opinion of Champix has changed completely since I started inviting comments about it. I publish all genuine contributions, and Mikey’s comments are obviously well-meant and not just hype. Champix does achieve real, lasting success for about 20% of smokers, but it fails the rest and for some people it has destroyed their lives. It didn’t do that to Mikey, but clearly the effects and reactions are so completely unpredictable that it just isn’t safe.
If people want to risk taking things like that when they are fully aware of the risks, and fully aware that there are alternative methods like hypnotherapy and the Allen Carr method which work much better and have never harmed anyone, it’s their call. But most people have not been told the truth about all that, so that’s what this website is all about.
Chris I also appreciate everything you have to say, and by no means do I discount the fact that there are cases where these feelings come out of the blue with no warning. In the case of Karen McGhee however I had in fact read her account of her experience and believe that she did in fact have many a sign to suggest that things weren’t right, including the pleas of her family , weeks before her tragic suicide attempt. Please see below, for Karens own account .
“I started to feel really grouchy all the time, and would shout and scream at my family for no good reason, which is totally out of character.”
Indeed, she became so moody that even her mother-in-law noticed something was wrong and suggested she should stop taking the pills. But Karen thought it was probably nicotine withdrawal that was causing the problem - and so continued.
However, she began to feel even worse. “I started being sick about three times a day,” says Karen.
“Looking back, I was stupid to think it was because I’d quit smoking, but I’d had no idea what to expect.
“I also became really depressed. I felt so low that I couldn’t see the point in doing anything. Normally, I am an active person, but I started spending the whole day slumped on the sofa. I had no enthusiasm for anything.”
Karen had suffered from mild depression on and off for the past 20 years and started taking antidepressants in 2005. However, she says Champix made her feel lower than ever.
Do you still consider my comments nonsense?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-509683/Champix-Is-smoking-pill-safe.html#ixzz0UXykW4Oj
Thanks for that Mikey, I stand corrected on the case of Karen McGhee. The thing is, I’ve read so many of these horrific accounts over the last two years that they all start to run into one another.
I didn’t say all your comments were nonsense, I was only referring to your suggestion that all this horror can be avoided if people simply stop taking the pills if there are warning signs. As you have just admitted:
“…by no means do I discount the fact that there are cases where these feelings come out of the blue with no warning.”
… you have just once again made a nonsense of that suggestion in those cases, which means the drug is potentially deadly for those people. You could easily have turned out to be one of them, and just because you didn’t personally suffer you are actually being complacent about all the people in the world who have suffered sudden, horrible reactions they were not warned about, presumably because you don’t know them personally. If you did, you’d be deeply shocked and horrified.
If I come across to you as some sort of extremist when it comes to Champix, that’s probably because I know - just as every competent hypnotherapist in the world knows - that none of this failure and risk is necessary. Champix has been passed off as a wonder drug, which is 80% hype. The same authorities who sanctioned that piece of drug company bullshit will also suggest to you that scientific reviews into hypnotherapy indicated that it was of little use for smoking cessation, which is deliberately manufactured misinformation designed to maintain the status quo, for reasons of profit regardless of how many smokers suffer or die as a result.
I don’t know what you do for a living, Mikey, but I specialise in helping smokers quit safely and easily, usually in a single session. In the last ten years I have worked with thousands of people and I have developed an outstanding reputation with this, and a number of other issues. This site was created to alert smokers to the fact that they are being manipulated and lied to systematically and deliberately, having their hopes raised and their time wasted with useless methods like NRT and Zyban, and now being put at risk with Champix, which still has a very low success rate by my standards.
Now look at this:
“Karen thought it was probably nicotine withdrawal that was causing the problem - and so continued.”
Yeah, I wonder where she got that idea from? Because it has been repeatedly suggested both by Pfizer and all the websites promoting Champix, and it is complete bollocks. The suggestion has already been dismissed by the US Surgeon-General, on the grounds that the majority of ex-smokers alive today actually quit without any drug or assistance, and no such phenomenon of widespread bouts of depression and personality changes or suicide attempts has ever been noted amongst them.
This is perfectly true, and it indicates that the drug is in fact to blame, yet Pfizer are still suggesting that ‘nicotine withdrawal’ could be causing it. Liars.
Now consider this:
“Karen had suffered from mild depression on and off for the past 20 years and started taking antidepressants in 2005. However, she says Champix made her feel lower than ever.”
Question: What the fuck was her doctor thinking, giving her Champix with a history like that? Did he/she NOT KNOW about the risks? And please don’t go suggesting that this case was some time ago, and no doctor would do that now! Only a couple of weeks ago, a frequent contributor to this blog, Jane, came back on to say that her doctor had just offered her Champix for a THIRD time, even though she had a bad reaction to the second course! She had to direct him to THIS WEBSITE because he claimed he didn’t know about the serious reactions! So when John reassured us that:
“Pfizer has stated in the huge paper insert to the drug packet the full details of the drug, the possible side effects, the reasons for taking it, the people that shouldn’t. The doctors here are very good at making sure that you are suitable, and they do monitor you for a number of weeks before giving you the second pack.”
… he is also being complacent, presumably because he has a conscientious and better-informed doctor, and just assumed they all were. WRONG.
I must apologise if this sounds pretty aggressive towards you personally Mikey, because I am certainly not angry with you. I have noticed before that the people who were not harmed by the drug and did actually stay stopped are understandably upbeat about Champix, and inclined to defend it, but I believe the drug to be a killer and I say it should be withdrawn. NRT and Zyban should be abandoned because they don’t work and the medical authorities should stop pretending hypnotherapy doesn’t work and start distancing themselves a bit more from the chemical industry before they lose their credibility altogether. In the UK alone, over 100,000 smokers a year lose their lives and the reason that figure is so high is because the Health Department and medical authorities CHOSE THE WRONG ROUTE, and now they can’t bear to admit it so they are moving heaven and earth to cover it up.
I am in two minds regarding Champix. I have many friends who have taken it, the majority have stopped smoking for good (so far). One had a bad reaction and had to stop the course. Depression.
I will be getting the pills tonight and I am optimistic about them. Even though I have read many, many of the horror stories surrounding the drug, I have read many, many, many more that support its use from satisfied patients.
I suggest having a look through this forum: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/interactive/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=6901&f=11&postdays=0&start=1
There are many people on there who are using/used the drug, detailing all their side effects and most of them come out on top, even after suffering the more drastic ones such as depression. Funny that, I don’t think a single one ever mentioned “suicidal tendencies or thoughts”. I don’t deny this, but when it comes down to either Tobacco companies generating insane amounts of revenue at the cost of my health, or a Chemical company offering me something with a 20% (based on your figure) success rate of quitting smoking that has many people praising, or spending hundreds of pounds on hypnotherapy.. I’m going with the pill.
The one thing I DO agree with, is that the NHS / Health Associations are all corrupt. I read Alan Carr’s book, which helped me stop smoking for 6 months previously. Reading it again does not have the same appeal, naturally, but his points do stand. If the NHS actually thought for themselves, or did some research, they really would find out that hypnotherapy is far more successful than NRT, although the costs of such would not necessarily benefit them. I imagine hypnotherapy is more expensive than patches!!
It does not suprise me that hypnotherapists are very anti-champix, as naturally, it is one-side fighting for revenue against another. Saving lives is the most important, but this can really split peoples trusts.
Needless to say, I will be taking Champix, I am aware of the risks and will keep an eye on my mental state very closely (along with the help of others). If I don’t quit using it, I cannot afford hypnotherapy. Therefore, its either the cigarettes or the Champix that will no doubt, one day kill me.
Even though you have your own ideas about Champix already, and can back them up, if it helps 20% of smokers to become non-smokers, then withdrawing it is a BIG mistake.
Those 20% who do quit with it, may not be able to afford the several-hundred pounds cost of hypnotherapy (based on last time I checked a session at an Alan Carr clinic). You could be giving them a death-sentence, if they continued to smoke.
Smoking is expensive enough, I’ll take my chances with a prescription fee
James
P.S.. Interesting read, nonetheless!!
Hi James, thanks for your thoughts.
I had a look at the “netdoctor” site, and what struck me immediately was that nearly all the posts on the first page are from people on Day 1 or Day 3 of the course! These are “so far, so good” posts that many champix blogs are littered with, which create a totally false impression. That’s like someone sending you a text message that says they’re 12 minutes into their hypnotherapy session, and so far they haven’t wanted a cigarette! Only people who have been off the tablets for weeks or months can truly report their own experience as a success. Don’t forget, half the people in the original trials who were counted as successes were smoking again within 28 weeks.
Most of the horrific side effects have kicked in after weeks on the drug, so please don’t be falsely reassured by these early comments.
Who or What is netdoctor?
Down at the bottom of the homepage it says that netdoctor.co.uk is a trade mark. Is it? And what trade might that be, then? And do you suppose that the lack of posts reporting serious side effects might be because the site moderators think that those sort of reports might be bad for “trade”, so they don’t get approved for display on the site?
Hypnotherapy v. Champix?
I’m not against Champix simply because it is competition. If it were as straighforward as that I would be against the Allen Carr people and acupuncturists too, but as anyone can see from reading Truth Will Out, I am not - in fact I recommend them. I do claim hypnotherapy has the greatest success of the three, but then I back that up in the Evidence section. This site is all about evidence, and so is the book. You don’t have to buy the book to see that, because I publish a lot of it here for free.
The Relative Costs
Although I often state that the Allen Carr Easyway method is a form of hypnotherapy - which is true - it is not the best form by a long way. In fact I would suggest to anyone that the best version of the Allen Carr approach is to read the original book, the one that actually made him famous in the first place. The group sessions involve too many people, it complicates matters and brings down the overall success rate. The book is something you contemplate, and can return to - there are fewer distractions, just as in a one-to-one hypnotherapy session it is a more personal experience.
Please don’t assume hypnotherapy costs hundreds of pounds just because the Allen Carr franchises charge hundreds of pounds for their sessions. I confidently regard myself as an expert in this field, but I only charge £120 for the Stop Smoking session I offer. I also have a reduced-fee back up session, so even those smokers who need two sessions - most do not - only pay £160 in total. Most smokers save that back in a month.
Now, some colleagues have suggested that I should charge more, and I certainly could charge more. But it is also true that some smokers - like yourself - would not choose hypnotherapy if I did that, so it would be the opposite of promoting the wider recognition of hypnotherapy as a therapeutic mode, something to which all professional hypnotherapists are supposed to be committed.
You are suggesting that Champix is attractive because you only pay a prescription fee. For many people that may turn out to be true. But over the last two years I have been told of many people who have paid a much higher price. Some of them are dead. So what you are suggesting only remains a valid conclusion if none of that happens to you personally. It is exactly the same “It won’t happen to me” assumption that many smokers adopt with regard to heart attacks and cancer - but in your case you have transferred it to Champix instead, accepting the suggestion that “it has to be better than dying of cancer”, as if those were the only choices! It’s a marketing suggestion and it apparently works very well, but it has a very hollow ring later for the unlucky ones.
Is it really about money? Those people who have posted their horror stories here and on other blogs, the ones who are terrified they will never feel normal, happy and healthy again - how much money would they pay to get their health back, or to be able to turn back the clock and never take the damn stuff in the first place?
How much did you pay for your last holiday? Was it £120? That was over in a flash, and now you have only your snapshots and your memories, but the benefits of stopping smoking last a lifetime.
What I am telling everyone is the truth, and I don’t just state it, I’m providing plenty of evidence and plenty of references so people can find out more - far more than the drug company lackeys are telling them. Then I am suggesting that you make an informed choice, and I think it is logical to try all the non-risk options first: hypnotherapy, the Allen Carr method and acupuncture have never harmed anyone, but they have certainly helped a lot of people to quit smoking.
In the context of your safety, your good health and the whole of the rest of your life, the investment in these non-risk approaches is peanuts, really! How much money do we burn up every year simply on our own idle entertainment?
I am only suggesting that the use of methods that have already harmed people should only be considered when all the safe methods have already been tried. You would think doctors would agree with that, wouldn’t you? As for the NHS funding hypnotherapy sessions for smoking cessation, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
Too many fingers in too many pies, my friend. The annual NHS bill for medications alone topped £10 billion some time ago, and it is rising still… do you really think the use of pharmaceuticals saves the NHS money?
It is killing the NHS. And we’ll see the end of the NHS before we see the end of the stranglehold the drug companies have over the medical profession. Hypnotherapists can’t stop it. Doctors can’t stop it. Even the drug companies can’t stop it, because they are in competition with other drug companies, and they have obligations to their shareholders. They have to sell more drugs, which means the NHS has to buy more drugs, which means people - such as yourself - have to take more drugs. They can’t have you going off to see a hypnotherapist - if everyone started doing that it would only mean one thing for drug companies: hard times. So of course they do everything in their power to steer you away from that, and netdoctor.co.uk is doing its bit there.
The question is, who do you trust? Those of us who have never hurt anyone, or the people who have a long and apparently shameless history of killing and maiming tens of thousands of ‘unlucky ones’ with a whole list of nasty concoctions over the years, every one of which was mistakenly passed as “safe”?
Whatever you choose to do, James, I wish you well. Please do keep us posted about your progress.
i think some of the above contributors should read previous posts regarding champix.as chris knows as i have contributed alot to his site i know one succesful suicide and one attempted suicide from this drug.i myself was on it twice and even offered it a third time by doctor.this drug is dangerous and its not worth taking it to quit smoking-it never stopped me-im a big fan of the electronic ciggie that i now use-but i yo yo from that to periods of smoking,then quit and then start smoking again.I think its called conflict.Champix messed me up in the head and i had so many side effects from it i thought i was going crazy.i know deep down that hypnotherapy is only way forward for me if i want to quit and i will one day.but please dont take champix or nrt.
The main reason for not bothering with NRT is that it doesn’t work. Nicotine is a poison so it isn’t entirely risk-free, but compared to Champix NRT isn’t really harmful, except when it is given to people in intensive care after a heart attack or something like that. Then it certainly is potentially harmful, as well as quite unnecessary.
A couple of recent reports in the British Medical Journal have been brought to my attention lately, one of which tries to claim (yet again) that NRT does work (honest!), and one which tries to whitewash Champix by suggesting there is no significant evidence of harm.
I have this question for the BMJ: Are you trying to make yourselves a laughing stock? Quite apart from the cruel insult to all the people who have already been seriously harmed by Champix, and their families and loved ones, are you seriously trying to suggest at this point that nicotine replacement products produce any long-term outcome that could truly be regarded as a “success rate”?
Don’t you even realise that you are embarrassing yourselves, as well as any doctors or medical personnel with reasonable experience in that area? That kind of corruption of the truth was bad enough when most people weren’t really noticing, but at this point in developments you really must be insane to go ahead and publish such utter, utter desperate rubbish. Has the credibility of the BMJ really sunk so low? Have you no shame at all?
I had to stop Champix yesterday. I knew the side effects, and I took it anyways. My fiancee knew the side effects and he took it anyways - but he is OK. I have been trying to communicate to him that I am not well, I am emotional and angry. I cry because I am gaining weight, I’m fighting with friends, I am scared to go see my friends because of my impatience. Now I am fighting with my fiancee because he just kept telling me to stay on Champix, and ignoring the depressive personality traits that were becoming evident. He is going away next week, and I am pissed that he would have went away leaving me alone like this, wake the hell up! I have lost someone to suicide in the past, I know how it ruins lives, in fact Champix has brought back alot of emotions surrounding that loss, does my fiancee not realize that this is not a drill? I just want to yell at him - Give your head a shake! Why are people so trusting of these medications?!? That you could spend 8 years with someone, know them intimately and then ignore the fact that they are slowly going crazy even though they are telling you? Now I just want to end it with him - does this man have my back? I asked him this morning if he has read anything online about the depressive side effects of Champix - and I get “well not didn’t spend 18 hours researching - and what are you so angry about”? I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THAT FOR A WEEK. Does Champix make you stupid too? I sure hope this Champix ride is over soon because it seriously feels like I’m just going to throw everything I care about away. And to be honest, right now, I just don’t give a s#@t about anything. It seems that feeling is mutual.
[...] champix kills: but don’t tell the smokers! [...]
The above link to You Tube features a video diary update at three weeks into the use of Chantix (Champix) which reports only very mild impulses to smoke and virtually no side effects at that stage. Purely on the basis of this subjective experience, the diarist talks about recommending the medication to others who he says are hesitant about taking Champix because of the reported side effects. He seems to be assuming that just because he has been okay so far, he is now in a position to assure them that there is no need to hesitate.
This is typical of many of the ‘positive’ reports all over the web, many of them posted by people who have not been taking the drug for long. To be fair to this diarist, he seems well aware that cravings may well return later when he is no longer taking the drug, but then suggests that more Chantix medication is the answer to that!
Here’s another video from the same page:
Chantix Lawyer 1