Tag: fits

Champix Chantix: Alyson and Nick Need Help

“How can somone go from a normal man working as a carer to this for no reason and the only thing that changed was that he took champix, we are now on 8 months and things are still not getting better, if you met Nick you would think he had learning difficulties.
I am so frustrated that no one will admit what has caused it and because they will not or cannot diagnose it we can not get any allowances to help look after him. I work full time and betweem my family and myself we look after him.”

by hypnotherapist 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 only reason Champix Chantix was passed by the FDA as if it were safe enough to unleash on the public is because the manufacturer, Pfizer, submitted some trial data showing serious side effects “through the wrong channels” which caused them to be missed in a crucial safety review.  Shortly after this news hit the headlines at the end of May 2011, the French Health Minister stopped public funding for the drug citing safety concerns.  The trouble is, the range of side effects is so wide and unpredictable with this drug that many symptoms are not being attributed quickly enough to the actual cause, which has helped Pfizer to avoid a ban on the drug for far too long.  This heartbreaking story is only one of many, but it is a classic example of damage that has never been offically attributed to Champix:

 

“Hi,

I have read your website several times and even given doctor and Psychiatrists printed off copies to show the effect that this drug is having on people. Nick my 54 year old husband took Champix for 10 days in March 2010, he could not get anymore tablets as the nurse was off sick so decided to do without.( he had stopped smoking).  4 days later I had to ring an ambulance at 4 in the morning as he was going in and out of consciouness, the treatment at the hospital was not good but they kept him in for observations at my insistance but could not find anything wrong so sent him home, I told them about champix but they were not interested.”  [Oh, you can’t TELL them anything, Alyson!  You’re not QUALIFIED! This means your words/opinions count for nothing, it’s part of their medical training to just assume we’re all deluded idiots – Ed.]
“Over the next few weeks things got a lot worse, Nick found it difficult to walk, talk, write… he had severe muscle spasms and involuntary muscle movements, he had balance problem and short term memory problems, his behaviour became quite childlike and his brakes were off, he said exactly what he thought. Things came to a head when it was raining and Nick was in the garden in his underwear. I rang our doctor and asked to go private to see someone, she arranged for us to go to hospital, they did all the tests blood, urine, scans, spinal tap but still could find no reason for this to happen, they suggested that Nick saw a psychiatrist, he has been seeing him since June this year, he has said that he can find no reason for Nick’s problems and has passed it back to the hospital.”
“At present Nick suffers short term memory loss, a change in personality and cognitive ability, he takes everything you say literally, he has no awareness of danger and has developed tourretism and obsessive behaviour (touching dotes) he still has balance problems and difficulty walking and gets tired easily.”

“At our last doctor’s appointment I told the doctor I believe that Nick is having fits between a few seconds and a minute we are trying to get a diagnosis and have an appointment with a senior neurologist at the end of this month. Our Gp has told them our suspicions so perhaps this time someone will listen. How can somone go from a normal man working as a carer to this for no reason and the only thing that changed was that he took champix, we are now on 8 months and things are still not getting better, if you met Nick you would think he had learning difficulties.
I am so frustrated that no one will admit what has caused it and because they will not or cannot diagnose it we can not get any allowances to help look after him. I work full time and betweem my family and myself we look after him.”

“If I could turn back time I would but as its not possible I will just keep going and hope someone will take responsibilty and try to stop this drug harming anyone else.  I will always be here for Nick but this company hid certain results to get this drug licensed they need to be stopped.”

 

Yes.  Pfizer need to be stopped, Doc.

14 Days on Champix ruined my life

Champix/Chantix 6

the book that blew the whistle on the nicotine scam

Can Champix (Chantix) Cause Seizures/Epilepsy?

Tony West the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division was quoted by news releases, “Illegal conduct and fraud by pharmaceutical companies puts the public health at risk, corrupts medical decisions by health care providers, and costs the government billions of dollars”.

by hypnotherapist Chris Holmes

N.B. Please read the comments after this post, as it now transpires that no-one should be prescribed Champix without having a particular gene test FIRST, or it could trigger epilepsy in people with no previous history of epilepsy.

 

*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.*

Check this out Widow Sues Pfizer

There is a link in that story to the actual lawsuit, and in that there is mention of evidence that Chantix not only triggers suicides, but many other nasty side effects including seizures. Recently I was contacted by a very distressed person who started having severe epileptic fits only two months after starting on the drug, and it has ruined that person’s life.

If anyone else has had seizures or developed epilepsy after taking this drug – or knows of anyone who has – with no previous history of either condition before taking it, please let us know.

The manufacturers of Champix/Chantix, Pfizer, have an impressive criminal record according to this article by Neil Byrne from 2009:

This week Pfizer settled with the Department of Justice for $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the DOJ. It resolved their criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products. Pfizer “off labeled” drugs for uses the FDA didn’t previously approve of. $1 billion was allocated to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act that Pfizer illegally promoted the drugs Bextra, Geodon an anti-psychotic drug, Zyvox, an antibiotic, and Lyrica, an anti-epileptic drug. What is worse is that Pfizer is a habitual criminal company since they have been found guilty before in a similar case.

Tony West the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division was quoted by news releases, “Illegal conduct and fraud by pharmaceutical companies puts the public health at risk, corrupts medical decisions by health care providers, and costs the government billions of dollars”. Perhaps this massive fine will curtail Pfizer to some degree, but they will likely need at least three strikes. We think this is the beginning of more and more lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for cross labeling, inadequate tests and warnings, and drugs that create suicidal thoughts, and aggressive behavior. Consumers need to fully perform their due diligence before taking drugs which have clear controversial effects. Chantix and Zyban have a new warning that the drug can produce suicidal thoughts and behavior. Do you want to stop smoking or stop life?

Full article here.

If you live in the U.S. and are connected to a Chantix suicide case, this may be helpful to you.

If you just want to stop smoking safely and easily, more info here.

*Update, 27.02.12.  In EVERY SMOKER a gene test is required before Champix can be prescribed to make sure you do not have any genetic mutations that would make Champix trigger seizures.  Failure to do this in each and every smokers is “playing poker with peoples’ lives”.

Samantha Dearnaley has sent in this rather technical update from her own research… note the P.S. at the end:

Hi Chris,
just thought I would send you this:  Mutations in either a4 or b2 subunits can cause autosomal nocturnal epilepsy. There is evidence that
ADNFLE can be due to dysfunction of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAchR). The responsible mutation was subsequently identified as a missense mutation which replaces a serine into phenylalanine (ser248phe) in the a4 subunit gene (CHRNA4) of the neuronal nAchR. This mutation affects the second transmembrane domain (M2) which has been shown to form the wall of the ion channel. This has been the first, and to date only, mutation described in an idiopathic epilepsy. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA, cystatin B and defects causing abnormal neuronal storage, all resulting in neuronal destruction.
Varenicline an a4b2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist, as you can see it works by binding to the same receptors a4b2. I have got this info from Oxford journals, Human molecular genetics.
Kind Regards
Samantha Dearnaley.
PS. I have had another person got in touch yesterday with similar thing, again after Champix. People who want to take this drug should have a gene test done, to see if they have any mutations before they take it, to stop this happening to other people. Its like playing poker with peoples lives. Would this drug still end up costing the NHS less that NRT if they had to do a gene test on everyone?  I don’t think so.
[Chris says:  Not sure it costs less than NRT anyway, though that may have been the hype.  Latest research from Harvard proves NRT doesn’t work at all in the long run – no better than willpower, anyway – didn’t someone say that years ago, though?  Oh yes, it was ME!  Thanks Harvard!  But they’re still prescribing it, aren’t they?  “Evidence-Based-Medicine”, folks!  Evidence is all that’s required to make it bona fide – any evidence will do – even hard evidence that it doesn’t work at all!]