Deb,
I don't know why they don't advertise this drug. If they did much advertising, they'd probably have to raise the price. It already is pretty expensive.
After the three months on the Chantix, I stopped taking it. When I stopped, I was worried that I would want to go back to smoking. But I didn't!! I did not want to smoke. I could finally say that I was a non smoker!! It took me that long before I'd say that. My doctor told me that if after the three months, I might feel like I need another month or two or three of the Chantix. But I didn't. I was really, really anxious about coming off the drug. I worried for nothing. The Chantix did it's job and I am smoke free now.
My pharmacist asked me to keep her informed as to the side effect that I had so she could help other people. I was the very first person to bring in a prescription to her. (This is a national chain!)
I'm so glad this drug is out there. I would never have quit without it.
In my search for finding out info. about Chantix, I found the info. below. Unfortunately, I do not have a WSJ subscription so cannot share the article:
Chantix: Opportunity for Social Marketing Lost?
Chantix, Pfizer's new smoking-cessation drug, requires a different kind of marketing program, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal ("Marketing New Antismoking Pill Poses Challenges for Pfizer"):
"Aware of increased consumer cynicism and unfulfilled promises made for smoking treatments in the past, Pfizer has adopted a softer sell that it hopes will build Chantix steadily over time. Meanwhile, because insurers are slow to cover smoking treatments, it has priced Chantix so that consumers will be willing to pay for it themselves."
Never in a million years would I believe that I could be 16 days smoke free, but its true and I'm perfectly fine. I do wake up with a dry mouth in the AM, but other than that I'm fine. The Chantix does seem to work mentally (as crazy as that sounds) because I'll start thinking about smoking, then the next minute I'm thinking about something totally different and thinking why was I even thinking about smoking. It really is weird.
Deb,
I know what you mean. When I started taking Chantix, I could not believe the way this medicine worked. I kept thinking... if this stuff works on cigarettes, why can't they make one to work on other addictions, such as cocaine, meth, or alcohol or anything else? If they can target a specific area of the brain with this pill, looks like they could do it with other stuff, too.
Totally amazing to me.
Deb,
I know what you mean. When I started taking Chantix, I could not believe the way this medicine worked. I kept thinking... if this stuff works on cigarettes, why can't they make one to work on other addictions, such as cocaine, meth, or alcohol or anything else? If they can target a specific area of the brain with this pill, looks like they could do it with other stuff, too.
Totally amazing to me.
Congrats on 16 days. Wonderful!!
Memaw
Maybe they will...in which case, I'll need three separate ones for Diet Coke, Chocolate, and popcorn!
Hi Deb! I can't answer your question about what happens when you go off the Chantix, as I've just started my second month of it, but I can tell you that the drug IS being advertised, it's just in a roundabout way. I'm not sure what the rules on this site are about posting links or other sites, so I'm not going to do it, but there are TV spots and print ads talking about how smoking is more than a habit, it's an addiction, and you see actors talking about how hard it was for them to quit, but this time, they've finally done it. Anyway, they tell you to go to a particular website, which, it turns out, is owned by Phizer. That website asks if you would like info on a prescription to quit smoking, and then that link takes to to the Chantix website! Not sure why they've done it like that...
Anyway, best of luck to you! I'll be three weeks smoke-free on Sunday, it was tough at first, but it's getting easier every day!
Cytisine seems to behave much the way Chantix, however it does not appear to be available anywhere within the US. This drug is marketed in England under the name Tabex.
Published in EveryDayHealth on August 2006...
Another study conducted by the same research team at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, found that Chantix, taken over 12 weeks, was effective in helping smokers quit. Pfizer also funded this study and was involved in all its elements.
The findings from these studies demonstrates that Chantix helps in smoking cessation, Dr. Bankole A. Johnson, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, wrote in an accompanying editorial. Johnson also outlined the development of other approaches to treat nicotine addiction.
"In sum, pharmacological and immunological studies are opening up new vistas for safe, efficacious and potent treatments for nicotine dependence," Johnson wrote. "Molecular genetic studies are also investigating how to identify those individuals vulnerable to becoming nicotine dependent and, once they are dependent, the treatments that might work best for them. All these advances will deliver real aid to curbing smoking. Now, a smoker who wants help to quit no longer has a legitimate excuse to delay seeking treatment."
Johnson has consulting agreements with a number of drug companies.
A review in the same issue of the Archive of Internal Medicine noted that a plant-derived medication called cytisine has been used to treat tobacco dependence in Eastern Europe for 40 years, but has received little notice in English-language medical literature.
Cytisine is an alkaloid found in a plant called the golden rain tree (Cytisus laburnum).
Review author Jean-Francois Etter of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, found 10 studies conducted on cytisine in Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Russia between 1967 and 2005. The research suggests that cytisine is effective for smoking cessation.
The studies may have received little attention because they were not published in English and didn't conform to current standards of conducting and reporting drug trials, Etter wrote.
Actually Kevin, that is helpful to know. I was thinking this was a completely new med and didn't want to find out years later about a bad side effect. If it is similiar in the way it works, hopefully chemically it might be similiar as well.
MellieMel,
Congratulations on almost 3 weeks!! Super Job!!! You will begin to notice that it does get easier after the nicotine withdrawals are through. That usually takes anywhere from one to three weeks.
Good Luck to you!!!!!
Traveller,
Yep, that's the one. I visited it. It is a really good site. But I they didn't have it when I was on the Chantix. At least I didn't find it and they weren't advertising it then.
Kevin
Unfortunately Tabex is not available off the shelf in England. It can be purchased online from Hungary of one of those Eastern block countries. I haven't tried it but read about it a lot before deciding to take Chantix. The side effects list was the same but clinical trials were thought not to be reliable. The cost, however is a fraction of Chantix (£15.00 for a months supply) It is interesting though, that Pfizer are simply marketing a drug that alraedy existed.
Last edited by Administrator; 06-05-2011 at 10:23 PM.
Thanks Memaw! I've actually gotten to the point where I can't really picture myself smoking anymore, which is odd...well, maybe I can, for a split second, and then it goes away. I'm thinking that I've actually done it, and this is for good. I have NEVER been this long without a cig in 23 years! I hate to admit, but even when I was preggers, I snuck about a half a cig a day (don't everyone throw stuff at me all at once, please!). Three weeks for me is big!
I've actually gotten to the point where I can't really picture myself smoking anymore...
Speaking of pictures, whenever I see a picture of me on vacation, in a restuarant, at a party I've usually had a cig in my hand or was trying to hid it. How gross looking it is to me now. LOL
I would never let anyone take a picture of me with a cigarette in my hand!! There is probably less than 10 pictures in all the years that I smoked with me holding one. And that was when I didn't know anyone was taking it! I used to threaten anyone with a camera not to take a picture of me until I had finished my cigarette!!!! Or I'd tell hold on, let me put this thing down. Now...smile!!
How long did it take you to get the point of not thinking about it.
We have humidifiers in the bedrooms already but i am sure that if i didnt i'd have drymouth.
ANyone else having not horrible, like on the patch, but just really weird dreams???
Trace
Quote:
Originally Posted by dwatkins
Never in a million years would I believe that I could be 16 days smoke free, but its true and I'm perfectly fine. I do wake up with a dry mouth in the AM, but other than that I'm fine. The Chantix does seem to work mentally (as crazy as that sounds) because I'll start thinking about smoking, then the next minute I'm thinking about something totally different and thinking why was I even thinking about smoking. It really is weird.
Hi Mrsdew!!
It took me about 4 months maybe 5 to quit thinking about smoking every day.
I rarely think about it now until I logon to this web site. Even then I don't think about ME smoking. I'm thinking about all of you.
Lots of people have the dream thing while taking the Chantix. I did not. Just the nausea, constipation, and indigestion for me. Kinda wished I had the dreams instead.
Good idea about the humidifiers. Never though about that. I sleep with my mouth open and wake up with dry mouth a lot. Wonder if that would help me?
Chantix is just a miracle in my opinion...I have smoked on and off...mostly on...for the past 25 yrs at least 1 pack/day. Every other time I've tried to quit, I'd go nuts...the anxiety was always too much. With Chantix, I have NONE of that. No physical wds that I could tell...and no mental ones either. This has been such a blessing for me. I'm taking it the full 6 months since my ins pays for it...I figure, the longer the better!!
LOL
