CHANTIX Reviews (VARENICLINE TARTRATE)

Average Rating: 3.5 (355 Ratings)

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 SMOKING CESSATION AIDS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

CHANTIX  (VARENICLINE TARTRATE):  Varenicline helps you stop smoking. To increase your chance of success, use this medication with a stop-smoking program that includes education, support, and counseling. Quitting smoking lowers your risk of heart and lung disease, as well as cancer. Varenicline works by blocking nicotine's effects in the brain that make you want to smoke. Discuss the risks and benefits of this medication, as well as other ways to quit smoking (such as nicotine replacement treatment), with your doctor.   FDA Approval Date: 2006-05-10 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

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Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR CHANTIXCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 2  smoking cessation severe nausea, gas from hell, out of the blue intense anxiety and a week later a very depressive state. Must admit, dreams were very cool though. I would be VERY careful with this drug. These side effects came on very suddenly, without warning after being on drug for 4 weeks. Am now on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds. It was VERY terrifying experience. No previous history of either. Can assist in stopping smoking, but is not magic pill. Will still need a good bit of willpower/desire to change behaviors to overcome the habit itself. F 55 30 days
1/29/2010
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 1  Quit Smoking Two days after stopping Chantix I exhibited extremely erratic behavior including hallucinations, anger, aggression, panic, anxiety and confusion. It was so bad, I was taken by an ambulance in restraints to the Emergency room. I was transferred to a psychiatric unit where I spent 5 days with people with serious Mental Health Disorders from Schizophrenia to Bipolar to recent suicide attempts. At the same time, they were doing medical tests on me to confirm I did not have any more serious brain disorders such as MRI’s, Cat Scan’s, EEG’s, etc. After several follow up visits with my Primary Care Physician and a Psychiatrist, my official diagnosis is now a “Substance Induced Psychotic Disorder”. I have no history of depression or other mental health problems. They believe the psychotic episode is a result of STOPPING the Chantix and subsequent anxiety is due to the events from being institutionalized. Do NOT take this drug. The trade off is not worth it, even if you do quit smoking. Find another way to quit. It's been 30 days since my release from the hospital and I'm not back to normal. Tell all your friends and family .... DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG! F 47 2.5 months
1/25/2010
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 3  Quit Smoking Still have cravings, gas, some odd dreams, reflux may be starting, trouble concentrating On day 12. Stopped smoking on day 9. Cravings are almost as bad as going cold turkey. It is really tough not go out to buy a pack for.. just one.. (Yeah, right) Have gas, some odd dreams, some acid reflux has started, have trouble concentrating. I am concerned about the reports of long term personality changes. I quit by taking Zyban about 10 years ago. I found Zyban to work much better with virtually no cravings and no side effects after the first couple of days and no withdrawal upon discontinuing Zyban after only 45 days. Sorry that I have to go through quitting again, and am sorry that I did not just use Zyban again. M 55 12 days
1/20/2010
 3  Quit Smoking Very Bad Bloating, Blah Feeling, Sleepy, I am on Day 7 right now and feel like alot of you all feel. I found this sight looking for some side effects from Chantix. I am so bloated these last 3 days that I have to unbutton my pants. I just lost 70lbs and this medicine had me thinking I had gained alot of it back at first. I am not bloated in the am it comes about lunch time. It is very emberrasing and uncomfortable. I am going to hang in here for a while longer but do not know how long I can do this gas thing. Did anyone else on here figure out a way to actually get rid of the gas? I tried Gas-X earlier and still have not seen any results.. And my dreams are very sexual for some reason, not sure about that one since I do not even want sex since being on this medicine. I am too young for all this.. F 34 7 days
1/16/2010
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 5  quit smoking Irritability, loss of taste/smell, loss of memory. Mild nausea the first week. By day 13 I went down to one pill a day. Could not handle wanting to kill or the itchy/prickly skin. I have been off Chantix for 2 weeks tomorrow and I called Pfizer to ask them how long the side effects will last, they have no idea!!! Yes I have quit smoking but the side effects SUCK!!! Would I do it again.......not sure. F 49 38 days
12/29/2009
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 4  Quit Smoking Have quit smoking thanks to Chantix for little over 1 year.. It’s my belief and two doctors that Chantix is responsible for my tendency to exhibit extreme rage over minor issues. Have been able to maintan the issue by internalizing the rage however, knowing what I know now I wouldn't take it if i had it to do over again. The constant fight from getting angry over small things is not worth it to me.. Feel like I am a walking time bomb M 49 3 weeks
12/27/2009
 3  Stop Smoking Severe drug induced eruption on my arm after 5wks on chantix ( NOT a rash )-stopped chantix & still recovering 9 months later. Anyone else w/ this problem ? If not for the skin condition I'm sure I could have stopped smoking using chantix. F 50 5 weeks
12/23/2009
 5  smoking cessation Always took with food, so no gastrointestinal issues. Vivid dreams resolved after awhile. Less able to tolerate people I didn't like anyway. Better to just avoid them while quitting. Just ask my brother in law.... I was actually able to quit after smoking two plus packs a day for over forty years! I don't think I could have done it without the Chantix. I have now been smoke-free for 9 months. M 60 6 weeks
12/16/2009
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 5  Smoking cessation Nausea, some irritability, strange dreams. Wow... this stuff is amazing. I have quit twice before; once with with patches and Wellbutrin and once (a sheer fluke) cold turkey. This last attempt has been months and months of struggle, until Chantix. To be honest, I didn't even feel 100% ready to quit when I started taking it... I was pretty bitter about the whole thing. The wonderful thing (compared to Wellbutrin) is that cigarettes still tasted good the first week... with Wellbutrin they tasted bad, which made me not want to take the medication. After a few days on Chantix, I didn't even notice I'd cut down from 1 to 1/2 a pack. I was still at 1/2 pack on my quit day, but since then I've hardly even noticed the cigs were gone... what more could you ask for? I never, ever thought it could be this easy! F 30 2 weeks
11/11/2009
 5  to stop smoking gas, gas and more gas Could not have stopped without it. I took the drug for 4 weeks. Smoked the 1st week and by days 6 & 7 was down to 4-5 cigarettes a day. Been 45 days without a smoke and besides being a bit crabby, no side effects except for gas. M 58 4 weeks
11/2/2009
 3  Quit Smoking This medication definitely helped me quit. I was amazed but 4 or 5 weeks into it I began having paranoi and auditory hallucinations. Subsequently I was hospitalized for 2 weeks. Haloperidol eliminated symptons immediately and I felt fine then put on Geodon which had even worse symptoms than paranoia itself. I would recommend Chantix with caution to ensure psychiatric side effects are closely watched. It worked for me but unfortunately the side effects will preven me from using it in the future. Here's to going cold turkey. M 29 3 days
10/26/2009
 1  quit smoking very agitated and agressive, depression, isolation, anger, thoughts of violence, crazy dreams Decreased my urge to smoke, but almost made me unable to function in life. Tapered down and stopped taking it due to psychiatric side effects. Had pretty bad shortness of breath for about 2 weeks after stopping chantix. Would not recommend to those who have underlying depression or anger issues etc. Unfortunately started smoking again. Took about a month before smoking felt and tasted like it used to. F 30 1 months
10/25/2009
 4  Smoking cessation Strange dreams which stopped after I quit smoking and tapered down from Chantix. I got very lazy... did not want to do work or stuff around my house. I got detached and took an I do not care attitude most of the time.Had to actually take a nap of 20 min at work...I did not gain but about 2 pounds while on CHantix. When I tapered down, I exploded by 30 pounds. Still worth it... Working out now Do not stop abruptly. I had uncontrollable rage. I went back to 2 mg per day and tapered to 1 then none and I survived. I still do not smoke. It works, but be very careful. Notify family and friends to watch you all the time for strange behavior. Do not drink on Chantix. M 51 3 months
10/23/2009
 5  Quit smoking Brief nausea if taken without food. increased energy. It works awesome!!!! I took Chantix for 7 wks 1 yr ago to quit smoking. Horray! Yesterday was a full year not smoking :-)) It worked like an antidepressant for me & aside from a little nausea if I took the pill without eating I had no side effects. It completely took away all desire & satisfaction from cigarettes. This stuff saved my life. I smoked for 36 yrs and quit after 8 days on Chantix. I took Chantix another 6 wks and then just quit taking it. I don't think of smoking, don't care to smoke and am SOOOO thankful that finally a PILL was invented that actually made it easy (for me) to quit smoking. F 50 7 weeks
10/21/2009
 4  quit smoking none really works! M 23 20 days
10/13/2009
 1  to quit smoking an increased desire to smoke I was told that this drug (which here in Canada is called Champix, don't ask why; I am talking about the drug whose generic name is varenicline) would react with my dopamine receptors, the ones activated by nicotine, in such a way as to give me the satisfaction I got from smoking; and that, at the same time, it would, if I smoked, prevent the nicotine from getting to those receptors. Made sense. Didn't work. Yes, it did in fact prevent nicotine from getting through, yet it absolutely did not in any way give me the satisfaction I got from smoking. As a result, I smoked more and more attempting to get a nicotine hit. I quit the medication after 1 day; but it seems to have done something permanent, or at least long term: i.e., it seems to have reset my daily nicotine need level, so that I am now after many months smoking on average 11.5 cigarettes daily, whereas before I was smoking 8 daily. Whoopee. M 62 1 days
9/13/2009
 5  Quit Smoking All "side effects" I read about chantix are same as the side effects I read about when quitting cold turkey (and experienced many years ago when I did a CT quit) so any discomfort I had this quit was not from Chantix, just the adjustment my body had to go through to adjust to being smoke-free. I am very greatful for Chantix. If not for help of Chantix I wouldn't be over 2 years clean! F 47 2 months
9/10/2009
 5  stop smoking mild/short nausea, EXTREMELY CRAZY DREAMS, blah feeling THIS DRUG WORKS EXACTLY LIKE IT SHOULD. If you are pondering the thought of taking this drug--you will stop smoking. The best analogy is that smoking a cig tastes like you are breathing in campfire smoke. It's as if the "idea" of smoking is gross. I stopped smoking after day 4. I'm a 28 year old guy. Up until I started taking this drug, I would have an occasional (once every month or so) dream that I could only remember foggy parts of--if at all. After I started taking this drug, I would wake up tired--thinking that I have pulled an all-nighter!!! These dreams you have... I still remember every detail of every thing--just as if I were there. Some are very nice, some not so much. I think that this side effect puts one "out of cycle" for lack of better terminology. Besides the dreams, I experienced a little discomfort for the first 20 minutes upon taking a pill-like I want to yack all over the place. I recommend taking the pill with some food, and possibly lay low for the next 20 mins. It helps a lot. Also, little things at work and at home (with my roommate) would send me over the edge (i.e. extremely short fused and crabby). I'm generally a very happy go lucky person. I can not say this was from this drug, but it is, at the least, a coincidence. Bottom line: it's worth it. Yeah, life may be a little rough for 2 weeks, but, you stop smoking, slowly stop taking the drug, and life goes back to normal without cigs!! M 28 14 days
8/28/2009
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 5  smoking cessation I had mild stomach discomfort and slight nausea but this usually went away after 20 minutes or so. This drug works wonders. If you want to quit smoking I highly recommend this. It takes away the physical cravings and makes quitting much easier. M 36 8 weeks
8/24/2009
 2  quit smoking Only threw up once, but I forgot to eat before I took it. That's the only problem I had with it, other than it just didn't work. Not even afer two prescriptions. F 62 12 weeks
8/23/2009

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