"Chantix Like LSD from the 70s"

Santa Maria, CADebra managed to quit smoking during the time she took Chantix and for a short time afterward but she wasn't prepared for the side effects. "I asked my doctor if Chantix would do anything weird like make me dance in the street naked but he assured me that nothing untoward would happen," says Debra, who didn't know of any Chantix warnings.

"The first week I started taking Chantix with half a dosage but I started on the full dosage the second week and had nightmares like I was a kid again," Debra says. "In one of them my dad was floating on the ceiling and he has been dead 20 years. I thought hmm, maybe I shouldn't have eaten that spaghetti…

The nightmares got worse and they were happening more often. Obviously I wasn't sleeping well. I know this drug does something to the receptors in your brain but it really makes your thinking go sideways. I wasn't even able to make a decision. 'Are you stoned Mum?' my smart-ass kid asked. Somebody should tell a dumb girl from Kansas that she might be taking something like LSD from the 70s. I saw spiders and all kinds of crazy stuff.

I didn't think it was the Chantix right away—I'm from Kansas and we don't give too much thought to aches or pains or nightmares. But when I needed the prescription refilled, I talked to the pharmacist and told him there was some weird s…t going on with me. I'm on blood pressure meds so I also asked him if the combination of drugs could cause anything. 'You know what Debbie, it could be the Chantix,' he said. 'Do you know the side effects of this drug?' he asked. I had no idea.

One of my relatives was taking it too. I phoned and asked him to read the warning label and anything on the package that lists these Chantix side effects. I really don't remember reading anything; however I didn't take the insert out of the box—my fault. Probably written in the smallest of print.

I stopped taking Chantix on the third week—I had 2 pills left and threw them out; I was pissed. A doctor should tell you if these drugs are going to interact with any pills I am taking and they should know about the side effects. I'm done with that Chantix--what the heck is in that stuff? By the third day off Chantix, I was fine. And I did start smoking again."