Chantix: Quit Smoking aid linked to Suicide

"A Nurse Warned Me Not to Take Chantix"

"I went from being an active, social person to someone who thought everyone was against me and I thought they would be better off without me," says Stacey. "By the third week of taking Chantix, I had suicidal thoughts." [MORE: DON'T TAKE CHANTIX]

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Chantix Caused Veteran’s Depression

When John came back from Kuwait a few months ago, his VA doctor said that Chantixwas the 'Number 1' drug to quit smoking. He neglected to tell John of the side effects, such as depression and suicidal thoughts. [MORE: CHANTIX DEPRESSION]

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Chantix Not for Everyone

Angela was prescribed a six-month supply of Chantix in January of this year. By her second pack, "I would look at a knife and the thought was there—I just wanted to get my life over with," she says. [MORE: CHANTIX]

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Chantix Led Smoker to the Psych Ward

Donna's experience with Chantix was like a fast descent into hell and she's lucky to be alive to tell her story. It started out with bizarre dreams and ended with a suicide attempt that put her in a psychiatric ward. Today she is dealing with embarrassment and remorse. And she's back to smoking a pack a day. [MORE: CHANTIX PSYCH WARD]

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“I Tried To Kill Myself While Taking Chantix”

Sandra has been trying to quit smoking for several years. But the medication her doctor prescribed to help her quit - Chantix - made her feel depressed and suicidal. So much so that she nearly succeeded in killing herself. "Luckily I didn't have enough pills or the right kind to do the job," Sandra said. "This is the most horrible thing that ever happened to me." [MORE: CHANTIX KILL MYSELF]

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Chantix: Quit Smoking aid linked to Suicide

Melinda and her husband both decided to quit smoking so the started taking Chantix in January of this year. Chantix reduced their smoking, but at what cost? "There were no warnings that we would go crazy, flip out and fight, and my husband thinking about suicide," says Melinda. [MORE: CHANTIX MANIC]

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Chantix: “I Started To Get Really Depressed”

Victoria H. says she had no idea that Chantix could have been responsible for her suicide attempt. In fact, it was not until a month later, when her friend phoned her with information about Chantix, that Victoria had any idea that her suicide attempt could have been caused by the anti-smoking medication. [MORE: CHANTIX DEPRESSION]

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Chantix: “How Can You Put a Price On Life?”

Michael and Lamonda M. are living a nightmare. In May 2007, Lamonda was hospitalized because of her asthma. While in the hospital, her doctor recommended she try using Chantix to quit smoking. It was a move that would change Lamonda's life, even though she only took Chantix for a short time. She has since been diagnosed with cognitive brain dysfunction and suffered memory loss, seizures, convulsions, anxiety and suicide attempts. [MORE: CHANTIX PUTS A FATAL PRICE ON LIFE]

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Chantix: A Jekyll and Hyde Personality

Daniel Arndt, a 44-year old father of twin boys, locked himself inside a room of the family home while everyone was away with a 12-pack of beer and two bottles of blood pressure pills. Arndt had been three weeks on Chantix, the smoking cessation drug from Pfizer that blocks nicotine from reaching key receptors in the brain. [MORE: JEKYLL & HYDE CHANTIX STORY]

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Chantix: “This Whole Thing Petrifies Me”

Tasha M. says she is still a little scatterbrained after her experience with Chantix. She says that she knows what she wants to say but she has problems expressing her thoughts. However, she is clear that she wants to get Chantix off the market. [MORE: CHANTIX CAUSES MENTAL INSTABILITY]

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Chantix: Complaints Keep Coming In

With every day that passes, more and more people are writing to LawyersandSettlements with their complaints about Chantix. Most of the complaints involve serious side effects, including suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. [MORE: CHANTIX COMPLAINTS KEEP FLOWING]

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Chantix: Two Patient Stories

Stephen M. says that it only took eight days after starting his prescription before he had a serious reaction to Chantix. He notes that the day he doubled his dosage he had a nervous breakdown. Following that nervous breakdown, he suffered from panic attacks, shaking hands, a sense of hopelessness and thoughts of committing suicide. He was taken to the ER because of the severity of his panic attacks and required time off work to recover. [MORE: TWO CHANTIX PATIENTS' STORIES]

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Chantix Patients: No Control Over Thoughts

Patients who have taken Chantix are reporting that they have very little control over their thoughts when they start thinking about committing suicide. They say that they do not know where the suicidal thoughts come from and it is a struggle to not kill themselves when the thoughts arise. Fortunately, the two women interviewed for this article were able to resist the urge to commit suicide. Unfortunately, not everyone has been able to. [MORE: CHANTIX PATIENTS LOSE CONTROL OVER THOUGHT]

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Chantix: One Woman’s Story

Chantix looked like a sure winner going in, Lucy writes on her blog. But it sure exposed its dark side on the way out. Lucy, a resident of Ohio and a former smoker, had tried quitting a few times over the years, without success. Then Pfizer came along with its so-called wonder drug Chantix, designed to help smokers quit the dreaded tobacco in a boffo new way. [MORE: WOMAN'S CHANTIX STORY]

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The Hell of Chantix: In Their Own Words

There is nothing more compelling than someone's own story, and the stories involving Chantix and its Canadian and European counterpart Champix, abound. The smoking-cessation system introduced by Pfizer in 2006 does, indeed work for some. However, it appears that a greater proportion of users encounter serious side effects, not the least of which are aggression and anxiety, depression and suicide ideation. To that end, some have ended their own lives tragically while on the drug, which is designed to block nicotine from reaching the brain. [MORE: CHANTIX HELL]

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Chantix: When the Lab and the Mind Don’t Mix

Suzanne Danforth, writing on Seacoastonline.com, suggests a remarkable nugget that brings Chantix into perspective. To wit, Chantix was born in the laboratory. "Problem is," she writes, "we humans are enough divine that chemistry, with its lockstep logic, falls short of predictable; a predictability that may only become apparent when applied to the population at large...we are all part of clinical trials these days." [MORE: CHANTIX CHEMISTRY]

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Chantix: Driven to Quit, Driven to Despair

The on-line posts and the stories just keep coming—disgruntled users of Chantix who report depression, aggression or even suicidal thoughtsthemselves, or similar behavior from friends and loved ones taking Chantix in an effort to quit smoking. [MORE: CHANTIX ONLINE DESPAIR]

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Chantix Controvery Carries On Over Cigarette and Smoking Cessation

The Chantix controversy wages onward as opposing camps have sprouted over the drug's potentially suicidal effects. Some people that have taken Chantix for the express purpose of quitting smoking have allegedly ended up with a problem just as big. Many of those ingesting Chantix to be free of cigarette smoking allegedly find themselves fettered to disturbing, suicidal thought patterns. [MORE: CHANTIX CONTROVERSY]

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Suicides by Chantix Users Prompt FDA Advisory

Serious neuropsychiatric symptoms have occurred in patients taking Chantix (Varenicline). These symptoms include changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and attempted and completed suicide, according to a Public Health Advisory issued February 1, 2008 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). [MORE: CHANTIX SUICIDES PROMPT FDA ADVISORY]

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