"I Tried To Kill Myself While Taking Chantix"

Little Rock, KASandra 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."

That was in 2007. But it was not the first time Sandra had used Chantix. "I tried to quit smoking in 2006, so my doctor put me on Chantix, but I had such terrible stomach pains on it that I stopped taking it after one week. Then in 2007 my doctor said, 'You have to quit smoking,' so she put me back on Chantix. I was on it for several months and it was during that time that I tried to kill myself," Sandra said.

Chantix, made by Pfizer, consists of 12-weeks worth of prescription pills designed to reduce nicotine cravings. It is associated with numerous side effects, but the packaging was only recently updated to include neuropsychiatric symptoms, specifically, changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior. The warning on the package insert states: "These symptoms, as well as worsening of pre-existing psychiatric illness, have been reported in patients attempting to quit smoking while taking Chantix in the post-marketing experience... Patients attempting to quit smoking with Chantix and their families and caregivers should be alerted about the need to monitor for these symptoms and to report such symptoms immediately to the patient's healthcare provider."

"My family doctor who prescribed the drug didn't mention anything about the side effects," Sandra said. Nor was she or her family aware of these potentially life-threatening side effects. "My family members noticed changes in my moods and they were concerned," said Sandra. What about her co-workers? "I had a very stressful job, so I suspect that people just put my mood swings down to that."

Did Sandra not notice that she was becoming depressed or having suicidal thoughts? "While I was on Chantix I never noticed the changes in my mood -and I had memory lapses. Plus I was on Ambien, which also makes you do things that you are unaware of at the time- so the Chantix just compounded the problem," she said. "I have entire stretches of time that I have no memory of, and conversations I have no memory of," she said.

After her attempted suicide, Sandra came off the drug. "I've been off it for three months, but I still haven't quit smoking." It wasn't until Sandra started doing some research on the Internet that she became aware of just how serious the side effects associated with Chantix are, and how many people have been badly affected by it.

"I'm 61 years old. I lost my job. I tried to kill myself. This was absolutely the worst thing that ever happened to me. I want to tell as many people as possible about this. Americans need to know that prescription drugs can be dangerous," Sandra said.