chantix/champix, anyone? (aid to quit smoking)

Hi, I am trying to quit smoking and the Dr prescribed champix (here in oz, same as chantix). yesterday if I had a gun I would have done myself in. I don't know if it is the drug or just my depression (I have just left visiting my kids in the states for one month and had to come back to australia). Just wondering if others have experience with this. I am scared to go cold turkey with the quitting smoking but also don't want to risk my sanity and life. I keep thinking about ringing my psychiatrist but then wonder would being inpatient change how I am feeling, I also feel guilt over not being at work if I went inpatient. I am safe right now btw.

Hi hon

I have not been on it but I have heard that it can cause problems for some ppl with BP, tho of course everyone is different. Plus I believe the worry with it usually tends to be mania - but I am not certain about that. I quit smoking tho and have got to the point where I dont even crave it. I have quit for well over a year now. The way I did it was with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) - in my case I used gum. I found that it helped with the cravings and also the chewing gave me something to do. It might be that there are other options you can look into such as that if the meds are not suiting you. Different things work for different ppl- eg patches were rubbish for me tho a lot of ppl swear by them. I hope you can find something that works and please tell your Dr what is going on for you.

Hugs

Cracked

I've heard many stories of people who started seeing things while taking chantix. Many doctors won't give it to their psychiatric patients as their seems to be an increased risk of this in people with psychiatric difficulties.