Chantix is a pill made by Pfizer in 2006 to help smokers not want to smoke.
A study of 746 smokers found that 56 percent of those who took Chantix for 12 weeks were cigarette-free during the last month of treatment. Compared with 43 percent who used the nicotine patches.
Bottom line: Chantix works AND it is better than the patch to quit smoking.
How Does Chantix Work? Chantix acts on brain receptors affected by nicotine. Chantix trips the receptors that tell your brain that it just had a cigarette.
Receptors are like switches that turn on and off. Chantix trips the "switch" so you feel the nicotine "buzz" you usually get from smoking without actually smoking.
Chantix blocks some of nicotine's effects so that if you do smoke cigarettes won't "work" and actually may taste bad to you. This is why Chantix is know as the wonder drug for quitting.
Bottom line: For most people who want to quit Chantix rocks!
In my own personal unofficial survey of doctors who prescribe Chantix: I learned that 70% or more of the patients who are prescribed Chantix quit smoking without any problems.
What happens if you can't for some reason quit with Chantix? That is the problem – what to do with the 30 percent who CAN'T use Chantix to quit? There ARE other ways to quit.
Remember that any method INCLUDING quitting cold-turkey is going to have side effects. You and your doctor have to weigh each risk and come up with a solution that works best for you.
Sounds like a simplification, I know, but it is the truth. It can be done…and you can do it (if you choose).
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there
Firstly, isn’t it Champix?
Secondly some pretty damaging studies have come out about this wonder drug. If it’s taken by people with weak hearts, it causes heart attacks.
I suggest you update this blog.
Hello Danni,
It is Chantix or Champix. The drug’s generic name is varenicline. It is manufactured and marketed by Pfizer. Pfizer markets the drug under the name Chantix in the U.S. and Champix in Europe and Canada. I use both names in my blog but I can see where it may be confusing.
Chantix did have a rocky beginning back in 2006. It was linked with suicides and moody behavior.
Since then however the drug’s track record has been good. The manufacture’s have provided some warning statements and medical providers have watched their patients more carefully for the dangerous side-effects.
I believe the drug to be safe if taken as directed and under the supervision of a trained professional.
Reports of this drug causing heart attacks are not as numerous as the ones claiming the drug causing people to want to “kill themselves”.
Thanks for the question.
Dear Dr Howell, please stop telling people that this drug is safe. I took champix, as it is called over here, three weeks after stopping champix i started with nocturnal epilepsy. I have been researching the effects of champix on the brain. Iam not going to start going through it all with you, but just let me tell you from my findings, i have had to do a report for the British MHRA and the EMEA. Also i have Dr Berkley Philips the medical director of Pfizer looking into this with me as well. You see iam not the only person in england never mind the rest of the world who have got epilepsy after champix. Just look up varenicline link to nocturnal epilepsy.
Kind Regards
Samantha Dearnaley.
I am sorry to disappoint you Ms Dearnaley but Chantix/Champix is safe. I did research the link between this drug and epilepsy and I have to say they evidence is inconclusive. There was one report where the patient was sleep deprived and on retroviral drugs for HIV (which each individually and in combination can cause convulsions by themselves) and the the patient just happens to be on Chantix for 12 weeks and he has ONE convulsion and so they blame it on Chantix (weak, weak, weak). Here is the a link to the article that I am referencing http://goo.gl/DRakH
But let’s assume for argument sake that Chantix was the cause of this patient’s convulsions (which I do NOT believe to be the case). We must remember that this patient had one episode of convulsion followed by none after the drug was stopped (if you believe that Chantix was the cause). Well then one episode of convulsion does NOT constitute epilepsy. So all those other people who are having several convulsions after stopping Chantix will need to find another cause for their epilepsy.
Here is another case for you to think about: Back in the early 1940s, before there was a polio vaccine, scientist where busy looking for the cause of polio. They did tons of statistical analysis and found the culprit: ICE CREAM. So people began recommending kids stop eating ice cream in order to avoid getting polio. Now we hear this and realize how ridiculous it sounds but that is what happens when you are too quick to assign blame before the evidence is clear.
I know this is not going to probably change your mind Ms Dearnaley because it sounds like your mind is made up on this topic. I am just hoping to help those people who might be thinking of taking Chantix to stop smoking not to be turned against it. Because the truth is smoking is a million times more deadly and harmful than Chantix could ever dream to be, even if it was indeed a cause of epilepsy (which it is not).