The Awl offers a list of the 32 known possible side effects of the drug Chantix, prescribed to help people quit smoking. True story: a few years ago, my mother, who quit smoking once and returned to it after my father died, started taking Chantix on the advice of her physician. It gave her heart palpitations so severe, she thought she was having a heart attack. And that’s not even listed as one of the known side effects.
In 2009, the FDA issued an advisory to physicians to tell patients to discontinue taking Chantix immediately if they experienced any of the behavioral/mood change side effects, because recent studies have shown that such problems can persist even after discontinuing medication. The FDA claimed there were 98 suicides and 188 suicide attempts since the drug’s public launch in 2006, although a U.K. study published later last year found no cases of suicide or attempted suicide in that country during roughly the same time period.
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I’m sure Chantix has helped a lot of people quit smoking and live happier, healthier, longer lives. The thing is they just need to be honest about the potential side effects so people can know what to look out for. People who take this drug to stop smoking should inform their family members and those closest to them of the potential mental side effects and ask them to keep an eye out for any unusual behavior. The vast majority of people who take Chantix would be fine, but a company should not hide information about potential side effects from the few who are at risk.
Great post. I love the graphic.
E.
Oh yes, I’m sure that there are people who have been helped by Chantix or one of the other meds prescribed for people who want to quit smoking. It’s that the range of side effects from them is not only large but includes so many potentially dangerous ones, and that suicidal ideation/action is prevalent enough to warrant an official warning, that ought to give one pause. Combine that with the tendency of the pharmaceutical companies to drum up somewhat bogus off-label uses for their drugs and/or developing drugs without any clear clinical necessity just to see if they can market them in some way, and it creates a situation where consumers need to consider the whys and wherefores of their medications very seriously. Being enticed by flashy ads that soft-pedal the risks and/or overstate the beneficial uses seems quite risky.