what to expect from taking Chantix side effect wise

No need to shout, hon. I was trying to help!

No, it is call CHANTIX, not CHAMPIX I am sitting here looking at the bottle.

Actually, it’s Champix in Canada and Britain, Chantix in the US.

I am currently using it, and am very pleased. I too was worried because the only reviews that seem to make it to the ‘net are the horror stories (like so many things). My brother used it, and told me the only side effects he had was vivid dreams, I’ve had those, too, but nothing scary…just wake up and go “oh, that was a weird dream” and remember more of them.

I discussed using it versus Zyban with my doctor, to get her point of view. She told me that she pretty much only recommends Chantix now, because it has a higher success rate. She said of the patients she had prescribed it to, only one had bad nausea (another common side effect) and chose to decrease the dosage to manage the nausea, and continued to take it. I find as long as I take it with food in my stomach, with a glass of juice (not a huge water drinker), all I get is maybe 5 minutes of what feels like a cross between queasy and hunger pangs, then it goes away.

Only one person she had prescribed it for had any serious depression/psychological problems, and she admitted that looking back, in her professional assessment that person already had some psychological issues to start with.

So if you have depression or other issues, discuss it THOROUGHLY with your doctor first. It might not be the option for you.

Chantix/Champix works for me by blocking the craving for nicotine. However, I still had to work at changing my HABITS. Stopping from thinking about smoking. That part for me is on-going, even though I know now, after 2 weeks on it, the physical addiction to nicotine is out of my system…that usually takes 48hrs.

I will continue the prescription for the prescribed 12 weeks, and assess then how I feel.

The down side, in the US, if you don’t have health insurance that covers it, it is expensive. BUT I realized for what I’d pay for a months prescription (before I found out that Great West covers it) is less than what I pay for a months worth of cigarettes.

Now, that money goes directly into my savings account every paycheck. I deserve a vacation.

Lisa, RN