Ex-smokers say new drug will make you kick butts for good
June 08, 2007
Chantix, the first stop-smoking drug of its kind, entered the market with a splash. Its success rates were high enough that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put it on the fast track for approval. Television commercials came out featuring people talking about "my time to quit," but not the product.
The timing was excellent for employees of Methodist Medical Center who smoke. In March, Peoria-area hospitals announced plans to ban smoking on their grounds by July 4 of this year - one reason it's been easy for Patrick to convince colleagues to try the drug. But they're not the only ones interested.
"We've gotten a number of calls about it," says Linda Preckwinkle, who manages the American Lung Association's quit-smoking line out of Springfield, Ill. The line, funded by proceeds from the state attorney general's lawsuit against tobacco companies, provides basic stop-smoking counseling services.
But there are those who are leery about Chantix, its success rates as a stop-smoking aid and its side effects.
"There are still so many unknowns," says John Polito of South Carolina, an ex-smoker who advocates quitting cold turkey through his Web site, whyquit.com.
"If you go back and look at the gum, the patch, Zyban, there was tremendous excitement when they first came out, too."
Unlike Zyban - also known as the antidepressant Wellbutrin - or nicotine patches and gums, Chantix goes straight to the brain and blocks the receptors that produce physical cravings for nicotine. Soon after smokers start the initial 12-week regimen, many say they lose the desire to smoke. Like Patrick and Kelly, they say they can't stand the taste or smell of tobacco products. A second 12-week regimen is prescribed for successful quitters to boost the drug's effectiveness.
Doctors recommend smokers continue smoking one cigarette a day for the first week after they start taking the drug.
"It got to the point I had to force myself to smoke that last day because it tasted so horrible," Patrick says.
In clinical trials, the most common side effects include mild nausea, headaches, vomiting and vivid dreams.
Source: Bendweekly |
