Smoking-pill suicides overlooked in missing reports

[godai]

Source: MSNBC.com

Hundreds of reports of suicides, psychotic reactions and other serious problems tied to the popular stop-smoking drug Chantix were left out of a crucial government safety review because Pfizer Inc., the drug’s manufacturer, submitted years of data through “improper channels.” Some 150 suicides — more than doubling those previously known — were among 589 delayed reports of severe issues turned up in a new analysis by the non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices. “We’ve had a major breakdown in safety surveillance,” said Thomas J. Moore, the ISMP senior scientist who analyzed the data. The serious problems — including reports of completed suicides, suicide attempts, aggression and hostility and depression — had been mixed among some 26,000 records of non-serious side effects such as nausea and rashes, with some dating back to 2006, the year Chantix, or varenicline, was approved.

They echo previous claims that the drug can induce extreme reactions in people trying to quit cigarettes, including vivid nightmares, crippling depression and sudden, violent outbursts.

“It’s really chilling,” said Moore, who analyzed 26 Chantix reactions in a paper published in the September 2010 issue of the Journal of Pharmacotherapy. "This seems to unleash something in people. It can be violence to anything around."

Moore's case studies describe "inexplicable and unprovoked" reactions in Chantix patients with no previous history of violence or mental illness, including:
•A 24-year-old woman who started beating her boyfriend in bed because "he looked so peaceful" and later attempted suicide;
•A 42-year-old man who punched a stranger at a bowling alley;
•A 47-year-old woman who died after she came out of a room, yelled at her daughters and then shot herself.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43187290/ns/health-health_care

---

'The Chantix' can mess you up bigtime.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

1. I asked my doctor about Chantix.

He didn't want to put me on it because of the side effects.

[crikkett]

54. The side effects are like smoking withdrawal symptoms on steroids

#1 reason I would never date a smoker and will leave my husband if he ever takes the habit up again is that nicotine withdrawal takes months and turns you into an ogre.

...the drug can induce extreme reactions in people trying to quit cigarettes, including vivid nightmares, crippling depression and sudden, violent outbursts.

...Sounds all too familiar.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

62. How did your husband quit?

[Egnever]

2. Wow thats bad

Ive taken it myself and experienced none of these symptoms, horrible tragedy for these people who did.

[Mojorabbit]

41. I was one of the initial 400 that

had suicidal idealation on it. I knew there was no reason to be suicidal or depressed but at the same time I was. It was a very weird feeling. It lifted a few days after I went off of it. Several years later I went back on it at a half dose and finally kicked a 39 year 2 pk a day habit. It works well but everyone who takes it should be aware to call their doctor at the first sign of any abnormal anything.

[rocktivity]

61. I know that feeling well

I would feel gloomy and depressed when I had absolutely no reason to, and wonder why. Within 48 hours, my period would start.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[ChromeFoundry]

3. Side-effects are worse than what the med is treating.

Pretty soon we are going to see side-effects like:

"May cause drowsiness, headache or self-combustion in some patients. May cause feelings of narcissism and confusion to the point of voting for Republicans. May cause a change in appetite, blurred vision and desire to chew your own tongue off. If your pants catch fire for periods longer than four hours, seek medical attention immediately."

[rurallib]

18. "discontinue use if you attempt to kill yourself or your spouse"

[CC]

4. I feel for those that had bad reactions.

Glad it worked for me without any bad reactions though will have to say my doctor went over all sorts of side effects before writing me a script with dire warning to call as soon possible it I have any of the side effects, even if I wasn't sure but felt I might be. He did have me half afraid to try but I really needed to quit smoking and nothing else ever worked.

[Hyper_Eye]

11. It worked for me as well.

I tried a lot of other things and nothing worked. Chantix worked the first time and it made quitting easy. I have not had a cigarette in 3 and a half years. When I took the medication a lot of these side effects were not yet known or verified and my doctor didn't tell me a whole lot when he prescribed it. He did not recommend it to me though. I asked for it.

I would like them to submit proper test results and for the drug to be properly scrutinized. I do believe people need to be aware of the side effects and people who are close to the patient should also be aware of the side effects. I believe this medication is saving a lot of lives though.

[dflprincess]

43. We must have quit about the same time and I also used Chantix

It worked like a magic bullet for me. The only side effect I had was awful nausea. My cousin, a nurse, had told me about it and my doctor was happy to prescribe it when I asked. I'm glad I used it when I did - if I had known about all the other side effects I would have been afraid to even try it.

[BobbyBoring]

5. I quit taking it

when I woke up screaming. I dreamed I was talking to my S/Os head that I had removed with an axe. That was enough for me.

[Fuddnik]

7. I took Zyban (Welbutrin) for a while.

I started acting way out of character, and having really weird thoughts. I had what a took to be a seizure, and when I got back to my hotel room, I flushed that shit.

[RebelOne]

8. I took Welbutrin for a while with no side effects,

but it did not stop my desire to smoke. My sister took Chantix with no side effects, and she stopped smoking for 6 weeks, but she is back to smoking now.

[ejpoeta]

19. zyban is wellbutrin. my husband took wellbutrin for depression and just stopped

smoking one day and quit for a whole year. then he started up again. i could have killed him!! he ended up using chantix and did not have side effects. i watched him like a hawk! and he quit and hasn't smoked since. i am so happy that he is smoke free. i know it was really hard for him. I quit when I was pregnant with our oldest daughter... I wasn't as addicted as him.

[RebelOne]

23. Kudos to your husband.

When I was pregnant (two times), I quit because just smelling cigarette smoke made me sick. But each time, after delivering the baby, I started smoking again to lose weight and have been smoking ever since. My youngest just turned 49, so you know how long I have been smoking. I just wish I could trick my body into thinking it is pregnant.

[ejpoeta]

33. it is funny because i went from smoking a pack and a half to getting sick trying to smoke one

cigarette!! my daughter enjoys hearing how she helped me quit smoking. i would have dreams i was smoking. i smoked at work on break but decided i didn't want to get addicted again. but i did gain weight after i became a stay at home mom. yech.

[druidity33]

12. Please don't flush your drugs...

it wreaks havoc on our waste streams. Old and unwanted medicines should be disposed of properly. Ask your doctor for more info...

Cheers

:)

[eilen]

28. For years we put our excess morphine waste

in the sink at the hospital I worked at. Often it was 2mg dose we had to give so we wasted 8mg. It was usually packaged in 10 mg: 1 cc. I used to ponder that we probably had some pretty stoned out rats.

[Fuddnik]

44. Funny thing is, I was at the Florida Democratic Convention.

I don't think Disney would notice any drugs in their water supply.

[Kurovski]

46. Congrats on 999 posts.

One more and you're in the thousand club. :)

Back when DU was small, we used to celebrate crazy stuff like that. I'd forgotten.

[Le Taz Hot]

53. Wellbutrin worked for me

AFTER I quit. Weirdest thing, I quit with the patch and was doing fine for about 6 months then all of a sudden, BAM! I'm having nicotine cravings like I used to have on the first day of trying to quit cold turkey. I got Wellbutrin from my doctor and . . . no more cravings. I took it for like a month or so, went off it voluntarily and I haven't had those types of cravings since. A friend of mine took Chantex to try and quit smoking and she said she had homicidal dreams. She ended up quitting with the patch.

[defendandprotect]

26. A lot of reports of really bad experiences on this thread -- wonder if anyone reported any of this .

to drug company or Bernie Sanders --

Sanders' office is interested in Big Pharma and experiences like this --

And, I think it would help those who had bad experiences but continued on with

the drug and had even worse experiences to work on lawsuits!

[godai]

39. Online form for reports to FDA

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch_online.cfm

[defendandprotect]

58. I'm sure it's just as well to do that, but they call it "Monsanto's FDA" ... so I'd also

make sure that it is officially reported to the drug companies --

and Bernie Sanders' office because they are trying to do something about

the very harmful effects of Big Pharma drugs!!

Many very damaging effects for ordinary patients!!

[madrchsod]

6. my wife has a high tolerance to just about any...

legal or "illegal" drugs. she took chantix and it knocked her on her ass.

chantix drug is approved by the state of illinois for medicaid patients.

[murielm99]

9. I felt like I was losing my mind when I took Chantix.

I felt rage, suicidal impulses and I had terrible nightmares. I could not control what I said to people. Also, I had nausea and weight gain. I had to get off the stuff before I did any more harm.

That's not to say that I would have followed through on assault or suicide. I am abrasive, but not violent when I am behaving normally. But it was terrible. And for about six weeks after I quit, it was worse.

Please be careful, smokers.

[serialnick]

30. I had the same experience

I only lasted about 7 days wondering what the hell was going on with me before I copped on. I already have a somewhat iffy, melancholy-laden mental health history, so let's just say suicidal thoughts are not exactly what I'm into. I'm glad that I was smart enough to figure it out on my own, because I got no warning. Of course, this was several years ago, so I hope there are better controls in place now. But I honest to God did not want to smoke at all.

It's a shame that something that works so well has such terrible unintended consequences. Makes you wonder how it got approved in the first place. But I guess we all really know the answer to that question.

[Kurovski]

47. welcome to DU, serialnick !

:hi:

[QC]

10. I quit smoking after 22 years with Chantix, still clean after 3.5 years.

My experience was a positive one, but I can see how it might not be the same for others.

(Yes, I did have bizarre dreams, but I thought they were kind of cool.)

[Demeter]

13. Pfizer Is a Criminal Enterprise

and it's time it was broken up as it is too stupid to live.

[kimmerspixelated]

15. Bingo!

100%

[defendandprotect]

25. Agree -- and has always been very political ....

[kimmerspixelated]

14. Big Pharma does not care what they do to you

they just care about the profit margin. This is truly horrible, and a complete outrage!

[ejpoeta]

16. my husband took chantix. he did not have any side effects thank god and he quit smoking

and has been smoke free for almost 2 and a half years. i am so thankful he did not have any of these reactions. i was so anxious because i had heard about these kinds of reactions.

[John1956PA]

17. Here is a recent news story from the Beaver County Times of Beaver, Pennsylvania

Lawsuit claims Economy murder-suicide caused by stop-smoking drug

Posted: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 11:53
By Megan J. Miller

[e-mail]

ECONOMY — Two years ago, Sean Wain, 34, shot his wife of nearly 14 years, Natalie Wain, 33, twice with a 20-gauge shotgun, killing her and then turning the gun on himself. . . .

Now the Wains’ families have filed a federal lawsuit claiming that Sean Wain’s violent acts were caused by side effects of a prescription drug he’d been taking that’s intended to help people quit smoking.

Plaintiffs Robert Erdlen and George Wain, the fathers of Natalie and Sean Wain and administrators of their estates, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages and restitution from Pfizer. The pharmaceutical giant is the maker of Chantix (emphasis added), a smoking cessation drug.

More at the following link: http://www.timesonline.com/news/police_fire_courts/lawsuit-claims-economy-murder-suicide-caused-by-stop-smoking-drug/article_a7dc1456-1fb3-5179-bd7d-e5f4686c38b2.html

[Divernan]

36. The victims' families have a good attorney.

I saw Vic Pribanic do some very effective work for family guardians of SEVERELY autistic adults, and he did it pro bono. (The Beaver paper misspelled his last name.) The only way family members of adult (over 18 years of age) severely mentally disabled individuals could have any involvement in the care and treatment of retarded adult family members in group homes was to be court appointed as legal guardian. Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare had oversight of thousands of privatized "group homes" in the state (which in my opinion, should properly have been overseen by Public Health officials, not welfare bureaucrats). The way DPW's regulations read, the only information which families of retarded adults had a right to be told was if the retarded adult died. Even then, they were not told the circumstances of the deaths, or were outright lied to.

The half-assed state regulations required only 20% of the group homes be "inspected" every year. DPW could give advance notice to the locations, and DPW could inspect the same group homes every year - so some homes were never inspected. There were absolutely NO fines if a group home violated regulations. No group homes were ever closed, or had residents removed, even when multiple severe injuries were caused such as the incident of a poisonous Kool-aid appearing liquid in an unmarked plastic container left under an unlocked kitchen undersink cabinet, resulting in near death for multiple residents.

Or, for example, cause of death was simply listed as pneumonia. The family was not told that the resident was put outdoors, unsupervised, for hours in a fenced in yard in the Pennsylvania winter (while the staff watched soap operas inside), or in another case wandered off in the winter weather and fell into a nearby pond. If the family visited and happened to find out the resident was hospitalized with a broken leg, the family was told the resident fell - not that the resident was left unsupervised in a bathtub and fell getting out, or that a resident who lacked balance and so was never to go up or down stairs unassisted, did in fact fall down stairs. So there were rapes, assaults, escapes/runaways, illnesses and injuries requiring hospital stays, various neglect and abuse by under trained, underpaid, caregivers (who had sometimes not been screened for criminal history) and the families were not told. Also, DPW would assign the retarded individuals to group homes hundreds of miles from their families, to prevent families from frequent or regular visits which might uncover the criminal neglect.

DPW administration aggressively discouraged families from getting legal guardianship. For one thing, with legal guardianship, the families could demand their family member be placed closer to their family home so they could regularly visit and oversee the "caregivers". For many of the families (often elderly parents), the cost and complexity of getting legal guardianship was overwhelming. Victor Pribanic got a local judge to come to a state center for the mentally retarded, which was in the process of being shut down, and all residents scattered around the state to group "homes". After weeks of meeting with families in advance, gathering the necessary information, preparing the required documentation, some 40 families got legal guardianship in one day, for a cost of $50 each - I count that as pro bono, since it would only cover the court's filing fees.

God bless Victor Pribanic, and God bless that judge, whose name I cannot remember.

(More from the link above)
"That’s a view echoed by families of people who allegedly became suddenly and inexplicably violent after taking Chantix. Sean M. Wain, 34, of Beaver County, Pa., shot himself and his wife, Natalie, 33, in May 2009 in what a lawyer for their families claims was a Chantix-fueled rage.

"If the FDA had more information about suicides and other side effects tied to Chantix, the agency might have taken stronger action sooner, said Victor H. Prebanic, who represents Robert Erdelen and George Wain, fathers of the slain couple.

“If Pfizer had been more forthcoming, the black box warning might have emerged earlier,” Prebanic said. “For all we know, the drug would not have been available.”

"The lawsuit, filed this month, is the latest among hundreds of claims filed against Pfizer regarding Chantix. At least 1,545 injury claims that cite Chantix are pending in federal court.

[sofa king]

20. Isn't everything overlooked in a missing report?

[craigmatic]

21. The board of pfizer should all be in prison. Only in America would they be allowed to walk free.

[Th1onein]

22. SSRI drugs. I told you so......

These drugs don't do these things to EVERYBODY, but they are dangerous enough they need not be dispensed anymore. These are the drugs of suicide, mass murder, and homicide. Mark my words.

[Liberal Veteran]

34. Varenicline (Chantix) is not an SSRI.

It is a nicotinic receptor partial agonist, not a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

[Th1onein]

37. You're right.

It's not an SSRI. It affects me like an SSRI, though. Bad, violent and weird dreams. When I stopped taking it, I felt like I was going to shatter into a million pieces. Of course, I only took it for three days before I stopped. Pretty bad side effects, though. Waking up in the middle of the night, sobbing.

[Union Scribe]

63. Wow, that fail must have hurt.

The good news is, if it left you depressed, there are medications to treat that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

66. lol.

[applegrove]

24. I was on calming drugs for PTSD when I tried Chantix so I didn't have

bad side effects of it. Maybe they need to twin Chantix with strong calming meds when people try it? I don't think I could have quit smoking without Chantix and I love my quit.

[Bluesbreaker]

27. Pfizer is evil

This is not an isolated case. The meds they make for animals are bad, too. I gave my dog Pfizer's Revolution Flea and Tick control. Shortly thereafter he contracted and died from canine auto immune disease. My vet said she suspected Revolution triggered it.

[canucksawbones]

29. this is not new info

The reality here is that Chantix (Champix in Canada) should not be used with patients with a previously established mood disorder, those that don't have a low potential for the above noted issues, but I still get new starts on this drug back after a couple of weeks to question them re: depression related symptoms.

GK

[Corruption Winz]

31. I asked my doctor about Chantix...

and he punched me in the face and then attempted to commit suicide. We were much better friends when we just shared a smoke in the parking lot.

Seriously though, wouldn't the cancer be..... safer?

[Hubert Flottz]

32. "150 suicides"

"So that's a hundred and fifty people who will never smoke again," I can hear the Pfizer CEO in the congressional hearings now.

[idrahaje]

35. sounds like the movie Firestarter.. O_O Glad I don't smoke.. n/t

[demigoddess]

38. I took metformin and did not sleep for months and had

muscle tics that kept me from even sitting still and you don't see that taken off the market, or sued. I told my doctor but I doubt if it went any farther than that. She probably thinks I just don't like medicines, so she chalked it up to my prejudice. I bet that is why some of this doesn't get reported like it should.

[yankeepants]

40. I gave my husband cigarettes to quit Chantix

He was an entirely different person and it frightened me. I bought him a pack of ciggies and decided living with this wonderful man for fewer years was much saner than living with the stranger that Chantix had made him.

I quit 12 years ago and we will keep trying to find him a way to get the monkey off his back.

[benld74]

42. Pf*ckers!

[Witt78]

45. Smoker here... Good Post. Thanks.

Yes... That Chantix stuff has always creeped me out. The crazy stories began the moment it hit the market.

These Cronie Capitalists will kill you for a $. Don't take any drugs of theirs unless it's been on the market for a decade or two.
-----------------------------------
Nearly 100% of US Soybeans are GMO's... (Genetically Modified Organism)

Soybeans are in everything! Hamsters fed GMO soybeans lost the ability to have babies. BABIES for Christ's Sake! Growl, Snort.

<End Rant> <Deep Breath>

[udbcrzy2]

48. Husband took it for 2-weeks

And then he quit smoking, no need to take it any longer. He was ready to quit. Hate to hear such a thing about medication that is suppose to help people.

edit: My husband did not have any side-effects except for vivid dreams.

[Vext]

49. One of my friends from work DID kill himself

We were all puzzled (as well as distraught) because he hadn't seemed like the type of guy who had demons. He was a smoker. Someone
at the memorial service said he had been on some prescription anti-smoking drug with depression and suicidal thoughts as a possible side effects.
I'm not sure if it was Chantix, but how many of these are there?

[pezDispenser]

50. worked for me as well

2.5 years w/o a smoke. I did have vivid dreams while taking it and I generally don't remember my dreams.

[Tracer]

51. My daughter took Chantix, and...

... went immediately from a normal, happy, pleasant person to being depressed, miserable, weepy and angry.

She was so unhappy that she went to her doctor, who -- crazily in my opinion -- put her on Zoloft.

When I learned about that, I demanded that she quit both drugs.

She did, but it took her close to a month to regain her normalcy.

Chantix is dangerous stuff.

[GliderGuider]

52. This has just blown my mind.

I broke up with two partners - one my wife of 20 years, the other my subsequent long-term girlfriend - after they underwent severe personality changes. One went into a mix of aggression and depression, the other was pure depression. My ex-wife went from being a teetotaler to trying to commit suicide through alcohol. After reading this article I just realized that both shifts were coincident with them starting to use varenicline (called Champix in Canada) to quit smoking.

God damn these pharma bastards to hell.

[lunatica]

55. I took it when it was still a clinical double blind study and it worked for me

Maybe they've changed it by adding something or making it stronger, but it worked like a miracle for me. I've been a non-smoker for 15 years because of it. I was a very heavy smoker for 30 years and had tried unsuccessfully quitting many times.

[godai]

60. It is quite effective but potential side effects are serious.

Not everyone gets the serious toxicity. The article, as well as the many posts here, indicates that the safety issues are probably greater than advertised. Chantix, called Champix, is very popular in Japan, but the dosing is lower, probably safer but perhaps less effective. The key is to be on the lookout for side effects, realize it, and stop taking the drug.

That Pfizer buried these reports is troubling.

[Schema Thing]

56. An acquaintance became violent with his gf and ended up shot to death

after banging on and screaming at his neighbor's door at 2am.


Chantix is the ONLY explanation for his behavior as there was zero history of such behavior.

[KittyWampus]

57. Quackery.

[dogmoma56]

59. yes, but, the annual level of acceptable Corporate collateral damage is 450,000 set by Tobacco >link

http://dpc.senate.gov/docs/fs-111-1-83.html

when the acceptable level of corporate murder is 1,200 a day, and 1000 "CHILDREN" that very
SAME DAY are recruited to take their place, to maintain an established profit margin.
unfortunately makes your annual 150 dead trying to quit tobacco sorta insignificant as statistics go. but also unfortunately the annual dead from many many popular pharmaceuticals is much higher,said to be about 63,800 in 2009 or about 173 a day. alcohol causes about 100,000 deaths a year, about 274 a day. and AIDS is at about 16,000 a yr, about 44 a day.

http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30

1,200 people die ever day from Tobacco Addiction side effects.

1,080 of the daily dead, were addicted as children <90% of smokers were addicted as children>.

540 of the dead were addicted to tobacco at 12 years old or younger.

the total financial cost of smoking is about $192 billion,


the only thing that will ever slow down this horrific insanity is eliminating Corporate Campaign contributions, formerly known a BRIBES. and providing free college to people in science and education if they work for the Common Wealth for at least 4-6 years resolving our problems. we need a Manhattan like program building solar/wind/etc to eliminate oil as a fuel. we need a total reform of education, small neighborhood schools, starting at 2 years ears old/etc. but unless we can establish and secure a Secular Society none of the above will be at all important, bare survival will be our only concern.

[Viking 1]

64. Revolting

[individual rights]

65. If you want to try it, better get it now. It will not be on the market much longer.