Memory Loss And Prolonged Personality Changes While On, And After Use Of Chantix
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I began taking Chantix in May of 2011, and quit smoking in June. My brother started saying that I was acting strange. I did not believe him at first, and even felt he was trying to put me down...I remember that.... But I finally did notice that I was not sleeping, and getting really wound up! I started forgetting things, and even forgot to eat, and take medicine. I quit taking the Chantix, and do not smoke, But I lost Two months of memory, and still have some time gaps, at night, to this day. I was removed from the County Fair in September, but have no idea why, and little memory of that evening, and became more isolated and depressed, to the point where I could not think clearly, and. ....well it was a nightmare. I am Now, in the middle of January beginning to retain more evening memory, and have returned to myself, MOSTLY. The scariest thing for me, is that I may NEVER be myself again, totally!...waiting to see. Has anyone else had such dramatic, and LONG LASTING negative effects after stopping Chantix?

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Re: Karen (# 45)

I used chantix,turned into a violent maniac while my family slept,shooting my wife of 20 years,she's fine,then fought with police for days,broken hands. I would not give this garbage to my dog if he was dead already...chantix is a huge gamble,one that could cost many lives ...beware.look up keithsluder chantix murder.maryland

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Yes much worse, turned me into an attempted murderer.

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I took it and almost killed my whole family. I went to prison. I went to a maximum security Institution. It opened a part of my brain where I became superhuman. It may have killed me but God brought me back. In February 2014 I was released, no thanks to Pfizer, because they try to prosecute me. It cost me thousands. They stole from my family and my children. I feel sorry for these people involved one day or called upon to explain what they have done to the one judge that matters. Some are gone already, very young, heart attacks, car wrecks... How do people sleep at night knowing what they sell has a huge possibility to take lives, children's lives, pregnant women's lives, family's lives. Shame on Pfizer. They did nothing, sweep it under the rug. They came to my court and tried to put me in prison forever, and they knew exactly what happened. Make their products look good. They wanted to take my life, take me away from my family. Shame on them. Disgusting evil greedy.

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Re: Shelley (# 44)

I took chantix almost 8 yrs ago and I quit smoking almost 2 weeks after starting it the only side affect I got was having bad night mares once I stopped smoking I stop taking the Chantix If you are still taking it after 8 months of being on it something is wrong talk to your doctor you should of quit along time ago

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

I used Chantix to quit smoking about 7 or 8 years ago. After about nine or ten days I realized I hadn’t smoked in over a week. I was happy that I had quit smoking but there was something wrong because I didn’t even remember that I hadn’t smoked. It was later when I found a half pack of cigarettes in my purse that I realized that the Chantix must be working. I didn’t crave a cigarette or have to fight the urge to smoke, I just didn’t even think about it ever again. This was a miracle as I had tried to quit so many times and I know how hard it had been. Chantix was a miracle drug as far as I was concerned. But then my husband would mention things we did or places we had been to and I had absolutely no memory of what he was talking about. Things like that started happening all the time, we had gone out to dinner with one of our friends and I have no memory of going or being there. I talked to people on the phone and have no recall of conversations I had had. To this day my short term memory is totally damaged. I have never been a drinker nor used drugs so I never mixed the Chantix in that way. I did however also take antidepressants and don’t know if that also played a factor with my short term memory loss. It might not seem like a big problem to some but it has destroyed my life. I miss more appointments than I show up for. I have to let my husband control my schedule and drive me to almost all my appointments as I have been driving and forgot where I was going. I feel like a child and my husband is my parent. It’s horrible to live like this. I’m glad I quit smoking I wish I had done it without ever using Chantix. I would never recommend Chantix to anyone.

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VJ Cannistraci (# 8) --

Really ? I am very interested if this is true . I’ve been on chantix now for 8 months and have quit a 2 pack a day ,45 years habit but still crave intensely !! Please keep us posted on this issue . I am in Tennessee; does that matter ?

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I drove my car into a pillar in my underground parking. Day one of Champix and no alcohol. It was seriously weird will never touch that stuff again.

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Re: VJ (# 2)

Hello. People take much higher doses of the active medication in "chatix" for depression. Your symptoms do not sound like any I know from that medication and I have a lot of knowledge about it. Are you on any hair loss medication treatments or hormone blockade medicines such as Finesteride? The severity of your symptoms seem much more related to this class of medications. I think pursuing Chantix as the cause of your symptoms will be the wrong path. There are many reasons for your symptoms including depression itself. Especially in the early times it is forming. It can be subtle. I'd look into any other substances, toxins in your environment to be sure to cover everything. Of course see an MD and neurologist if necessary. good luck.

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I started taking Chantix. My fiance and even my son said that my personality was changing. I didn't believe them either. I also have memory loss from the evenings. The worst part is that I really went into some rages where I said nasty things that I don't even remember. I don't remember making love to my fiance. That is really scary.

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My son took Chantix for months and did quit smoking pretty quickly and has not started back, thank God. Without going into too many details, he had a great job and has a beautiful wife and 2 children (teenagers). While taking Chantix he started experiencing explosive anger. Threatening to kill himself and punching holes in doors. He was having vivid nightmares of his wife in bed with a friend of his. He was away during one of the times he had the nightmare and called his wife at 3 in the morning to confront her, sure that his friend was with her. She was sound asleep and both kids were in the house sleeping. My daughter in law has been totally in love and devoted to my son and their family for almost 20 years. She is standing by him even through the worst of the nightmare...About 6 months into taking Chantix, he started getting the idea if his wife could have an affair (she was not), so why not him. Unfortunately he started perusing a website/app where there were young girls looking for men to have sex...I have flashbacks to a Dateline news show...

He was on his way to hook up with a minor...I can’t even say more, except that he was arrested and fired from his job, two years after his arrest he is in prison serving one year of a 10 year sentence. His family is about to be evicted from their home, his wife is working after always being a stay at home mom. She doesn’t make enough money to pay rent and utilities. He has little memory of the awful things he has done. He had thoughts of driving his car into a power pole on the interstate because it was the most likely way to end his life. He said thoughts of his family was the only saving grace. He knows his troubles have only just begun. Where will he be able to get a job to support his family? He has been told by counselors in prison that everyone believes sex offenders should die...writing this down has been therapeutic for me.

I’m wondering if Chantix could actually be to blame for all this. I wonder if he has any recourse at this point and if there is still an ongoing class action lawsuit.

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

Yes. I, too started on chantix way back in October 2017 and just quit smoking january 1st, 2018! I'm still having unbelievable urges to smoke so my dr added wellbutrin. Better but not gone completely. And in February, i had steroid injections in me and they used versed and fentanyl to sedate me. Since then my short-term memory is way off and at times not working at all. I blamed it on the versed but the dr said that should be worn off long ago and im still on chantix and wellbutrin for urges. But im about to quit chantix and see if my med starts working again. Definitely something going on. I'm a 59 yr old female. Oh and my dr told me that when she met with the chantix rep., he told her that they now recommend that patients stay on chantix for 6 months after quitting smoking! I’ll let you know if my head clears up!

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Oddly, I am about 8-10 years past Chantix and suffer terrible short term memory loss. It started gradually after Chantix and I was searching to see if others have had it as well. That led me here. I also have the "cranky old man" issue but it leaves me wondering if all this is related to Chantix. No doubt, quitting smoking was worth it but is the cost more than I know?

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I have been using Chantix for 2 months now. I'm 52. I told my girl today that I feel like I am getting Alzheimer's. I am so glad I'm not alone in thinking Chantix has something to do with it.

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I took chantix in 2010 I did quit smoking. However I suffered memory issues right away and still do. I have vague memory of things I should remember from my youth and early adulthood. I've really struggled with this.

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

My uncle took this drug to quit smoking . He hasnt been right ever since. His mental state is obvious to everyone in our family except him. Take this drug at your own risk. There are a lot of drugs out there that big money keeps on the market that will harm you.

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Re: Confused (# 33)

My husband took Chantix from January through May. I noticed a lot of changes in his normally easy-going behavior. He was irritable, forgetful, lost interest in me and our marriage. We would still talk about our future but he was no longer demonstrative and loving. I told him several times that I thought the Chantix was affecting him. I even asked him to see a marriage counselor with me. Turns out he was having an emotional affair with a co-worker for about 6 weeks. When all of his came to light he finally agreed to stop the Chantix. About a month later he started coming out of the fog. Now he says he's so happy that he quit because he did not feel like himself as he looks back at that period. He felt like everything was happening to another person. Each month that goes by it gets better but the whole co-worker thing damaged our relationship. We've been seeing a counselor and have been on the verge of divorce twice since all this was discovered. I think we will make it as even I know it wasn't him. He was the most loving husband I could ever have wished for and then he wasn't for such a brief period. Please be careful when using this medication. We think he was mildly depressed prior to Chantix and the drug made it even worse. That's our theory anyway. Don't let this ruin your life and relationships. Try Nicorette - it worked for me 25 yrs ago and worked for my husband this year....after 4 months of Chantix he never actually stopped smoking. One month of Nicorette and he hasn't smoked since.

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I took Chantix for a week and stopped when I stared getting paranoid. I stopped taking the Chantix and eventually quit cold turkey. I didn't give it any further thought. I recently got fired for outbursts at work. I was aware my personality had changed, but had no idea why. I went through all of the medications I take and didn't find a cause. I saw a Neurologist and nothing showed in my MRI. My wife mentioned the Chantix and a Google search brought me here. I have a sleep study coming up soon and I think I'll have my vitamin D checked.

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Hi I have had a similar reaction to Chantix. I have been taking Chantix for about 5 weeks. I have quit smoking. The first few weeks I was doing ok on Chantix other than the typical nausea . Then I began to forget things like where I was going or what I was doing. Many times one of my children would need to tell me what I was doing or where I was driving. Then I began having a feeling of surrealism it felt like things were not real or like I was watching my life but not there. I don't know how to describe it. This weekend was the worst I all the sudden like a switch turned on in my head just wanted to die. I wanted to just end it. I out of no where asked where the car keys were at when my husband asked why I started screaming at him I was going to drive it into a telephone poll. Then I just went into a rage about everything that had been bothering me over the past decade. He of course took the keys then I snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a knife he must have heard me and I ran half way down stairs from our apartment on the second floor. He wrestled the knife from me. At one point I had it to my neck and was pushing it in. My husband ended up cutting his hand. He then told my son to call 911because I was trying to hurt myself. My son did not do because he was just totally beside himself. My husband then somehow got me in the car and started driving after about 3 hours I had calmed down. I have never had any mental health issues or felt like this before I am 43 years old.

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I've had a little memory loss...forgetting to pay bills, paying for gas and forgetting to pump it. Telling someone something twice in short amount of time. Recently stopped taking chantix, hoping that will solve problem.

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I am taking chantix only at night and I have major memory problems. I repeat myself and have trouble remembering if I did something a little thing like getting the coffee pot ready for the next day. I must check that coffee pot two to three times during that day. It seems to be getting worse, but I only have a few pills left. I really need to stop smoking. I have asthma real bad. But I do take other meds that may cause my memory loss. I'm guessing all of these combined doesn't help.

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