Champix/Chantix - anyone got any information?

Not much here but..........


A Different Way to Help Quitters Quit



Good News for Smokers
There’s good news for smokers this week with the launch of Champix™ in Ireland. Champix, is the first new prescription aid to smoking cessation treatment approved by the EMEA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration in nearly a decade, and it is now available to Irish patients. Those who are prescribed Champix will be offered the opportunity to enroll in a behavioural modification programme called Life RewardsTM Support Plan at no additional cost. The plan was developed by Pfizer with input from smoking cessation experts.

“By launching Champix in Ireland to help people quit smoking, we hope to take a positive step toward improving the health of smokers, their families and friends, and society in general,” says Jay Cusack, Champix Brand Manager. “Quitting smoking is challenging physiologically and psychologically. Very often, smokers are very much on their own during the difficult quitting process. To help people break free from the powerful grip of smoking, we are offering Champix with a personalised behaviour modification program called Life RewardsTM Support Plan. It is our hope that this will help smokers achieve their goal of living smoke-free.”

Decline in Smoking has been Reversed
According to the Office of Tobacco Control the overall prevalence of cigarette smoking in Ireland is approximately 24%. There was a decline in smoking prevalence after the smoke free legislation in March 2004, however this decline has now been reversed. In particular there is a rise in smoking prevalence among young women. 25% of the female population smoke. There is also a reversal in the decline in smoking among 15-18 year olds and 19-35 year olds generally. It is estimated that 18% of 15-18 year olds smoke and 33% of 19-35 year olds. Half of all smokers will die from tobacco related disease and of these 50% will die prematurely. In Ireland 7,000 people die every year from tobacco related diseases. Annually 1,500 people die from lung cancer. Smoking causes 30% of all cancers, including 90% of lung cancers.

Four out of every 5 smokers wish they had never started. Champix offers an important advance in smoking cessation. It is the first in a new class of medicines called selective nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonists and it works by binding to the nicotinic receptors and providing relief from the craving and withdrawal symptoms while also reducing satisfaction and the rewarding effects of smoking.

A Death Every Eight Seconds
Smoking is the world’s leading preventable cause of premature death. While many smokers would like to quit to prevent further damage to their health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that less than 5% of smokers trying to quit unaided remain abstinent at 1 year. It is believed that most smokers continue to smoke not out of choice, but because they are addicted to nicotine. Addiction to nicotine is a chronic, relapsing medical condition. Worldwide, approximately 1.3 billion people currently smoke cigarettes. Approximately five million people die of smoking-related diseases each year worldwide and the WHO estimates that if current smoking patterns continue, the number of people dying of smoking-related diseases globally will double by 2020 to 10 million a year. According to the WHO, every eight seconds a person dies of a smoking-related disease (and almost as quickly someone else takes up smoking for the first time).



Further information on smoking and quitting can be found on the following websites: ASH Ireland: www.ash.ie, Irish Heart Foundation: www.irishheart.ie , Irish Cancer Society: www.cancer.ie, Office of Tobacco Control: www.otc.ie

2 week starter pack is @65 euro. 125 monthly after that if you carry on.

MAKE SURE YOU GET A DPS CARD and you only pay max of 85 euro a month for anything prescribed i.e 1st month almost free
I've benn off them now for 6 weeks which is about 6 weeks better than any other attempt (23 years a smoker). Have tried Alan Carr clinic twice, read the book, patches, gum etc and none worked for me. Don't know if its the champix or just the fact that I know if this doesn't work I haven't really got any options left thats keeping me going but finally know what its like to be off them a while and it feels good

Any doctor can prescribe it. It was not even officially launced when I started it and you will still find it hard to find a chemist that stocks it - they can order it in in a day or two.

Good luck if you try it.

Pretty scarey reading that blog. Pretty, 'Much ado about nothing' after reading the comments in the blog.

38 suicides out of 5 million US prescriptions is not statistically relevent even if they were directly attributed to Champix which there is no direct proof. Haven't a lot of those suicides been depressed people or very heavy drinkers while on the meds regardless.

You are magnitudes more likely to get a diagnosis of lung cancer from the cigs this year than you are to be so affected by champix that you commit suicide.

Moving on to the side affects. I am about to visit the doctor for my first prescription of this. If I start feeling like described in the article, eh I'll stop taking them....unlike the author.

TBH though after reading the comments I would say I will be OK. No history of depression or any other mental or physical ilness. I don't drink. And as for the dreams. Well I read about nightmares while taking patches. I never had nightmares on the patch. I had the collest erotic dreams ever. I'd always wke up after such a lucid erotic dream and say to myself, 'Woah, can't wait to see what happens tomorrow night.'