Zyban - stop smoking drug

Mark J

anyone know anyone who has been prescribed them or are they being prescribed here and if so, do they work?

dramaqueen

I used them to give up smoking. I smoked for 8 years and tried everything to give up but nothing worked. In the end I took Zyban.
I was living in the UK at the time so I don't know if they are available in Ireland. I took them for 10 days and have been off the fags for nearly 2 years now without any cravings.
Saying that they are very strong and one of my friends took them and had a fit. She ended up in hospital.
You are supposed to take one a day for a week and then 2 a day for the next week. I stuck to one a day and was absolutely fine.
I recommend them. But they have to be prescribed by your doctor.

Mark J

tx for the reply. they do work so in fact and are available.(albeit in the u.k.)

wasn`t gonna pay the doctor €50 to find out what you just told me, so thanks.

i will go to the doctor now and see if they are prescribed here.

i was also well aware of the side-effects, have done a bit of research into it as i`ve tried everything to no avail - inhalers,gum,patches,willpower,allen carr`s book, you name it.

i`m constantly losing weight and i put it down to the cigs, as i seem to have one in my mouth at every oppurtunity that i`m not eating.
(maybe i should just eat after waking til i go to bed!)

thanks again anyway.

FranknFurter

They are available here but on prescription.

But you should know, Zyban, are effectively a anti-depressant alled "Wellbutrin" which is a anti-depressant that was found to have anti smoking properties.

In otherwords Zyban will effect your moods, you and whoever you live with should monitor your moods closely, and remember often somone else will notice things you dont.

Also, under no circumstances drink alchohol with zyban or you could have a seizure.

Remember, zyban is a treatment that is meant as a "last ditch attempt" when stopping smoking, no doctor in his / her right mind will prescribe it to you unless you can prove you have tried *everything* else first.

b

Bamboozled

Be careful with it if you do end up taking it. Some people I know did successfully stop smoking after it, but some ended up going a bit loopy for a while because it didnt agree with them.

Be prepared by reading about the side-affects, and looking out for them.

ErinGoBrath

Although I've never heard of Zyban or know anything about it I would suggest that you quit using the easiest, cheapest and most painless method around:
Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking

It really is essential reading for anyone wanting to kick the smoking addiction.

Hope this helps :cool:

Mark J

ErinGoBrath wrote:

Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking

It really is essential reading for anyone wanting to kick the smoking addiction.

Hope this helps :cool:

been there, done that....to no avail.

that`s why i`m thinking of zyban - last resort motel! i`m desperate to stop.

Have you gone to one of Alan Carrs' sessions? They have a money back promise and my singer went 3 years ago (she was smoking 20 a day and ruining her voice) and she hasn't smoked once since.

Shabadu

Yeah- the money back thing is for only a year after the seminar w/ Alan Carr. My mum, her sister, and 3 friends went to his seminar 3 years ago. They were all back smoking within two years.

Evil Phil

Another side affect *reported* was increased libido and more intense orgasms.

From my zyban experience it's worth it for the side affects alone¹




¹Not a medical opinion

wow because I read his book and thought there was at least a 5 year guarantee

Shabadu

Papa Smut wrote:

wow because I read his book and thought there was at least a 5 year guarantee

Really? My mum said one. I should really tell her to check it out as it's not cheap.

DamoKen

Evil Phil wrote:

Another side affect *reported* was increased libido and more intense orgasms.

From my zyban experience it's worth it for the side affects alone¹




¹Not a medical opinion

never heard that before, but now that I think about it... . On a side note to the OP, going from personal experience I wouldn't advise taking it if you're going through a stressful period, I went a bit manic myself when I was on a course of it as I broke up with my girlfriend in the middle of the course. In the end I was getting a little scared of my erratic moods so came off it. Was back to normal within a week and looking back incredulously about how wound up I'd managed to become, my close friends who witnessed it were also relieved.
Anyway, just so you know, it can effect you moods to a large extent, especially if other stressful factors (new job, break up etc..) are involved. Aside from that, I did quit smoking while I was on it, back on them now though

bohsboy

Have to agree, Carr's book is excellent. I found just flicking through it and reading passages here and there great. Eight weeks smoke free now myself and not one urge. It's amazing to think the damage I was gladly doing to myself for so long. :rolleyes:

Bamboozled

Id disagree about the book being good. Like the poster above, I read it and didnt stop. I really wanted to and had ditched all the ashtrays etc before I went to bed. I had tried a few times before then through will power alone but i didnt suceed, then I tried the book. I'd one upstairs and one downstairs just in case, but after reading it 3 times I didnt stop smoking.

On the original topic, have you tried a google search on the drug? You may get a more complete range of side-affects from a search.

Beruthiel

FranknFurter wrote:

They are available here but on prescription.

But you should know, Zyban, are effectively a anti-depressant alled "Wellbutrin" which is a anti-depressant that was found to have anti smoking properties.

In otherwords Zyban will effect your moods, you and whoever you live with should monitor your moods closely, and remember often somone else will notice things you dont.

Also, under no circumstances drink alchohol with zyban or you could have a seizure.

Remember, zyban is a treatment that is meant as a "last ditch attempt" when stopping smoking, no doctor in his / her right mind will prescribe it to you unless you can prove you have tried *everything* else first.

b

this smacks of medical advice

we are not doctors in here,
I want people and the OP to understand that all of the comments in here are opinions and speculation only, none of us are qualified to know for sure how a drug can effect a particular individual – please remember this when you are posting folks
B

Evil Phil

I took me two years of trying before I finally gave up the cigs. Tried Zyban, patches, gum, Carr's book - everything. Eventually a friend of mine sat me down and explained to me exactly how her father died cos of smoking. 2 sleepless nights later I quit. That was three years ago in November. There are many different ways to quit but unless you really, really want to do it none of them will work.

In the end I used patches, not to quit but just to stop me from choking the bejaysus out of anybody who even breathed near me while I was in withdrawls. For me quiting in the end wasn't a gradual process. I just quit and became a none smoker everything after that was those dreaded withdrawls.

FranknFurter

Beruthiel wrote:

this smacks of medical advice
we are not doctors in here,
I want people and the OP to understand that all of the comments in here are opinions and speculation only, none of us are qualified to know for sure how a drug can effect a particular individual – please remember this when you are posting folks
B

Sorry Beruthiel, Didnt mean it to sound like medical advice just my own and my partners knowledge & experience of the drug in its various forms.
(Alltho I DO feel that anyone thinking of going on Zyban should know it was originally meant as an anti-depressant as a lot of docs dont mention that in my experience(s).
But I should maybe have said it... differently *shrug*

I guess I tend to take some subjects a bit *too* seriously somtimes, lol, will have to watch that.

b

tallus

I gave them up 14 weeks back by using the patches for 12 days, feeling fine now. You have to really really have to want to give them up, for me it was a 20 year+ habit and I didn't want to end up in hospital dying from cancer, or any of the other smoking related diseases. In the end I think I'd have given them up eventually but I did need that mental edge that the patches gave me,they got me over the first few *dodgy* days.
feeling good now :-)

sceptre

Beruthiel wrote:

this smacks of medical advice

we are not doctors in here,

Indeed. However, his comments about Zyban having been originally developed as an anti-depressant (not akin to the usual SSRIs like prozac though, it's got a chemical structure like a phenethylamine) are entirely correct and plain factual - it had a 12 year history of approved use as an anti-depressant before the FDA approved it as an anti-smoking measure.

It's used to reduce withdrawal symtoms by the way and hence it's an aid to stop rather than something that makes you stop. Hence it's not a panacea (it can't be) and anyone who tells you it is is either a quack or an idiot. And there are a number of other drugs and conditions that one shouldn't take it with as one might expect from its membership of the aminoketone family and obviously some possible side effects but that really would smack of medical advice if I expanded on that so a trip to the prescribing doctor would be in order there.

Talk to doctor etc.

lazylad

I tried nicorette and I found it gave a typical nicotine feeling if you know what i mean but I quit it and went cold turkey. I found withdrawal unbearable and i though using nicotine replacement would just prolong withdrawal so I said to myself I may as well go through a few days of hell rather than a few days of hell being spread over a few weeks!
Plus I was totally nicotine free! Best way to get off the drug.

Does zyban have nicotine? Or it it an antidepressant?

Mark J

lazylad wrote:

Does zyban have nicotine? Or it it an antidepressant?

it was originally an antidepressant.

contains no nicotine.