Wednesday 18 March 2015

Vaping versus Varenicline!


                 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that the prescription smoking cessation medicine Chantix (varenicline) / Champix in Canada can change the way people react to alcohol. In addition, rare accounts of seizures in patients treated with Chantix have been reported.  Various psychiatric symptoms have also been reported. They have approved changes to the Chantix label to warn about these risks. Until patients know how Chantix affects their ability to tolerate alcohol, they should decrease the amount of alcohol they drink. Patients who have a seizure while taking Chantix should stop the medicine and seek medical attention immediately.
              Millions of Americans have serious health problems caused by smoking, which can be reduced by quitting.  Chantix is a prescription medicine that is FDA-approved to help adults quit smoking. In clinical trials, Chantix increased the likelihood of quitting smoking and “staying quit” for as long as 1 year compared to treatment with a placebo, an inactive treatment.
                 It is  somewhat ironic that Chantix/ Champix  is widely accepted despite its recognized dangers, while vaping, which seems to be relatively innocuous so far, is looked upon disapprovingly by many.
                Could it be that the witch hunt is so much fun that anything that even looks like a cigarette should be hunted down even if it helps people to quit smoking?
                    
                       Tell me what you think!

2 comments:

  1. I am on the fence about the vapor ones right now. I dont know enough about the long term affects and the people that I have come in contact with them never seem to stop smoking them. At least with cigarettes you have a break between "smokes" and yet with the electronic ones the smoker seems to just use them continuously. I would like to know if the nicotine is that much reduced or if they just have traded one crutch for another. With regards to your original statement regarding alcohol, if reducing your alcohol consumption until you have released the addiction, then sometimes you have to do what you have to do. If this medication really does work and has such a high success rate - then I guess you are putting down your beer for a while.

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    1. However, there are many side effects of Champix that are unrelated to alcohol.

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