Quote From: lulu_marieMy brother-in-law began taking Chantix 11-07,started losing weight,tingling in fingers and toes,drepressed,with anxious feelings about his health. He went back to physician and was taken off his celibrex. Was told he was just having panic attacks,was not taken off his Chantix. This man was a very happily married my of 40 years with Grandchildren. He had not ,had anything happen to him to which he would have had a reason for what occurred. On 1-3-08 he got ready for work,kissed his wife goodbye,finished loading his vending van with frozen food and walked into his garage and shot himself with a 20 gauge shotgun. You have to understand, this is the most traumatic,horrific thing that has ever happen in all of our lives !!! I need help trying to help my sister get through this,as she found her husband when she came home for lunch. I"m not sure how or what to do. I am so afraid for her. PLEASE HELP US ! ! !
Dear Lulu Marie,
That is so sad. Your sister needs good counselling and may need it for some time. A psychologist not a psychiatrist would be beneficial. She must feel devastated and angry at losing her husband for no logical reason. This is just another fine example of the dangers of these drugs. Shrinks think that it is reasonable to risk this type of outcome to feel marginally 'better'. I would be angry at he pharmaceutical company that produced Chantix and the doctor who was not bright enough to look for a safe alternative to drugs.
Simply talking regularly to a person and getting them out of their home exercising or involved in interesting activities can be enough to defeat depression. Instead doctors who are ill informed by drug companies believe they can 'fix' this problem with these drugs. They work for less than 50% of people who take them.All forms of depression are not simple biochemical disturbance. They have proven that the same group of people taking these drugs who supossedly respond well would respond just the same to a placebo.
I'm so sorry for your loss and from nothing more than the negligent behaviour of the psychiatric fraternity and their off siders the drug companies. I'm certain your brother -in-law would still be here today had he not been given Chantix it has been associated with many suicides. Would you take an antibiotic or pain killer that could possible lead to suicide ? Yet the medical fraternity expects we should not blame their drugs it is always the patient's 'depression' which is blamed as the cause of suicide. Suicide is not a typical or normal part of depression and we should not be accepting this. When you don't bother to look for a root cause for depression you only mask the problem or worse still make a patient so agitated that suicidal ideation begins. How many more people have to die before we rise up against the psychiatrists and drug companies ?