Don’t trade a smoking habit for a trip to the psych ward
Don’t let that New Year’s resolution turn into a health disaster!
If you’re a smoker, you may have promised yourself that 2016 is the year that you finally kick the habit for good. Maybe you’ve even headed out to the convenience store and bought your last-ever pack of cigarettes.
And when you’re ready to quit, Pfizer is going to be waiting in the wings with its anti-smoking pill Chantix.
But before you fill that prescription, there’s plenty about the drug that you may not hear in the end-of-year marketing push.
Like how taking Chantix could be a one-way ticket to a psychiatric ward — or worse.
And, boy, do they have that right. Just ask Tina, who was 47 when she decided to quit smoking.
Like lots of smokers, she’d tried to stop plenty of times before. So this time she got a prescription for Chantix — and a whole lot more trouble than she bargained for.
Just months later, she was admitted to a psych ward — and it took five EMT’s and several firemen to get her there. She was paranoid, aggressive, totally confused, and having hallucinations.
I’ve been warning you for years about the risks of Chantix and the tricks it can play on your brain. And trust me — they can make the garden-variety irritability you get when quitting cold turkey feel like a walk in the park.
The drug carries a warning of “serious neuropsychiatric events” that include suicidal thoughts, panic attacks, depression, paranoia, and violent behavior.
When the Institute for Safe Medication Practices looked at cases of adverse events linked to Chantix a few years back, they found stories that felt like they were out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
I’m talking about a young woman who had nightmares and attacked her fiancé with a kitchen knife — and a middle-aged man who punched a stranger in a bowling alley!
Leave it to Big Pharma to invent a drug that actually makes smoking look good by comparison.
Pfizer has been working for years to get the warnings lifted from Chantix, even funding its own “safety” studies. But when it comes to the risks of this med, there’s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube.
Luckily, there are some natural strategies you can try to quit smoking without turning to dangerous drugs. Some of them include:
Taking GABA supplements: You may have heard about Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) for controlling anxiety. GABA is a natural neurotransmitter in all of our brains, and a study out of Yale found that it may actually make smoking less pleasurable.
Using ginger to control nausea: One of the worst side effect smokers complain about when they quit is nausea. Ginger has been used around the world for centuries to control nausea and improve lots of other digestive disorders.
Helping flush the nicotine from your body: You know that nicotine hangs around in your body, which can give you the urge to smoke. A light exercise routine and drinking plenty of water (make sure you filter out the fluoride!) can help your body get rid of nicotine and other cigarette toxins that may be lingering.
Give these safe alternatives a shot to work, and hopefully you can start 2016 smoke-free (and Chantix-free, too).
