Several years ago my Doctor prescribed chantrix to help me quit smoking. It was working pretty good on the smoking. I took it for about a month. I had to quit the chantrix though because of weird dreams. I would not call them nightmares just scary weird. They seemed more like pschotic episodes than they did dreams and left me with some kind of horrible emotional feeling I can’t describe. The weird dreams tapered off slowly once I quit the drug but seemed to persist for at least a year to some degree. It has been at least 5 years now and I feel like my dream patterns have never been exactly the same since. They are pleaseant for the most part but still a bit weird and much more detailed than I remember them being prior to taking chantrix. This is my story, any others??
Not my experience, but my brother-in-law’s. He also had to quit Chantix because of the dreams. He said he would wake up wanting to scream but not remember exactly why. Just a creepy feeling that he couldn’t shake. Then he couldn’t get back to sleep.
He hasn’t mentioned any weird dreams since he quit the Chantix, this was several years ago he tried taking it.
Nightmares weren’t a problem for me because Chantix aggravated my insomnia to the point of complete sleeplessness for several days at a time.
It didn’t seem to do a damned thing regarding my urge to smoke, either.
Only cold turkey worked for me.
Chantix was awesome. It was like I was “on drugs” (well I was on a drug but you know, ilicit drugs taken for pleasure). My dreams weren’t scary but loooooong and intense. I didn’t write them down but I’d often text my friends about them.
I did have a problem eating - I didn’t feel like eating much. A lot of malaise. I felt sort of “out of it” a lot and pretty non-emotional.
To be honest, I knew it made me feel “out of whack” and high, and I loved it. I embraced it and didn’t run from it.
And I quit smoking and haven’t gone back in almost 2 years now.
Not sure if you have ever done magic mushrooms but if so would you compare it?
My nephew chose to sleep in the garage (well, more like his man cave - couch and TV in there) for a few weeks after he began taking Chantix. He said he had hyper-real dreams of hurting his wife. He looked very rough, too, almost strung out.
He did manage to quit smoking for a few years, though.
Nope. Only illegal drug I’ve ever done is weed and that was different.
I didn’t hallucinate (well except when sleeping - my usually-long dreams simply turned in to longer dreams) I just felt…dumb. And a little numb. I felt turned off.
At least for me, mushrooms and Chantix are not similar.
I took Chantix for 2 days. The first day I felt great. Energized, optimistic. The next day I was jittery and anxious. I chain- smoked and could not sit still. I was extremely impatient and completely blew up at my 12 year old next door neighbor because it was taking her too long to decide what kind of sandwich she wanted to make. The look on her face when I freaked out on her told me that I’d better stop the Chantix. Some people I know loved it and helped them quit. It wasn’t for me.
Several years later, I quit cold turkey. I was developing health issues that scared me enough that I thought I’d better quit before my health gets to the point of no return. It’s been 8 years since my last cig. .
Just yesterday, I was in line at the gas station and happened to notice the price of cigarettes. Marlboro cartons were 70 bucks!! I’m so thankful I don’t have that monkey on my back anymore.
My dad took it and it made him suicidal (after a few weeks). He was on liquid oxygen therapy and he nearly decided to take a lighter to it and had to call the local police.
Let’s just say he had to seek help for a while.
After Edit window: Note that this was a few years ago and he’s back to normal pretty much.
I felt awful but not crazy. I didn’t dream because I didn’t sleep much - but note that nicotene withdrawal in the past also caused insomnia, so I can’t blame the Chantix (Champix, here.)
I felt nauseous and spacy and kind of sick the whole time. I was meant to take it for three months, but I only managed a month and a half. Some of this mirrors nicotene withdrawal, though. The nausea started before my acutal quit but while on the drug, so that was probably a side effect. I just felt bad. Didn’t want to move. Everything was kinda grey and meh. Nights were awful. Got through them with circular breathing (thanks WhyNot!) Days were just disconnected and blurry.
Nevertheless, I’d do it again if I was smoking, cause it worked a treat for me. It didn’t completely take the urge to smoke, but it gave me enough of a “I don’t care if I do or not” to get through the first few weeks, and I’ve been smoke-free for four years. I can’t stress enough that it is the single thing that got me through quitting - that sensation of “well, I could smoke, but I don’t care enough about it to make the effort”.
It worked well for me. I quit for three years (but then started again last summer.) I wasn’t aware of any weird dreams, but mine are always so disturbing and unusual that I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I couldn’t even finished my final cigarette. The Chantix made the cigs taste just awful by the end of the 2nd week. Super down side? I didn’t have a bowel movement for the entire two weeks that I took it. I would definitely use it again if I could afford it right now.
Since I don’t smoke, I don’t remember why I googled it (maybe because I saw a Chantix commercial), but I came across this article that was pretty interesting.
I did 2 rounds of Chantix. First round had no side effects and I quit smoking for at least a year. Second round gave me horrible violent dreams (dreams about being raped and suffocated) after about a month, and the pill made me vomit. So I stopped taking it. I will say that the second time around it worked like the smoking switch was turned off in my brain. This was about 4 years ago. I did smoke for a few months after my mother died 2 years ago, but stopped. For me, it really overrode the “wanting to smoke” urge. And I’m guessing it’s still working because I’m still not smoking.
Yeah, this.
I wish I could remember the dreams now in more detail. I do remember not sharing them in much detail with my girlfriend because they were so creepy, but not scary in any way. Things like talking snakes, kisses that would envelope my entire head, very large very colorful insects were a very common occurence. I really felt as if I were going insane at some level even though my behavior probably remained normal.