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Would you take a medicine that listed death as a possible side effect? Lots of people do. If you read drug ads in popular magazines, you might end up wondering who would ever beg a doctor for a prescription.
Abilify is a case in point. This drug was originally approved to treat schizophrenia but is now being advertised aggressively for bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness). One ad promotes the drug for managing mood swings and implies that Abilify might help you “feel more like yourself.”
That sounds appealing, but read on and you learn that elderly dementia patients who take Abilify are at increased risk of death “when compared to patients who are treated with a placebo (sugar pill).”
Not elderly, you say? Another complication is rare but potentially fatal: neuroleptic malignant syndrome, characterized by “very high fever, rigid muscles, shaking, confusion, sweating, or increased heart rate and blood pressure.”
Abilify can also cause headache, anxiety, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, dizziness, restlessness, high blood sugar, seizures, uncontrollable facial movements and suicidal thoughts.
Speaking of suicidal thoughts, a widely advertised stop-smoking medicine also comes with such a warning. Chantix commercials feature a tortoise and a hare with the slogan, “It’s all about getting there.” There is a brief mention of side effects including “nausea, trouble sleeping, changes in dreaming, constipation, gas and vomiting.”
Such symptoms sound like a small price to pay for help quitting smoking. But read the official prescribing information and you will discover that Chantix has been linked to diarrhea, headache, high blood pressure, changes in the sense of taste, nosebleeds, sweating, chest pain, muscle cramps and pain, dizziness, anxiety, irritability and depression.
Most people find such a list of side effects overwhelming and tend to stop reading before they reach the end. Such symptoms may seem abstract until someone like Pam shares her story: “I started taking Chantix three and a half weeks ago. At first I felt great and stopped smoking after the first five days. The vivid, crazy dreams were even kind of fun, but now I am so depressed I can barely get up in the morning… All I want to do is sleep and cry. I thought about killing myself yesterday... The nausea, stomach pain and constipation are so bad it’s been a chore to function. I have never suffered from depression in my life, so I was kind of blind-sided by all this.
“I didn't associate any of this with Chantix. My mother mentioned that there were some horrible side effects associated with Chantix that she just heard about on the news today.” Having read similar posts on our Web site, Pam feels relieved to know she is not alone.
The point here is not that Chantix is a bad drug. Smoking puts health at risk, and helping people quit is valuable.
All medications have risks, however. Even rare side effects do happen. Whether the medicine is Abilify, Chantix or any other prescribed medication, take a few minutes to read the small print. Being well informed about risks and side effects could save your life.
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I had been taking chantix for about two weeks and i started feeling no emotion or feelings for others i felt as if i was in Iraq all over again I would not recommend this medication to anyone....
When I was prescribed Chantix 2 years ago, I made sure that I asked for any drug interaction information (from my doctor and pharmacist) as I was on Cimbalta at the time. I only took it for one week and knew that I was in trouble so I stopped taking it. After almost a month of being off of it, I had a complete mental and physical breakdown that was similar to a PTSD episode. The pain was unimaginable.
After 2 years I believe that the drug interaction, or even just the Chantix caused irreversible damage. The severe depression continues and each day is a struggle both physically and emotionally.
I know that this drug works for some, I had friends that stopped smoking immediately without any effects. But for the damage that it has done to my life and the lives of others, it is just not worth it.
Death is a pretty huge side effect and the answer would be no as far as taking a drug that states that. But, are people really aware of the list of side effects when prescribed medication? I've seen it where your doctor blows off the effects and say don't worry about it and people mostly always trust their doctor's opinion.
I used quinine tablets (260 mg) for years to avoid painful nightly leg cramps which would make me jump out of bed and walk and stretch for several minutes starting about 3:00 am. Needless to say, I lost sleep, was tired during the day, etc. The quinine eliminated these cramps entirely. Then came along the FDA who did a long retrospective study (40 years back) and found the 93 people died from quinine's effect on a blood disorder of some kind.
Generic quinine was taken off the pharmacy shelves, and replaced by a high priced version of quinine (used to cost a copay of $5, and later $50. or more). Physicians were loathe to prescribe, so I started on Requip with little effect with increasing doses. Then Baclofen, which was useless. My neurologist gave me some other drugs with large sedation effects and I was afraid for my life driving in rush hour and dying. So I quit that. I still had several bottles of quinine, and started taking it again (I do well with a half a tablet at night). I figure that is only 93 people died in 40 years, with probably thousands or hundreds of thousands taking quinine and surviving, the risk ratio is in my favor.
Only a fool keeps the idea alive that side-effects are inevitable. There was a time it took companies a long time to get drugs on the market, because authorities made them prove the product was safe and effective. Instead of maintaining that criteria, government has allowed companies to regulate themselves, which just led to corruption and deceit. They are now simply greedy criminals, who are many times guilty of criminal negligence, and in some cases, causing death. I don't understand how people conclude these companies are doing nothing wrong.