Chantix Helps Quit Smoking

Everyone is aware that smoking is not good for your health, but many do not realize that smoking is also closely linked to chronic pain.

In my experience as a spine physician, if a patient has had pain for a long time and continues to smoke, he or she is highly unlikely to find pain relief from any type of treatment. The reason for this is not entirely understood, but it is probably due to multiple factors, such as blood vessel spasms and not allowing oxygen to get to tissues.

For people who are in a lot of pain, this information alone should be good motivation to help them kick the smoking habit, but many patients will need some assistance to stop smoking due to the strong physical and emotional addictive qualities of smoking.

Medications to quit smoking

Previously, a drug in the antidepressant line of pharmaceuticals was approved for use in quitting smoking, called Zyban. This drug worked by keeping a neurotransmitter (serotonin) around longer in the brain, which seemed to helped decrease the craving for nicotine.

Lately, a newer drug, Chantix, has been released that has a different mechanism of action. Chantix is designed to bind right to the nicotine receptors in the brain. Many patients even report that after starting Chantix, smoking is repulsive to them and they can’t stand the smell.

Like all drugs it does have some side effects (such as difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, nausea, etc…), but the one that has gotten the most media attention is a possible link to suicidal ideation. While this is a concern, it should be noted that many people who are trying to quit smoking are already depressed, so it is difficult to know if this is a causal link or not.

In my clinical experience, Chantix has worked remarkably well, especially for people who are motivated to quit smoking.

By: Peter Ullrich, Jr., MD