Savannah Dubois' Story.

I'll start with the short version of my story and expand on it later.

I quit smoking on Chantix after 22 years of chain smoking. I made it through three months of non-smoking just fine. I lost weight. I looked better than I had in ages. People said I was "glowing."

I also had a temper from hell. I dumped my boyfriend of 7 years one day just because I was a little frustrated with our situation. I went out a few times with someone else, and after about 5 or 6 weeks that ended with me screaming at him on the phone over absolutely nothing.

I cut off friends, I lost all interest in everything, and i developed what I will always call "Chantix ADD." I had the worst attention deficit disorder, and had NEVER had it before in my life. I couldn't focus on anything. I could not finish projects. I could barely do my job.

My temper and emotions flared more and more during the three months I took Chantix. I had an outburst at work that should have gotten me reprimanded, but fortunately it didn't. I was swearing and screaming in front of students. I cried regularly at work, home, and anywhere else something upset me.

If you think that's bad, you should have seen me when I stopped taking it. After 3 months I decided I was okay and coudl stop. And by the way, my doctor NEVER warned me about anything other than funky dreams and nausea. So I didn't have a clue Chantix might be doing this to me. I got so depressed, and suddenly two months passed and I could hardly function. I couldn't remember what i had done. Long stretches of time had disappeared.

I went to the doctor and he still didn't catch the fact that Chantix was causing this (yes, I have since changed doctors!). He just handed me more drugs to try and calm me down. What was so bizarre is that NOTHING felt good. I could not feel pleasure at all. From anything.

My darling boyfriend and I had remained friends, and he had heard about Chantix and what it was doing to people. By the time he told me about the suicides and other dark reactions people were having to it, it was too late. I had a two-day insomnia spell that ended in a manic episode. Thinking the hospital e.r. would help me, I asked to go there.

What I did NOT know was that the mental health care system was completely in denial about Chantix and what it could do to people. All they did was label me bipolar and give me lithium and that just prolonged my recovery.

Thankfully, I had a lot of sick leave saved up at work, and, I also found an excellent M.D. who has helped me get my health back together. But, that was only after I signed myself into a psychiatric hospital and put my family and friends through a living hell.

I'll just say this... the week before I went to the hospital, I told someone that I wasn't suicidal, but I was sure I would be if I didn't have a child I loved and wanted to raise.

I SAW in my head what Carter Albrecht must have felt and saw when he had his attack and ended up getting shot. I cannot begin to describe for you the pain that was in my head the day I went to the hospital, and all the pain that led up to that day. It culminated in a feeling that I had broken glass rattling around in my head, and I just wanted it to stop.

I don't smoke anymore, but that's only because I do not EVER want to go back into a hospital again, or take a drug like Chantix. It has cost me almost a year of my life, and I'm still not sure if I am 100%. There are days I wonder.

Folks, there are worse things than smoking. Like losing your damned mind, or your life (well-before the cigarettes would have taken it). If you decide to take Chantix, please make sure your family knows all the risks and side effects, and that they watch you EVERY SINGLE DAY. Have your doctor agree that if any of those people call him, he will intervene and help you.

The only thing worse than what I went through was being made to feel like I was crazy or wrong for even suggesting that Chantix was the culprit. The medical profession is too involved with Pfizer and other drug companies to admit that this might just be a nasty pill.