Chantix Drug

About the Chantix Varenicline Drug

Chantix is a prescription drug that has been designed to help adults quit smoking. Manufactured by Pfizer as an effective anti-smoking treatment, these Chantix pills have received approval from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). This medically advanced Chantix tablets help smokers put a stop to their addictive habit. The discovery and development of Pfizer Chantix illustrates groundbreaking scientific advancement, making it the first prescription treatment to be aimed directly at smoking cessation in nearly a decade. Smoking harms every organ in the body and is responsible for approximately 1 in 5 deaths in the US.

How Does The Chantix Drug Work?

Pfizer Chantix has been designed to help you quit smoking. When you inhale smoke from cigarette, nicotine reaches your brain within seconds and binds itself to the nicotinic receptors; these receptors activate the pathways in the brain circuitry on being stimulated. Once the receptors in the brain receive nicotinic stimulation, the smoker feels enhanced pleasure. Initially, the effect of nicotine recedes quickly, leaving the smoker with a craving for the next cigarette; if the smoker puts off smoking, he/she suffers from withdrawal symptoms.

Chantix tablets are specifically unique because they are designed to partially activate the nicotinic receptors as well as reduce the severity of the smoker’s craving as well as withdrawal symptoms from nicotine. If you smoke a cigarette while using the Chantix drug treatment, it has the potential to diminish your sense of satisfaction achieved from smoking, thereby enabling you to prevent nicotine addiction.

Directions to Use Chantix Drug

Pfizer Chantix comes in doses of Chantix 0.5mg (white) and Chantix 1mg (blue) tablets. It is generally taken with a glass of water after food. You can start with an initial Chantix drug dose of 0.5mg once a day; this can be increased to 0.5mg twice daily after 3 days. After 7 days, you increase the intake of Chantix pills to 1mg twice daily. Don’t skip doses or double dose if you miss your Chantix drug dose. In most cases, Chantix drug treatment lasts for a period of 12 weeks. Your doctor may recommend a second 12-week course of Chantix drug to improve your chances of smoking cessation for the long-term.

Chantix tablets are rectangular in shape with rounded edges. The Chantix pill strength of 0.5mg dosage is white in colour and the Chantix pill strength of 1mg dosage is blue in colour. The effect of this drug may vary from individual to individual, so it would be correct to take Chantix drug under a doctor’s supervision. However do keep in mind that, to undergo a successful Chantix drug treatment as a part of your quit smoking campaign, you need to set aside a ‘quit date’ to put your thoughts into action. It is best to start taking Chantix pills a week before your quit date.

Compare Chantix With Other Smoking Cessation Medicines

Treatment with Zyban as well as Chantix begins while the patient is still smoking and takes about a week to reach effective levels; both the drugs are prescribed for an initial period of 12 weeks.

Chantix (Varenicline Tartrate) and Zyban (bupropion hydrochloride) are used as treatment for nicotine addiction. While Zyban is manufactured by Glaxo Wellcome Inc., Chantix drug is manufactured by the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. Both these drugs are nicotine free FDA approved smoking cessation drugs. While Chantix drug contains Varenicline as its active ingredient, Zyban contains bupropion hydrochloride as its active ingredient. Both Zyban and Chantix work by reducing the craving for nicotine on a neurological level by boosting the level of ‘feel-good’ chemicals in your brain.

While both Chantix and Zyban reduce the craving for nicotine, the mechanism of Chantix drug is different from Zyban. Chantix tablets partially activate the nicotine receptors in the brain thereby reducing the craving for nicotine; smoking reduces the effect of nicotine on the brain. Zyban, on the other hand, boosts chemical levels in the brain to create less of an urge to smoke.

Overall, results from clinical trials, have proven that patients treated with Pfizer Chantix pills were more successful in quitting smoking than those treated with Zyban.

Conclusions of Using Chantix Drug

Addiction to nicotine is a chronic medical condition that makes quitting smoking more difficult. Chantix drug is therefore considered to be a breakthrough treatment drug that has been specifically developed to block the effect of nicotine in your brain as well as reduce your desire to smoke at the same time.