Can I wear the Nicotine patch and start to take Chantix as well?
Question posted by Gypsy-Dog on 22 Sep 2011
Last updated on 1 June 2015
4 Answers
If chantix may intensify alcohol effects what about pain medicine? (Norco, xanax, ) Does it weaken them or make them stronger?
Dear Gypsy... you would be defeating the purpose of taking nicotine if taking it with Chantix. Chantix is a very cool drug and one that has had the greatest effect in helping individuals quit smoking... although it does have some untoward side effects in some people.
Chantix actually attaches to the same receptor sight as nicotine... so, if you take Chantix and then take nicotine the nicotine will have no place to attach, therefore having absolutely no affect at all... you would be wasting your money taking both drugs. Chantix is much more successful than nicotine. They are two completely different drugs.
To understand how drugs work, every drug has a receptor site in the body to which it attaches to be able to create the effect it was designed to create... kind of like a lock and key. For example the key would be the Chantix and the nicotine... and the lock would be the receptor site... if the Chantix, the key, opened the receptor site, the lock, to attach itself... then the nicotine would be not needed because the key, Chantix had already gained access to the lock, the receptor site.
I hope that this helps. Good luck in your quest to stop smoking.
They are not supposed to be used together.
Chantix is a prescription medication used to help people stop smoking. Unlike many other medications used for this purpose, this medication does not contain nicotine.
The nicotine patch is a nonprescription medication used to help people stop smoking. It helps reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms that occur when people stop smoking cigarettes.
Why should you want to use both in one go? The function/results of either the Nicotine Patch or Chantix is same, the only difference is that one is a non-prescription med & the other is prescribed, besides having different side effects.
Would recommend you choose the one which is most suited to your system, taking to a doc maybe more helpful.
Take care, be well, & wish you the best in your efforts to quit smoking, I was a smoker for over 35 years and quit without any aid of medicines one fine day.
While I appreciate your informative comments, please know that not all of us are able to quit smoking without help. But I wish I was!!
To address the person that said they were having surgery and the doctor is making you quit smoking. If I were you I'd get another doctor because that's not right. I smoke. I had spinal fusion I 1998 to my neck taking out my hip bone and I healed perfectly well. The fusion is still there to this day. The hip took a while to heal only because it is a bone and bones take a while. But otherwise I did fine with the surgery. I think any doctor that makes you quit is wrong. You will never be successful in quitting unless YOU want to for YOU. Your mind and body have to be ready or you will never succeed. I'm quitting myself but it is because I decided to for me, not because anyone forced me into it. Just a thought. I'd find a new doctor that wasn't so anal.
The combination of two approaches to help people quit smoking, Chantix and nicotine patches, improves the odds a smoker will quit over the short term.
"The combination appears to be safe, although further studies are needed to confirm this," said Dr. Coenie Koegelenberg, an associate professor of pulmonology with Stellenbosch."
While the combination of the two costs more than either one separately, the drugs typically aren't used for long and will reduce overall health costs if smokers end up fully quitting.
According to Philly.com, "However, smokers who take Chantix may be at higher risk for heart attacks and stroke compared to those who don't take it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in 2012. But the increased risk is small and should be weighed against the risks of continuing to smoke."
Nicotine patches deliver smokers less nicotine than they get from cigarettes, which helps reduce withdrawal symptoms while trying to quit.
According to Healio, "In terms of side effects, the group getting both treatments reported more nausea, sleeplessness, skin reactions, constipation and depression than those using the patch alone. But the researchers said only skin reactions were statistically significant -- 14 percent in the double-treatment group versus 8 percent in the placebo group."
While the combination treatment was more effective than nicotine patches alone, more than one-third of the 400-plus study participants were still smoking six month after starting the dual treatment.
Combining Chantix and nicotine patches had been suggested in the past, but before this study, it wasn't clear if that approach would be safe, let alone effective.
Scientists are unclear why the medications might work better when combined but it might have something to do how they work in tandem to disrupt the way the brain processes nicotine.
Overall, however, quitting smoking remains a very difficult process. Dr. Michael Siegel, professor at Boston University School of Public Health, said, "Clearly, we need more effective treatment."
The study on combining Chantix and nicotine patches to quit smoking was published in the Journal of American Medical Association.
Related topics
Further information
Similar questions
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.
