Zyban Warning!

Be warned my friends. Zyban is not a drug to be taken lightly. I have seen the warning which says something like, "Do not take if you have epilepsy or are prone to siezures". Well, I do not have epilepsy nor am I prone to siezures that I know of. I have never had one nor any other major health problem. 3 Weeks ago, I started taking Zyban to help me quit smoking. Last Friday, I came home from work and was talking to my wife in the kitchen. She said I stopped talking, starred at her for a few seconds, then dropped to the floor like a rock and started convulsing. I was having what I now know to be a Grand Mal siezure. I hurt my back, arm, leg, and almost bit through my tounge. My next waking thought was, "What the hell are these paramedics doing standing over me"? I spent the night in the hospital and now have to have a battery of tests run on me. When the paramedics were interviewing my wife, she told them I had quit smoking. The first thing they asked was, "Was he taking Zyban"? I am not trying to scare anyone from Zyban, I just want everyone to know what they are exposing themselves to. Had this happened while I was driving down the road, I might not be here writing this.

Good Luck
Eric

[Brighty]

Thanks just in time... my daughter is to start on it to help with heroin cravings. And my husband wants to quit smoking April 1 and was going to go ask the doctor to start on it.... I guess we have to reconsider. Thanks again.

[Eric]

You are very welcome. And good luck.

[TINA]

This may be something you already know, but Zyban is merely a repackaged form of the antidepressant Wellbutrin (for some reason, many people who smoked and were given it for clinical depression spontaneously quit smoking). The drug has some outrageous side effects and it should really be prescribed far more judiciously, considering there is no scientific explanation yet for why it works (for smoking, that is), and most of the research for non-depressed individuals is fairly new. I'm so sorry to read about what happened to you; I truly hope you're feeling better.

[Brighty]

Thanks Tina for your information... I posted elsewhere that I had learned from my doctor that Zyban is the same as Wellbutrin SR (slow release) but that there is also just Wellbutrin and it is not a slow release and has the higher rate of seizure probability. However it seems that Zyban and Wellbutrin SR are also problems in this area. And you are right --- it should be prescribed more judiciously. As in Eric's case he seemed to be a no risk type... so  maybe it should be recalled altogether if there are alot of reported cases like his.

I am not an expert on the scientific reasons why it works but I have been to some web sites on it and originally as you mention it was used for depression and those persons seemed to quit smoking naturally. This seems to be because it triggers the release of dopamine.. this is also what happens ( somewhat) with nicotine... nicotine is directly involved with affecting dopamine levels... since the wellbutrin also does this the studies observed that the desire for nicotine decreased significantly. Thus it supposedly has some multi positive effects. I know 2 men ( colleagues of my husband ) who smoked heavily for years and had tried everything and they were very successful with the Zyban. They are 2-4 years off smoking and say it was the easiest method they tried. And neither of them had any problems with seizures or side affects.... so naturally my husband wants to try it. Then I read Eric's letter above... I do hope we can get a doctor to comment here for us on the actual data and safety of the product. Best wishes. Brighty

[Plume]

Dear Brighty -

Many thanks for your last posting with reference to 2 men who found taking the medication was an easy way to quit smoking.  I'm encouraged to see neither suffered some of the horrendous side effects posted elsewhere.

[Brenda]

I have been taking Zyban sucessfully for 6 weeks now.  I have gotten over the dry mouth, and the terrible taste in my mouth.  That lasted about 2 weeks.  I have had some of the sleep disturbance, and that is also passing.

Now I am having a terrible acne breakout all over my face!!

Is this another side effect?  What can I do about it and how long with this last?

[Millwall]

I'm on my 6th week of using Zyban (nurse today told me to go from two tablets a day to one a day)
I've found giving up smoking way to easy (which worries me, I was a very heavy smoker) I've not had any side affect that I've noticed, a little sleep disturbance but nothing I worry about.

Looks like we are at the same stage Brenda.

[kyjobr]

You probably didn't notice but you replied to a post from 2000.  If you have questions please post a new thread and you'll find lots of great people will reply.  

As a side note - I also used Zyban to quit smoking at one time.  Worked great!  

[Millwall]

ops lol,

[penella]

I am sorry to hear about your awful experience. i Have been taking zyban for nearly 2weeks now and havent stopped crying for the past 3 days. Has anyone else experienced this? I am an emotional basketcase and even tho I'm off the cigarettes I am wondering which is the lesser of the two evils. I am wondering if this is a normal reaction, it it just a quitting smoking think or could it be the zyban. Has anyone else had this experience or simular.

by Sue

[ladyboop]

Wow! So sorry to here that. Just goes to show you. You are just not safe taken anything any more.
Is that Zyban the same thing as wellbutrin? (NOt Sure I spelled that right)

I have heard that new one Chantex, People are kiiling them selfs!! I am scared my sister wants to try it.....

            Lady

[worried878]

I have been on wellbutrin for 3 weeks to quit nicotine lozenges..maybe to help with narc cravings too...no problems...my friend uses it for depression and my brother used it to quit smoking......it does say it can make u more prone to seizures especially in combintaion with certain drugs

[dallastexas21]

This is why I think people should try to quit smoking naturally in stead of necessarily using other substances that they can get addicted to instead. However you decide to quit just be careful if it's not natural!