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Suggest Treatment For Pain In Thighs After Having Chantix
Question: i am taking chantix 3 mo to quit smoking i have pain in my legs upper thighs both i am down to less than 1 cigarette a day i do not want to quit chantix yet but i see it is a side effect what reason do m legs and should i quit chantix i know i havent beat smoking yet more mounth should do it
Brief Answer:
Yeah, that happens......
Detailed Answer:
Chantix is a blocker of nicotine. It puts someone into the very worst cold turkey withdrawal immediately and you cannot immediately overcome it (until the drug comes out of your system in 1-2 days). In most, it is not actually worse than withdrawal except the inability to control it (by smoking). But in a few people it can be even worse than withdrawal by not smoking.
Leg and arm pain is not the most common withdrawal effects but since there is at least some interaction between nicotine and pain, it certainly isn't impossible. The descriptions most give imply increased susceptibility to pain and normal movements cause pain that shouldn't. These make sense since they are effects on the body's central perception of pain more than anything actually becoming broken. As such, NON-ADDICTIVE anti-depressants that change pain perception could be tried and would work in 1-2 days. (amitryptiline or cymbalta).
The symptoms would be expected to decrease in about a week if they were going to (sometimes they do).
Chantix doesn't break anything and doesn't change nerves permanently. It is very UNLIKELY for the effects to last after it is stopped and gone (takes 1-3 days to fully go away). BUT.... the withdrawal from ONE cigarette a day is very little. On the other hand, the likelihood of falling back into smoking if one smokes one cigarette a day is really very high.
All the options I can see are:
stopping everything--high likelihood that all the suffereing was wasted and there is a return to smoking. Bad.
Staying where one is and stopping the last cigarette. A gap of 1-2 months of no smoking will be past all but the psychological triggers of cigarettes and one could use the time to look into that (and get rid of cigarettes, ashtrays lighters, etc).
Staying where one is , stopping the last cigarette and trying other non-addictive drugs including over the counter aspirin like drugs to lower the pain and/or pain perceptions.
Vaping (not risk free and enables return to full nicotine addiction). Bad.
So, that seems everything I can see.
Yeah, that happens......
Detailed Answer:
Chantix is a blocker of nicotine. It puts someone into the very worst cold turkey withdrawal immediately and you cannot immediately overcome it (until the drug comes out of your system in 1-2 days). In most, it is not actually worse than withdrawal except the inability to control it (by smoking). But in a few people it can be even worse than withdrawal by not smoking.
Leg and arm pain is not the most common withdrawal effects but since there is at least some interaction between nicotine and pain, it certainly isn't impossible. The descriptions most give imply increased susceptibility to pain and normal movements cause pain that shouldn't. These make sense since they are effects on the body's central perception of pain more than anything actually becoming broken. As such, NON-ADDICTIVE anti-depressants that change pain perception could be tried and would work in 1-2 days. (amitryptiline or cymbalta).
The symptoms would be expected to decrease in about a week if they were going to (sometimes they do).
Chantix doesn't break anything and doesn't change nerves permanently. It is very UNLIKELY for the effects to last after it is stopped and gone (takes 1-3 days to fully go away). BUT.... the withdrawal from ONE cigarette a day is very little. On the other hand, the likelihood of falling back into smoking if one smokes one cigarette a day is really very high.
All the options I can see are:
stopping everything--high likelihood that all the suffereing was wasted and there is a return to smoking. Bad.
Staying where one is and stopping the last cigarette. A gap of 1-2 months of no smoking will be past all but the psychological triggers of cigarettes and one could use the time to look into that (and get rid of cigarettes, ashtrays lighters, etc).
Staying where one is , stopping the last cigarette and trying other non-addictive drugs including over the counter aspirin like drugs to lower the pain and/or pain perceptions.
Vaping (not risk free and enables return to full nicotine addiction). Bad.
So, that seems everything I can see.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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