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What Causes Anger, Bone Pain And Depression After Leaving Alcohol Consumption?

Posted on Sat, 10 May 2014

Question: My wife took Chantix for 2 months to stop smoking starting Feb 1st, 2014. She was a pack+ a day smoker and drank about 3 glasses of wine on most nights. She did quit smoking and drinking, but I am very worried about her current mental status. She is angry all the time and never happy. She says she has bone pain and is feeling poorly. She is totally aloof from me. This has almost caused me to leave until I realized maybe something is wrong with her. I am walking on egg shells as if I seem to say one thing wrong (to her interpretation), I will pay dearly with the silent treatment and ugly remarks from her for days. She is also the same around her mother and my wife asks me "Did I hear the way her Mother talked to her"? Well, I do hear and we are not hearing the same thing. I see no malice the way her mom talks to her. Her Mother has complained to me about how my wife is acting and calls it "weird". What I am scared of is this Chantix did some mental damage. My wife went last week to her doctor to tell how she is feeling and her doctor is starting with a blood test as the doctor thinks she has too many physical and mental issues to be non physical related. My wife has also told me she would like to see a councilor but she thinks everybody is wrong about everything and she is always right. She will get mad at you if you don't agree. Actually her behavior is not completely new, it is now x3 which makes it very intense. Any thoughts? I got the date wrong. She started the Chantix XXXXXXX 1, 2014, used it for 2 months and has been off of it for 50 days.

Answered by Dr. Srikanth Reddy (3 hours later)

Brief Answer: could be a deressive episode Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query. I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through. Many of my patients who leave alcohol or nicotine end up with a very bad depressive episode. And depressive episodes can have such irritability and agressiveness as well. Its an overt expression of helplessness. I have noticed that these symptoms reduce on starting the person on bupropion i.e. a NDRI antidepressant. As such bupropion has a role in smoking cesation. Further there is also an option of cognitive behavioural therapy. This therapy involves some 8-10 sessions trying to explore the various cognitions which are troubling the patients while therapist tries to correct them. Chantix may not be responsible for such symptoms . Hope I am able to answer your concerns. If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you. If not, you may close the discussion and if possible you may rate the answer for me, so that I get a good feedback. In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link: bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy Wish you good health, Kind regards Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D. H

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar