HOW CHANTIX WORKS

To understand how Chantix works we have to explain what happens in your brain when you smoke.

When you smoke, the nicotine from your cigarette causes receptors in your brain to release a chemical called dopamine which causes many of the positive feelings you get when you smoke. When you quit smoking, you lack dopamine and some symptoms such as irritability, insomnia and difficulty concentrating appear four to six hours after your last cigarette and can last a month after you quit smoking.

When you use nicotine replacement products such as gum and lozenges, and the antidepressant bupropion (Zyban), it helps you stop smoking, in part, by continuing to release low levels of dopamine in your brain. In this way, these stop smoking medications decrease your craving for cigarettes and nicotine and reduce the signs and symptoms of withdrawal.

Chantix works in this way, too. Chantix stimulates the release of low levels of dopamine in your brain to help reduce the signs and symptoms of withdrawal. Additionally, Chantix blocks nicotine receptors in your brain. So if you have a cigarette, it doesn't stimulate your brain's receptors the way it did in the past. Cigarettes become much less pleasurable, and your desire to return to regular smoking again is reduced.

Chantix is not magic pill, but through clinical trials was shown to be twice as effective as the currently prescribed drug Zyban.