Well if you read my last post, I was excited to see Aunt Flo. Turns out she did not make an appearance, but seems to have sent her dog "spot" to visit for a day. Oh well, I guess some is better than none.  I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow to find out about getting on some hormones. I'm still going to try to keep this as natural as possible (using Suzanne Somers as my role model & guide), but over the last couple of weeks, my herb therapy has not been working as well. It's very likely due to the fact that I travelled for a week with no exercise & terrible eating habits. I'm pretty sure sugar treats trigger hot flashes.  Anyways, on to my main topic: Did Chantix force my body into pre-mature menopause?

Well, three years ago (July 12, 2008 to be exact) was my official quit smoking day. My doctor put me on Chantix because I had been trying to quit for over a year & was having a really hard time. I did quit once before using nicotine patches & was successful, but after a year or so, I started up again & quitting a second time was proving to be impossible. Chantix is a drug that affects the neural receptors in the brain - scary. Anyways, I was desperate. After 3 weeks of Chantix (you're supposed to take it for 3 months) I couldn't handle the side effects anymore. I was severely constipated, moody, irritable, & my skin was breaking out like nobody’s business. I had gotten over the hump of the first few weeks of quitting smoking (the hardest part) & decided that I could do the rest on my own, because if I stayed on that evil drug, God only knows what would have happened to my body.

Three years later I am still smoke free (I learned my lesson & don’t ever want to have to go through that again), but I think still feeling the effects of Chantix. Did this drug do some brain damage?  I know for sure that it took at least a year for my digestion system to come back to a somewhat normal status after taking Chantix & that was with me taking laxatives & fiber drinks & body cleanse systems. But what I was not watching was all these other ailments; things that I chalked up to stress, bad diet & lifestyle changes.  However, now that I’ve been diagnosed with menopause… all my symptoms have been in the last 3 years (steadily getting worse to the point where I am now)

Menopause starts in the brain – it starts with your pituitary gland not producing the hormones you need. Chantix is a drug that chemically affects brain function. Seems like a likely connection to me.

I’ve been experiencing hot flashes with my menstrual cycle since my late 20’s, but all my other symptoms have only appeared in the last 3 years (since I went off of the Chantix).  My list of symptoms only started making sense to me after I sat down & wrote everything down. Pre-mature Menopause is so hard to see coming because most of my symptoms looked like something else – it really didn’t occur to me that these are all menopause symptoms until I listed them out & viewed them all together.

Here’s a list of my symptoms & what I thought was causing them.

Now I’ve seen ads on TV for lawsuits against Chantix for various digestion ailments, depression & suicide attempts & other things. Chantix did help me quit smoking, but at what cost? I don’t know.

(WARNING: I am not a doctor & I have no medical background experience. My trials are on my own body which I've known for 39 years & I determine what's best for me based on my own research & my body's reactions. Please don't take any of this as medical advice for yourself, but maybe get some ideas on treatments you can discuss with your own doctor.)