weight gain while on chantix

I am on Chantix and just finished my 3rd month. I am happy to say I am smoke-free. I have also put on about 20 lbs and had all this water weight and swelling in my ankles going on the last 2 weeks.

I am so happy I read these posts. I am not renewing my Chantix, I think I will be okay on my own. I have been working out steadily for the last month as I had stopped working out a year ago due to personal issues but not losing a pound. So, I will see if going off Chantix makes the difference.

Oh, and for the "Calorie In, Calorie Out" responder.... Do we sound like idiots to you? All of us who have posted are well aware of how you put on weight. Maybe just maybe its possible that some ingredient in Chantix is having a side effect on some and not others.

Thanks to all those who posted. Anyone lose weight after going off Chantix???

I have gained about 30 pounds with Chantix as well. Yes, I am not smoking but this weight gain has me seriously concerned because nothing is making it budge. I have been on a 1200 calorie diet the last couple months and work out for 1 1/2 hours four days a week at least and am not losing (which is better than what I had been doing). Good news is that I have stablized with my weight at least and don't seem to be gaining. Has anyone started to lose? How long does it take? This is so frustrating. I have outgrown my clothes already and do not want to move up another size. I'm doing my best. Anyone else overcome this?

I am sorry to report that I am in the same boat. The good news is that I stopped smoking after taking Chantix. The bad news is that I gained a significant amount of weight that is not coming off no matter what I do. Since I stopped taking Chantix eight weeks ago, I have done cardio exercise where I work out at at least 85% of my maximum heart rate for at least 45 minutes every single day and maintained a diet not exceeding 1,500 calories a day and usually around 1,200 a day. THe weight is not budging AT ALL, although I have managed to stop gaining weight with these efforts.

The weight is mostly around my abdomen, which I understand is the most medically dangerous place to have excess weight. Previously when I gained weight, it was never around my abdomen.

I still have daily gastrointestinal "issues" that first began when I started Chantix even though I have not taken any Chantix for two months.

The excruciating knee pain I had when I stopped Chantix finally went away in the past week or so...hopefully for good. It still feels like someone dropped a smoldering piece of charcoal on top of my right foot, but that pain is at least intermittent now.

While it is somewhat comforting to know I am not the only one with adverse and seemingly long term adverse efffects of taking Chantix, what I am really wondering is, is there anything that can be done? Has any research been done or is any being done? How long will this last? I'm not interested in getting involved in time consuming expensive litigation...I just want to feel normal again. How can I get this stuff out of my system for good??

I took my last daily dose of Chantix (3 month program) in February, 2008. I no longer smoke (Yeah) and after working with a counselor for 5 months, I'm "almost back to normal" - except for the extra weight. Almost 20 years ago I was advised that I had cholesterol issues. With information from my doctor, a book that he suggested and a new approach to eating, I lost 52 pounds and took control of the HDL/LDL issues in six months. Doctor insisted that I needed to regain 10/12 pounds. I had maintained the weight (within 5 pounds) since that time. I was delighted in 02/08 at the end of the Chantix program - I had only gained 6 pounds. During the next three weeks (after stopping Chantix), I gained 16 pounds - eating the exact same food (close to "fat free") that I had been eating for 20 years. I have lost about 6/7 pounds of the 22 about 6 months ago (haven't gained it back - but haven't lost any more). Those pounds are very "localized". One person described it as "love handles" in back - I'm thinking "hate handles" after these many months. I feel that my present doctor really did not have enough information about Chantix to prescribe it. The only side-effect he mentioned was the possibility of strange dreams. When I have tried to talk with him about these issues, he finally said that drug would, of course, affect more than just the nicotine problem. I certainly wish he had shared that bit of information with me before the fact! "MY" BAD"....... I
didn't realize that I needed to research an FDA approved, doctor approved drug. Good luck

In a two months I have gainned about 20lbs not good my size 2's were lose when I started struggled this morning to get into a size 10!!

I am 5'7" and weighed approximately 170 lbs prior to taking chantix. I am now 228 pounds. I ate the same, and lifted weights and ran on a very regular basis (lifteted 3x a week, and did core exercises 3x a week along with running around 25-30 miles a week.) It didn't matter how little or much I ate, I kept gaining weight. I have been off of chantix for approximately a week now, and with doing everything that I did before, I am now finally starting to lose some of the weight. I am back to using nicotine products, however, I would rather do that than put on all of that weight. The amount of money that I had to spend on a new wardrobe was ridiculous as well. I am prior service army as well as an ex college wrestler and currently in the national guard. I know what it is to stay in shape, and I can tell you that my physical fitness routines were doing nothing to ward off the effects of chantix........do not take! I will try zyban as I know that this is not a side effect, but rather, it actually increases metabolism, though drinking alcohol is not permitted while on it due to the chance of having a seizure.

Hi Guys, I too have gain about 15lbs and I am having a lot of foot pain, At first I thought it was from running and working out a lot until I talk Help support group from Chantix. Has anyone else had this side effect,If so what did you do about it . My feet feel numb and tingle to the point of very painful. I went to the foot Doctor and got more medicine to make me gain weight and little result. How long does it take to get this "stuff " out of your system. I went from size 8 to size 10 so far and lots and lots of excerise. If there is some help Please send some for me. MY FEET ARE KILLING ME. Also I am a fire fighter in Jackson Ms.

I too have had weight gain and still no loss even after 2 yrs. It's all be in my abdomen and face. I started having edema of the legs and feet. The doctors couldn't find a reason after many heart tests as well as blood work to check my kidneys and liver. All they can say is to stop my salt intake and continue taking my Lasix they've prescribed. I was also diagnosed after taking chantix with the beginnings of diabetes. I'm 29 yrs old. I wish I hadn't taken this medicine either. I think it seriously needs to be looked at. I've got a friend that has the same symptoms and I never even had thought about the fact she also took Chantix. So now I've got to thinking, Is this related to the drug?????

It has now been a 1 year ago since I quit smoking with Chantix. Yes, it helped me quit and I have been smoke free exactly 1 yr today!! (yeah me!!) However, had I known what was going to happen due to taking it, there is NO WAY I would have took it. I had lost 100lbs, all on my own, diet, excerise and watching what I eat. SO therefore I know how to keep my weight down. I started gaining weight within a month of coming off of chantix. (I only took the starter pack by then I had quit and was not really having any cravings I could not handle so I stopped it and saved the money for chantix and the cigs) I have gained a totally of 35 lbs in a year. Went from a size 4-6 to a 10-12!! I swell that there is not tomorrow!! I have been to every kind of doctor and NO ONE can figure it out. They have ran every blood test and other test, ct scan, sonars on every part of my body. EKG, Heart Stress test, liver test, kidney test...all due to the swelling and weight gain. I never thought about it being Chantix until this pass weekend I was voluteering with a lady and we got to talking about chantix, she too is having the same problems, swelling weight gain etc. Then I realized it might be from Chantix. SO I started doing research on it an dcame upon this website! I have tried everything, tried south beach, Atkins, still exercising, drop my calories to 1000 a day and cut the carbs and fat out of my diet NOTHING is working. THey now have me on Lasix 80mg to relive the swelling, I was drowning in my own fluids, I looked like I was going ot "pop", my friends and family said I looked like a balloon and if they stuck me I would pop! I felt that way too. If I skip a day of lasix then I swell back up. She has contact the FDA about adverse reaction and emdea. I found a form that we can fill out and send in to them to report it.

Please if someone else is having these probelms let's stick together and get it reported and see what if anything can be done. If someone know what I can do to get this OUT of my system please let me know!

Thanks!

~W

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It has been 2 yrs and 2 months since I stopped smoking. I myself used Chantix, and felt it did wonders as I have not picked up a cigarette since. However I too have been suffering from weight gain, and I used to have a nice looking body for my age 42 with 6 kids. (40 before I quit smoking) I gained 10lbs in 1 month and since then it has crept up to 36 lbs total, and if it could can keep going. My food intake is the same as it always has been. I was not one to eat more just to fill a void. So nothing has changed in that aspect. i don't exercise as I should now, but i was going to a gym, at one point, which did nothing. I have gotten tested for my thyroid twice thinking that was the cause, but each time it came out negative. I am so devastated and depressed about this, as nothing fits me, and I have no clothes, and can not even afford to buy a whole new wardrobe. I knew something was wrong, because it was so rapid and weird. I look like I'm pregnant in the front, very weird way to gain weight, and my butt and thighs as well, however those are normal weight gain areas in my family. Now I see people are complaining about Chantix? My doctor tells me it's age and no exercise...hmm..they don't even know? All I want to know if there is a way to lose the weight or is it useless now???

For the person who thinks not smoking is causing the weight gain - think again, becuase I only quit smoking with Chantix for 6 mos and have been smoking quite regularly for the past 5 mos and the weight is still there. I gained about 30 lbs and I can't shake it for trying...working on getting a script for Wellbuterin to hopefully help with both weight and smoking.

My theory is this...Chantix is a sort of antipsychotic and they are known to cause weight gain. They are also known to cause insulin resistance which we know leads to weight gain. I just hope it isn't permanent :-( I'm fatter than I've ever been in my life and still smoking...not a good combo! Good luck to you all and God bless!

I gained almost 40 lbs while taking chantix. Also, i now have high blood pressure, cholestorol, and my thyroid is hypo. I had a Dr check me out before I started taking it and I was perfectly healthy. Now it's been 2 1/2 yrs no smoking but now I am on all types of meds.

I started on chantix sept 2008, i have been smoke free since oct 2008, but I put on 40 lbs. I can't seem to lose the weight, I have never been this heavy, even at 9 months pregnant with 3 children . I never was this heavy. I am still smoke free, but now I have breathing problems, a bad stress test, and I look like I am pregnant. I too feel that the Chantix did this to me. I know a pharmist and he said that this drug works on the pleasure part of the brain, well, I think it effects our brains ability to regulate weight gain, sorrta like growth hormone when we go thru puberty and it kicks in and we start to grow. I just wish the drug company that developed this drug would tell people what the long term effects are.

I had a heart attack 3yrs and 4 mos ago. I quit smoking in the hospital with Chantix-I immediately started putting on weight and am still progressively gaining. I was 140 pounds when I quit. Now I am 265 pounds! (I am only 5'6") It just plain SUCKS- would have NEVER quit if I had known this would happen-dont eat that much either! I could have swallowed a gain of 80 pounds but 125 is a bit disgusting-I have no self esteem anymore and certainly dont move like I did. I figure the weight may do me in before the cigs would have! VERY VERY DEPRESSING!!!!!! :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

It is natural for your body to take some time to adjust from a life time of smoking. When I quit, my body was bloated for 3 months but then gave in and returned to normal. That was using cold turkey - so give it time, continue with your exercise and diet - just remember the long term effects - you are doing great!!