Chantix, Suicide, and Life Insurance
November 20th, 2008
The headline “suicide” probably jumped out at you like a red flag in front of a mad bull. Suicide is nothing to take lightly, and it certainly isn’t in this case here. Chantix, an anti-smoking drug created by the pharmaceutical mega-giant Pfizer, has been linked to cases of depression, psychiatric problems and even suicide. Maybe you have never heard of the drug, but you probably know someone in your life who is a smoker. If they have ever thought of quitting, pass this vital information along to them.
What is Chantix?
According to drugs.com, Chantix “is used as a smoking cessation medicine or treatment. It is used together with behavior modification and counseling support to help you stop smoking cigarettes. Chantix works in the brain to block the pleasurable effects of smoking. This helps to decrease your desire to keep smoking.” That right there might be a warning sign for some: “works in the brain.” Taking a drug like this is no lighthearted undertaking; it literally affects the way your mind thinks and feels about smoking, and obviously other things in your life as well, and as you will see below, has had disastrous side effects.
In the last reported quarter of 2007, Chantix accounted for 988 serious injuries in the US reported to the FDA, more than any other individual drug in this time period. By comparison, the FDA received a median of five reports of serious injury for 769 different drugs. Following that fatal quarter, the total of 20,745 cases reported from January to March was 38 percent higher than the average for the previous four calendar quarters, and the highest for any quarter, a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices stated. Fatalities accounted for 23 percent of the cases.
The total number of deaths, 4,824, was an increase of nearly 3 percent from the last calendar quarter of 2007. According the a Public Health Advisory issued last year by the FDA, from May 2006 through December 2007, they received 227 reports of suicidal acts, thoughts or behaviors, 397 cases of possible psychosis and 525 reports of hostility or aggression. These included 28 cases of suicide and 41 mentions of homicidal ideation, 60 cases of paranoia and 55 cases of hallucination.
Your Life and Life Insurance Are in Your Hands
The terrifying thing about studies and drugs like Chantix is that the power of your rationale and subsequently, life, are placed in someone else’s hands. In the cases of drugs that work miracles to help with cancer and diabetes, this might be a good thing, because you are being healed. With Chantix, the drug seems to be doing harm to innocent people only seeking to kick an addiction, and despite positive results in some patients, the possibly fatal side effects cannot be ignored. These statistics should help prompt you to think about the value of your own life, whether you are seeking to quit an addiction to smoking or not. Having a life insurance policy is one of the smartest steps you can take to protect yourself and your family.
You never know what life is going to throw at you, how certain medications may affect your body, or even how poorly people are going to be driving on the roads any given morning. If you were to suddenly and unexpectedly pass away and you were without a life insurance policy, your loved ones would be left with nothing. Life insurance policies are designed to protect the family you leave behind in the case of an unexpected death. Funds from a life insurance policy can be used to help cover any funeral or memorial costs or to simply help with everyday things like mortgage payments, a child’s tuition, groceries.
Life insurance policies can normally be as flexible as you need them to be: you can decide your premium (the amount you pay per month) your beneficiaries (who the money would go to if you died) and even determining a cash value that you could potentially draw out of if there was an emergency while you are still alive. There are various types of life insurance plans to consider: Temporary insurance, whole life coverage, universal life coverage, limited pay and accidental death. This only a small smattering of what is available to you; life insurance specifically for smokers is available, and this http://www.my-life-insured.com has a number of special topics designed to help you learn more about what policy might work best for you.
photo credit: aprilzosia
