Varenicline: How to Dose?
According to this article (Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2018;13(7):671-683), people who try to quit nicotine smoking:
- 80% return to smoking within the first month
- < 20% quit for six months
- Only 3% remain abstinent for more than one year
Varenicline is one of the effective treatment for smoking cessation. Hence, it is important to have the knowledge on how to initiate treatment, and how is Varenicline compared to other available treatment options.
Let’s begin by answering this question:
Answer: (c)
- serious neuropsychiatrc symptoms have been reported in patients taking Varenicline
Now let’s understand the basics of how to intiaite Varenicline:
Dosing Instructions for Chantix:
- First set a date to quit smoking.
- Initiate Chantix one week before this quit date.
- Take Chantix after a meal and with a full glass of water.
- Begin with a dose of 0.5 mg/day for the first 3 days.
- For the next 4 days: 0.5 mg twice daily (in the morning and in the evening).
- After the first 7 days: increase the dose to 1 mg twice daily (in the morning and in the evening).
- Total duration of treatment: 12 weeks.
- An additional 12 weeks of treatment is recommended for successful quitters to increase likelihood of long-term abstinence
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Tobacco Use Disorder: Non-Nicotine Medication Options.
This chapter will be summarized in the following sections:
(1) Varenicline:
- Mechanism
- Dosing instructions
- Comparison to Bupropion
- Effect on Mood
(2) Buproprion SR:
- Mechanism
- Dosing instructions
- As sole pharmacotherapy
- Augmentation with NRT (Nicotine Replacement Treatment)
- Comparison with NRT
- Comparison with Varenicline.
(3) Nortriptyline:
- Mechanism
- Dosing instructions
- As sole pharmacotherapy
- Augmentation with NRT (Nicotine Replacement Treatment)
- Comparison with NRT
(4) Which Medications were not found effective for tobacco use disorder?
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