Stop Smoking with Zyban

Zyban is another name for Wellbutrin (buproprion), a well-known antidepressant used by psychiatrists for a number of years. The manufacturer of Wellbutrin applied to the FDA for permission to cite smoking cessation as one of its approved uses after providing sufficient experimental evidence. Perhaps to aid their marketing and convince smokers that they are not “crazy” or severely depressed the pharmaceutical company changed the name to Zyban. Zyban has been marketed considerably to the general public through television, print, and radio ads with the implication that the smoker should ask a physician to order it. This drug is a true medication and cannot be obtained without a doctor’s prescription.

Although with some patients Wellbutrin has been effective in controlling the urge to smoke, it is not universally successful. We believe in keeping the option open to choose other antidepressants and a good number of smokers have shown success in using alternative safe drugs carefully chosen by a knowledgeable specialist.

We administer a depression test to susceptible patients (typical questions: I have been losing weight, I feel that i am useful to others, etc.). When the individual shows a reasonable level of depressive thought processes, the use of one of the antidepressant drugs has been very helpful in providing the necessary backup to other methods of stop smoking therapies.

One reason for searching for other drugs besides Wellbutrin is a very serious but fortunately infrequent side effect, namely having seizures or convulsions. Other drugs are less likely to have this effect. Furthermore other antidepressants may be more appropriate for an individual patient. Our treatment has always stressed specific therapies for each person, there are wide ranges of sensitivity and effectiveness for each smoker.

When using Wellbutrin or in fact any of the antidepressants it is important to understand that it cannot act immediately. Although nicotine substitution in the form of a patch or a gum or inhaler can have a nearly instant cessation effect for some smokers, the antidepressant action takes generally three weeks and can extend as long as six weeks before a real change is felt. Unfortunately the patient who is not informed about this time lag will be disappointed after a few days on the pill since there would be no noticeable change. This is the reason for many failures in using Zyban without adequate physician explanation. Just a prescription alone does not work.

As with all of our therapeutic choices, the use of the right antidepressant depends on the individual patient’s acceptance. There is no one single program or drug useful for everyone.