Smokers no longer have to go cold turkey, sport patches or chew nicotine gum to quit. Instead, they can take antidepressants to curb cravings - even if they're not depressed.
After three years of lighting up and two attempts at quitting, international business senior Chris Masci used the antidepressant Wellbutrin for a month to quit smoking.
Masci had read a study that found Wellbutrin patients reported a significant decrease in nicotine cravings. So, though he was not suffering from depression, he had his doctor to prescribe it for him.
"I'd made a couple of attempts to quit in the past, and they always fell flat," he said. "What I liked about it was that you didn't have to quit right when you went on it; it was something you eased into, so basically once you got used to the medication you picked the date you quit."
Masci said his quality of life is much better since quitting.
"I've gotten stamina back that I haven't seen since I wrestled in high school," he said. "I'm not getting fatigued at work."
He experienced some anxiety, one of the possible side effects of Wellbutrin, while on the medication, Masci said.
"I would be watching a [New York] Mets game at home and I'd suddenly feel extremely anxious even though all my bills were paid, all my homework was done and it was my day off," he said. "It didn't really bother me. ... It was actually quite minor."
Since Masci stopped taking Wellbutrin, he has not relapsed into smoking.
"[Quitting] wasn't all the medication, but it made it extremely easy," he said. "There were definitely times where I still wanted to smoke, but it wasn't constant; it was really minor."
The antidepressant Wellbutrin contains bupropion, an active ingredient known for reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms, according to Facts and Comparisons, a company that provides drug information to professionals in the health care industry.
Bupropion is also found in Zyban, a prescription drug used to help people stop smoking.
Bupropion has no nicotine and works by increasing certain activities in the brain, according to MedlinePlus, a government health organization.
Former ASU Campus Health Service psychiatrist Richard Cross said although his former patients were mostly prescribed Wellbutrin to treat depression, it is frequently used to help people quit smoking.
"If you happen to want to quit, this could help you," he said.
He warned the medication should not be taken without consideration of its consequences.
The Food and Drug Administration lists possible seizures and suicidal thoughts among some of the side effects when taking bupropion.
Wellbutrin works successfully for people who are not depressed but want to quit smoking, according to the American Lung Association's Web site, www.lungusa.org.
Tyler Steele, a political science senior, tried a more conventional method to quit smoking.
Steele had also been smoking for around three years when he decided to quit after being pressured from his friends and family.
Steele went cold turkey and hasn't smoked since.
He ate a lot of sunflower seeds to alleviate his "oral fixation," he said.
Other methods of quitting smoking were too expensive, Steele added.
Steele said he wouldn't be willing to try Wellbutrin or any prescription drug as a method to quit smoking.
"I think antidepressants are too much prescribed by doctors for things that people don't really need," he said. "If I'd smoked for 10 years I'd consider that as an option, but in my case I wouldn't."
Reach the reporter at Astrid.Galvan@asu.edu.
