Quitting Smoking

Quitting Smoking:

Former addicts will tell you that quitting heroin was easier. But, there's lots of help to make it less uncomfortable than it used to be...

Kicking the habit
Eighty percent of attempts to quit smoking fail, meaning that most smokers make several attempts before they succeed. However, nicotine replacement products, other drugs and counseling can significantly improve a smoker's chance of success.

Likelihood of success
Where quitting with no counseling or other aids - "going cold turkey" - is the basis for comparison. For example, a nicotine inhaler is 2.5 times more effective than cold turkey.

Sources: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence; US Dept. of Health and Human Services; June 2000

Nicotine Replacement Therapy

by Mark Elliot

Have you heard about Nicotine Replacement Therapy?

The words “quitting smoking” have a negative meaning in the ears of a smoker. The idea of Nicotine Replacement Therapy is to change the way you get your nicotine. This particular therapy has more hope of success with long-term smokers than any other.

I first heard about it from Ken Osean, a therapist with the Hazelden Treatment Center in Dallas, TX. We were attending a conference of recovering people and talking about new therapies designed to help addicts to quit smoking. While I voiced my usual complaint about wanting to quit smoking more than anything else Ken started explaining that while roughly 20 – 25% of the general population smokes cigarettes. 80 – 95% of all addicted and recovering people smoke. The most common cause of death for a person who’s given up drinking or drugs is smoking related illness: Heart disease, emphysema, or cancer.

Get the medical facts from MayoClinic.com

Harm reduction is the goal of Nicotine Replacement Therapy. Cigarettes are a device for delivering nicotine and the key to the therapy is to change the delivery system. Changing the way you get your nicotine means giving up cigarettes, but still getting the nicotine fix that you’ve come to depend on. This way you’re getting just the hit of nicotine, without the tar, carbon monoxide and 5000 other toxic gases that come from cigarette smoking. More...

Lozenges help smokers quit

NiQuitin

A new form of nicotine replacement therapy is three times more effective at helping smokers to quit their habit, research shows.
Nicotine replacement therapy most commonly takes the form of a patch or chewing gum, but the new treatment comes in lozenge form. More...

Antidepressants, Nicotine Help Women Quit Smoking

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Reuters) - Women who smoke -- the single biggest risk factor for heart disease -- are likely to need help from drugs and nicotine replacement therapy to kick the habit, researchers said on Monday.
A study conducted at the University of California at San Francisco looked at why women who ended up in the hospital with cardiovascular disease continued to smoke. More...

From the American Heart Association...

Nicotine Substitutes / Nicotine Replacement Therapy

AHA Recommendation and Advocacy Position

The American Heart Association believes that nicotine transdermal patches and other nicotine substitution drug products, such as nicotine gum, can help smokers quit when used as part of a comprehensive physician-promoted cessation program. There are public safety issues concerning the patches -- including indications, contraindications, warnings and precautions, and issues such as efficacy, potential abuse and advertising and marketing. These are appropriately decided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The American Heart Association will continue to review the science concerning the use of nicotine patches and other nicotine substitution products and to make comments to the FDA when appropriate. More...

What about Nicotine Gums and Patches?

Nicotine, in a flavored chewing gum or a skin patch, is used to help you stop smoking. It is used for up to 12 weeks as part of a stop-smoking program. This program may include education, counseling, and psychological support.

As you chew nicotine gum, nicotine passes through the lining of your mouth and into your blood stream. When you wear a nicotine patch, nicotine passes through your skin into your blood stream. This nicotine takes the place of nicotine that you would otherwise get from smoking. In this way, the withdrawal effects of not smoking are less severe. Then, as your body adjusts to not smoking, the use of the nicotine gum is decreased gradually until use is stopped altogether. For most brands of patches, the strength of the patch you use will be decreased over a few weeks until use is stopped. If you are using the brand of patch that is available in only one strength, use is stopped after the treatment period indicated on the label. More...

Nicotine replacement therapy can be delivered through patches

Nicotine patch rules condemned

Health campaigners have attacked "myopic" regulations over the use of nicotine replacement therapies.
They say the restrictions on the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) do not take into account the fact young people, pregnant smokers and smokers with cardiovascular disease already use nicotine in its much more harmful form in cigarettes.
More...