DISCLAIMER: THIS PAGE CONTAINS A GENERAL EDUCATIONAL DISCUSSION ON THE ABOVE TOPIC. IT IS NOT HEALTH ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS SUCH. YOU SHOULD NEVER RELY UPON THE INFORMATION GIVEN HERE. YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES MAY WELL REQUIRE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT APPROACH. YOU SHOULD NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES IN YOUR MEDICATIONS, DIET, ACTIVITY, LIFESTYLE, ETC. WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING A LICENSED PHYSICIAN IN YOUR AREA.
Everybody nowadays, including tobacco company executives, know that smoking is bad for your health. Unfortunately, nicotine is such a powerfully addictive substance that smoking cessation is one of the most difficult things a person could be asked to do.
The many types of chemicals in tobacco products damage the blood vessels and lungs and causes cancer.
In particular, smoking causes chronic bronchitis and emphysema which leave a person so short of breath they can barely walk around their house. It also results in cancer of the lungs, mouth, throat, esophagus and urinary bladder, all of which are fatal. Smoking by pregnant women can cause severe damage to the fetus. Second hand smoke can cause disease in nonsmoking family members who live with a smoker.
Smoking also results in discoloration of the teeth and fingertips and bad breath. Smoking promotes wrinkling of the shin. It dulls the senses of taste and smell. The clothes smokers wear and the furniture in their house often reeks of tobacco. Watching smokers huddled outside a nonsmoking building in inclement weather is reminiscent of heroin addicts huddled in an alley shooting up.
Not a pretty picture? We haven't even gotten to the cardiovascular effects of smoking. Smoking is one of the major causes of heart attacks, strokes, limb amputations and sudden unexpected death without warning in the United States.
Fortunately, the risk of all these terrible things decreases once a person stops smoking. The benefits of smoking cessation begin early and after about 10 years, the risk of developing the diseases mentioned above is not much different from that of the nonsmoking population! For smokers who have had a heart attack, the risk of a recurrent heart attack decreases to that of nonsmokers by 3 years after they quit smoking. People of all ages-from the very young to the very old-will benefit. Very soon after quitting smoking food will taste better, coughing in the morning will stop and strength and endurance will improve.
The first thing required to stop smoking is willpower. Hopefully the above discussion will help supply some. Smoking cessation is most effective if one goes "cold turkey" rather than gradually cutting down. Throw away the ashtrays and lighters too. Smokers should identify and try to avoid activities that trigger smoking. When the urge to smoke comes on, smokers should try to postpone it as long as possible if they can't totally avoid it.
Tobacco withdrawl is tough. One may experience irritability, difficulty concentrating, insomnia and depression. These symptoms can begin within a few hours of the last cigarette. The symptoms peak within two to three days and can last for weeks or months.
Early on, one may eat more and gain a substantial amount of weight but that is still better than continued smoking. The weight can always be lost by dieting later on. The health risks of that weight gain are far less than the health risks of smoking. Some of the medicines used to help quit smoking can help prevent weight gain, including buprprion and nicotine replacement therapy, especially nicotine gum (see below). One should not diet while quitting smoking. That requires too much willpower and quitting smoking is difficult enough by itself. One should try to exercise and to eat a balanced diet. An attempt to restrict calories and lose the weight gained during smoking cessation should be postponed until there is no more craving for tobacco.
Enrollment in an ongoing counseling program helps tremendously in the effort to quit. Social support is also very important. Smokers should let their family, friends and co-workers know that they are quitting.
Nicotine replacement therapy has been available for several years now, first in the form of nicotine gum and later as the more effective nicotine patches. Nicotine replacement therapy is also available as an inhaler, a lozenge, and a nasal spray. These products satisfy the bodies' craving for nicotine while getting out of the habit of smoking cigarettes and avoiding irritation to the lungs and carcinogens. The dose of nicotine is then gradually tapered down over several weeks until the person is finally off nicotine altogether.
Different types of nicotine replacement therapy can be combined. For example, one can wear a patch to reduce craving but supplement this with gum or an inhaler is some craving breaks through the patch therapy.
Several months of tapering nicotine doses is far safer than continued smoking. The risks of nicotine replacement therapy even to diseased hearts and lungs is far less than that of smoking tobacco products. The cost of this therapy is far less than the costs of a lifetime of continued smoking and the diseases caused by smoking. Quitting smoking represents a large financial savings as well as a health benefit!
Chronic use of nicotine alone is less dangerous than smoking cigarettes (which contain other harmful substances as well) but it is still bad for a person's health. Therefore, none of these nicotine replacement therapies should be used chronically. Once started, the dose should be gradually tapered down until the patient is off nicotine completely. The tobacco industry may be coming out with a new type of cigarette that delivers pure nicotine and none of the other harmful products of tobacco. For the reasons previously stated, these products should be avoided.
Another available medicine is called buproprion (Zyban). This acts on the "addiction center" of the brain to reduce the craving for nicotine. The medication is started 2 weeks before the scheduled stop smoking date and continued during the withdrawal period. It can be combined with the nicotine replacement therapy as well.
Other therapies for smoking cessation include clonidine (Catapres), also used for high blood pressure; nortriptyline (Pamelor), also used for depression; varenicline (Chantix); and an agent awaiting FDA approval called rimonabant (Acomplia).
Other helpful websites include Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS) from the Center for Disease Control, The American Lung Association and The National Cancer Institute.
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