BestQuitSmokingTip

Medical Management of Smoking Cessation

Whether you’re a casual smoker or have a four pack a day habit, it’s important for you to understand that nicotine addiction is extremely difficult to overcome, as evident in relapse rates that are the highest of any drug addiction.  Fortunately, stop smoking aids are only one phone call away to your physician’s office.  You don’t necessarily need the assistance of a specialized addiction physician; most family practice physicians are very competent in providing stop smoking aids that really work! Although there is no easy way to stop smoking, there are many medications that can help you quit smoking for good!

There are numerous immediate benefits of quitting smoking. Within eight hours of your last tobacco use, nicotine and deadly carbon monoxide levels in your body decrease by half, and oxygen levels return to normal.  Within twenty-four hours of your last tobacco use, whether you use stop smoking aids or not, all nicotine and carbon monoxide is eliminated from your body.  Your lungs begin to expel excess mucous caused by smoking.  This is usually the point when you experience urges to smoke and realize that easy ways to stop smoking are a myth.  Within forty-eight hours, all nicotine has left your body; your sense of taste and smell improves greatly but your urges to smoke are still powerful, and you may find that stop smoking aids help you resist the urge to “feed your addiction” to nicotine.   Within seventy-two hours, your bronchial tubes relax and your energy levels increase as the urge to smoke begins to wane.  Within three months of being smoke-free, your circulation has improved, your lung function increases by 30%, and all your breathing is further increased by 10%.

There are a variety of medical stop smoking aids that are not easy ways to quit smoking but they are very helpful, especially during the initial forty-eight hour nicotine withdrawal period.  Regardless of the method you choose to quit smoking, the first necessity is joining a quit smoking support group.  Like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, support groups provide you with the motivation and encouragement to succeed.  A non-smoker, even if he/she is your physician can’t possibly understand what you’re going through; others who are using stop smoking aids or quitting “cold turkey” do understand.

Two prescription medications, Zyban and Chantix, can help stop urges to smoke. Zyban is a form of bupropion, an antidepressant medication marketed as Wellbutrin.  Quite accidentally, it was discovered that bupropion not only relieved depression, but also could be used as a stop smoking aid.  Zyban increases the same brain chemicals as nicotine, so a smoker’s urge to smoke is diminished.  However, it can take Zyban up to 7-12 weeks to affect urges to smoke.

The new stop smoking aid on the market is Chantix (varenicline).  This mediation works to make quitting smoking easier by blocking the nicotine receptors in your brain; you won’t get that “smoker’s high” if you don’t receive nicotine into your central nervous system.  Chantix works just like Narcan, a drug that blocks opiate receptor sites in the brain.  The most common side effects of Chantix are nausea, sleep disturbance, constipation, gas and vomiting; tell your physician if you experience these side effects, none of which are life-threatening and can be easily treated.  Chantix is pricey, but covered by major prescription plans.  Phizer Pharmaceuticals often offer Chantix coupons for new users; ask your physician about this.

Many physicians prescribe a minor tranquilizer like Valium or Klonopin along with Zyban or Chantix to help, on a short-term basis, with the anxiety caused by nicotine withdrawal.  Caution must be used with these addictive drugs; there’s no sense in replacing one addiction with another!

A new and unique stop smoking aid that is receiving a lot of attention in the medical world is the use of Low Level Laser Therapy.  LLLT is based upon acupuncture principles, but instead of using needles on specific points of the body, LLLT directs soft, painless laser beam into these points.  By stimulating your body’s feel-good endorphins, you will feel decreased urges to smoke.

Since there is no easy way to stop smoking, smokers who decline to use stop smoking aids still find the “cold turkey” method as the only thing that works in the long run. Although nicotine is a toxic chemical, it is the cigarette or cigar smoke itself that causes the majority of health dangers.  Nicotine gum and patches are still very popular and inexpensive, gradually reducing the amount of addictive nicotine you use in order to decrease physical cravings.  There is no right or wrong way to stop smoking; there is only your way.