“What’s in a name?” William Shakespeare asked. Chewing tobacco goes by a number of names, usually depending upon the place of birth and residence of the chewer. It’s important to remember that regardless of the name given, nicotine exists in all forms of chewing tobacco. In today’s world, we know that the effects of cigarette smoking long-term are very often fatal, but some chewers fail to understand that smokeless tobacco, chaw, chew, snuff, and dipping have similar consequences to a chewer’s health. In fact, since nicotine is addictive in all forms of tobacco use, many medical researchers believe that chewing tobacco is more addictive and has a more difficult nicotine withdrawal syndrome than cigarette and pipe smoking because chewing tobacco contains such a large amount of pure tobacco leaves.

The bottom line is that chewing tobacco has a very toxic and deadly mix of chemicals just like cigarettes, but without the smoke. In addition to nicotine, chewing tobacco contains carcinogens, or chemicals that cause cancer like nitrates, nitrites, nitrosamines and polycyclic hydrocarbons. In studying chewing tobacco, researchers gave laboratory animals these chemicals in amounts that simulate what humans ingest by chewing, and found that the animals eventually, over time, developed a number of serious, malignant cancers.

How many Major League baseball games have you attended where the outfield players spat a huge glob of saliva and chewing tobacco juices onto the field? Do they look tough, “manly” and intimidating? Unfortunately, they’ll be none of these when they develop malignant oral cancer, the number one killer of chewers. Unlike cigarette smoke, which causes esophagus and lung cancer, chewing tobacco stays in the mouth for a long time; the nicotine and carcinogenic chemicals are pressed and absorbed into the mucous membranes between the cheek and gums. These substances are very irritating to these delicate membranes, and cells in the mouth become chronically inflamed, eventually turning into unhealthy scar tissue. Oral cancer cells develop over time. Chewing tobacco causes white patches on the tongue, gums, and cheeks; these patches are called leukoplakia and are often large enough to be seen with the eye rather than through a microscope. Thus, chewing tobacco not only leads to nicotine dependence, but also to cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach and bladder since an amount of tobacco juice is inevitably swallowed.

Just like cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco cessation is difficult because of the nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Nicotine is powerfully addictive, but also like cigarette smokers, those who find pleasure in chewing tobacco can, with medical and emotional support, overcome this addiction. By the time chewers notice a white patch in their mouth – a possible cancer symptom – it is not too late to receive treatment for a pre-cancerous condition and to succeed in chewing tobacco cessation. Oral cancer is most often fatal, with a five-year survival rate of only around 50%.

If you’re a chewer and notice white patches in your mouth, see your physician or dentist immediately while there is still time for you to halt cancerous growths through medical treatment. For more information about chewing tobacco cessation, contact the American Cancer Society.

Smoking is an addiction to nicotine.  Just a few sticks a day can be harmful to your health and damaging to your cells in the long run.  Many smokers do think to quit smoking but because it is not easy to do so and requires a big commitment and strong desire to want to quit smoking, many avoid going through the actual quit smoking drive and continue with what they are most comfortable with. 

Core Desire To Quit Smoking

In order to be able to quit smoking successfully, you must first of all know why is it that you want to quit smoking.  What are the benefits that you are looking for?  Better health, improved fitness level, getting back your sense of taste and smell, easier breathing, less likelihood of developing heart disease, lung disease, stroke or cancer are some of the benefits that smokers look forward to when they decide to quit smoking.  Not only are the health benefits to the smoker numerous, even more advantageous is the better environment for those around the smokers, especially for their loved ones.

To quit smoking may be one of the hardest things you have ever embarked upon as it can be a monumental task.  In order to successfully quit smoking, you have to know all your own reasons for wanting to get rid of a habit that may have taken up more than half or even three-quarters of your life.  Although our society is becoming less accepting of smoking with some governments enforcing ‘No Smoking Sections’ in food outlets and air-conditioned areas, if you are not ready to undertake the challenge to quit smoking, nothing will help you kick the habit for good.

Why Quit Smoking

In order to be able to kick the smoking habit for life, you want to be able to take some time to prepare yourself.  Have a goal for yourself as in when you want to start to quit smoking, how are you going to go through the whole program without relapse, what you will do if you face a relapse, how are you going to cut down on the cigarettes, by when will it be zero cigarettes, and so on.  Once you have written out your plan, stick to it as closely as possible.  It would be advisable to start slowly, that is, if you smoke ten sticks a day, you may cut down by one a day for one day, then two a day for two days…..  There is no right or wrong.  Do what you feel comfortable with.  Eventually you will find yourself smoking less and you can adjust the plan if so required.

It would be good to also think of some of the worst case scenarios that could befall you if you do not quit smoking now.  Then write down the reasons that motivate you to want to kick the smoking habit.  Look at the consequences in a positive light and give yourself the encouragement and commitment to go through this huge step now.

Announce To Yourself Your Intention

As studies have shown, your brain plays a very important part in this as well.  Picture yourself actually having quit smoking!  Give yourself positive affirmations everyday as well.  “I have quit smoking as I want better health.”  Or “I have quit smoking as I want to breathe better.”  Most smokers find that they tend to go back to their normal after having quit for a day or two, and most are back at it within three to six months.  Do not be discouraged if that happens.  So long as you have the will to go for it and the mind to quit smoking, that will be a good starting point. 

Announce To Others Your Intention

Another way that many have found helpful and succeeded in their journey to quit smoking is to announce to everyone what you are intending to do.  Ask for their help and support.  Tell your family, colleagues, business associates, friends and everyone you know that you are going to kick the smoking habit and get their support to help you.  Announce to the whole world.

Some ex-smokers have found that it helps to suck on sweets or chew gum when they feel the urge to want to smoke and go back to the habit.  By doing so, this helps you get over the sensation of having that cigarette in your mouth. 

Certain health drinks also have the ability to help you curb your smoking desire by working at the cellular level.  A friend of mine was skeptical and did not think that it would work.  However, he tried the juice and it helped him quit smoking.  It has now been more than a month since he touched a stick.  There have also been many testimonials by others who have been helped in this way.

If none of the above work, another program that you might consider is Neuro-Linguistic Programming or Hypnosis.  It is a natural way to help train your mind to quit smoking which has helped thousands to quit.  With the correct mindset, core desire and commitment, you can stop smoking cigarettes by today, and for the rest of your life.

For example, many smokers choose to quit “cold turkey.” This is clinically referred to as abrupt cessation meaning that you simply go from being a smoker to a non-smoker in a day. The term is actually slang for the cold, bumpy, pale skin of a plucked turkey that most narcotic addicts develop with abrupt cessation; it doesn’t actually occur with smoking cessation. Like other methods, but to a greater degree, relapse prevention for former cold turkey smokers is especially difficult because today you have a high volume of nicotine in your body, and tomorrow, you will have none. Nicotine addiction creates uncomfortable physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms that must be the primary focus of your relapse prevention plan.

Consider these quit smoking tips and relapse prevention plan elements:

• When you made the decision to stop smoking, you were only half-way to your goal of becoming smoke-free. The other half of your plan must be relapse prevention. You not only want to stop – you also want to stay smoke-free.
• Know your enemy! Regardless of your smoking cessation method, be sure you know the symptoms of nicotine addiction withdrawal. Understanding why you feel anxious or irritable, and knowing that these symptoms will soon pass makes your relapse prevention plan more powerful than nicotine’s call!
• Keep a “relapse record.” Every time you feel tempted to smoke, write down where you were at the time, what was happening, and how you were feeling. Since nicotine addiction is both physical and psychological, relapse prevention involves understanding all your “triggers” that make you want to smoke; you have to know what they are before you know how to resist them.
• In addiction terminology, there is a distinct difference between a “slip” and a “relapse.” If you’re in a social situation, for example, and you smoke a cigarette or two, then realize the danger you’re in and stop, this is a slip. A relapse, however, is a return to smoking full-time, just as you did before you quit. If you have a slip, don’t make the mistake of telling yourself that you’ve failed and you might as well keep on smoking. Your relapse prevention plan should include how you will handle slips without a return to smoking.
• What if you do return to smoking? Understand that this may indeed happen because of the powerful nature of nicotine addiction. Some people stop smoking for a year or more, and then, for various reasons, return to smoking. If this happens to you, or has already happened to you, also understand that most people seldom get anything right the very first time they try it. Life just isn’t that easy. Have the courage to try again. And again. And yet again, until you reach your goal of long-term smoking cessation.

Poet Maya Angelou wrote that “You did the best you knew how at the time. When you knew better, you did better.” Applying this concept to smoking cessation and relapse prevention, here’s what you need to know to do better: (1) Nicotine addiction is strong, but you can choose to be stronger, (2) Relapse prevention must be a part of your complete smoking cessation plan, (3) Every time you slip or relapse, you will learn valuable lessons about your smoking triggers, and (4) Never stop trying!

Nicotine is a central nervous system stimulant; many people use smoking tobacco and other forms of nicotine use as a “pick me up” when they are tired, stressed, or feeling depressed. For example, alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, causing relaxation in small doses. Tobacco leaves contain the drug nicotiana, the chemical name of nicotine. It can be inhaled (smoked), or absorbed through the mucous membranes as in chewing tobacco. Nicotine addiction is the hardest addiction to overcome due to the uncomfortable nicotine withdrawal syndrome that occurs within only a day of nicotine cessation. These withdrawal symptoms are truly troublesome and most often cause the smoker or chewer to relapse to avoid them.

Yet, nicotine addiction is not an unbeatable foe! The American Surgeon General and other public health officials around the world devised smoking cessation products that really work! Since nicotine withdrawal is the primary cause of relapse back into using tobacco, efforts have been focused on helping tobacco users beat those uncomfortable symptoms. Since the introduction of these products, millions of people world-wide have saved their lives by tobacco cessation.

Initially, the nicotine patch was available only by prescription. Today, these nicotine withdrawal aids are available for purchase in your local drug store. The nicotine patch works by delivering a carefully measured amount of nicotine into your body each day, so nicotine addicts experience a gradual decline in the amount of nicotine that your body receives; this prevents nicotine withdrawal in most tobacco users. As your use of nicotine decreases with the nicotine patch, so do the nicotine withdrawal syndrome of intense craving, dizziness, shaking hands, insomnia and mood irritability. If you decide to quit smoking tobacco “cold turkey,” you can expect these intense symptoms to occur for 4-7 days. But using the nicotine patch will greatly enhance your chances of successful smoking cessation.

The nicotine gum is also helpful for nicotine addiction. Once available only by prescription, Nicorette gum is now available over the counter in your drug store. Whenever your nicotine addiction creates a craving for nicotine and you are experiencing nicotine withdrawal, all you need to do is chew a bit of this gum, which is pleasant to the taste and delivers an adequate amount of nicotine into your system to save off nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

The most hazardous effect of smoking or chewing tobacco is not nicotine itself, but the harmful effects of inhaling smoke into your lungs or absorbing nicotine through your mouth. These are the effects that cause severe cases of cancer of the lungs, esophagus, stomach, and mouth. If you can master your nicotine addiction, tobacco cessation will be much easier.