All smokers who want to quit smoking know how hard this really is. It may not seem this way, but it really is. And it's not the physical addiction that is the biggest problem, no. This one can be overcome with just a few days of ambition and self motivation. The real problem is the psychological addiction. The brain needs the nicotine, otherwise the craving starts. And it is really hard to succeed in convincing your brain that you don't want nicotine any more. That is why all persons who wish to quit smoking are hopping for a magic pill that would make everything easy, they want a quit smoking pill.
Fortunately for them this quit smoking pill exists, not in just one form but in more, although the specialists aren't totally sure how do these things work.
Types of Quit Smoking Pills
Zyban is a pretty new medication that does not contain nicotine and is designed to help people quit smoking, therefor it is a quit smoking pill. It was initially designed to be an antidepressant and it was first used in depression treatment. A lot of smokers have found it helpful when wanting to quit smoking. It is said that it also reduces the nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
Zyban must be taken twice a day, and it needs at least a week before its effects start to take place. Like the majority of the quit smoking pills, it is recommended that Zyban should be used for about 8-12 weeks, although the company producing him says that it can safely be used for a long term too.
Another quit smoking pill is called Rimonabant and it works pretty much the same way as Zyban does. Other quit smoking pills are currently being developed, drugs such as Ta-Nic, a resembling medicine from Xenova Group in England or Varenicline, a drug from Phizer medical company.
How does the Quit Smoking Pill works
All the quit smoking pills are based around the same idea. They have to boost the level of chemicals in the brain, and as a direct result the person taking them will have a pleasant feeling of comfort and joy. It can also give energy to the patient. This whole process is made to help the body eliminate the nicotine or at least lessen the withdrawal from nicotine.
At least in studies the quit smoking pill has a proven effect. In reality there are people who say that it really works, and there are also people who say the opposite. Whether you decide to take the quit smoking pill or not, the decision is yours to make. But make sure to ask the opinion of your doctor too, before actually making the choice.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Quit Smoking Aids – Help yourself Quit Painlessly and Successfully
"Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it a thousand times.” This quote by Mark Twain, aptly describes how tough it is for the addicts to stop smoking once and for all. Quitting cold turkey does help many smokers but many succumb to the temptation of having a puff again which gradually leads them back to their habit of chain smoking. In fact it has been observed that some smokers have to make 3 – 10 attempts to quit smoking in their life.
To make quitting attempts convenient and successful there are several quit smoking aids available in the market. Smokers can get help from a doctor or a dentist to decide on the most suitable quit smoking aid for them when they make a committed decision to quit.
Quit Smoking Aids
Smokers are very much aware of the health risk posed by cigarettes on their body and most of them have an unconscious desire to break the habit one day. The biggest fear faced by smokers thinking about quitting are the withdrawal symptoms and whether they will be too much to handle. Withdrawal symptoms like cravings, headache, cough, fatigue, anxiety, anger, insomnia, constipation, weight gain etc can put tremendous pressure on someone who is trying to give it up, and more than often leads to them picking up the habit again. Often, the fear of nicotine withdrawal symptoms dissuade smokers from even making an attempt to quit smoking while those who attempt give in to the symptoms and get back to their old habit.
To help smokers quit successfully with minimum discomfort there are large number of quit smoking aids available today. Listed here are few of the most successful ones –
-Nicotine Replacement Therapy
The nicotine in cigarettes causes an addiction and unpleasant feelings of withdrawal when a person tries to quit. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) works by providing the body with nicotine generally in the form of a Nicotine Chewing Gum or Nicotine Patch without the other harmful parts of tobacco. Other forms of nicotine based quit smoking aids include nicotine tabs, lozenges, nicotine nasal spray, inhalators. These aids can help a person concentrate more on quitting the habit of smoking by relieving the symptoms of withdrawal.
However, since NRTs contain nicotine, a certain risk of re-addiction is involved when using these products. Therefore, one must use this method carefully by following instructions from doctor.
-Nicotine-Free Quit Smoking Aids
These days there are several forms of quit smoking aids that do not use nicotine as an active ingredient. These are prescription based drugs and hence should be taken under a doctor’s care.
Zyban - The active ingredient in this quit smoking aid is bupropion hydrochloride. Developed as an anti-depressant drug, Zyban has been shown to dramatically reduce physical withdrawal symptoms associated with nicotine and hence works well as a smoking cessation aid.
Chantix – Developed by Pfizer, Chantix (varenicline tartrate) was approved by FDA in May 2006. Unique property of this popular quit smoking aid is that it reduces the level of satisfaction derived from smoking. Chantix also reduces the nicotine withdrawal effects and thus makes it convenient to quit.
Processes to Follow Quit Smoking Aids
Following processes may help smokers quit smoking successfully -
1.Decide to Quit – This is the fundamental aspect of any smoking cessation program. Tell yourself honestly that you want to quit and you will quit.
2.Prepare to Quit – Planning makes it possible. Set a quit date, seek support of your friends and family, and be prepared for the cravings that come with withdrawal.
3.Use Quit Smoking Aids – Quitting cold turkey is tough for people addicted to nicotine. Prescription drugs like Chantix reduce the impact of withdrawal and helps you quit successfully.
Benefits of Quit Smoking Drugs
Studies reveal that quit smoking drugs quadruples a person’s chances to quit smoking as compared to trying it cold turkey. The best part of quit smoking drugs like Chantix is that it makes quitting a painless process as it significantly reduces the effects of nicotine withdrawals. The other good characteristic of Chantix is that is makes smoking less enjoyable for you. People on Chantix do not derive any pleasure out of smoking and are therefore reluctant to light up again. This is a significant feature of Chantix for smokers who are unable to bear the craving and have a tendency to break their smoking cessation program by lighting a cigarette.
Seek your doctor’s approval before using Chantix as a quit smoking aid and get the cigarettes out of your life, forever.
To make quitting attempts convenient and successful there are several quit smoking aids available in the market. Smokers can get help from a doctor or a dentist to decide on the most suitable quit smoking aid for them when they make a committed decision to quit.
Quit Smoking Aids
Smokers are very much aware of the health risk posed by cigarettes on their body and most of them have an unconscious desire to break the habit one day. The biggest fear faced by smokers thinking about quitting are the withdrawal symptoms and whether they will be too much to handle. Withdrawal symptoms like cravings, headache, cough, fatigue, anxiety, anger, insomnia, constipation, weight gain etc can put tremendous pressure on someone who is trying to give it up, and more than often leads to them picking up the habit again. Often, the fear of nicotine withdrawal symptoms dissuade smokers from even making an attempt to quit smoking while those who attempt give in to the symptoms and get back to their old habit.
To help smokers quit successfully with minimum discomfort there are large number of quit smoking aids available today. Listed here are few of the most successful ones –
-Nicotine Replacement Therapy
The nicotine in cigarettes causes an addiction and unpleasant feelings of withdrawal when a person tries to quit. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) works by providing the body with nicotine generally in the form of a Nicotine Chewing Gum or Nicotine Patch without the other harmful parts of tobacco. Other forms of nicotine based quit smoking aids include nicotine tabs, lozenges, nicotine nasal spray, inhalators. These aids can help a person concentrate more on quitting the habit of smoking by relieving the symptoms of withdrawal.
However, since NRTs contain nicotine, a certain risk of re-addiction is involved when using these products. Therefore, one must use this method carefully by following instructions from doctor.
-Nicotine-Free Quit Smoking Aids
These days there are several forms of quit smoking aids that do not use nicotine as an active ingredient. These are prescription based drugs and hence should be taken under a doctor’s care.
Zyban - The active ingredient in this quit smoking aid is bupropion hydrochloride. Developed as an anti-depressant drug, Zyban has been shown to dramatically reduce physical withdrawal symptoms associated with nicotine and hence works well as a smoking cessation aid.
Chantix – Developed by Pfizer, Chantix (varenicline tartrate) was approved by FDA in May 2006. Unique property of this popular quit smoking aid is that it reduces the level of satisfaction derived from smoking. Chantix also reduces the nicotine withdrawal effects and thus makes it convenient to quit.
Processes to Follow Quit Smoking Aids
Following processes may help smokers quit smoking successfully -
1.Decide to Quit – This is the fundamental aspect of any smoking cessation program. Tell yourself honestly that you want to quit and you will quit.
2.Prepare to Quit – Planning makes it possible. Set a quit date, seek support of your friends and family, and be prepared for the cravings that come with withdrawal.
3.Use Quit Smoking Aids – Quitting cold turkey is tough for people addicted to nicotine. Prescription drugs like Chantix reduce the impact of withdrawal and helps you quit successfully.
Benefits of Quit Smoking Drugs
Studies reveal that quit smoking drugs quadruples a person’s chances to quit smoking as compared to trying it cold turkey. The best part of quit smoking drugs like Chantix is that it makes quitting a painless process as it significantly reduces the effects of nicotine withdrawals. The other good characteristic of Chantix is that is makes smoking less enjoyable for you. People on Chantix do not derive any pleasure out of smoking and are therefore reluctant to light up again. This is a significant feature of Chantix for smokers who are unable to bear the craving and have a tendency to break their smoking cessation program by lighting a cigarette.
Seek your doctor’s approval before using Chantix as a quit smoking aid and get the cigarettes out of your life, forever.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Take Control and Stop Smoking
SmokingIt stands to reason that when it comes
to giving up an addiction everyone is different – People respond to different
methods and what is great for you may not work for a friend. However there are
many easy ways to take control and stop your smoking habit.
Fundamentally you must make sure that you are giving up for yourself and
no one else!! Do not do it because some one says you should… It must always be
what you want.
Set a date – A important date to you like a birthday or anniversary, or
simply the first of the month. Use this date as the date you give up smoking for
good.
Write a list for yourself of the reason you want to give up smoking.
Stick this some one you can see it and use it to strength your weakness if you
ever feel you are tempted to start smoking.
Although simply reducing the amount you smoke can work for some people
this is not for everyone, If you feel that this is for you then let some one you
trust look after your cigarettes for you in. In a sense they must ration the
amount you are allowed.
Go Public! Make sure everyone at work, at home and everywhere you
socialize know of your plans to give up! Not only will their support boost your
campaign, you will also be more likely to succeed as you will not want to let
people down!
Lastly work out how much you will save per year.. Use this to motivate
yourself. Think of the new clothes you can buy, or the holiday you can now
afford – You this as your motivation to stay an ex smoker forever!
Planning ahead and making sure you are fully prepared to be a non smoker will
drastically improve your chances of being able to give up. Remember that not
everything that works for you will work for everyone else, so use friends as a
support but not the golden rule! Find the way that works for you and stick to
it, in no time at all you will able to say you are officially a non smoker.
to giving up an addiction everyone is different – People respond to different
methods and what is great for you may not work for a friend. However there are
many easy ways to take control and stop your smoking habit.
Fundamentally you must make sure that you are giving up for yourself and
no one else!! Do not do it because some one says you should… It must always be
what you want.
Set a date – A important date to you like a birthday or anniversary, or
simply the first of the month. Use this date as the date you give up smoking for
good.
Write a list for yourself of the reason you want to give up smoking.
Stick this some one you can see it and use it to strength your weakness if you
ever feel you are tempted to start smoking.
Although simply reducing the amount you smoke can work for some people
this is not for everyone, If you feel that this is for you then let some one you
trust look after your cigarettes for you in. In a sense they must ration the
amount you are allowed.
Go Public! Make sure everyone at work, at home and everywhere you
socialize know of your plans to give up! Not only will their support boost your
campaign, you will also be more likely to succeed as you will not want to let
people down!
Lastly work out how much you will save per year.. Use this to motivate
yourself. Think of the new clothes you can buy, or the holiday you can now
afford – You this as your motivation to stay an ex smoker forever!
Planning ahead and making sure you are fully prepared to be a non smoker will
drastically improve your chances of being able to give up. Remember that not
everything that works for you will work for everyone else, so use friends as a
support but not the golden rule! Find the way that works for you and stick to
it, in no time at all you will able to say you are officially a non smoker.
Smoking, Nicotine and Health
The use of tobacco and its resulting nicotine addiction is responsible for killing more than 430,000 people each year in the United States, more people than die from car accidents, homicide, suicide, fire, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and AIDS combined. Tobacco use in some form accounts for around one in three of all deaths from cancer in the United States. Smoking is responsible for 83% of all lung cancer deaths. Smoking also causes cancers of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, bladder, pancreas, uterus, cervix, and some leukemia. Cigarette smoking also can cause lung diseases that can be just as serious as lung cancer. Smokers may develop chronic bronchitis, with their airways blocked up with mucous, forcing them to cough frequently; and, of course, smoking can lead to emphysema, making it difficult for the lungs to perform their function of supplying adequate oxygen to the body. People with these problems tend to tire more easily and this influences them to avoid getting the exercise they need to promote their health. Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 65,000 deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Your heart is at risk. Smoking doubles the risk of heart attacks, and, in addition, is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, which is the narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles.
Cigarette smokers die much younger than nonsmokers. Based on data collected from 1995 to 1999, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking. For smokers between the ages of 35 and 70 the death rate is three times higher than those who have never smoked.
Tobacco smoke is a major source of indoor pollution. Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year among those who do not smoke, and also is a factor in up to 40,000 deaths related to cardiovascular disease for nonsmokers too. Exposure to tobacco smoke in the home increases the severity of asthma for children and is a risk factor for new cases of childhood asthma.
Tobacco is very bad for the reproductive health of a woman, leading to a reduction in fertility and an increased risk of having a miscarriage. If a woman who smokes conceives a child, she may face the possibility of having an early delivery or even a stillbirth. And women who smoke increase the chance that their baby will have a low birth weight.
See the future if you continue this path. If you would take a moment to think of yourself as getting any of the diseases promoted by a smoking and nicotine habit sometime in the future, note how painful it would be for you, both physically and psychologically. Think, for a moment, of how much unhappiness it would create for you and your loved ones, and how it would keep you from enjoying the more healthy life that is yours after you have become a permanent nonsmoker. It is important to fully understand and feel, both consciously and subconsciously, just how negative a nicotine habit is to your overall enjoyment in life so that your mind, both conscious and subconscious, knows, without any delusion, just how much intense suffering will come to you unless you change your course in life.
Now make that picture dimmer and less bright and move it away from you, and watch as it grows darker and smaller. Take a moment to see yourself free of your nicotine addiction in the future. Look at how much healthier you look and feel. You can breathe freely and enjoy the fresh air entering your lungs. Your skin is healthier and you look younger at an older age, while your clothes smell fresher and cleaner. You are totally free of all the physical problems smoking would have caused you. When thought about in this way, it is more pleasurable to not smoke. You’ve found other healthier ways to get pleasure and reward yourself. In fact, cigarettes are now truly disgusting to you. As you see yourself a tobacco-free person, notice, now, that you’re feeling fine, you’re so relieved, you’re so much more at peace, you’re so much happier, so much healthier, and now you’re freer to be who you really want to be. Notice how much more personally self-confident and filled with personal self-esteem you now look and feel.
You may not fully know this, but the positive changes that result from becoming a permanent nonsmoker come sooner and are more pervasive than you ever imagined, making smoking cessation more immediately rewarding for you. Twenty minutes after you have quit, your blood pressure drops back down to the level just before your last cigarette and the temperature of your hands and feet increase toward a more normal level. Eight hours after you have quit the carbon monoxide level in your blood will have returned to a normal level. Just 24 hours after you have stopped smoking, your chance of a heart attack will already be decreasing. In the following weeks your circulation will be improved and the functioning of your lungs, even as soon as several weeks to 3 months’ time, will have improved by 30%. In subsequent weeks you will be able to look forward to other significant health improvements. Sinus congestion, shortness of breath, and coughing will have decreased. The cilia function within your lungs will return to normal, enabling you to deal with mucous and clean the lungs, and thus reduce any infection. One year after quitting, your extra risk of heart disease will be half that of someone who has continued to be smoker. After 5 years the risk of a stroke can be reduced to that of a nonsmoker. Ten years after quitting smoking your lung cancer rate will be half of that of someone who has continued to smoke, and your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, and bladder will all have decreased. Fifteen years after you have quit and become a permanent nonsmoker your risk of coronary heart disease will have fallen to that of someone who does not smoke. A 35-year-old man who becomes a permanent nonsmoker will, on average, increase his life expectancy by 5.1 years. And, of course, the quality of his life will be greatly increased during all his years, no matter how long he lives. Even smokers who quit after age 50 substantially reduce their risk of dying early. The argument that it is too late to quit smoking because the damage is already done is just not true.
It is important for people to know that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin. As matter of fact, it works to create and maintain an addiction in a way that is similar to those drugs. The addictive nature of nicotine is created by its ability to release dopamine in the brain, a chemical that creates feelings of pleasure. This is similar to the physiological and psychological effects of both cocaine and heroin. Recent research has shown that there is also some chemical in cigarette smoke that reduces the level of monoamineoxidase (MOA), which plays a role in breaking down dopamine. This helps create an overall increase in dopamine and thus contributes to the desire to keep taking more nicotine.
Cigar smokers who inhale absorb nicotine as rapidly as a cigarette smoker, while those who choose not to inhale absorb a significant amount of nicotine through the lining of their mouth, as do those who use smokeless tobacco. Even though these smokeless users do not hurt their lungs because they do not inhale tobacco smoke, the nicotine from their habit is still very highly addictive and causes the heart to beat faster and their blood pressure to go up. Chewing tobacco hurts a person’s ability to taste and smell, often causes damage to gum tissue, and can even result in the loss of teeth. More seriously, chewing tobacco is full of cancer causing chemicals that can give people cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Many people who get these particular cancers were users of chewing tobacco. So powerful are the cancer-causing chemicals in chewing tobacco that even very young users get these cancers.
Nicotine’s effects are short-lived within the body, leading people to continually give themselves more during the day. Eventually, the continued use of nicotine leads to what is referred to as tolerance. The drug is no longer as effective as it was, and people need higher and higher amounts of it just to get the same physiological and psychological effects that they experienced earlier. That is why people tend to increase their usage of nicotine-delivering substances the more they have been using them.
There are even short-term effects related to tolerance. Nicotine disappears from the body in a few hours and some tolerance is lost overnight. Smokers often report that the first cigarettes of the day, newly introducing nicotine to the body after several hours of forced abstinence during sleep, have the strongest effect and are enjoyed the best. As the day goes on, and they smoke more and more cigarettes, tolerance is created, and each cigarette has less effect.
Nicotine also suppresses the production of insulin by the pancreas, which acts to raise blood sugar and causes the liver to release glycogen into the blood. In addition, cigarettes themselves are actually between 8% and 18% sugar, so smokers who puff a cigarette frequently during the day are actually given themselves blood sugar-raising hits throughout the day. All this contributes to smokers experiencing a slight sugar high from increased blood glucose. As a result of all of this many smokers also experience a lessening of appetite. This may explain why people gain weight after stopping smoking. They are trying to maintain their prior elevated glucose level, which was found to be pleasurable. Any craving that a new nonsmoker might experience is most noticeable in the morning and mid-afternoon, when low blood sugar is no longer blocked by smoking.
Nicotine is biphasic in nature. It can both stimulate and relax a person, depending on how they smoke. Nicotine doesn’t work in the body the same way alcohol does, but they both exhibit biphasic activity. People often become uninhibited and more excitable after drinking, while at other times they may become sedated and eventually fall asleep.
Cessation of nicotine intake results in withdrawal symptoms that strongly influence anyone trying to end their tobacco use to start consuming it again. These symptoms can include headache, irritability, restlessness, tiredness, feelings of depression, poor concentration, and anger and frustration. While the most powerful influence on withdrawal is the pharmacological effects of nicotine, many behavioral aspects affect the nature of the withdrawal symptoms. For many smokers, the sight, feel, and smell of a cigarette and the rituals involved in obtaining, handling, lighting, and smoking the cigarette are all strongly associated with the pleasure of smoking and when absent can contribute to psychological feelings of withdrawal. While nicotine gum and patches can act to alleviate the pharmacological aspects of withdrawal, some cravings may persist because of these missed behavioral aspects of smoking. This is a problem in quitting smoking that can be easily dealt with and greatly minimized through the use of hypnosis.
One of the clearest indicators of the power of the effects of nicotine is that while over two-thirds of all tobacco users want to stop using it only a small number are able to do so permanently. Each year, nearly 35 million people make a concerted effort to quit smoking. Only 20% of those trying succeed in abstaining for as long as a year and only a small percent of these are able to do so by using willpower alone. Less than 7% succeed in abstaining for more than a year. Most of those trying to stop start smoking again within days.
Over 90% of smokers who try to quit without seeking treatment fail, with most relapsing within a week. Most smokers take several attempts to quit before they finally succeed.
To reduce the risk of lung cancer and other related cancers that are caused by smoking, smokers need to stop smoking completely. It has been found that the amount of carcinogens inhaled remains high even as they cut back on the number of cigarettes they use. Research has shown that this even applies when smokers are supplementing their intake of nicotine with the use of patches. The reason this is true is believed to be that the smokers inhale more deeply on the fewer cigarettes they do smoke to feed their addiction and the nicotine patches made little difference in how long and deeply the users inhaled the smoke from their cigarettes. Thus, the patches made little difference in the overall amount of carcinogens introduced into their bodies by their smoking habit. The conclusion is that patches do not significantly decrease a smoker’s risk of cancer. Possible theories as to why this is so is that patches fail to provide the high that the smokers desire, nor do they provide a substitute for the enjoyment that people get from the act of physically enjoying a cigarette. Another reason may be addictive compounds found in cigarette smoke that aren’t in the patches.
Sometimes in life failure is not necessarily an indicator of the difficulty or even the impossibility of accomplishing something. It just tells you what doesn’t work. Fortunately, seeing a qualified certified hypnotist is effective for changing a smoker into a nonsmoker for life. Not only do they become nonsmokers, but they do so more easily and comfortably then they ever expected. With the new cooperation of their subconscious they are able to lose their desire to smoke cigarettes and cigars. There is some physiological discomfort during the withdrawal period following the cessation of tobacco use, but with hypnosis these effects can be mitigated and the period of discomfort shortened. Hypnosis is also able to greatly reduce and even eliminate any tendency to gain weight after smoking cessation. In my clinical practice, I typically see clients only once for complete and permanent smoking cessation.
Your heart is at risk. Smoking doubles the risk of heart attacks, and, in addition, is a major risk factor for peripheral vascular disease, which is the narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood to the leg and arm muscles.
Cigarette smokers die much younger than nonsmokers. Based on data collected from 1995 to 1999, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking. For smokers between the ages of 35 and 70 the death rate is three times higher than those who have never smoked.
Tobacco smoke is a major source of indoor pollution. Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year among those who do not smoke, and also is a factor in up to 40,000 deaths related to cardiovascular disease for nonsmokers too. Exposure to tobacco smoke in the home increases the severity of asthma for children and is a risk factor for new cases of childhood asthma.
Tobacco is very bad for the reproductive health of a woman, leading to a reduction in fertility and an increased risk of having a miscarriage. If a woman who smokes conceives a child, she may face the possibility of having an early delivery or even a stillbirth. And women who smoke increase the chance that their baby will have a low birth weight.
See the future if you continue this path. If you would take a moment to think of yourself as getting any of the diseases promoted by a smoking and nicotine habit sometime in the future, note how painful it would be for you, both physically and psychologically. Think, for a moment, of how much unhappiness it would create for you and your loved ones, and how it would keep you from enjoying the more healthy life that is yours after you have become a permanent nonsmoker. It is important to fully understand and feel, both consciously and subconsciously, just how negative a nicotine habit is to your overall enjoyment in life so that your mind, both conscious and subconscious, knows, without any delusion, just how much intense suffering will come to you unless you change your course in life.
Now make that picture dimmer and less bright and move it away from you, and watch as it grows darker and smaller. Take a moment to see yourself free of your nicotine addiction in the future. Look at how much healthier you look and feel. You can breathe freely and enjoy the fresh air entering your lungs. Your skin is healthier and you look younger at an older age, while your clothes smell fresher and cleaner. You are totally free of all the physical problems smoking would have caused you. When thought about in this way, it is more pleasurable to not smoke. You’ve found other healthier ways to get pleasure and reward yourself. In fact, cigarettes are now truly disgusting to you. As you see yourself a tobacco-free person, notice, now, that you’re feeling fine, you’re so relieved, you’re so much more at peace, you’re so much happier, so much healthier, and now you’re freer to be who you really want to be. Notice how much more personally self-confident and filled with personal self-esteem you now look and feel.
You may not fully know this, but the positive changes that result from becoming a permanent nonsmoker come sooner and are more pervasive than you ever imagined, making smoking cessation more immediately rewarding for you. Twenty minutes after you have quit, your blood pressure drops back down to the level just before your last cigarette and the temperature of your hands and feet increase toward a more normal level. Eight hours after you have quit the carbon monoxide level in your blood will have returned to a normal level. Just 24 hours after you have stopped smoking, your chance of a heart attack will already be decreasing. In the following weeks your circulation will be improved and the functioning of your lungs, even as soon as several weeks to 3 months’ time, will have improved by 30%. In subsequent weeks you will be able to look forward to other significant health improvements. Sinus congestion, shortness of breath, and coughing will have decreased. The cilia function within your lungs will return to normal, enabling you to deal with mucous and clean the lungs, and thus reduce any infection. One year after quitting, your extra risk of heart disease will be half that of someone who has continued to be smoker. After 5 years the risk of a stroke can be reduced to that of a nonsmoker. Ten years after quitting smoking your lung cancer rate will be half of that of someone who has continued to smoke, and your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, and bladder will all have decreased. Fifteen years after you have quit and become a permanent nonsmoker your risk of coronary heart disease will have fallen to that of someone who does not smoke. A 35-year-old man who becomes a permanent nonsmoker will, on average, increase his life expectancy by 5.1 years. And, of course, the quality of his life will be greatly increased during all his years, no matter how long he lives. Even smokers who quit after age 50 substantially reduce their risk of dying early. The argument that it is too late to quit smoking because the damage is already done is just not true.
It is important for people to know that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine and heroin. As matter of fact, it works to create and maintain an addiction in a way that is similar to those drugs. The addictive nature of nicotine is created by its ability to release dopamine in the brain, a chemical that creates feelings of pleasure. This is similar to the physiological and psychological effects of both cocaine and heroin. Recent research has shown that there is also some chemical in cigarette smoke that reduces the level of monoamineoxidase (MOA), which plays a role in breaking down dopamine. This helps create an overall increase in dopamine and thus contributes to the desire to keep taking more nicotine.
Cigar smokers who inhale absorb nicotine as rapidly as a cigarette smoker, while those who choose not to inhale absorb a significant amount of nicotine through the lining of their mouth, as do those who use smokeless tobacco. Even though these smokeless users do not hurt their lungs because they do not inhale tobacco smoke, the nicotine from their habit is still very highly addictive and causes the heart to beat faster and their blood pressure to go up. Chewing tobacco hurts a person’s ability to taste and smell, often causes damage to gum tissue, and can even result in the loss of teeth. More seriously, chewing tobacco is full of cancer causing chemicals that can give people cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Many people who get these particular cancers were users of chewing tobacco. So powerful are the cancer-causing chemicals in chewing tobacco that even very young users get these cancers.
Nicotine’s effects are short-lived within the body, leading people to continually give themselves more during the day. Eventually, the continued use of nicotine leads to what is referred to as tolerance. The drug is no longer as effective as it was, and people need higher and higher amounts of it just to get the same physiological and psychological effects that they experienced earlier. That is why people tend to increase their usage of nicotine-delivering substances the more they have been using them.
There are even short-term effects related to tolerance. Nicotine disappears from the body in a few hours and some tolerance is lost overnight. Smokers often report that the first cigarettes of the day, newly introducing nicotine to the body after several hours of forced abstinence during sleep, have the strongest effect and are enjoyed the best. As the day goes on, and they smoke more and more cigarettes, tolerance is created, and each cigarette has less effect.
Nicotine also suppresses the production of insulin by the pancreas, which acts to raise blood sugar and causes the liver to release glycogen into the blood. In addition, cigarettes themselves are actually between 8% and 18% sugar, so smokers who puff a cigarette frequently during the day are actually given themselves blood sugar-raising hits throughout the day. All this contributes to smokers experiencing a slight sugar high from increased blood glucose. As a result of all of this many smokers also experience a lessening of appetite. This may explain why people gain weight after stopping smoking. They are trying to maintain their prior elevated glucose level, which was found to be pleasurable. Any craving that a new nonsmoker might experience is most noticeable in the morning and mid-afternoon, when low blood sugar is no longer blocked by smoking.
Nicotine is biphasic in nature. It can both stimulate and relax a person, depending on how they smoke. Nicotine doesn’t work in the body the same way alcohol does, but they both exhibit biphasic activity. People often become uninhibited and more excitable after drinking, while at other times they may become sedated and eventually fall asleep.
Cessation of nicotine intake results in withdrawal symptoms that strongly influence anyone trying to end their tobacco use to start consuming it again. These symptoms can include headache, irritability, restlessness, tiredness, feelings of depression, poor concentration, and anger and frustration. While the most powerful influence on withdrawal is the pharmacological effects of nicotine, many behavioral aspects affect the nature of the withdrawal symptoms. For many smokers, the sight, feel, and smell of a cigarette and the rituals involved in obtaining, handling, lighting, and smoking the cigarette are all strongly associated with the pleasure of smoking and when absent can contribute to psychological feelings of withdrawal. While nicotine gum and patches can act to alleviate the pharmacological aspects of withdrawal, some cravings may persist because of these missed behavioral aspects of smoking. This is a problem in quitting smoking that can be easily dealt with and greatly minimized through the use of hypnosis.
One of the clearest indicators of the power of the effects of nicotine is that while over two-thirds of all tobacco users want to stop using it only a small number are able to do so permanently. Each year, nearly 35 million people make a concerted effort to quit smoking. Only 20% of those trying succeed in abstaining for as long as a year and only a small percent of these are able to do so by using willpower alone. Less than 7% succeed in abstaining for more than a year. Most of those trying to stop start smoking again within days.
Over 90% of smokers who try to quit without seeking treatment fail, with most relapsing within a week. Most smokers take several attempts to quit before they finally succeed.
To reduce the risk of lung cancer and other related cancers that are caused by smoking, smokers need to stop smoking completely. It has been found that the amount of carcinogens inhaled remains high even as they cut back on the number of cigarettes they use. Research has shown that this even applies when smokers are supplementing their intake of nicotine with the use of patches. The reason this is true is believed to be that the smokers inhale more deeply on the fewer cigarettes they do smoke to feed their addiction and the nicotine patches made little difference in how long and deeply the users inhaled the smoke from their cigarettes. Thus, the patches made little difference in the overall amount of carcinogens introduced into their bodies by their smoking habit. The conclusion is that patches do not significantly decrease a smoker’s risk of cancer. Possible theories as to why this is so is that patches fail to provide the high that the smokers desire, nor do they provide a substitute for the enjoyment that people get from the act of physically enjoying a cigarette. Another reason may be addictive compounds found in cigarette smoke that aren’t in the patches.
Sometimes in life failure is not necessarily an indicator of the difficulty or even the impossibility of accomplishing something. It just tells you what doesn’t work. Fortunately, seeing a qualified certified hypnotist is effective for changing a smoker into a nonsmoker for life. Not only do they become nonsmokers, but they do so more easily and comfortably then they ever expected. With the new cooperation of their subconscious they are able to lose their desire to smoke cigarettes and cigars. There is some physiological discomfort during the withdrawal period following the cessation of tobacco use, but with hypnosis these effects can be mitigated and the period of discomfort shortened. Hypnosis is also able to greatly reduce and even eliminate any tendency to gain weight after smoking cessation. In my clinical practice, I typically see clients only once for complete and permanent smoking cessation.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Put your most potent dependence recovery weapon to work
Medical Advice for Stop Smoking
It is the nicotine in cigarettes that causes the addiction. However, nicotine replacement products help in smoking cessation. They deliver small, measured doses of nicotine into the body. This helps relieve cravings and withdrawal symptoms and thus help people quit smoking.
These nicotine replacement products prevent the person from inhaling tobacco smoke which contains many toxic and cancer-causing substances. Even long-term use of nicotine replacement products is not known to be associated with any serious harmful effects.
All the approved nicotine replacement products are equally effective. They are:
Nicotine Patch is available without a prescription. This patch is changed daily and worn on a different location everyday. It sends a steady amount of nicotine into the body. The nicotine patch comes as pat of an 8-week quit smoking treatment. As the treatment progresses, nicotine doses are gradually lowered. However it is not advisable for people who are allergic to adhesive tape or who have skin problems. In addition, people who experience side effects like vivid dreams must opt to wear the patch only during the day.
Nicotine Gum is an over-the-counter treatment and comes in 2mg and 4mg strengths. A new gum every 1 or 2 hours releases steady amounts of nicotine into the bloodstream through the lining of the mouth. The 4mg dose works better for the highly dependent smokers, smoking 20 or more cigarettes per day. However, nicotine gum might not be suitable for people with dentures and bridges or for people with temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) disease. When on nicotine gum, use of beverages like coffee, juice or other acidic beverages must be curtailed.
Nicotine Lozenge is also available without a prescription in 2mg and 4mg strengths. Acting in a similar fashion to the nicotine gum, the lozenge is placed between the cheek and gum tissue and allowed to dissolve, releasing nicotine into the bloodstream through the lining of the mouth. A new lozenge can be sucked every 1 or 2 hours. Consumption of coffee, juice and other acidic beverages must be stopped while sucking on the nicotine lozenge.
Nicotine Nasal Spray is a prescription only drug. It comes in a pump bottle and can be inhaled when the urge to smoke arises. This is the fastest absorbing nicotine replacement therapy. However, this product is not recommended for people with nasal or sinus conditions, allergies, asthma or young tobacco users. Side effects from this product include sneezing, coughing, and watering eyes which usually go away with continued use.
Nicotine Inhaler, also available on prescription only, delivers the vaporized form of nicotine. It is inhaled through a mouthpiece attached to a plastic cartridge but like a cigarette it does not deliver nicotine directly into the lungs. Most of the nicotine is absorbed through the mucous membranes in the mouth and the throat. Common side effects include throat and mouth irritation and coughing. People with a bronchial problem such as asthma must use this product with caution.
Various nicotine replacement therapies can be combined upon recommendation from a health care provider. In addition, it is advisable to for smokers to quit using tobacco products before starting the use of nicotine replacement products because nicotine overdose can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, weakness and rapid heartbeat.
your willpower
Risk Factors of Smoking
Smoking – however controlled – has been linked to serious health risks. It affects the:
Lungs: It has been revealed that smoking alone is accountable for about 90% of the deaths due to lung cancer. Moreover, it may result in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which also includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Asthamatic smokers who give up smoking can improve their lung function in as little as a week. Therefore the harmful effects of smoking can be easily reversed.
Cardiovascular System: Tobacco, in all its forms (smoking, chewing tobacco and inhaling second hand smoke), is known to raise the risk of heart attacks. Smokers face a risk up to three times greater of having a heart attack compared to non-smokers. The risk of heart attacks among those who have stopped smoking slowly decreases over time.
Effects on Male Fertility and Impotence: Smoking negatively affects a man's sexuality and fertility. It is said to be a contributory factor in impotence because it decreases the blood flow into the penis. In men with high blood pressure, smoking causes an almost 26-fold increase in impotence.
Smoking weakens sperm motility, decreases sperm lifespan, and has the potential to cause genetic changes that can affect the offspring. In addition, smokers (both men and women) are found to have lower success rates with fertility treatments. Moreover, studies have revealed that male smokers have a decreased libido and therefore less frequent sex.
Effects on Female Infertility, Pregnancy, and Childbirth: In women, smoking is linked to many reproductive problems. Smoking during pregnancy may affect the health of the foetus. Negative effects of smoking on female fertility include:
Greater risk for infertility (in women who smoke one or more packs a day or start smoking before the age of 18
Earlier menopause (because toxins in cigarette smoke damage the eggs)
Pregnancy complications (smoking increases the risk for ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage)
Is the Thought of Gaining Weight Putting You Off?
The thought of gaining weight is a common concern for people who are in the process of deciding whether or not to quit smoking and of course this is only natural. Our health is of great importance to us but on the other hand, so is our appearance. A question people often ask themselves is - do I carry on smoking or do I quit and gain 10 pounds?
Of course quitting alone does not make you add excess body fat to your figure; it’s the extra food that you eat to compensate for doing without cigarettes. I have experienced this first hand and can fully appreciate the dilemma. Back in 2003 my children were constantly on at me to stop. This was especially true of my eldest, as she had been learning about the dangers of tobacco in school.
I have to admit that I really didn’t want to quit at first but I knew they were right so the decision was made. I substituted my cigarettes for boiled sweets and got through around half a pound of them a day. Now, here’s the thing. After about two months I hadn’t gained an ounce, in fact I’d actually lost weight (five pounds if I remember correctly).
How could this be possible? Well, I enjoyed cycling but because I smoked I had reached a certain level of fitness and was unable to take it to the next level. Now, not only did I have the stamina to cycle further I could also cover distances in far less time than previously and I felt like going out cycling more often.
I had much more energy and could run around with the kids at the park instead of sitting on a bench watching them play. Every day chores became much easier and I could get through them far quicker than before. Because I had gained a greater degree of cardiovascular fitness by quitting smoking this enabled me to burn more calories than I was taking in.
the Addiction and the Habit
If you want to quit smoking then there are two main obstacles that you will have to face and overcome. Firstly there is the physical addition you will have developed to nicotine over time. Secondly there is the actual habit of smoking itself. We are all individuals and we react to all kinds of situations in different ways but for me it was the habit that was the hardest to break.
I quit back in 2003 and I remember getting over the physical addiction quite quickly. It’s been a while but if I remember correctly it only took about a couple of weeks. It was the habit that I found really tough to shake. It was about six full months after I’d stopped smoking and I was still patting my pockets to make sure I’d got my cigarettes with me when I left the house. I would be sitting at my PC and without even thinking about it, I’d reach out for a cigarette.
Some people may say that this behaviour is all part of the physical addiction but I don’t define it in this way. My physical cravings for tobacco had long since disappeared. I was no longer on edge and I really didn't feel the need to smoke. On the other hand I was still going through the motions of a smoker. This was understandable because I’d been smoking for well over twenty years and was used to having a cigarette in my hand. This is the reason why I define this aspect as habit.
There is no getting away from the fact that if you make the decision to quit then it’s going to be tough whether it’s the addiction that you find hard to break or the habit. Just keep focusing on the benefits and keep on the right path. In time you’ll look back on the day you stopped and it will rank way up there as one of the best days of your life.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Quit Smoking for Good
While most people are determined to know exactly how many times it takes to really quit. Getting a firm grasp on the number of tries that it will take is important. You might be confused as to what this information can actually do for you. It actually serves the purpose of setting you up to be confident as you approach the date when you need to quit smoking. If you have a grasp on the amount of time it could take you to quit, it will prevent you from feeling as a failure in the event that it takes you more than a single try. This is very important, because most people start to feel as if they just cannot quit after failing a single time.
The majority of people in all honestness to themselves usually take at least two attempts to successfully quit smoking. While most people would love to quit after a single attempt, it is usually necessary to have two attempts minimum. You might wonder exactly why two attempts are necessary but the answer is really simple. For the most part the first time people start trying to quit they have an attitude that tells them it is very simple. This tends to find most consumers completely off guard, especially since it is not as easy to quit smoking as you might imagine.
Breaking the addiction to nicotine is not easy, nor is it something that can always be done in a single attempt. If you are prone to trying to quit entirely on your own with no help you will often find that your chances of success are much lower. It is almost always necessary to obtain some form of help when you are trying to quit smoking in order to be successful. This is the primary reason why it typically takes a minimum of two tries to quit smoking. No matter how many attempts you may try, it is best to plan to quit for good anytime you attempt to quit.
Being aware of how difficult it really is to quit smoking is quite significant. If you are aware of the challenges you will be in a much better position because you will have the ability to create a plan to help you quit. Knowing the challenges that you face will also allow you to create a plan that is suitable based upon the precise reason that you smoke. For example, if you tend to smoke due to stress you should be aware of what causes you stress out and look for ways to avoid the stress.
If you have a plan created to help you quit smoking before your first attempt even begins you may find that you are able to quit after a single attempt. Not having a plan before you even attempt to quit will increase the chances that it takes several tries to be successful. Creating a plan to help you stop smoking is not impossible, it merely means you need to be able to identify the problems that you could experience in your attempt to quit smoking. This means if you simply sit down and create a plan to help you deter temptations and also avoid potential problems you will have a much better success rate.
Varenicline Stop Smoking Pill
Varenicline is only the second nicotine-free smoking cessation drug to gain FDA approval. Pfizer Inc. plans to market the twice-daily tablet as Chantix stop smoking pill.
Varenicline works in two ways, by cutting the pleasure of smoking and reducing the withdrawal symptoms that lead smokers to light up cigaret again.
Most other stop-smoking pills are various nicotine-replacement therapies, sold by prescription and over the counter in gum, patch, lozenge, nasal spray or inhaler form. In 1997, the FDA approved bupropion, an antidepressant already sold as Wellbutrin but rebranded it as Zyban, an anti-smoking drug.
The approved course of Chantix pill treatment is 12 weeks, a period that can be doubled in patients who successfully stop to increase the likelihood they will remain smoke-free, the Food and Drug Administration said.
Other clinical trials show the drug's effect is more pronounced in the short-term: 44 percent of patients quit smoking following a 12-week course of treatment with Chantix, compared to the 30 percent of Zyban patients who quit, according to Pfizer. However, smoking cessation experts said the longer-term data are more applicable, given the difficulty of quitting the habit for good.
"It's not going to be a revolution, it's going to be a substantial step forward," Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society, said of varenicline. Glynn added that the greatest value will be for smokers who have tried Zyban or nicotine-replacement therapy but failed to quit.
"My bet is that it will work as well as they do and, from the look of things, a little bit better," he said.
Varenicline latches on to the same receptors in the brain that nicotine binds to when inhaled in cigarette smoke, an action that leads to the release of dopamine in the pleasure centers of the brain. Taking the drug blocks any inhaled nicotine from reinforcing that effect.
The drug also slows the release of dopamine, which cuts the craving to smoke that occurs when nicotine's effect wears off, said Pfizer research chemist Jotham Coe, who invented the drug.
"It's a shield and at the same time, it stabilizes you and prevents you from having the lows, which lead to craving and withdrawal, but at the same time, it shields you from the highs," said Coe, a former 2 1/2 pack-a-day smoker who quit smoking a first time cold turkey and then a second time with the help of nicotine gum.
One in five American adults, or nearly 45 million people, smoke. An estimated 32 million of those smokers would like to quit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking kills nearly 440,000 Americans a year.
Looking for Ways to Stop Smoking?
Of all the many ways to quit smoking, there is no one way that is best for everyone. That’s why there are so many stop smoking programs out there. You will need to do some research to find one that feels right for you.
Some Common Ways To Quit Smoking:
Cold Turkey
Nicotine Patch or gum
Herbal Products
Hypnosis
Behavior Modification
Acupuncture
These first two ways to quit smoking don’t have a very good success rate, so they aren’t highly recommended. People claim to have a very high success rate with hypnosis or herbal products, often combining these two ways to quit smoking. Combining multiple methods may greatly increase your chances of quitting.
Quit Smoking Before Everyone Quits You
Definitely there are health as well as non-health related effects due to smoking. Very vital organs like lungs, heart, eyes get damaged to such an extent that effects can not be reversed if time passes and at last only wait and watch situation remains. Each and every part of human body gets affected due to smoking. Lung start crying for fresh air, heart starts complaining lung to provide oxygen, eyes starts complaining that they are unable to see clear objects and so on.
A smoker can see money going out of their wallet due to this habit. A smoker pays extra for insurance, gets less for car sale, wastes a lot of money in smoking and pays hefty hospital bills. There are so many such incidents which empties wallet. If this habit persists, money quits smoker and smoker starts begging for a puff.
Employers find it very serious that there are measurable amount of productivity loss due to smoking. A smoker wastes productive hours going out for smoking. This gets multiplied with number of cigarettes. Smoker loose concentration when there is any urge for nicotine and tries to escape for smoking. It costs money for employers and they dislike it. Many organizations don’t allow smoking near premises. Also they degrade performance appraisal of smokers.
There is a very serious long-term effect of smoking due to teens smoking. Here DNA signature gets altered and next generations get lung diseases and this is worst. Future generations can complain their parents and grandparents of diseases supplied by them which they have not generated.
Society also treats smoker as alien in society. Due to this type of dislikes, a smoker becomes unwanted entity and all starts cornering smoker and it happens after sometime that smoker feels themselves out of society and in long term they loose track of their career growth and normal way of living.
It is a common human behavior that people realize things only if they feel it by themselves. So it is important that smoker realizes surrounding impact by themselves. If a smoker does not take cigarette in the morning hours and goes in an area where other smokers are smoking, then they can realize how others feel about him/her. Smoker can find other smokers coughing during smoke; they can feel smell coming out of smoker body and all external effects can be felt. Similarly other non-smoker may be having feeling about the smoker. If this realization is there with smoker then they can take their immediate action to prevent future damages, so that they can live a life which a non-smoker enjoys.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
7 Steps for Quitting Smoking
Everyone's body is different, and everyone's reaction to nicotine and to withdrawals is going to be a little bit different. However, there are some good patterns you can use if you're ready to start down the path to quitting.
You have to start thinking about quitting first. Talk to non-smokers about what they think about smoking, look at yourself in the mirror, check into the benefits of quitting. Think about all of the negatives of continuing to smoke, and the positives of becoming a non-smoker.
Look into quitting itself. Talk to people who have quit, and think about what it will be like when you quit. Wait a little longer than usual to light up when you have a craving so that you can really see what you're up against. Become aware of your smoking patterns and think about ways to change them.
Modify your habit. Switch to a healthier brand (lower tar), smoke fewer cigarettes per day, adopt a new hobby that doesn't gel well with a smoking habit, like dancing, swimming, or gourmet cooking.
Decide to quit, but don't set a date yet. Keep a journal of how many cigarettes your use every day and start cutting back. Buy packs instead of cartons, and start identifying cigarette triggers.
Set a date for quitting and create a system to help you get there. Stay away from other smokers whenever you can, switch brands with each pack, start putting money in the bank that you can have after you've been clean for a certain period of time.
Go 24 hours without smoking. Make sure you have plenty to do that day - consider having your teeth cleaned, washing the smoke out of all of your clothes, and throwing away your ashtrays as part of your day.
Complete your first week - and reward yourself. Notice all of the good things about quitting, like the taste of food. Stay away from drinking and smoking areas as much as possible, and instead treat yourself to baths and massages to help you relax.
How to Quit Smoking
*Try smoking fewer cigarettes than usual. For many smokers, holding out few hours without smoking can prove very difficult. Familiarize yourself with the sensation and understand how difficult it can be. I know what you are saying, “Why the practice run for the suffering”. Some smokers get very panicky when they first experience a serious withdrawal symptom. It’s much like dipping your toe in the pool before jumping in. You do not want to be discouraged to a point where you can’t even imagine yourself ever quitting smoking.
*Skip the entire morning smoking session. Experience what happens when you don’t jump start your day with your nicotine fix. This is different from just holding out few hours without smoking. You’ll try to spend an entire morning without smoking a single cigarette. With enough patience on your part, by noon when you are about to finally light one up, you will notice a few things. First it’s the ups and downs of the craving. The withdrawal symptom is not constant and there will be long periods, a whole chunk of minutes that go by when you don’t really feel much craving. This was true for many former smokers I’ve interviewed and it was true for me as well. You have to try this in the morning because otherwise it’s no different from the method above. I encourage you to try this because many former smokers will attest to the fact that on your quit day, you have to make sure you start the day clean without a smoke. By the way, when you give up smoking for good, you will inevitably experience these mornings.
*For some, postponing smoking half an hour to an hour every time craving hits works wonders. Again it’s a similar method to the two above but it’s very different in its approach. This method is used to strategically cut down on the number of cigarettes you smoke in a day but in a very gradual manner. Reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day will undoubtedly be helpful in quitting smoking. The general rule of thumb is the less you smoke per day, the less severe withdrawal symptoms you will have. Remember, if you know you are not a particularly patient person. You do not want to try this method.
*Stop smoking aid products do work, you just have to work with them. There isn’t a stop smoking product that’s suitable for every smoker in the world. While a particular product may work better for Joe no.1, Jo no.2 might just do better with a different product. The recurring cost of using stop smoking products should be less than the cost of maintaining most smokers’ addiction. That’s not even counting the fact that once you quit you no longer need buy additional stop smoking products, but you will keep smoking as long as you are still an addict. You have to understand that stop smoking products are meant to aid you in combating nicotine addiction. They are not automatic fix it all products and they don’t claim to be it. It’s useless unless used as intended. So you might be wondering, “Since I do all the work, why would I even bother with these products”. The answer to that it’s simple. You can run miles without sneakers, but that doesn’t mean you do it. You can run faster and safer if you just put on a sneaker, so we choose to run with our sneakers on. Stop smoking aids can make smoking cessation experience anywhere from easy to tolerable for many smokers. As withdrawal symptoms can last days to even weeks, you can make the quality of your life substantially better than going cold turkey.
*Convince a buddy to quit smoking with you, anyone in your life who smoke can participate. Having a quit partner can trigger either camaraderie or competitiveness and either one can be beneficial in quitting smoking. If you don’t know anyone who smokes, make a wager with a friend on that you can quit. Tell everyone you know you are quitting, their support and the responsibility that comes with your announcement will help you keep your word and stay cigarette free.
*Don’t set a quit day, rather quit on the day that cigarette taste particularly nasty. Every smoker undoubtedly has these days when cigarette taste awful. Of course following this advice alone most likely won’t make you quit, but you could combine different strategies together. For example, you start by cutting down on the cigarettes you smoke. Tell everyone you know you are quitting and go grab a nicotine gum at your local pharmacy. Wait until “the day” comes, it should be easy enough. As former smoker I know smokers live through nasty cigarette tasting days at least a couple of times a month. Just use it as another arsenal to combat your nicotine dependency, it’s as simple as that.
Breathe Easier And Cleanse Your Lungs
Almost everyone knows by now that smoking is not the healthiest thing to do, but do you know why smoking is bad for the lungs? The answer is not difficult Each time you take a puff, your lungs fill up with toxic chemicals, tar, and nicotine from your cigarette. And this is only one of the reasons why smoking is bad for you.
And regrettably, most of the toxic junk stays in your lungs after you exhale. In fact, around 60 percent of these toxic substances remain lodged in your lungs after you exhale. And over a period of time, this toxic crap begins to build up inside your lungs. And this is the second reason why smoking is bad for the lungs.
Not including your brain, your lungs are the most delicate organ in your entire body. If your lungs are healthy, there are thousands of minute air chambers and passage ways. Each time you take a breath, life giving oxygen is pulled into the lungs. After entering the lungs,, oxygen is exchanged to the red blood cells in exchange for carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide waste is eliminated from your body each time you exhale. This is what happens with each breath you take. It happens about 17,000 times each day.
In order to allow oxygen into your blood stream and get rid of the carbon dioxide , the passage ways in your lungs have to be clean and free of sediments that can clog the minuscule air chambers and impede the oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange. In an effort to maintain these tiny air-ways and keep them clear, your lungs contain tons of minute hair like stalks that are called cilia. The cilia cleanse your lungs by continually sweeping impurities and waste out of the air ways to cleanse your lungs and keep them clear.
When you smoke, noxious substances and chemicals are drawn deep into your lungs. If you just smoke the occassional cigarette, the cilia can easily do their job and cleanse your lungs. But if you chain smoke, the cilia are not able to efficiently do their job and cleanse your lungs. Over time, more and more of the tiny cilia are damaged, this makes the cleaning process nearly impossible. Over time, toxins from cigarette smoke begin to seal the minuscule air-ways.
How Safe is the Electronic Cigarette?
The opponents of the technology have cited various reasons as to why the electronic cig should be illegal. The commonest debates include ; they might be marketed to youngsters and they have not been proven as an efficient and safe smoking termination device by the FDA.
James Watt, Electronic Cigarette Association Vice Head honcho , addressed these concerns by stating "Although some unscrupulous suppliers won't be verifying age before selling the product, the majority are only selling to those of legal smoking age. To ban a product due to some bad apples is not sound policy. "
And when questioned about the safety and efficacy of the electronic cig as a smoking suspension device, Mr. Watt replied by saying, "For those who wish to claim it's a smoking cessation device, then they should do the testing. I suspect smokers should have a right to select a substitute for smoking that doesn't contain the 4,000+ chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Give up or die is a flawed philosophy"
And what is in the solution that the e-cigarette vaporizes? The most typical ingredients include Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, Water, Flavoring, and optionally - nicotine. The solution, or "ELiquid", comes in numerous levels of nicotine or no nicotine at all.
Dr. Murray Laugesen of Health New Zealand is the premiere analyst undertaking the questions and worries that arrise from the use of the electronic cigarette. He's done not simply a clinical study on a brand of cartridges, but he has conducted the sole controlled test of the electronic cig to date, as reported in the prestigious New Scientist.
Dr. Laugesen observed that "All pointers so far show the device is safe. Whether it will be a successful smoking device in the future depends on whether executives wrap it in cotton-wool regulations or allow smokers to purchase it with a modicum of reasonable safety checks."
The Electronic Cigarette Association's mission is "to institute and promote industry-wide standards and a code of behavior, work to maintain sound professional practices, educate the public and policy-makers on the industry's activities and potential, and ensure the moral use of electronic cigarette technologies."
Monday, July 13, 2009
Dangers of Cigarette Smoking to Women
What is certain and perhaps bound to happen one day in future is the consequences of having to be an addict of cigarette smoking in general.
Nevertheless, women have got more to loose health wise than men because, apart from suffering from common diseases linked to smoking, there are other specific illnesses that occur only to women.
To start with is the menstruation or menopause. Some reliable knowledge quote smoking as being capable of lowering the levels of estrogen in a woman’s body, which is why they develop normal cycle alterations or unusual bleeding.
Also, they say that it is linked to severe problems during menopause or just having it come earlier than it should.
Infertility problems is the effect of cigarette smoking that many of us are aware of and women addicts stand a higher chance of giving birth to premature, low weight babies and reduced chances of conceiving.
If you would like to understand the theory behind cigarette smoking and reproduction in women and men, your doctor is in a better position to explain more.
Women who also use hormonal types of contraceptives and smoke are said to be at higher risks of developing severe risks such as blood clots, heart conditions and stroke.
And since smoking affects your man such that he become impotent, you realize that as a woman who does not smoke, probability of getting pregnant by him is reduced.
What’s more, they can risk suffering breast cancer that is a great killer of women and also men now. Studies state that the number of cigarettes smoked per day can affect a woman’s survival rate.
The infrequent form of cancer of the vulva is forty eight percent times more likely to affect a woman who is addicted to cigars.
And is looking youthful when we are actually aged not what many women dream of? The bad news is that cigarette smoking cause premature wrinkling on the skin and the opposite happens.
You know, appearing old than a woman is! For you stay away heart conditions, respiratory problems, cancers and all diseases caused by this form addiction, quit it now!
This has never been easy, but many people have done this successfully. One must make up their minds so as to avoid the urge for a cigar.
Women who want to survive this addiction must want to avoid the health problems related to it from within. Keeping a distance from peers who also smoke is a plus.
Learn more to quit smoking
Quit Smoking for Better Health
To be honest that is just the way my friend Sally is, she makes decisions on the spur of the moment which makes her a fun and lively girl but when she said he was going to quit for the 3rd time I had to ask if she had methods of how to quit smoking cigarettes before she went on her merry way, doomed to another failure and increasingly worse smokers cough.
Her answer of course was “no”, she had no methods and no plan because she blamed the last two attempts that failed on the stresses she was under or the environment she was in without taking any responsibility for herself. This time though she agreed to sit down and come up with a plan with some methods and rules for herself to overcome this unhealthy addiction for good.
Do you have a plan to quit?
If not, you may be like my friend Sally, headed for another failure all because you did not spend just a little bit of time and maybe a little bit of extra money to secure a success from their quitting goals. This is your health and your family’s health you are dealing with after all!
Methods of how to quit smoking cigarettes do not need to be long winded just some basic things written down to help you along. I tend to divide them into three sections.
Goals - Write down realistic goals with dates on them to keep. It could be the exact date you will go cold turkey or it might be how many you will reduce smoking every day. As long as it is written down and carried with you as a reminder
How to deal with Cravings - Some people suffer badly from the cravings caused by the nicotine addiction you have built up over your time smoking. IT is important to have a plan on what to do when they hit, typically you need to distract yourself. Go clean up your office or home might be one or think of people playing tennis (bizarre but true it helps! Must be the repetitive back and forth is soothing) or anything lese that has nothing to do with smoking.
Reasons - One of the most important things you need to do is to change your mindset from that of a smoker to that of a non-smoker. To do this you need good solid reasons for why quitting will be good … write down all the benefits you will see, extra money, health, family; whatever is MOTIVATING to you!
Learn more to quit smoking
Quit Cigarette Smoking - Do You Know Your Options?
To combat this here is a quick list of help available to smokers looking to kick their habit and be happier, healthier (and have a wallet with more cash in it too!)
1. Products
There is a range of cessation treatment products designed to wean smokers of cigarettes and hold off cravings by feeding the nicotine addiction that is a large cause (but not the only one) of the need to smoke again.
You can purchase nicotine patches, nicotine gum (like Barack Obama), nicotine spray and inhalers too. These are all designed to help with nicotine cravings but they will not stop you smoking cigarettes if you have a strong psychological addiction to them which most people have. They can be a useful addition to your attempt to quit though as long as you do not put all your faith in them!
2. Support Groups
There are many support groups and therapy groups available for smokers which can be located through local medical centers and hospitals. One problem with therapy and groups like this though is that everyone else is hooked like you and all you do is talk about smoking which can be a distraction from quitting sometimes! IT can generate more stress than it solves and the quitting rate from these is quit poor. However if you have no support from anyone else in your life this may be the best option because everyone needs personal support going through this rough time.
3. Hypnosis
Many may scoff at the thought of quitting cigarette smoking through hypnosis but more and more people who are open to the idea have found some relief with hypnosis. This is because it does not change the way you think with mind control as many may think but instead it is a tool to slightly reprogram the way you think but only if you want it to. Skeptics should keep away from this but if you believe in the power of the mind and what6 hypnosis can do it has produced decent results. As a note you can also do self hypnosis with many audio courses available on the internet to help you quit smoking cigarettes.
4. Neuro Linguistic Programming
This term has a mixed reaction in the psychological sciences, some discredit it but under various different names extremely successful life coaches like Anthony Robbins have taken the core concept and shaped it to change millions of people’s lives for the better. The basic concept is that through language and certain ways of thinking you can reprogram the way you think. Much like hypnosis it requires an open mind but NLP practitioners have shown it can be a powerful ally to strengthen resolve and change life habits.
5. Lung Detoxification
This is something you rarely hear about but has had many success stories also. The basic premise is that your lungs are filled with tar and gunk from smoking cigarettes for so long and to quit cigarette smoking you must detox your lungs and clean them out. While this is simply a great idea for your health it has the added benefit that it actually puts you off cigarette smoking once it is done because the rapid detox effect leaves the body unused to smoking and makes it quit un-enjoyable.
Learn more to quit smoking
be Smoke Free Forever
To help you kick your addiction to cigarettes and the addictive component nicotine here are 10 tips and ways to quit smoking cigarettes that can show you it can be done and it is not as hard as people can make it out to be if you have a plan!
1. Write a list of reason you LIKE smoking
It may seem counter to your needs to quit smoking but ignoring why you like smoking and why you continue to smoke is important so that psychologically you can overcome these things or leave them behind or replace them with something. Ignoring them simply means when cravings hit those reasons subconsciously attack your reasoning and resolve.
2. Make a list of reasons it will be hard to quit
Wow, I sound so negative so far which I am sorry for but bear with me! Honesty is massive part of overcoming an addiction to nicotine and cigarettes because many people try to quit without being honest with themselves first and those people usually fail on that attempt. So write down a list of reasons you think might make it hard to quit or the reasons you know from experience have made it harder.
3. Write a list of reasons you want to quit
Ok now we are getting more positive! Again HONESTY is the big word here for the same reason stated before. You need as many solid positive reasons for quitting cigarettes so that these ways to quit smoking cigarettes work! HINT: List them in a positive way so instead of writing “Scared of lung cancer” write “I want to be healthy and live a long life!” … negative reasons are not as strong as positive ones.
4. Write down a list of ways to tackle cravings
When the cravings hit all reasoning and resolve can suddenly go out the window as you may already have experienced and is not something to be ashamed of. You just need a way to overcome these things, having something to distract you from the cravings is a very important things to do whether it is to get your joggers on and hit the pavement or if you are at work to maybe chew some gum, get a coffee or clean up your office space.
5. Compare lists
Now you have a few sheets of paper (or for some people nearly a book!) you can compare your negative and positive reasons. This is important because often if you have more reasons you like smoking compared to reasons you want to quit smoking cigarettes then you may not be ready to quit and might need to find some more reasons and support to quit. Also if your list of things to do to overcome cravings do not have an answer to all your reasons why quitting might be hard then you may need to revisit the former list and add to it. Once you have done this not only have you been introspective enough to see things clearly and plan ahead you have created the base work for a contract with yourself to quit which is a cornerstone of quitting cigarettes for good.
6. Set a quit date
Having firm goals is important when dealing with addictions and when looking for ways to quit smoking cigarettes this is a vital step. Having a set date you set for yourself and can plan for means you will not make snap decision when you are not ready and you will also force yourself to commit to a date than a vague “I will quit next week” then that week never seems to come …
7. Throw out all smoking paraphernalia
Get rid of them when that quit date hits! Get rid of your smokes, if you hold on to any cigarettes it is a temptation and a subconscious easy way out .. if you are serious break the fags and toss them out, if you can’t do that you are not ready to quit. Also get rid of lighters and anything else that has to do with smoking in your space.
8. Busy your hands and mouth
One part of the addiction to cigarettes that people ignore in favor of concentrating on the dependency effects of nicotine is the habit that has formed over many years of the actual ACTION of smoking. IF you carry some toothpicks you can suck on or some nuts you can crack open and eat you will busy your hands looking for a familiar action, no need for anything terribly elaborate just keep them busy or they may stray to a cigarette.
9. State your intention to quit smoking cigarettes
Tell your friends, tell your family and tell your co-workers that you plan to quit smoking cigarettes for a two reasons. One, you need a support network to help you so it is good to get as many well wishers and helpers as you can. Two if you are not announcing it does not become REAL to you and is less substantial because it is like you are a keeping a secret often as many do not want the stigma of people knowing they failed if it comes to that which is just another excuse!
10. Stay Positive, Quit positive
Research has shown that those that quit when in a good and positive mood stand a much greater chance of achieving their goal. IF you plan to quit and map out your ways to quit smoking cigarettes while under stress of when depressed it does not bode well as a negative reason as has been mentioned is no where near as strong as positive ones!
Learn more to quit smoking
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Effects of Smoking
Effects of Smoking Cigarettes
The effects of smoking cigarettes are the most well known effects of smoking, partly because cigarettes are the most popular form of tobacco, and partly because of the horrifying diseases that can result.
Effects of Smoking on the Lungs
Damage to the lungs is caused primarily by cigarette smoke. Cigar smoke is not supposed to be inhaled, and so should not reach the lungs. Cigarette smoke contains tar. That tar gets into the lungs and clogs the alveoli, the tiny pockets in the lungs that take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. This is what causes the immediate effects of difficulty in breathing and coughing. Over time, the tar can cause further damage to the lung tissue, causing cancer, emphysema, or other fatal illness.
Effects of Smoking on the Heart and Circulatory System
Damage to the heart is a secondary effect of smoking. This means that smoking does not damage the heart directly, but that another effect of smoking causes damage to the heart: specifically, the damage to the lungs. When the alveoli are blocked by tar, and oxygen can't enter the blood freely, the heart needs to work harder to get enough oxygen throughout the body. It is very similar to the damage causes by high cholesterol, except that high cholesterol forms a physical barrier in the blood vessels, where the tar causes a block in the oxygen supply. Additionally, because the heart needs to work harder, the body's blood pressure increases. As you can see, damaging effects of smoking are something like falling dominoes. Each bit of damage causes a new problem.
Effects of Smoking Cigars
Because cigar smokers don't inhale the smoke, they are not in danger of lung cancer and heart disease that affects smokers of cigarettes. Instead, effects of smoking cigars are mostly strongly felt in the mouth and throat. The effects of smoking cigars aren't as newsworthy as those of cigarettes, but they aren't any nicer.
Effects of Smoking on the Mouth and Nose
The earliest effects of smoking on the mouth and nose are the destruction of the glands that taste and smell. The image of the cigar smoker relaxing at home with a port after dinner is flawed, because after several years of smoking, he won't be able to tell a good port from a bad one. The long term effects of smoking include cancer of the mouth and gums. While not as publicized as lung cancer, and not necessarily as deadly (if caught early) cancer of the mouth and gums is nothing to be taken lightly. While losing teeth is an accepted risk of old age, losing whole sections of jaw or tongue or needing to breathe through a hole in the throat for the rest of your life is nothing that anyone wants to contemplate.
Effects of Smoking on the Throat
The delightfully scratchy voices of several classic jazz and blues singers can be directly attributed to their penchant for cigars. And what sounds great on an old recording, backed by a great sax, won't sound quite so good coming out of your own throat. And even folks who don't mind having their voice go scratchy will probably object to losing their voice all together. Cancer of the throat frequently results in loss of the voice box. The wonders of modern technology have allowed for mechanical replacements, so at least smokers are no longer mute for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, those mechanical replacements tend to sound like a kids toy robot with laryngitis.
How to Stop Smoking in 60 Days
WHY YOU SMOKE
As with every type of habitual behavior, I believe smoking is a choice. I also believe that this choice can be broken down into the following two categories
Individuals who occasionally enjoy a cigar or cigarette socially
Individuals that smoke to alleviate their emotional distress and anxiety
Although there is health risks to consider when smoking, individuals that fall respectively into the first category are generally capable of walking away from it without any difficulty whatsoever. Comparatively speaking, this parallels individuals who drink occasionally and or socially. The second category represents individuals who have become dependent on smoking to alleviate there emotional distress and anxiety, whereby making it extremely difficult to achieve smoking cessation, unless they remove the root cause. I am vehemently opposed to labeling anyone since I believe that we are all created equal, but for the purpose of greater understanding these people would fall into the medical community’s definition of a nicotine addict. As we discussed earlier, most physicians, therapist, hypnotists, counselors and smoking cessation experts would have you believe that smoking is caused by a chemical co-dependence and/or that it is a learned behavior. Well, I have a different take on those theories, and I have proven over and over again in my Addiction Recovery Coaching practice that the root cause of addiction is the need to mask emotional distress. These emotional issues are often rooted in the negative patterns of family dysfunction, and smoking is no exception to the rule. Although when it comes to a smoking addiction, the primary type of emotional distress involved is anxiety. In many ways, smoking is used as a coping mechanism for those of us that are nervous, fearful, or anxious about our family, job, relationship, or financial well being. This frantic effort to control life often leads to smoking or a nicotine addiction. In essence, smoking is a crutch! But, why do some people react to the unknown with anxiety while others face it calmly with the belief that things always works out? I believe the answer to this question is twofold. First, some people naturally possess a higher level of coping skills, and second, some people have learned to conquer their fears, insecurities and most important their anxieties!
THE PSYCHOACTIVE EFFECTS OF NICOTINE
As nicotine enters the body, it is distributed quickly through the blood stream and can cross the blood brain barrier in approximately seven seconds. The life of nicotine in the body is around two hours. The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the type of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used. Nicotine's mood-altering effects vary by report. Initially, it causes a release of glucose from the liver and adrenaline from the adrenal gland, which produces a stimulating effect. However, users report feelings of relaxation, sharpness, calmness, and even alertness. When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes from the lungs to the brain within seven seconds and immediately stimulates the release of many chemical messengers such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and dopamine a neurotransmitter, which results in enhanced pleasure, decreased anxiety, and a state of alert relaxation. However, as the body adapts it requires increased amounts of nicotine to produce the same effect, whereby creating a trap!
WITHDRAWAL
Many of the proponents of the chemical dependence model believe that when you stop smoking, your body reacts very quickly to the lack of nicotine in your system. They claim that over the course of three to five days, you are likely to experience a number of the following physical symptoms as the toxins are flushed from your body:
Increased irritability, frustration, or anger
Anxiety, tension or nervousness
Restlessness
Difficulty concentrating
Fatigue
Headaches
Trouble sleeping
Increased appetite and weight gain
However, I have seen no empirical evidence to conclusively prove that most people experience the above-mentioned symptoms because of the lack of nicotine. I believe that most of these symptoms exist prior to smoking. Therefore, once you stop smoking the anxiety, restlessness, lack of focus, fatigue, and sleeplessness resurface. The nicotine was merely a masking agent! In essence, smoking is a means by which to alleviate ones anxiety and emotional distress. Think about it for a moment, and ask yourself the following questions:
When you smoke does it calm your nerves and relieve your anxiety?
Do you find it difficult to manage your anxiety without the crutch of smoking?
What has caused your anxiety? What dysfunctional patterns have you learned in the past that have damaged your self- esteem, confidence, or willingness to trust?
Do you find it difficult to avoid worry and to trust the flow of life?
Are you fearful about negative outcomes concerning your relationship, job, or financial situation?
Once you explore these questions, you may begin to discover the vehicle that is driving your smoking addiction!
Overcoming your nicotine addiction is really all about removing the source of your emotional distress, isn't it? If you could remove the anxiety, nervousness, and emotional distress you wouldn't need to alleviate it with the psychoactive substance called (nicotine?) Smoking is a symptom of underlying emotional distress and anxiety. Therefore, when you fix the root of the problem smoking becomes repulsive.
Stop Smoking Medication Information
What are the side effects of smoking?
The effects of smoking are unpleasant and quite visible among smokers. It can affect their senses of smell and taste. Smoking can also affect their hair, skin, and boost mood changes. The changes in taste buds of smokers deprive them of taste of food.
Adults who smoke are more likely to get heart disease, lung disease, stroke and heart attack. This habit can lead to cancers of lung, throat, and mouth. Smoking can also result in poor blood circulation in the body as it narrows the veins of hands and feet.
While active smoking has some serious known side effects, passive smoking is just as serious. It can lead different types of health problems among adults who actually do not smoke.
Smoking among women is also common now. This habit can have serious effects on pregnant women. This can affect the unborn baby who may develop risk of abnormality after birth. Regular smoking can also lead to painful monthly periods among women.
Effective anti-smoking drug offers some help to smokers
After knowing about the serious side effects of smoking, a smoker searches for an effective anti-smoking aid as it is difficult for anyone to stop this habit on the force of their will. One drug has become quite popular and is generally considered to be better than other stop smoking drugs. It is manufactured by Pfizer under the brand name Chantix. In the UK and other European countries, it is known as Champix.
What are the ingredients in
The main ingredient in Chantix is varenicline tartrate that works to reduce nicotine cravings as well as withdrawal symptoms among smokers after they stop smoking. During the normally recommended course of treatment of 12 weeks, a smoker feels less desire for smoking and eventually stops it completely.
There are no traces of nicotine in ingredients of Chantix drug. So, it influences nicotine receptors without supplying any doses of nicotine. This is the main reason for popularity and effectiveness of this stop smoking drug.
Stop smoking medication
Smoking is a common habit among adults. But why do they smoke? There are many reasons that smokers can cite in defense of this chronic habit. Some adults smoke because they find it difficult to stop smoking due to strong addiction of nicotine that is contained in cigarettes. Some may smoke just to imitate their favorite actors who smoke on the screen. Children can also smoke out of mere curiosity.
The habit of smoking can give rise to serious health risks among smokers. According to the World Health Organization, smoking has become the leading cause of preventable deaths and diseases among adults worldwide. So, before puffing a cigarette, you should be aware about consequent smoking effects that may also prove fatal.
What are the side effects
This stop smoking drug can have some common as well as adverse side effects. The common side effects of Chantix are nausea, constipation, gas, unusual dreams, and vomiting. Among adverse side effects, some adults may report mood changes or even suicidal thoughts. If such effects appear to you after taking Chantix drug, then it is better to stop it and seek medical help.
Quit Smoking Aids
To make quitting attempts convenient and successful there are several quit smoking aids available in the market. Smokers can get help from a doctor or a dentist to decide on the most suitable quit smoking aid for them when they make a committed decision to quit.
Quit Smoking Aids
Smokers are very much aware of the health risk posed by cigarettes on their body and most of them have an unconscious desire to break the habit one day. The biggest fear faced by smokers thinking about quitting are the withdrawal symptoms and whether they will be too much to handle. Withdrawal symptoms like cravings, headache, cough, fatigue, anxiety, anger, insomnia, constipation, weight gain etc can put tremendous pressure on someone who is trying to give it up, and more than often leads to them picking up the habit again. Often, the fear of nicotine withdrawal symptoms dissuade smokers from even making an attempt to quit smoking while those who attempt give in to the symptoms and get back to their old habit.
To help smokers quit successfully with minimum discomfort there are large number of quit smoking aids available today. Listed here are few of the most successful ones –
-Nicotine Replacement Therapy
The nicotine in cigarettes causes an addiction and unpleasant feelings of withdrawal when a person tries to quit. Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) works by providing the body with nicotine generally in the form of a Nicotine Chewing Gum or Nicotine Patch without the other harmful parts of tobacco. Other forms of nicotine based quit smoking aids include nicotine tabs, lozenges, nicotine nasal spray, inhalators. These aids can help a person concentrate more on quitting the habit of smoking by relieving the symptoms of withdrawal.
However, since NRTs contain nicotine, a certain risk of re-addiction is involved when using these products. Therefore, one must use this method carefully by following instructions from doctor.
-Nicotine-Free Quit Smoking Aids
These days there are several forms of quit smoking aids that do not use nicotine as an active ingredient. These are prescription based drugs and hence should be taken under a doctor’s care.
Zyban - The active ingredient in this quit smoking aid is bupropion hydrochloride. Developed as an anti-depressant drug, Zyban has been shown to dramatically reduce physical withdrawal symptoms associated with nicotine and hence works well as a smoking cessation aid.
Chantix – Developed by Pfizer, Chantix (varenicline tartrate) was approved by FDA in May 2006. Unique property of this popular quit smoking aid is that it reduces the level of satisfaction derived from smoking. Chantix also reduces the nicotine withdrawal effects and thus makes it convenient to quit.
Processes to Follow Quit Smoking Aids
Following processes may help smokers quit smoking successfully -
1.Decide to Quit – This is the fundamental aspect of any smoking cessation program. Tell yourself honestly that you want to quit and you will quit.
2.Prepare to Quit – Planning makes it possible. Set a quit date, seek support of your friends and family, and be prepared for the cravings that come with withdrawal.
3.Use Quit Smoking Aids – Quitting cold turkey is tough for people addicted to nicotine. Prescription drugs like Chantix reduce the impact of withdrawal and helps you quit successfully.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Best Ways to Stop Smoking
You probably already know all of the many reasons that you need to quit smoking. Surely you don't need reminders about the health and financial benefits to quitting. You already know that if you quit smoking, you will be able to improve and repair your health, including your heart, lungs, and overall fitness levels. You already know you can save tons of money?and with our failing economy, what better reason do you need to quit smoking? And, think about how you appear to others?nonsmokers prefer to interact with other nonsmokers, so quitting can improve your business and personal life as well. Our society is becoming less accepting of smoking, and smokers are finding themselves increasingly having to sneak around to get their fix. If you are ready to undertake the challenge of quitting smoking, then you should know about the many programs that are available to help you be successful in quitting smoking for good.
Once you develop the desire to quit smoking and you are ready to commit to the process, you should know the options that can help. Many people have experienced tremendous success with hypnosis to stop smoking. This strategy is one treatment that can help you develop the strength to get rid of the nasty habit once and for all. Being hypnotized can often help you remove the need and desire to smoke, which can help you break the habit of picking up the cigarettes every few minutes.
Acupuncture is another treatment that has shown promise for people to quit smoking for good. This is considered to be a very effective way to quit smoking, one of the best ways to stop smoking for good. Somehow releasing the energy from the targeted pressure points can help with smoking cessation.
If hypnosis or acupuncture are not enough to get you through, there are several effective medical treatments that are now available to help you quit smoking. Medications such as Zyban and Chantix can help with the side effects of withdrawal from the nicotine addiction. Using Chantix or Zyban for smoking cessation can be a way for you to get through the most difficult early stages of quitting smoking for good.
Don't let smoking keep such a hold on your life, think about quitting smoking for good. Smoking cessation is possible for you and the benefits are truly too many to list. Get started toward a healthier lifestyle today and whether you choose hypnosis to stop smoking, Zyban for smoking cessation (or another effective medication) or acupuncture, there are many alternatives to the unhealthy choice of smoking.
Quit Smoking
Usually a health scare is enough to send a “smokers” drive looking for an easy way to quit smoking. Whether it be themselves or a family member who have experienced an unpleasant health side effect from a result of smoking cigarettes.
Quit smoking laser therapy is the of the best laser treatments to quit smoking. Quit smoking laser therapy is very similar to the traditional method of acupuncture except that instead of needles a low-power laser is used. Quit smoking laser therapy is one of the surest and safest methods to use when dealing with smoking cessation.
When you have the desire to quit smoking rest assured this is a desire that can be acted upon and satisfied. By having the desire to quit smoking you can then take the next step along with any subsequent steps that lead you down the road to a smoke free life. The desire for things typically have to do with things that are lacking from our own lives or the lives of ones we love.
When you use the quit smoking patches, it is important that you have the willpower and the determination to stop as well. The patches are not some miracle to stop you from smoking. If the urge to smoke is greater than the urge to quit, the patches will not work for you.
When you're addicted to smoking and you want to quit smoking you look for miraculous ways to take away your addiction. People will tell you that you should quit smoking as soon as possible, and hey, if they are your friends then obviously they will tell you that, they are only looking out for you
Quit smoking side effects create problems but you can easily fight with those. Remember these effects are not permanent. You will feel these side effects only for few weeks after quitting. With a little bit of will power you can easily give up smoking.
By using hypnotherapy or hypnosis you will have the possibility to avoid the thoughts of cigarettes. After using hypnotherapy you will no longer crave for cigarettes. You will not suffer for any of withdrawal symptoms when you decide to quit by using this type of quit smoking method. This method will fit every smoker, even if they have tried quit smoking several times before.
The quit smoking product is designed to help people give up smoking. But no matter how good or effective this product is, without the person's will it will have almost no effect. Unless you don't really want to become smoke free, you will eventually start smoking again.
Are You Still Smoking?
Let's try to understand why you are smoking and what impact it makes on your life.
* Psychological aspect is probably the strongest reason for smoking. From physiological point of view you do not have any reason to start smoking. There is no any ingredient that will support your nutrition. But still, you find many reasons to smoke. You smoke since you consider that some kind of pleasure. You smoke to calm your self, or to cut the time while you waiting for something. But at the end, you are only smoking because you are used to it. Simply you do not smoke for pleasure, but in order not to have a smoker's crisis. Is that "pleasure" really worth of your time, health and money? Do you really enjoy in every cigarette smoked, or simply you can not be in idle mode for a moment without a smoke?
* Physiological effect of smoking does not exist in any positive way while you smoke. But negative effects do exist if you try to quit smoking. How pathetic, you have no physiological benefits for starting with smoking, but you have negative effects of nicotine crisis, if you do not smoke. Despite that, you still want to inhale smoke and pretend that you feel pleasure, although you don't? By the way, is it fun to make your body to age at accelerated rate?
* Social aspect is strong, since during a whole life you have somebody, who also smokes, to give you reason for smoking. It starts with first cigarettes with friends while you are adolescent and continues a whole life. You have always a good reason to smoke, since it connects you with the people that surround you. OK, but what about the people that do not smoke? They need to endure the torture from smokers, only because they are in your vicinity. If you do not care about your health, than why don't you at least respect non-smokers that surround you?
* Financial aspect of smoking habit is having a huge impact in your life. If you are an average smoker, who spend 5 per day, it is easy to figure out that you burning money literally. If you smoke 40 years, your pleasure ( or just a plain addiction ) will cost you 73.000, without any interest. Furthermore, if you invest annually equivalent amount of money with only 5% of interest rate ( you can get even more, but due to inflation let assume that this is minimal interest ), you are wasting the 231.483. A small fortune. Now imagine yourself with that amount of money in one hand and box of matches in another hand. Would be a really stupid to lit the money and to burn them away?
Go to http://easyquitsmoke.com for stopping smoking
Smoking Cessation Medicine
About smoking
Smoking is an addictive habit because of a substance called nicotine found in tobacco. Nicotine is the culprit behind your inability to stop smoking. If you want to give up this addiction, you need a drug or treatment that addresses nicotine.
Reasons for which you need to stop smoking are many. Some of them you yourself might be aware of through various sources of media or may be you might have seen somebody in your own family struggle with cancer because of smoking. Health problems such as cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, gangrene, COPD, are just a few that occur because of smoking. If you feel that all these health problems won’t happen to you, think again. You stand a good chance to suffer from any of these if you do not stop smoking in time. Moreover, your daily life also becomes more painful as smoking makes even the easiest task look mammoth!
If you decide to stop smoking now, resources to help you do it are available. You may be able to move away from smoking cessation without going through any difficulties associated with cessation.
Availability of stop smoking drug Champix
Most people dread to stop smoking because of nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine cravings are needs or desires that arise because of lack of nicotine from cigarettes and withdrawal symptoms are symptoms that occur to show that the brain has not received nicotine.
Champix is a new stop smoking drug that helps reduce nicotine cravings as well as withdrawal symptoms. It does not contain nicotine like nicotine replacement therapies (NRT), so it can wean you from nicotine without actually giving nicotine to your body. The active ingredient of Champix is varenicline, which acts as nicotine and helps you stop smoking.
You can get Champix from a local drugstore or a pharmacy or you can even place an order for Champix online.
Stop smoking
- If you have tried to stop smoking in vain for years
- If this is your fifth or may be fiftieth attempt to stop smoking
- If you really wish to stop smoking now
Try Champix. It is a prescription only drug and helps in smoking cessation. However, before we go on about Champix, let us know more about smoking, so that it becomes easier for you to weigh pros and cons of smoking and cessation.
Side effects of stop smoking drug
Champix is a prescription drug and like most prescription drugs, it has side effects too. Side effects of Champix are mostly reversible and transient in nature. If you experience any side effect of Champix or if it becomes bothersome, inform a doctor.
Some of the common side effects of Champix are as follows:
Nausea
Vomiting
Upset stomach
Dizziness
Vivid dreams
These side effects mostly go away as your body adjusts to the medicine. If however, they become persistent, kindly inform a doctor.
Go to http://easyquitsmoke.com for stopping smoking
Monday, June 22, 2009
Why You Should Buy Chantix to Quit Smoking
Have you decided to quit smoking? If yes then, you are probably aware of the effective pills that help you achieve your goal. Why buy Chantix? First of all, because they are supposed to be the only FDA approved solution that can facilitate the process of quitting, ridding you from the irritating withdrawals symptoms that lead most people to relapses.
The basic ingredient of these pills is officially known as varenicline tartrate and works on two levels: it helps the patient deal with the severe symptoms caused by the sudden lack of nicotine and second reduces possible cravings. It works in the brain so as to allow the patient to go through the first harsh period of time as easy as possible. It is said that nicotine cravings are the main reason for which those who try to quit smoking do not succeed in their goal. Nicotine is highly addictive.
What will change if you buy Chantix? It can stimulate the receptors of nicotine in the brain, convincing your brain that you have the amount of nicotine you want – without having it. This is the main difference of these pills from every other known treatment available today. Other treatments provide small doses of nicotine to the patient helping him cut on the substance slowly. However, this method has proven non-effective to the vast majority of people. Chantix is a nicotine free treatment that creates the illusion of nicotine in the brain, without providing it.
If you decide to buy Chantix in order to quit smoking, you can find it in all accredited pharmacies throughout US. You can also find it online in particular drug stores that sell legal and FDA approved drugs and pills, only if you have a valid doctor’s prescription. It is recommended to consult with an expert prior to the purchase.
Go to http://easyquitsmoke.com for stopping smoking
Chantix Side Effects: A Revolutionary Quit Smoking Drug
Chantix, a prescription smoking cessation drug has shown enormous potential to help smokers quit smoking. As the medical profession becomes more aware of the adverse side effects of smoking, drugs like Chantix are becoming more and more common. As with any prescription medication, possible Chantix side effects should be noted and watched for. The drug is available for use by almost anyone, although Chantix and women who take it may be a particular concern.
There are some common, easily manageable side effects. Many of these are little more than annoyances. Things like mild nausea, sleeplessness, constipation, gas, and loss of taste, headaches and increased appetite are aggravating possible. There are other, more serious side effects that may occur. These include General Sleeping Disorders and respiratory problems as well as allergic reactions. These may include hives and swelling of the face. If any of the serious Chantix side effects are noted, medical help should be sought.
Chantix and women is a different matter entirely. This medication should be avoided by pregnant or breast feeding women as well as women who may become pregnant. This is to avoid complications in pregnancy as well as an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should avoid taking Chantix as the possible side effects and risk to the unborn fetus is very high.
While Chantix does have the possibility of causing some serious side effects, as a rule, most people are able to take this new drug with little negative effects. This is especially true in the case of Chantix and women. Chantix does, on the other hand, offer significantly improved chances at quitting smoking for good. By quitting smoking, it is possible to avoid some serious and life threatening disorders. Weighing the benefits of this drug against possible Chantix side effects is an excellent way to determine if it is an appropriate drug for you.
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