Treatment Smoking Cessation Devices Smoking

Treatment

Smoking Cessation Devices

Smoking has been around for a very long time and the health effects that it has are numerous. Everyone who has taken up smoking has ended up trying to quit at one point it time. Many fail from the beginning or stop for a while but end up starting again. The new phenomenon that has come along to assist people with this problem has been the invention of smoking cessation products. These products range from nicotine replacements to actual devices that can be used to regulate how often a person smokes. Prescription medication is the best method that can be used to stop smoking. There are a couple of different medications that are on the market today all having been proven to be successful.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an assortment of smoking cessation products. These consist of prescription medicines along with over-the-counter (OTC) products such as skin patches, lozenges, and gum. Smoking cessation products are regulated through the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which makes sure that the products are effective and that their benefits outweigh any known connected risks (FDA 101: Smoking Cessation Products, 2010). The newest kind of smoking cessation product is that of prescription medications. These are the best method that people can use to quit smoking.

People were first introduced to tobacco plants about 18,000 years ago. This happened when Asiatic people migrated across the Bering Strait and spread out across the continents that are known today as the Americas. The 18,000-year-old evolution of humans' relationship with tobacco has seen wide dissemination both of the plant's cultivation and of the practice of smoking, a kind of physiological stimulation long sought-after, but only relatively recently reviled and only very recently understood at a chemical level (a History of Smoking from Ritual to Cigarette, 2010).

Aside from its social feature, tobacco has been famous for its medicinal and ritualistic characteristics all through most its history. Even today, smoking, particularly that of the cigarette remains persistent in many cultures. It is often so ordinary that it appears to be a natural act instead of a bad habit. Many scientific studies have been conducted that have recognized an association between an increase in cigarette smoking and a rise in lung cancer cases. These conclusions would have an intense impact on the culture and politics of tobacco manufacture and advertising (a History of Smoking from Ritual to Cigarette, 2010).

Most people who smoke do so for the reason that they can't stop. Nicotine is an extremely addictive substance that makes people feel wound up and alert. Smokers get a charge after a cigarette, and giving that up produces withdrawal symptoms that include difficulty sleeping and cravings. Seventy percent of people who quit smoking ultimately start again. The advertising of tobacco products has been a big influence on people on why people smoke. For many years, the industry has focused on making smoking alluring through advertising in movies, television, and billboards. While cigarette advertising is now restricted, its power can still be felt in the form of free samples, smoking cartoons, and the guarantee of cool merchandise that can be acquired in exchange for coupons that are printed on cigarette packages. Many people maintain that smoking keeps them thin. The reality is that smoking decreases a person's sense of taste, so many who smoke simply eat less because they don't take pleasure in food as much (Why do People Smoke, 2010).

Nicotine has some affect on almost every system in the human body. When one takes a puff, their heart beats faster, their pulse quickens, their veins constrict, and their blood pressure goes up. A person's

Adrenal glands pump out adrenaline that increases their heart rate, relaxes many of their smooth muscles, and raises their metabolic rate and the electrical activity in a person's brain changes. Nicotine has a very powerful effect on the body as it is an additive drug. It is one of the most poisonous of all drugs. On average the quantity of nicotine that is contained in a single cigarette is about 8 to 9 milligrams (Smoking Cessation, 2005).

The total of nicotine that smokers get from each cigarette is somewhat small. Most of the well-known brands of cigarettes contain less than 1.5 milligrams of nicotine per cigarette. This amount tends to vary from brand to brand. Depending on how deeply a person puffs and how many puffs that one takes from each cigarette will determine the amount of nicotine that is gotten. But the power of nicotine is so great that even this small amount can cause major changes to occur in the performance of many organs and systems throughout the body. When people first start smoking, the physiological changes can be extremely distasteful. People who have just started smoking usually report experiencing nausea, dizziness, headache, stomach upset and coughing along with other things. Often people who continue to smoke begin to develop a tolerance to these symptoms, until they become unnoticeable and then the person is addicted (Smoking Cessation, 2005).

Smoking also produces psychological dependency. Many people smoke because it helps them relax and better handle difficult situations, or for the reason that it gives them assurance. Other people take up smoking because they are bored and just have nothing else to do. Smoking creates a feeling of satisfaction that's difficult to give up. Finally, people who smoke are more often than not in denial, they know that smoking is bad, but they persuade themselves it's simply not as terrible as they make it out to be (Why do People Smoke, 2010).

Smoking is also seen a social doing. Many people who smoke do so in order to start conversations and mingle at parties or in crowded places. This is known as social smoking, and it usually entails alcohol as an accompaniment. Many teenagers say that the main reason that they started smoking was due to peer pressure. They may also smoke in order to feel more grown-up or as a type of rebellion against their parents. It has been shown that children are also more likely to smoke if their parents do (Why do People Smoke, 2010).

It has been estimated that 443,000 people in the United States die every years because of the bad health effects from cigarette smoking. Smoking is thought to be the biggest cause of coronary heart disease which is a leading cause of death in this country. It causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels and puts smokers at risk for developing peripheral vascular disease such as obstruction of the large arteries in the arms and legs that can cause a range of problems from pain to tissue loss or gangrene. Smoking also causes abdominal aortic aneurysm which is a swelling or weakening of the aorta, where it runs through the abdomen (Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking, 2009).

Smoking is also known to be a leading cause of lung cancer. It causes the following lung diseases by damaging the airways and alveoli of the lungs: Emphysema, Bronchitis and Chronic airway obstruction. It also causes many other types of cancer including: acute myeloid leukemia, kidney cancer, cancer of the pancreas, bladder cancer, cancer of the larynx, cancer of the pharynx, cancer of the cervix, stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus, cancer of the mouth and cancer of the uterus (Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking, 2009).

Cigarette smoking has also been shown to have many negative effects on a person's reproductive health and early childhood. There is an increase for the risk of infertility, preterm delivery, low birth weight, stillbirths and sudden infant death syndrome. Postmenopausal women who have smoked often have inferior bone density compared to those women who have never smoked. Women who smoke have an amplified risk for hip fracture than women who never smoked (Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking, 2009).

Effective treatments for tobacco dependence include prescription medications and over the counter products that make up nicotine replacement therapy. The over the counter products have been shown to be successful for some people, but often people end up starting again after ceasing to use these products. Some advantaged that can be seen for using OTC products is that they are cheaper and do not require a prescription in order to obtain them. One potential way to improve treatment outcomes is to combine drugs that, individually, have smoking cessation efficacy but different mechanisms of action. Another way to improve population cessation rates is to reduce barriers to making an attempt to quit (Rigotti, Gonzales, Dale, Lawrence and Chang, 2009). Oftentimes, when people have a goal that is tough to accomplish, they need help from an outside source. This is the often the case when it comes to smoking, as many people need that extra bit of help in order to quit (Kent, 2010). This is where the prescription medications come into play. This act as the little bit of extra help that many people need in order to be successful.

The use of pharmacotherapy, including nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), has been shown to increase the likelihood of a successful quit attempt. Smoking cessation has numerous health benefits, including an increase in longevity, even among smokers who quit later in life. Effective smoking cessation policies, including increased NRT availability and use, would be expected to reduce smoking-attributable deaths in the United States. Some concerns have arisen about the safety of long-term NRT use, which could reduce the cessation-related benefits of NRT-aided quit attempts. Hemodynamic effects of nicotine intake have been described, which may have implications for cardiovascular disease risk. However, tobacco smoke contains many toxic compounds that can damage the cardiovascular system, including combustion products such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides; thus, it is not clear what fraction of smoking-related cardiovascular risk may be attributable to nicotine intake. Further, clinical trials have generally shown NRT use to be safe. Concerns have also been raised about increased risk for cancer on the basis of evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies showing that nicotine can result in tumor promotion through increased cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, and angiogenesis (Apelberg, Onicescu, Avila-Tang and Samet, 2010).

The more support a smoker receives, the more likely it is that smoking cessation will be successful (Hamilton, 2005). Most people find that trying to quit cold turkey is next to impossible. Accordingly, the 'quit smoking' industry has grown to a billion-dollar-a-year business, with products ranging from antidepressant pills to nicotine replacement therapy like patches or gum, to newer experimental drugs (Smoking Cessation Device Helps Wean You Off Gradually, 2006).

The best method that one can choose to stop smoking is that of a prescription medication. Two medicines that do not contain nicotine and have been approved by the FDA as smoking cessation products are Chantix and Zyban. Both are accessible in tablet form by prescription-only. In July 2009, the FDA required both products to bear new safety information in the form of a boxed warning on their labeling for health care professionals. The labels cite serious risks for users taking these drugs. These risks include variances in behavior, depressed mood, hostility, and suicidal thoughts or actions (FDA 101: Smoking Cessation Products, 2010).

Chantix is a prescription medicine that does not contain nicotine that is specifically designed to help adults 18 and over quit smoking. Currently there are over 6 million people in the U.S. that have tried Chantix. This medication works in two ways. First it attaches to nicotine receptors in the brain and then it blocks the nicotine from getting to them. It is believed that Chantix also sets in motion these receptors, causing a reduced discharge of dopamine when compared to nicotine (About Chantix, 2010).

It's recommended that a person begins Chantix treatment a week before they plan to stop smoking altogether. This gives the medication a chance to build up in the body. A person is allowed to smoke during the first week that they are taking Chantix, but it is recommended that they stop completely on Day 8 of the treatment. In studies that have been done, 44% of Chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment compared to 18% who were given a sugar pill. Chantix also helps reduce a person's urge to smoke. The average person who was in these studies had been smoking for more than 24 years. These trials involved a mix of men and women who smoked an average of 10 or more cigarettes a day (About Chantix, 2010).

Chantix takes action at sites in the brain that are influenced by nicotine. It gives some nicotine effects to relieve withdrawal symptoms and blocks the effects of nicotine from cigarettes if users take it up again. The medication directions for Chantix say that the product is not recommended for people who are under the age of 18. The most common side effects of Chantix include nausea, constipation, gas, vomiting and trouble sleeping. There have also been reports of vivid, unusual, or strange dreams associated with its use (FDA 101: Smoking Cessation Products, 2010).

In addition to the warnings about changes in behavior, depressed mood, hostility, and suicidal thoughts or actions when taking this drug, the patient medication guide for Chantix cites other adverse affects and risks, including allergic reactions, serious skin reactions, and trouble driving or operating heavy machinery (FDA 101: Smoking Cessation Products, 2010).