Health knowledge made personal
If you are a smoker, the single most important thing you can do to improve your health and wellbeing is to quit smoking. It is definitely not easy, but you can do it, if you decide you want to.
Most people already know that smoking is bad for them. The list of health problems that it causes is quite remarkable for a government-regulated, legal product. Many smokers are focused on the fear of developing lung cancer. While it is true that the risk of death from lung cancer is 12 times greater that if you do not smoke, it turns out that your increased risk of dying from smoking is largely attributed to heart disease, because if you smoke, your risk of dying from heart disease is 6 times greater than the relatively high risk among non smokers.
Another major tragedy from smoking is the rate of chronic lung disease, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , or COPD). These chronic lung conditions rob sufferers of health and happiness, because they leave sufferers struggling to breathe, and prevent them from doing anything active (like taking a walk). Finally, there is a host of other problems that smokers face — from premature aging and wrinkling of the skin, to cold hands and feet caused by poor circulation, to depression, to a series of lesser known cancers that also can kill. Sadly, the rates of mouth, throat, laryngeal, and bladder cancers are all much higher in smokers than non smokers.
It is worth noting also that smoking is expensive, and so it is a powerful drain on your monthly budget. Have you added up how much smoking costs you? You may be surprised.
There is a quote attributed to Mark Twain: "Quitting smoking is easy, I've done it hundreds of times." The fact is that quitting smoking is very hard, because smoking is highly addictive. The Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in 1990 famously noted that it is harder to give up cigarettes than it is to beat a cocaine habit. The powerful drug in tobacco that addicts people to cigarettes is nicotine.
Smokers develop both a physical and a psychological addition to smoking, largely because of the nicotine. If you want to be successful at quitting smoking, you must address this physical addiction, as well as the psychological dependence.
Studies have shown that the chance of success goes up sharply with intensive counseling support. It can be one-on-one or group counseling, but it should involve regular and intensive meetings.
One approach to figuring out a plan to break your habit is to seek telephone-based guidance. The American Cancer Society's Quitline is a tobacco cessation help line that links smokers trying to quit with trained counselors. Try 1 (800) 227-2345. The quitline also can help you find a stop smoking program that is convenient to you. If you are joining a group counseling program, look for a minimum 2-4 week duration that includes sessions of at least a half hour, twice a week or more.
You are online at Wellsphere now. If you haven't already done so, check out the Quit smoking community at http://www.wellsphere.com/viewGroup.s?id=388 , and look for tobacco cessation resources at http://www.wellsphere.com/searchResources.s?bt.id=20 .
Creating a support network can give you additional help you need to quit and stay quit. Enlist your family, friends, coworkers, and your doctor.
NRT is available in multiple forms - from the continuous nicotine patch, to lozenges, gum, nasal spray, and inhalers. Many recommend using the patch in conjunction with one of the intermittent forms for use if needed when a craving hits.
NRT should not be used if you are continuing to smoke, as you can overdose on nicotine. Also, NRT should not be used for more than a few weeks — once you are off the cigarettes, you can taper the dosage to wean your body from the drug.
Finally, there are specific prescription medicines that help people get off and stay off cigarettes. Buproprion ( Zyban ) is perhaps the best known anti depressant that has demonstrated that it helps smokers to quit. A newer medicine called varenicline (Chantix) has recently come to market, and studies suggest it has a higher success rate than buproprion. See your doctor to discuss either of these prescription medicines, and NRT.
Other aids that people have tried to use to help quit smoking include acupuncture (but there is no good evidence it is effective), hypnosis (which may work in selected people, but is not generally effective) and various herbs and supplements (again, with little or no evidence of effectiveness).
There are several factors that are essential for you to address
Good luck!
Wellsphere's directory of tobacco cessation resources
http://www.wellsphere.com/searchResources.s?bt.id=20 .
American Heart Association & American Stroke Association
Telephone: 1-800-AHA-USA-1 or 1-800-242-8721
Telephone: 1-888-4-STROKE or 1-888-478-7653
Internet address: www.amhrt.org
Internet address: www.strokeassociation.org
American Lung Association
Telephone: 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-548-8252)
Internet address: www.lungusa.org
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Office on Smoking & Health
Telephone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636)
Internet address: www.cdc.gov/tobacco
National Cancer Institute
Cancer Information Service
Telephone: 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237)
Internet address: www.cancer.gov
Nicotine Anonymous
Telephone: 1-877-879-6422
Internet address: www.nicotine-anonymous.org
Smokefree.gov
(Online materials, including info on state telephone-based programs)
Telephone: 1-800-QUITNOW (1-800-784-8669)
Internet address: www.smokefree.gov
Smoking Cessation Leadership Center
Telephone: 1-800-QUITNOW or 1-800-784-8669
Internet address: http://smokingcessationleadership.ucsf.edu/
