Latest News For 'Smoking Cessation'
August 10th, 2007
A Des Moines woman who asked the Polk County Jail to lock her up so she can quit smoking is looking at smoking cessation programs and methods.Viewers’ e-mails have been pouring in to KCCI about Jodi Perkins.The Polk County Jail said they wouldn’t take her, but many people from around the country offered suggestions for Perkins to try.
“I do look at it as a life-or-death situation. Just last week, two people that I know were diagnosed with lung cancer and that has really hit home and scared me,” Perkins said.
Many told Perkins to try a prescription drug called Chantix. The Mayo Clinic e-mailed Perkins inviting her to try its residential treatment program.Perkins’ co-workers recommended she try laser treatment.”They laser your ears, nose and hands, and they shoot endorphins into you. So I already e-mailed them because it sounded like the best idea so far,” she said.Perkins said she is desperate to quit the habit. She said she has tried prescription pills, gum, nicotine patches to no avail.”I got stronger and stronger patches and then I went to wearing multiple patches while smoking and that didn’t faze me,” she said.She said she wishes she knew at 16 what she knows today.”Absolutely don’t pick up that first cigarette and don’t take it. Don’t take it because somebody said it was cool and don’t hang around with people who do,” she said.Perkins contacted the Mayo Clinic about its offer. She has a week of vacation time next week and is hoping to participate in the program at that time.
July 26th, 2007
Smoking bans in public places have recently come into effect in several European countries, and Germany is set to join their ranks next month.
There has never been a better time to kick the habit, but smokers should be warned - without professional help the task is likely to be much harder. Statistics show that only 1-2 percent of smokers manage to quit on their own.
In Germany at least, smokers are vanishing fast, mainly because hardly anyone actually takes up the habit.
The number of young people who smoke fell this spring to a historic low, according to officials at Germany’s Federal Centre for Health Awareness in Cologne. The number of 12- to 17-year-olds who regularly light up has dropped to 18 percent, the figures show.
Failure to quit smoking by relying on sheer willpower alone usually means that the smoker is physically addicted.
“Nicotine is a very strong stimulant and one of the most dependency-inducing drugs,” said Karin Joder, a health scientist and psychologist from the northern city of Kiel. “Addiction occurs faster than with heroin or other drugs since nicotine influences the brain’s metabolism.”
The substance activates the brain’s reward mechanisms and releases “feel-good” chemicals. As a result, smokers who do not light up just feel bad.
Studies show that most habitual smokers only need to smoke one cigarette to find their emotional equilibrium. They have become so used to the kick unleashed by the substance that they are no longer consciously aware of its effect.
Smokers usually associate smoking a cigarette with a pleasant experience such as taking a break from work. Before long the brain learns to associate the two actions, telling the person “a pause for a cigarette feels good”.
The brain is unfortunately not adequately aware that the positive feedback is not a direct result of nicotine being inhaled.
Group therapy sessions with such promising titles as “How to finally quit smoking” are seen to be the most effective method of cessation. The group of smokers meets with a counsellor who guides the session. Initially, the aim is to analyse the smoking habits of those taking part.
“The idea is to make it clear to people that they are actually addicted,” said Karin Joder. In many cases this means destroying the illusions associated with the smoking habit.
The counsellor has little time for nicotine substitutes such as patches, sprays and other medicines.
These substances can reduce the craving and headaches, which usually occur as part of the nerve- wracking withdrawal symptoms although the smoker does realize that he no longer needs cigarettes and becomes more amenable to therapy.
Such substitute products are however ineffective in the long-term since they cannot diminish physical dependence and continue to provide the body with the nicotine it so craves.
The same applies to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) medicines that are usually only available on prescription. Zyban (buspronion and Champix (varenicline) reduce the burning desire for nicotine but their side effects are undesirable.
Those observed in clinical trials include insomnia, panic attacks and dizziness. Vareniclin reduces the withdrawal symptoms and makes people taking it feel sick, if they do smoke a cigarette. The side effects include difficulty sleeping, flatulence, headaches and nausea.
According to expert Christian Kroeger at the Therapy Research Institute in Munich, such medicines are only really suitable for heavy smokers who are likely to experience severe physical and mental repercussions, if they simply give up smoking from one day to the other.
July 23rd, 2007
Norwegian researchers have discovered that women who smoke are 59 percent more likely than non-smokers to have an early menopause. The researchers say smokers are more likely to begin the menopause before the age of 45 putting themselves at an increased risk of osteoporosis and heart disease. Dr. Thea F. Mikkelsen of the University of Oslo and her colleagues found that among 2,123 women 59 to 60 years old, those who currently smoked were 59 percent more likely than non-smokers to have undergone early menopause and for the heaviest smokers, the risk of early menopause was almost double.
The researchers also found that women who were smokers, but quit at least 10 years before menopause, were substantially less likely than current smokers to have stopped menstruating before age 45.
Mikkelsen and her team say evidence already exists which shows that smoking later in life makes a woman more likely to have early menopause, while smokers who quit before middle age may not be affected.
However the researchers went one step further and investigated whether exposure to second-hand smoke might also influence the timing of menopause.
They found that almost 10 percent of the women went through menopause before age 45 and of that number around 25 percent were current smokers, 28.7 percent were ex-smokers and 35.2 percent reported current passive exposure to smoke.
The women who had quit smoking at least a decade before menopause were 87 percent less likely than their peers who currently smoked to have gone through menopause early.
When they were compared with married women, widows were also at increased risk of early menopause, as were women who were in poor health.
In general the better educated women were less likely to go into menopause early, but they were also less likely to be smokers.
A good social life also appeared to cut the early menopause risk and the researchers found no link between coffee or alcohol consumption or passive exposure to smoke and early menopause risk.
Mikkelsen and her team say the earlier a woman stops smoking the more protection she derives with respect to an early onset of menopause.”
The research is published in the online journal “BMC Public Health.”
July 13th, 2007
A recently approved anti-smoking medication could also serve to repress an alcoholic’s desire for drink, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California-San Francisco.
Varenicline, manufactured by Pfizer and approved as a smoking cessation aid in the United States & Europe in 2006, has been shown to reduce nicotine consumption by affecting the brain’s reward system for addictive substances.
The research team, noting that cigarettes and alcohol are often abused together, wanted to see if the drug had the same affect on drinking.
The researchers tested the impact of varenicline — know by its trade names Chantix in the United States and Champix in Europe — on laboratory rats which had consumed high amounts of ethanol over a long period.
Rats were trained to drink ethanol in consistent amounts over five months before they were given varenicline. After the drug was administered steadily, the rats consistently showed less interest in the ethanol.
The results suggested the drug helped in modulating the rats’ desire to consume the ethanol or to enjoy its effects, the study said.
The scientists also found that, when the rats were later cut off from varenicline, they did not resume the intake of ethanol at previous levels.
“Chronic treatment with varenicline suppressed the ethanol consumption without any subsequent rebound increase in drinking,” it said.
This finding “suggests that varenicline may serve as a therapeutic treatment to reduce alcohol consumption in alcoholic subjects.”
The study was published in the newest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
July 10th, 2007
New smoking statistics show what a difference one city can make in a few years in quitting smoking.As of last year, New York City had 19% fewer adult smokers than it did in 2002, according to a study published today in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
That translates to 240,000 fewer adult smokers among New York City residents — and perhaps 80,000 lives saved over time.
“Since one-third of smokers die from a smoking-related disease, when 240,000 people quit, we prevent 80,000 smoking-related deaths,” writes Sara Markt, deputy press secretary for New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in an email to WebMD.
Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., notes the CDC.
New York’s Antismoking Efforts
The CDC points out three ways New York City targeted smoking.
In 2002, the city raised its tax on cigarettes a few months after New York state hiked cigarette taxes. That made cigarettes more expensive.
In 2003, the city implemented a smoke-free workplace law covering virtually all indoor workplaces, including restaurants and bars.
Those two steps cut New York City’s adult smoking rate for the first time in a decade. From 2002 to 2004, the city’s estimated adult smoking prevalence fell from 21.5% to 18.4%.
But that trend leveled off in 2005. So New York launched a quit-smoking media campaign in 2006.
In 2006, New York City’s overall adult smoking rate didn’t change. But smoking decreased among men and Hispanics.
Young adults aged 18-24 had the city’s biggest drop in smoking — 35% — from 2002 to 2006.
Smoking data came from annual surveys, conducted by telephone, of about 10,000 adults living in New York City.
Tips to Quit Smoking
No matter where you live, it’s possible (and worthwhile) to quit smoking. Here are 14 tips from the CDC on smoking cessation:
- Set a quit date.
- Get rid of all cigarettes and ashtrays at home, work, and in your car.
- Don’t let people smoke in your home.
- If you’ve tried to quit before, review those attempts. What worked and what didn’t?
- Once you quit, don’t smoke at all.
- Ask your family, friends, and co-workers for encouragement.
- Talk to your doctor or other health care provider.
- Get counseling to help you quit smoking. The CDC notes that telephone counseling is available at (800) QUIT-NOW.
- Try to distract yourself from urges to smoke.
- Do something to reduce your stress.
- Plan something enjoyable to do daily.
- Interested in quit-smoking medications? Ask your health care provider about them.
- Be prepared for situations where you may be tempted to smoke.
- If you start smoking again, don’t give up. Most people try several times before they quit smoking for good.
