Quit Smoking Aids - Which Ones Work and Which Ones Don't?

There are so many different quit smoking aids to choose from that it's difficult to know where to start sometimes. In this article, an ex-smoker reviews the different types of aids available and sorts the good from the bad.



So the time has come to quit. You've made the right decision, especially compared to some smokers who don't even want to quit, so deluded are they. But where should you start? The quit smoking shot? The pill? The patch? Let's take a look at each in turn.



Drugs



A drug is a very convenient way to take treatment but surprisingly, there are only really 2 quit smoking pills available on the market (there are many others in development). The first is known as Zyban and the second is Chantix. They work on the brain chemistry level and stop you getting cravings.



So because you don't have cravings anymore, you can quit cigarettes more easily. The bad thing about them is that you don't take them forever so eventually your cravings will come back although by then you should have quit already. Secondly, they can have bad side effects - for instance, nausea is quite common with Chantix which the manufacturers freely admit.



Injections or Shots



This is even more convenient that the pill. Imagine being able to take a shot that will stop you from getting any cravings. Sounds great in theory but the reality is a little different.



First of all, there is no shot available on the market yet. There are many that are being developed and in trials so unless you are a lucky volunteer, you won't be able to get access to them.



The second thing is that although they will make quitting much easier, like the pill they are not meant as a permanent solution. You will have to stop taking it and the cravings will return. You need to remember that although in an injectable form, these drugs are not vaccines - your body does not produce antibodies which last for the rest of your life. They are drugs that work on brain chemistry.



Magnets



Magnets, lasers and acupuncture. They all work in the same way. The idea is that by stimulating pressure points on the ear, you will get less cravings and find it easier to quit. Unfortunately, the effect is only temporary.



Patches



Probably by now, you're seeing a common theme. All these quit smoking aids work by reducing your cravings. Guess what patches do? You guessed it, they kill the cravings. Actually, patches work in a different way - they are a substitution method.



This means that you stop smoking immediately and go onto patches so you still get your dose of nicotine. You cut down on the patch dosage over a few weeks before giving up patches.



So patches are actually quite different because you are basically cutting down - a bit like cutting down on cigarettes. Unlike the other methods, there is no attempt to temporarily get rid of the cravings.



The Verdict



There are many different methods out there to quit smoking. The unfortunate thing with them all is that they all address the symptoms of addiction, the cravings, and only temporarily. None of them actually address the causes of the addiction.

Quit Smoking Cold Turkey - You Don't Need Pills!

Quit smoking cold turkey success rates are reported to be as low as 5%. I have been wondering why this is so and whether or not it is true. And I think I have an answer for why people think quit smoking cold turkey is such an ineffective way of giving up the smokes.



In my definition, quitting smoking cold turkey means not using anything other than your own ability to overcome the need to smoke. This means no use of varenicline, (chantix and champix), zyban (wellbutrin and bupropion), nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, tabs, nasal sprays or inhalers. You should not be using acupuncture, laser therapy, silver acetate sprays, aversion therapies, chain smoking, hypnosis, clonidine, opoid antagonists, anxiolytics, anti-depressants, nicocure, nicobrevin, lobeline or mecamylamine - to mention a 'phew' of the options!



When you think of someone quitting smoking cold turkey, it is the sudden cut off from cigarettes without any support other than ones own mental prowess over the problem of nicotine addiction.



Quitting smoking cold turkey does not rule out the use of educational materials to understand your relationship both with cigarettes and your number one enemy, nicotine.



In the many years that I tried to quit smoking before realising the secret of quitting smoking, I found that I was unable to overcome the evil weed because I had not learned how to quit smoking before trying to do it. I had read all the common materials and the pamphlets that came with my nicotine patches and pills and inhalers! Nothing, nada, zip in there taught me how to quit smoking.



We often read that certain products offer highly successful quit rates when compared to cold turkey quitters but what we are not being told is that the cold turkey quitters aren't even getting any help to quit smoking in these studies.



If you take 20 smokers and leave them alone for a year, chances are that one will quit smoking, even though over 14-18 of them wants to quit smoking.



In most studies comparing the latest quit smoking drug, the 'control group' (the cold turkey group) are just told to quit smoking. They may be given some sugar pills or some sticky patches (without nicotine) but they are normally just left to their own devices. No surprise then that they all fail miserably with only about 5% successfully quitting.



There is a difference between being told to quit because it is bad for you and being advised to quit and 'this is how you do it'. Let me use an analogy.



Imagine, without any computer knowledge at all, you were given the task of setting up a company human resources database. You were placed in front of an internet enabled computer and given a week to complete the task or you would be assured an early death. How many people could do it?



I reckon about only a tiny fraction would be able to apply themselves to the task and complete it. Most would fail miserably, just as smokers do when they try to quit smoking without any support or education or advice.



You see, there is always a small percentage of the population could succeed in any task set them. Not always the same 5% of course, depending upon the task, but there are always some that will just knuckle down, apply themselves and figure out how to do it. For the rest of us, we need help in the form of guidance and instruction.



Quitting smoking requires motive, means and opportunity.



Your motive to quit smoking should be the never ending torrent of medical and general opinion pointing out what a futile and self destructive act smoking tobacco is. The health risks are just preposterous!



You means to quit smoking is the need to learn how you should do it. It is not best achieved with some of the pills or potions or any of the other interventions I mentioned earlier in this article. Studies have proven that over 85% of long term quitters, quit using nothing more than education and attitude as their main means of achieving a smoke free life.



Finally, your opportunity is now. Most smokers will carp on about quitting this week or this month or this year, as not being the right time to quit. That, I am afraid is a load of rubbish. The usual birthday, wedding, stress excuses are merely excuses to keep on smoking, they are not reasons to not quit - there is a difference! The best opportunity to quit smoking by any means including cold turkey is right now!



Never stop trying to quit.

Why Smokers Don't Quit Smoking

With the techniques of Stop Smoking Hypnotherapy we have studied hundreds of patients with smoking habituation and have found the number one reason preventing smokers from quitting is fear.



You might wonder, what in the world does a smoker have to fear when they have everything to gain from quitting. It's important to remember that fear of anything, reasonable or not, is a powerful deterrence.



When the smokers think about quitting smoking even in the face of substantial quit smoking benefits, they begin to wonder; "how will they'll make it through the drive to work without a smoke. What if they lose it in traffic, how much will they suffer, will they get into a wreck, will they show up for work in a really bad mood and get into trouble with the boss. How will they make it through the day; will people understand; how much flack are they in for? Will they even be able to get their work done without a smoke break?"



Non-smokers don't go through that sort of painful thought exercise when they think about going to work.



There are plenty of other fears as well. Excess weight is an American epidemic now-a-days. Imagine the feeling of ballooning weight gain if you quit smoking. Even though weight gain is most commonly a problem with the "cold turkey" method and with gums, pills and patches, it is still a common cause for fear especially if the smoker is carrying around an extra 5-10 pounds already, and knows nothing of the quit smoking benefits associated with stop smoking hypnotherapy.



Commonly, smokers fear that they will have to experience awful traumatic pain in order to quit. Most smokers believe that it is not possible to quit smoking painlessly and comfortably even though stop smoking hypnotherapy handles all that easily and stops weight gain dead in its tracks too!



Most smokers who have not experienced the methods of advanced hypnosis worry too, that they'll be plagued with cravings for the rest of their life. And, that's just not true at all!



For so many years the societal message has been about how hard it is to quit. From family, friends, and neighbors, drug companies and the medical community we have all heard how nicotine is "more addictive than heroin", how nicotine withdrawal is traumatic and, how people have locked themselves away for days while they suffered the withdrawal from cigarettes and compensated by eating everything they could find while simultaneously pacing the floor and pulling their hair out by the roots. Many of those "cold turkey veterans" return to smoke just one cigarette months or years later simply because their will power was able to beat the smoking habit before. Many simply give in to the urge again when some crisis surfaces. Sadly, many become hooked all over again because they dealt with the root-cause of their smoking in the first place.



"Urban Exaggerations" compound the fear of quitting tobacco in all its forms. Exaggerations as that above serve to embellish and elaborate on the victory or failure over cigarettes and tobacco products. If one is successful it's a success equivalent to scaling Mt. Everest and, if the smoker failed, it helps to explain the degree of difficulty as being nearly impossible. When a smoker pits his wits and will power against the ever vigilant subconscious part of the mind the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of the subconscious and failure is conspicuously waiting at the next turn even though a few, from time to time do win with will power alone.



So, it becomes easy to understand the fear of quitting smoking when we look at the elements of quitting from the perspective of a smoker who repeats the hand to mouth habit approximately 300 times everyday of his life or 1,095,000 times over ten years. The cigarette and the smoker couldn't be closer than if they were "joined at the hip." The thought of parting company is like a death after years of being together. Many smokers look at the cigarette as their "best friend." The loss of a best friend for any of us would engender fear and most of us would avoid it at all cost.



Despite the emotional baggage associated with smoking cessation, advanced hypnosis utilizing powerful NLP techniques, can speak to the subconscious part of the mind in a meaningful way. When the subconscious understands that its prompts to "light up" are actually harmful, it will apply the brakes and actually work to avoid smoking. And it'll do it efficiently, quickly, and painlessly, and permanently! This is so because the sense of deprivation is eliminated. Stop smoking hypnosis, using advanced hypnosis techniques removes the desire and the need for a crutch. It focuses on the non-physical source of smoking dependence, the subconscious part of the mind, whereas gums and pills, patches and inhalers, nasal sprays, lasers, and accupuncture all focus on the physical dependence of nicotine. The physical dependence is not the root of the problem. The subconscious part of the mind is!



To fully appreciate why smokers can't see to stop we need to look further at the source of this habit. How did it start? Why did it start? Why does it seem to have control over the smoker?



Most smokers began smoking as youngsters or very young adults. For most, it made them feel "cool", grown-up, defiant, independent. Often, it was a matter of peer pressure and for younger adults just getting started in life, maybe in college, maybe at their first real job or when they first moved out of their parents home and into their own place, smoking eased the anxiety of growing up. It provided something to do with their hands in social settings that were otherwise awkward. It was anxiolytic and soothing in many ways. It was calming and helped to create a feeling of fitting in. Despite the stale aftertaste of cigarettes and the cooling menthol cover-up, the subconscious saw how "cool" and grown-up the smoker felt. It saw that smoking helped him to feel good about himself. It recognized the soothing and social calming of the hand to mouth exercise and the blowing of smoke in myriad ways. And after bearing witness to the repetitious ritual for a while, it finally said quietly to the conscious part of the mind that it had seen the ritual many times, had it down pat, and would take over the ritual while the conscious part of the mind went on about the other things that it had to do. At that point smoking became a habit.



The subconscious part of the mind is in charge of keeping us well, feeling good, and out of danger. When it recognizes how good we feel doing something (like smoking) and it observes this repetitiously, the subconscious makes it a habit and it carries out the habit so well that often a smoker will light up a cigarette and not even realize that there is already one burning in the ashtray. It handles the smoking habit so well that a smoker can get in the car, start the engine, put the car in gear and his foot on the brake, adjust the air flow, the radio, CD player, or I-pod and light up a cigarette, crack the window, stop at the red light, signal, and make the exact right turn and not even know that they have lit the cigarette until they're a couple miles down the road. Clearly, they are the one doing this but, they have little or no awareness of it until after the fact just as in a similar way we all brake at exactly the right moment to keep from running the red light, stop sign or rear-ending the car in front of us. As perfectly as we do that, we more often than not, have no remembrance of how many times our foot goes to the brake on the customary drive to work. That's how powerful the subconscious is in working on our behalf. As powerful as the subconscious part of the mind maybe, it has no idea about the Surgeon General's Warning. It does not compute statistical values or count in terms of dollars and cents. It operates on completely different basis of feeling good.



With the application of advanced stop smoking hypnotherapy we can speak directly to the subconscious part of the mind and help it to understand that smoking is truly harmful and deadly. The subconscious will redefine its priority and work mightily to keep the smoker from smoking again. Therein, is the explanation of how advanced stop smoking hypnotherapy helps a fearful smoker to become a happy, permanent, non-smoker without all the trouble of locking themselves in the basement for three days and eating everything in sight. Advanced stop smoking hypnotherapy enlists the subconscious to work with us not to fight against us as in the "cold turkey" method or the pills, patch, and gum method.

Quit Smoking Aids-those that work and those that don't?

There are so many aids to quit smoking different to choose from that it's hard to know where to start sometimes. In this article, an ex-smoker Comments on different types of grants available and sort the good from the bad.



Then it is time to stop. You have made the right choice, especially compared to some smokers who don't want nemmeno exit, I am so disappointed. But where should you start? The coup to stop smoking? The pill? The patch? Let's look at each in turn.



Medicines



A drug is a very convenient way to get treatment, but surprisingly, there are really only 2 stop smoking pills available on the market (there are many others in the developing world). The first is known as Zyban and the second is Chantix. Work on the level of brain chemistry and stop getting cravings.



So why haven't more cravings, you can more easily get cigarettes. The bad thing about them is that they don't take forever so eventually your desire will be back though since you should have quit already. Secondly, they can have bad side effects-for example, nausea is quite common with Chantix that producers admit freely.



Injections or shots



This is even cheaper than the pill. Imagine being able to take a shot that will stop from getting any desire. Sounds great in theory, but the reality is a little different.



First of all, there is no hit on the market still available. There are many that have been developed and in tests so unless you're one lucky volunteer, you won't be able to get access to them.



The second thing is that even if they are much easier to quit smoking, as the pill are not meant as a permanent solution. You will need to stop the recruitment and return the cravings. You must remember that, although in an injectable form, these drugs are not vaccines – your body doesn't produce antibodies that will last for the rest of your life. They are drugs that work on the chemistry of the brain.



Magnets



Magnets, laser and acupuncture. They all work the same way. The idea is that by stimulating the pressure points on the ear, you'll get less cravings and find it easier to quit. Unfortunately, the effect is only temporary.



Patch



By now, you're probably seeing a common theme. All these for quitting aids work by reducing your cravings. Guess what make patches? You guessed it, kill your cravings. In fact, patch work differently-they're a replacement method.



This means that quit smoking immediately and go on the patch, so you still get the nicotine dose. Reduce the dosage of patches over a couple of weeks before giving up on patches.



So patches are actually very different because they are basically low cut-a bit like cutting down on cigarettes. Unlike other methods, there is no attempt to temporarily eliminate the cravings.



The verdict



There are many different methods out there to quit smoking. The unfortunate thing with all of them is that all deal with the symptoms of addiction, the desire and only temporarily. None of them actually address the causes of addiction.

Quit Smoking Aids - Which Ones Work and Which Ones Don't?

There are so many different quit smoking aids to choose from that it's difficult to know where to start sometimes. In this article, an ex-smoker reviews the different types of aids available and sorts the good from the bad.



So the time has come to quit. You've made the right decision, especially compared to some smokers who don't even want to quit, so deluded are they. But where should you start? The quit smoking shot? The pill? The patch? Let's take a look at each in turn.



Drugs



A drug is a very convenient way to take treatment but surprisingly, there are only really 2 quit smoking pills available on the market (there are many others in development). The first is known as Zyban and the second is Chantix. They work on the brain chemistry level and stop you getting cravings.



So because you don't have cravings anymore, you can quit cigarettes more easily. The bad thing about them is that you don't take them forever so eventually your cravings will come back although by then you should have quit already. Secondly, they can have bad side effects - for instance, nausea is quite common with Chantix which the manufacturers freely admit.



Injections or Shots



This is even more convenient that the pill. Imagine being able to take a shot that will stop you from getting any cravings. Sounds great in theory but the reality is a little different.



First of all, there is no shot available on the market yet. There are many that are being developed and in trials so unless you are a lucky volunteer, you won't be able to get access to them.



The second thing is that although they will make quitting much easier, like the pill they are not meant as a permanent solution. You will have to stop taking it and the cravings will return. You need to remember that although in an injectable form, these drugs are not vaccines - your body does not produce antibodies which last for the rest of your life. They are drugs that work on brain chemistry.



Magnets



Magnets, lasers and acupuncture. They all work in the same way. The idea is that by stimulating pressure points on the ear, you will get less cravings and find it easier to quit. Unfortunately, the effect is only temporary.



Patches



Probably by now, you're seeing a common theme. All these quit smoking aids work by reducing your cravings. Guess what patches do? You guessed it, they kill the cravings. Actually, patches work in a different way - they are a substitution method.



This means that you stop smoking immediately and go onto patches so you still get your dose of nicotine. You cut down on the patch dosage over a few weeks before giving up patches.



So patches are actually quite different because you are basically cutting down - a bit like cutting down on cigarettes. Unlike the other methods, there is no attempt to temporarily get rid of the cravings.



The Verdict



There are many different methods out there to quit smoking. The unfortunate thing with them all is that they all address the symptoms of addiction, the cravings, and only temporarily. None of them actually address the causes of the addiction.