There are so many ways to quit smoking but how do they all work and where should you start?
Patches, pills or injections? How about all three at the same time, will that work? Let's educate ourselves about these programs and see how they differ.
Patches
Patches are a type of nicotine replacement therapy. The idea is that you switch immediately from smoking cigarettes to using patches. Then, over a 12 week period, you reduce the dose of the patch until eventually you stop taking the low dose and, in theory, you don't need to start smoking again.
So how do they work? Well, a patch is like a small band-aid and you slap it onto a fatty part of your body. Usually people will stick one on the upper arm but you can even put them on your backside!
You should only use one patch a day and don't sleep with it on overnight. Each day, you should put the patch on a different part of the body so switching arms each day could work.
Pills
Surprisingly, pills to quit smoking have not been around for very long. But recently there are two pills that have been used to treat smoking.
The first one is Zyban and the second is Chantix. What is the difference between the two? Chantix is said to have a higher success rate at quitting than Zyban but the drawbacks are an alleged higher incidence of side effects. For instance nausea but also more serious side effects.
They both work on the brain chemistry to reduce the pleasure of cigarettes and the cravings for cigarettes so they make quitting much easier. You are not supposed to quit as soon as you start taking them but after about a week.
Injections
The idea of having a stop smoking program that just involved a couple of shots every now and again sounds enticing. What if we could cure smoking in the same way that we could cure diseases?
Currently, there are no approved stop smoking shots available on the market but there are many under development and in trials that will probably be available within 5 years.
They will work in a very similar way to the pills - they will cut the cravings and the perceived enjoyment from cigarettes. They are not a true vaccine because there is no production of antibodies in your body so the effects are not permanent.
Patches, pills or injections? How about all three at the same time, will that work? Let's educate ourselves about these programs and see how they differ.
Patches
Patches are a type of nicotine replacement therapy. The idea is that you switch immediately from smoking cigarettes to using patches. Then, over a 12 week period, you reduce the dose of the patch until eventually you stop taking the low dose and, in theory, you don't need to start smoking again.
So how do they work? Well, a patch is like a small band-aid and you slap it onto a fatty part of your body. Usually people will stick one on the upper arm but you can even put them on your backside!
You should only use one patch a day and don't sleep with it on overnight. Each day, you should put the patch on a different part of the body so switching arms each day could work.
Pills
Surprisingly, pills to quit smoking have not been around for very long. But recently there are two pills that have been used to treat smoking.
The first one is Zyban and the second is Chantix. What is the difference between the two? Chantix is said to have a higher success rate at quitting than Zyban but the drawbacks are an alleged higher incidence of side effects. For instance nausea but also more serious side effects.
They both work on the brain chemistry to reduce the pleasure of cigarettes and the cravings for cigarettes so they make quitting much easier. You are not supposed to quit as soon as you start taking them but after about a week.
Injections
The idea of having a stop smoking program that just involved a couple of shots every now and again sounds enticing. What if we could cure smoking in the same way that we could cure diseases?
Currently, there are no approved stop smoking shots available on the market but there are many under development and in trials that will probably be available within 5 years.
They will work in a very similar way to the pills - they will cut the cravings and the perceived enjoyment from cigarettes. They are not a true vaccine because there is no production of antibodies in your body so the effects are not permanent.
0 comments:
Post a Comment