Smokers do not quit smoking even though they are aware of all the harmful effects of smoking. They are afraid if they will miss all the pleasures of the world when they quit smoking. They fear if they will not be able to handle stress without smoking. As long as they have this kind of fears they will not be able to get rid of this habit. They should believe that they are not deprived of any pleasure when they quit smoking. However, handling this problem psychologically is a tough one, and there are easy ways to stop smoking.
Stopping a habit suddenly and completely is termed as ‘cold turkey’ method. A common approach is quitting cold turkey. Many smokers follow this way. May be, it does not become successful with a single attempt. Primarily you should be able to overcome the urge for smoking with a little willpower. Do not get discouraged if you are not successful at the first attempt. Be sure, this attempt has its own positive impact on your will to quit smoking. When your number of attempts increases, you really will find a way to confront it as a challenge and win over the difficulties in a future attempt. However, keep active your decision to quit smoking.
There is a prescription medicine which enables you to stop smoking. The drug is known as Varenicline. It is in the form of a pill. This medicine is partially a nicotinic receptor and partially an agonist. It diminishes the craving for smoking. It also reduces the pleasurable effects provided by the tobacco products, including cigarette. Its mechanisms treat addiction to smoking. This medicine is a form of aversion therapy. The smoker using this medicine becomes repulsive to smoking.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is performed by giving small doses of nicotine contained in special products for this purpose. The steady doses of nicotine relieve you from cravings. This treatment also relieves you of the withdrawal symptoms caused by stopping this habit. The NRT products include nicotine inhaler, nicotine gum, nicotine nasal spray, nicotine patch, and nicotine lozenges.
One more prescription medicine that helps you to quit smoking is ZYBAN, which contains bupropion hcl sr. There are evidences that one third of the smokers taking this medicine have stopped smoking for at least a month. In many smokers trying to quit smoking with the help of ZYBAN, the urge to smoke and the withdrawal symptoms were found reduced. A patient support program is felt necessary for ZYBAN users.
Gradual withdrawal of smoking has proved to be successful for some smokers. They have tried by cutting down to five cigarettes a day, and delayed the first smoking by one hour each day. In this manner they reached the stage of complete stopping. This method can take two weeks to reach the final stage. NRT can be combined in this plan.
Attending stop smoking programs or counseling also gives great support to the smokers trying to get rid of this habit. Experts in this filed recommend that these programs should form part of any trial to stop smoking.