Trouble quitting?
Try replacing tobacco?s high with a less toxic substance.
Quitting aids have remained prevalent since the FDA approved nicotine gum in the early 1980s. But thousands of smokers who try the gum, the patch and lately Zyban become addicted to the nicotine replacement, said Dr. Albert Polito, a lung doctor at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.
Initially approved as an anti-depressant, doctors found Zyban helped smokers quit as a side effect, Polito said.
An article in the current issue of HEALTH magazine noted that the new drug, Chantix (generic name Varenicline) is four times as effective as a placebo in reducing withdrawal symptoms and twice as effective as Zyban.
It replaces nicotine in certain receptors in the brain, rendering the active ingredient in tobacco ineffective at those receptors, Polito said.
“It?s not the magic pill,” he said. “If you have a motivated person who wants to quit, this will improve their chances.”
Polito has no investments in the drug or connection to its maker, but said he has seen it work in his practice.
“A lot of the illnesses I treat are directly caused by smoking,” he said.
Cigarette smoking contributes to stroke and heart disease, according to the American Heart Association Web site. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona described cigarette smoking as “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.”
The drug is not cheap, unless you compare it to the cost of smoking one or two packs of cigarettes a day, Polito said. No smoking cessation drugs are covered by insurance.
