Healthy living
Mind matters
Smoking drug
Smokers who want to give up the habit can now use a new type of drug treatment to help them quit
Varenicline (Champix), which was launched this week, is the first non-nicotine drug to be developed specifically to wean people off cigarettes.
The drug acts on the pleasure centre of the brain reducing the satisfaction that smokers get from cigarettes and at the same time alleviating unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Champix was more effective than Zyban, the current leading anti-smoking drug. Zyban, an antidepressant, reduces the desire to start smoking again.
In clinical trials, around twenty percent of smokers who started taking Champix were smoke free a year later.
Champix is due to be assessed by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) early next year and is expected to be cleared for use in the NHS in time for the smoking ban which takes effect in England in July 2007.
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Health, "GPs are able to prescribe the medicines they feel appropriate for their patients including those not yet appraised by NICE".
Initially, a 12-week course of the drug is recommended; if you had to pay for a private prescription, this would cost £163.80 - the equivalent of approximately 30 packs of cigarettes.
The good news is that you can feel the health benefits as soon as you stop smoking.
Benefits
- Blood pressure and pulse will drop within an hour of stopping
- Carbon monoxide levels will return to normal within two days
- Sense of taste and smell will improve within two days
- Blood circulation will improve within a few weeks
Once you've decided to stop
- Get professional help. Your doctor or pharmacist can give you advice and point you towards special services for smokers available in your area. Try contacting one of the help lines
- Prepare mentally and know what to expect. You will need lots of willpower to break the hold of nicotine - a powerful and addictive drug. Nicotine withdrawal may make you restless, irritable, frustrated, sleepless or accident prone
- Set a date
- Deal with nicotine withdrawal. You can roughly double the chances of successfully quitting smoking by using nicotine replacement therapies such as patches, lozenges, inhalers, and/or gum
Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.
