Smoking and smoking cessation

General or Other | General Practice | Smoking and smoking cessation (Disease)


Description

Stopping smoking causes a range of disorders related to abstinence observable within 24 hours: agitation anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbances, nausea and sometimes headaches and the urge to chew something. If some people fail to stop smoking without any help, most people need help in the form of tobacco substitutes, or acupuncture therapy.

Causes and Risk factors

Tobacco, tailored to the smoker’s tobacco habits, causes addiction to nicotine. In all cases, nicotine substitutes are needed to help total smoking cessation, because smoking can increase the effects of nicotine and cause nausea, headaches and palpitations.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Prescription, tobacco substitutes in the form of stamps transdermal (patch) or chewing gum (chewing gum) containing different concentrations of nicotine can help patients beat the cravings by gradually reducing the amount of nicotine released, to complete rehab. The choice of form depends on smoking habits. They are prescribed in decreasing doses for 6 to 12 weeks. The patch, chewing gum and tablets are available in pharmacies, while the inhaler is obtained on prescription.

Other methods to stop smoking are often very useful, and consist in not remove all symptoms of abstinence, but rather strengthening patient's motivation: (1) acupuncture involves placing needles in specific points on the body surface, which is sustained for 20 to 40 minutes. It can cause the disappearance of the desire to smoke causing an aversion to smoking. The treatment lasts three weeks and includes 1-5 sessions per week; (2) workshops are organized by health services on demand for individual learning and group strategies to deal with situations at risk of cravings. The meeting of the group consists of smokers who want to quit smoking in the presence of doctors. ...