Quit Smoking Cold

OTC and counseling considered successful in study

A study by the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention found the most effective way for smokers to quit smoking is to combine therapies and over-the-counter products into a daily treatment regimen

The study is the largest to date for comparing OTC quit smoking and nicotine dependence treatments against each other, according to a UW-CTRI statement.

“We started collecting stop smoking data in January 2005,” said Megan Piper, lead nicotine dependence researcher at UW-CTRI. “Folks who signed to join the quit smoking programs agreed to three years of participation. Many finished the third year and many are on their second year and are still smoke free We recruited in both Madison and Milwaukee from television and newspaper ads.”

More than 1,500 Wisconsin smokers 18 and older participated. Every smoker involved in the study was also given at least six sessions of counseling, according to Piper.

The study compared nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges and a combination of the two; bupropion — a prescription medication — and its combination with the lozenge; and a placebo. Of the methods, combinations of the patch and lozenge were deemed most effective. The placebo, or quitting cold turkey, was the least effective.

“These results were targeted for daily smokers — at least 10 cigarettes a day,” Piper said. “Someone smoking maybe not every day, but less, [might find] that a combination (of a patch and lozenge) may not be as good for them because they would experience a nicotine overdose if they were not used to [that amount].”

While the national rate of adult smokers is 19.8 percent, in Wisconsin 19.6 percent of adults are smokers, according to UW-CTRI spokesperson Moira Harrington.

“I think smoking is a problem on most college campuses. Many student would like to stop smoking. Most people start before they get to college, but some smokers start a daily smoking pattern while they’re in college or before,” Piper said. “People start while they’re trying to study for finals, or have one in a bar, then go on to develop a true dependence.”

While the patch and lozenge were the most effective combination, many other methods including natural products to ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms were left out of the test.

 “I think the big message is that if you’re a daily smoker and you’re smoking at least half a pack a day, the idea of getting coaching or counseling in addition to a product to ease tension and tobacco withdrawal symptoms will help greatly” Piper said.

She added frequent smokers might find an online or telephone hot line could also help smokers trying to stop smoking decrease their dependency through numerous methods, including counseling.

As a nationally prominent research center and a part of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, the UW-CTRI functions as a research community committed to determining the nature of tobacco and nicotine dependence and developing evidence-based treatments to assist smokers to quit smoking.

It was founded in 1992 to combat smoking as the No. 1 cause of preventable death, Harrington said.

A reprint of an article written by Alex Skanavis
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Don’t be so judgmental of smokers. It’s hard to stop smoking. It makes more sense to be judgmental of tobacco companies who keep people addicted to nicotine. They are the ones that don’t want smokers to quit smoking.

People aren't stupid and they know the side effects of nicotine. Cigarettes are a drug (nicotine) delivery system. Nicotine in any form probably causes cancer. But o does standing in front of a microwave, talking on your cell phone, drinking/eating off of plastics with BPH, pesticides, lawn care products, lead-based paint, etc.

And if smokers think that's disgusting, then they should quit smoking. My feeling is that many don’t!

My father smoked for over 50 years and he quit smoking cold turkey. My dad wasn’t stupid or disgusting or an idiot or selfish or any of the other unbelievably judgmental things people have posted because he smoked and didn’t really want to stop smoking.

There's a really simple answer when it comes to quitting smoking: let smokers enjoy their cigarettes.

I've never once heard my father complain he didn’t have the willpower to quit smoking. He enjoyed his cigarettes and didn’t want to stop smoking. He didn’t WANT to. And it's his body, his choice.

The hype about cigarette smoking and stopping smoking has become a magnum-opus for those anti-smoking advocates and the laws banning smoking in restaurants and targeted to get smokers to quit smoking.

I can respect such a regulations banning smoking being instituted in public buildings and trying to encourage smoers to stop smoking, but when it includes dictating a social smoking environment, smokers feel that it's a violation of one's constitutional right to enjoy a cigarette with a cocktail and after dinner. Before smoking was completely banned, a host or hostess asked a customer "smoking or non-smoking section?"

Those freedom of choice questions dealing with social smoking are "gone with the wind," and a civil war of a different nature. Though smoking doesn't enhance our health, statistics can't state that it's a death sentence. I've cut way down. There are good stop smoking alternatives. It can be done. The issue of "second hand smoke" would be a valid "issue" if non-smokers were exposed to it eight hours daily, but that's not the case.

Anyone who thinks logically would have to conclude that the emphasis on second hand smoke as being a health hazard to non smokers is a trumped up assessment as it didn't take eight hours to dine in the smoking section of a restaurant and it has nothing to do with whether a smokers chooses to quit smoking or to continue to smoke.

It appears that medical reports have put smoking and second hand smoke on the top of their list as being dangerous to one's health. Point taken. But nevertheless you don't have to quit smoking cold.

But by the same token why do they refrain from informing the public as to how to maintain good health, such as obtaining a homeopathic or naturopathic doctor to treat illnesses without drugs or surgery.

 More thoughts from Cecilia in a later post to follow

 This post is excerpted from an article originally written on June 12, 2009 by Cecilia Sacco

 Fusco in the Pocono Record.