Here’s something to keep in mind during flu season: smoking—even while you are well—is making you a little bit sicker every day.

Smoking while you are sick is prolonging your illness. If you are congested, you need to cough up the mucous in order to get better. When you smoke, the cilia in your lungs is paralyzed for at least 15 minutes.

The cilia are those little hairs that act as a filter kind of. They move and prevent foreign material from getting deep into your lungs. If they are paralyzed, it will take longer to get all of that yucky stuff out of your chest.

There are numerous reasons that quit smoking aids cost so much, not the least of which is the people who manufacture them are in it for the money.  And the market will bear a cost of $50 or so for a quit smoking aid with a proven track record.

The question you have to ask yourself is this: how much do you spend every month on cigarettes?  And what’s your health worth to you?

There’s an argument for both stop smoking medication or the power of a support group.  Certainly, meds and other aids have their place, but nothing can replace the encouragement of other quitters.  Watching other people choose healthy lifestyles and quit smoking successfully can be a great motivator.  Check for support groups at churches, hospital and community colleges – now more than ever people are choosing to live smoke-free lifestyles.

I am a non-smoker. My boyfriend has been smoking for over 6 years and he said it’s almost impossible for him to quit. However, we want to get married and I have told him that he will need to quit before we get engaged or I can’t marry him.

He’s trying to quit now and I’m very happy.  I don’t know much about quit smoking aids.  He has a filter that he attaches to his cigarettes which makes it less harmful.  I was wondering how effective these filters are?  Also, I want to get him something else that can help him quit.  I’ve heard about hypnosis and some other stop smoking aids.  Can anyone tell me which ones are better and where can I buy them?

First of all, best of luck to your boyfriend. Cigarette smoking is a form of nicotine addiction just like chewing tobacco. I HAVE SMOKED FOR FORTY YEARS and I finally quit.

Let me speak from my own experience and the knowledge of nearly sixty years of life has taught me.

Your boyfriend is now and will always be a nicotine addict just as I am. The difference is that I am not smoking.  The fail rate for smokers is actually higher than persons addicted to heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine.  Nicotine is an incredibly addictive substance -addiction to it takes a lot of drive and willpower to maintain.

Now, for the ways in which to quit:  Patches,  gum, Chantix and anything that delivers nicotine to the human body will keep a person addicted.  You would never give heroin to a heroin addict to help them quit, so why would giving nicotine to a smoker work?  As for Chantix, though it does not deliver nicotine it does deliver its drug to the brain and tricks the brain into sending endorphins into the bloodstream just as if it were nicotine.

Consider this advice. In the US, pharmaceutical manufactures make untold BILLIONS of dollars profits by playing on peoples lack of knowledge. Smoking cessation aids are a big business and have made many execs wealthy. If hypnosis, drugs like Chantix and all the other charms happen to work for a person than thank God.

The awful truth is this, once you deliver nicotine to your body and you do this repeatedly, your body will then become addicted to the drug. I have not smoked in nearly two years and believe me, I have tried everything to quit. The best way to quit and the way in which is most successful is JUST STOP. Your body will have its varying degrees of withdrawl symptoms, but tell yourself NO withdrawl symptoms could ever be as hideous as dying of lung cancer, emphysema, pancreatic cancer and the list goes on.

Ask any former smoker how they FINALLY quit and odds are nearly all will tell you they did it cold turkey. It’s not fun and it was the single hardest thing I ever did in my life. One fact that a former smoker must always keep in mind is that you are NOT stronger than nicotine. It held you in its deadly embrace and you finally pulled away from it. All it would take is for you to take ONE puff and you could and likely will be smoking again. Your brain is not able to understand a span of time when you are a nicotine addict. To your brain whether you quit for a day, a week, a month a year of ten years…it is as though it was YESTERDAY. You could pick up a cigarette and light up like you never quit.

I speak from the life of an older man, fifty – six years old. Trust me, no smoker with any brains wants to continue to smoke. Nicotine addiction is beatable. Thousands of people in the US quit successfully each year. The mere fact that our geniuses in our government have decided to tax cigarettes should be a motivation to throw them away. The sad fact is that our wondrus politicians know how hard quitting is and so they have found a great revenue source to line their pockets with folks money from taxing cigarettes.

In my humble opinion the best website on the planet to quit smoking is http://www.whyquit.com. Look for the videos and yes, sit and watch them. This man knows exactly what smokers go through when they quit. I know for me that I can never take another puff!

I wish your boyfriend well and may you both have a long healthy, and smoke – free life.

Nicotine Anonymous is a Non-Profit 12 Step Fellowship of men and women helping each other live nicotine-free lives. Nicotine Anonymous welcomes all those seeking freedom from nicotine addiction, including those using cessation programs and nicotine withdrawal aids. The primary purpose of Nicotine Anonymous is to help all those who would like to cease using tobacco and nicotine products in any form. The Fellowship offers group support and recovery using the 12 Steps as adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous to achieve abstinence from nicotine.

This is something that sounds like it could be useful and worth checking out.  Let me know if this is something that has worked for you.

A positive note from an ex-smoker:

I quit smoking in 1971. Except for a few cigars I haven’t smoked since and my last cigar was in 1977. Have you quit or are you trying to kick the habit? I quit cold turkey without a support group or any kind of medicine or other aid. Once I firmly decided to quit I had no trouble staying quit, but I did backslide several times on the way to successfully quitting. I never doubted I could kick the habit, though it was not easy to quit after years as a smoker.
Between my first serious attempt to quit smoking and my final successful attempt there was a span of six years and probably four or five tries to quit. It was not easy, and the hardest part was being around other people who smoked. In one of those tries I was smoke-free for nearly three years before I backslid into the habit. So I respect anyone who has tried–failed or succeeded–and I fully sympathize with those who have the habit and want to quit.

I have been smoking 2-3 packs a day for 18 years now and I’m 29 years old. I was just diagnosed with COPD and I finally decided to stop smoking. My doctor put me on the patch and the stop smoking pills both. My question is this:  I read all the instructions and it said that it’s very easy to get nicotine overdose and not to smoke while taking the patch or the pills but I can’t just go from smoking 2-3 packs a day to nothing. So I’m wearing the patch taking the pills and smoking about 1 and a half packs a day now. What are my chances of developing nicotine overdose and how quickly will I start getting the symptoms? Thanks for your help.

Before you start having heart arrhythmias, please stop the smoking! If you’re taking the pills, the patch, and still smoking, then you’re making the situation worse.

The pills are to help diminish your desire to smoke, but they only work if you actually are prepared to not smoke anymore. Since you’re still smoking, the pills are useless: they help diminish your psychological addiction.

The patch helps to diminish your physical dependence on nicotine.

By continuing to smoke, you’re obliterating the use of both modalities; you’re not ready to stop.   I strongly suggest talking to your doctor before continuing this course of treatment!

This question is, of course, answered best on an individual basis and by one’s doctor.  There are several different stop smoking pills out there now that can be helpful when trying to kick the habit.   One is of course Chantix, then there is bupropion (Welbutrin or Zyban).  Depending on your general health and other circumstances, your physician will be best able to help you decide which one is best for you.

Here’s some numbers on the psychiatric side effects of the stop smoking pill Chantix:

Insomnia (19%), abnormal dreams (9% to 13%), sleep disorder (2%), and nightmare (2%).  Also included are anxiety, depression, emotional disorder, irritability, restlessness, aggression, agitation, disorientation, dissociation, decreased libido, mood swings, abnormal thinking, bradyphrenia, euphoric mood, hallucination, psychotic disorder, suicidal ideation, and erratic behavior. Depressed mood, agitation, changes in behavior, and suicide have been reported during postmarketing experience.

The worst side effects are generally observed in people that already have some form of mental disturbance in their medical history.

You don’t have to take a stop smoking pill to kick the habit.  I was looking up information on homeopathic ways to quit and found some interesting information out.

To reduce the craving while discontinuing its use, try Tabacum 30, 4 hourly

If you’re still addicted to tobacco but cannot bear the odor of it, try:  Lobelia In Q(Mother Tincture) 4 hourly, 5 -10 drops

If you have a great desire to smoke but are developing symptoms such as asthma, try  Caladium S 30, 4 hourly

To produce disgust in tobacco for habitual tobacco chewers, try Plantago Major 30, 4 hourly

Take the remedy which is similar to your symptoms.  You’ll experience no side effects or complications if taken as directed, but they really advice against exceeding the given dosage and under any circumstances.  Also, do not try to mix any remedies with each other or Chocolates, Mints, Coffee, Red Meat, Alcoholic and Carbonated drinks,  or Spicy, Rich Foods.  Also, keep any Homeopathic medicines away from direct sunlight or heat.