Medical Health Encyclopedia

Smoking and smokeless tobacco

Feel ready to quit? Here are some tips:

• Make a list of the reasons why you want to quit. Include both short- and long-term benefits.
• Ask your health care provider for help. Find out whether prescription medications (such as Zyban) might be useful for you. Find out about nicotine patches (Nicorette), gum, and sprays.
• Ask your family, friends, and coworkers for support.
• Set a quit date.
• Get rid of all of your cigarettes by that date. Throw them out if you have to!
• Quit completely -- cold turkey.
• Exercise -- It relieves the urge to smoke.
• Learn self-hypnosis from a qualified practitioner. This helps some people.
• Make a plan about what you will do, instead of smoking, when stressed or other times you have the urge for tobacco. Be as specific as possible.
• Avoid smoke-filled settings and situations in which you are more likely to smoke.

Like any addiction, quitting tobacco is difficult, particularly if you are acting alone. If you join smoking cessation programs, you have a much better chance of success. Such programs are offered by hospitals, health departments, community centers, and work sites.

The best quit-smoking programs combine multiple strategies, including peer support and ways to overcome potential relapse situations. Counseling by telephone can be a very helpful reinforcement, even as effective as face-to-face counseling.

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Short-term use of the antidepressant medication bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban), along with a quit-smoking program, may increase your success. Buproprion requires a prescription from your health provider and should not be used if you have a history of seizures or kidney failure.

If you aren't successful the first time, simply look at what occurred or what didn't work, develop new strategies, and try again. Many attempts are often necessary to finally "beat the habit."