Saturday, October 19, 2013

Nicotine replacement to help stop smoking


Which nicotine replacement therapy can help me quit smoking?

Many people would like to quit smoking but do not know how. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is widely advocated as the best treatment to discontinue smoking. NRT is available in many formulations including chewing gum, skin patches, nasal spray inhalers, lozenges and slow release tablets. All of these products release a small amount of nicotine slowly so that you do not develop the urge to smoke. So which one of these therapies is the best?

A review of all the literature on this topic has shown that all of these commercially available forms of NRT can help some people discontinue smoking. The success rate for all them ranges from 0-40 percent. Not one of these therapies is guaranteed to work 100%. The effectiveness of these therapies does not depend on other therapies like hypnosis, acupuncture or psychotherapy. The average time to discontinue smoking is very variable and can range from a few weeks to a year. 

What the consumer has to understand is that many of these NRT studies are also sponsored by the tobacco industry and thus the results are always fudged. The number of people failing to quit smoking after trying these therapies are enormous but these numbers are never reported. The best method of discontinuing smoking is cold turkey- it is cheap, works instantly but requires a lot of motivation and will power.

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