Smokers! There are encouraging "quit facts" for you. Researches reveal 80 per cent regular smokers would like to quit, says Dr Samir Parikh, who heads the quit tobacco centre at Max Healthcare. Many smokers may put off a quit attempt because they do not know where to get help. So if you fail to dot on your 'quit smoke will' tobacco cessation clinics are available for counseling help.
Giving an example, Dr Parikh says a 29-year-old MNC professional, who smoked two packets at least a day, quit since the last 20 days. "It is difficult to give up smoking. All that works is sheer will power and a goal – mine is to normalise my sperm count, which has fallen drastically," says the Green Park resident.
If you want to quit, you have to quit completely. "There is nothing called reduced smoking. Either you quit or you don't," says Dr Sajeela Maini, president, Tobacco Control Foundation of India. Dr Maini conducts special quit sessions for employees of corporates and PSUS.
Dr Maini, with a track record of 70 per cent success in her quit smoking programme says, "In a group it's easier to quit smoking, so the success rate is very high. Dr Mani, who has conducted sessions for employees ITDC, Air Port Authority of India, NTPC, Power Grid Corporation of India, Power Finance Corporation and National Physical Laboratory, is set to conduct a similar programme for employees of ConCore in Ahmadabad this week.
If not for the Health Ministry's strict restrictions, the employers have other reasons why they should motivate their employees to quit smoking. "By having employees quit tobacco, the overall social and psychological sense of well being of the workers improves, thereby directly leading to increased productivity. There is also substantial financial gains in medical reimbursement as tobacco causes as well as exaggerates many diseases," Maini says pointing towards this growing trend among corporates.
"I have treated lot of high profile patients too including many doctors. Generally the age of my patients ranges between 17-70. Lot of young girls come to me asking not to tell their parents that they are being treated for this," Maini says.
Doctors believe in holistic approach towards helping people quit smoking. Treatment is basically a mixture of behaviour intervention therapy, nicotine replacement therapy and pharmaco therapy. "I first speak to patients and then only I decide what kind of treatment is required. I help the patient quit smoking by Cold Turkey Method which has a high success rate across the world," says Dr Maini.
What is Cold Turkey Method
If you're a pack-a-day smoker, this means going from 20 to 0 cigarettes in the matter of a day. With the cold turkey method, you completely stop smoking all at once, relying on your will power to fight your nicotine addiction.
This is the most popular, yet possibly the most uncomfortable, tobacco cessation strategy. It involves setting a quit date, and simply quitting on that date without any prior reduction, preparation or nicotine withdrawal.
The "cold turkey" approach can cause mild to severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Drastic reductions in tobacco use will result in withdrawal symptoms that can include irritability, fatigue, headache, insomnia, constipation, sweating, coughing, poor concentration, depression, increased appetite, and cravings for tobacco.
But according to Dr Maini it's just a matter of three days. "Once a smoker quits on the Quit Date, the urge to smoke starts just after 24 hours and the urging peaks at 72 hours. Once you cross this period of time, then the urge reduces and subsequently vanishes."
"This is the most difficult period and I meet my patients in regular intervals and motivate them not to go back to smoking. It takes eight sittings in all to quit smoking. My first four sessions focus on quitting while the last four focuses on relapse prevention."
Treatment Modules
There are as many treatment modules as the number of smokers. Since tobacco cessation is a habit or behavioural change, it is a highly individualised treatment program suited specifically in response to the needs of the smoker. For light smokers: Doctors use psychotherapeutic interventions that include motivation enhancement therapy, cognitive- behavioural therapy, reinforcement management, adaptive coping skills training and relapse prevention training For Moderate smokers: Psychotherapeutic interventions with Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is used. In NRT, low dosage of nicotine is given to the patient via chewing gums, tobacco patches, inhalers or lozenges. NRT makes quitting easier by reliably reducing the severity of withdrawal, thereby making ti easier for quitters to cope with abstinence while unlearning the deeply grained habit and behavioural elements of smoking. For Heavy smokers: Psychotherapeutic interventions with Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and Pharmaco therapy (Bupropian Hydrochloride, SR tablets) are used. It is a non-nicotine oral therapy for smoking cessation that works on the biology of nicotine addiction. It enhances the dopamine levels of brain, thereby reducing the urge to smoke and the severity of withdrawal symptoms.
Self-help
If you are uncomfortable going to a doctor, try help yourself on your own, says Dr Ashok Vaid, Head of Medical Oncology at Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon. Here is how, he guides:
Set a date to quit smoking
Get rid of cigarettes and ashtrays at home and work
Avoid people when they are smoking. Stay away from friends who smoke for the first one week.
Review previous attempts to quit. Think about what worked and what didn't.
When you feel like smoking, tell yourself you will smoke a little later. It will push the moment away.
Once you have quit, don't smoke, not even a puff.
Nicotine withdrawal may make you restless and irritable, so remind yourself the mood changes are temporary.
Eat meals regularly and drink plenty of fluids. Hunger and thirst are sometimes mistaken for the desire to smoke.
If you are unable to quit in the first attempt, try again. Many people have to try and quit more than once before they finally succeed.
If you feel like a smoke, think about the benefits of not smoking – lower risk of heart disease, cancers, lung cancer among many others.
Start a money jar with the money you save by not buying cigarettes. Treat yourself with the savings.
If you can not give up even after repeated attempts, use cessation aids such as nicotine patches and gum, which are now available in India.
Facts about cigarettes
Cigarettes contain about 40,000 compounds among which 40 like Tar (used to build roads), Carbon Monoxide(Car Exhaust), Arsenic(Rat Poison), Ammonia (Floor cleaner), Butane (Gas lighter fluid), Formaldehyde (Tissue preserving fluid), etc. are responsible to create cancer cells in a healthy person.
Bidis(conical cigarettes made with flaked tobacco hand-wrapped in a dried temburni leaf and tied with string) can deliver more tar and carbon monoxide than a manufactured cigarette
Nicotine which is the most common compound of tobacco is not responsible for creating cancer cells, Nicotine is the addictive agent that creates a need for smoking.
According to the World Health Organization estimates, smoking kills nearly 5 million people worldwide every year. In India, more than 8 lakh people die annually due to tobacco-related diseases and the number of people who suffer from tobacco-related illnesses is even higher. India has over 120 million smokers and from the year 2010, one million of them will die every year due to tobacco.
The average 20-a-day smoker is estimated to inhale tobacco smoke about 70,000 times a year. Smokers have higher risk of cancer (particularly of the lungs, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney, and bladder); coronary artery disease; cerebrovascular disease (strokes, intra cerebral haemorrhages); and COAD (chronic obstructive airways disease, comprising chronic bronchitis and emphysema).
Cigarette smoking and women
Recent research suggests possible link between mother who smoke and attention deficit disorder (ADHD) in their children, says Dr Asha Sharma, head of Obestrics and Gynaecology, Rockland Hospital. Exposure of cigarette smoke may be a factor in SIDS- ( Sudden infant death syndrome ) and there is a greater chance that child of smokers will become smokers themselves.
Smoking during pregnancy may result in small for gestational age for the foetus, premature labour, respiratory troubles in child and neonatal infection.
Smoking increase the risk of cancer of the cervix in women besides the similar risk of heart disease, lung disease like chronic pulmonary obtrusive disease, leads to cerebral stroke peptic ulcers as in men.
