Medications to Stop Smoking

Have you tried everything to quit your smoking habit like rehab, abstinence, nicotine gums, lozenges...? Do you still find the temptation to puff a cigarette too much to resist? Alas, smoking woes do not end that easily. Even if you administer strict self control and refrain yourself from your favorite deadly nicotine bar, the withdrawal symptoms are too much to deal with. Often, people go back to smoking as they are not able to endure the torturous withdrawal symptoms of smoking. However, there is a good news for all those who wish to give up smoking without having to endure the withdrawal effects. Medications that assist in quitting smoking are fast becoming a popular choice among the smokers who wish to quit.

Stop Smoking Medications
Medications like Varenicline and Bupropion help you get over your urge to smoke and also reduce the miserable symptoms after quitting. Almost all the quit smoking medications have a similar working mechanism. When you smoke cigarette, the nicotine in it stimulates your brain to release several chemicals which include dopamine. This dopamine is mainly responsible for the 'relaxed' feeling or the 'high' you experience after smoking. Medications like Bupropion, nicotine lozenges, gums etc. mimic the working of nicotine by stimulating the brain to release low level of dopamine. Thus, there is lessened urge to smoke cigarette and better tolerance towards the withdrawal symptoms. Varenicline goes a step further by blocking the nicotine receptors in the brain, so that when you go back to smoking, your cigarette does not give you the same 'high'.

Tips to Take Medications
If you are opting for medications to help you give up smoking, it is essential that you take them responsibly. Although, these medications are available at most of the drugstores and need no prescription, it is strongly recommended that you take them after consulting your physician. Moreover, it is a bad idea to continue your smoking habit while you are on these medications. The reason is that, these medications have small proportions of nicotine, thus if you combine them with cigarette, your body would receive an overdose of nicotine, which can be harmful. Pregnant women should avoid the use of these medications altogether.

Help to Quit Permanently
While quitting, many smokers commit a mistake of giving up smoking all at once. This does not help in any way, instead makes you even more vulnerable to suffer the withdrawal symptoms. For instance, if you were smoking 12 cigarettes a day and then one day you completely quit, your body won't be prepared to handle the sudden change. Hence, give your body some time to prepare itself mentally and physically, so that you can quit smoking permanently. Follow the tips given below to quit smoking forever.

• Delay the time you smoke your first cigarette by one hour each day.
• Switch to a brand you find distasteful or leaves you unsatisfied.
• Slowly cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke per day. Let this process continue for weeks, until you cut it down to one cigarette per day.
• Make smoking an unpleasant experience by associating it with bad memories or focusing on the negative effects of smoking.
• Engage yourself in your favorite activity whenever you feel a strong urge to smoke.
• Join a support group or seek encouragement from your family or friends to help you cope with the withdrawal symptoms.
• The immediate period after quitting is the most crucial, as the withdrawal symptoms become more severe. However, remind yourself that this phase will soon subside and you would be out of the deadly habit once and for all.

Medications do not assure complete freedom from smoking, but only make your task a bit easier. After all, it is your own resilience and self determination that can finally get you out of this habit.