Champix

What is Champix?

Champix (Varenicline), its type of medication designed to aid people in giving up the habit of smoking. This treatment, know as a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist, works by stimulating the same receptors of the brain that smoking nicotine does which helps reduce cravings. With a success rate of around 44%, this treatment is far more effective than its only competitor, Zyban. Since its release in January 2007, Champix has fast become one of the more popular options for patients looking to end their addiction to nicotine.

How Does It Work?

Champix works by stimulating the same receptors in the brain as nicotine. This makes it possible for Champix to remove all the cravings and withdrawal symptoms which would normally be experienced if you were to stop smoking. As well as this action, Champix also works to block the receptors from any nicotine inhaled, which means that the rewarding affects that nicotine would usually have on the body are no longer effective.

What's the difference between Champix and Zyban?

Zyban as it is also known, was originally developed and approved as an antidepressant and was only later discovered to have some degree of benefit with smoking cessation. The way in which this treatment works is not presently understood by the medical community, but it is known that Zyban affects the neurotransmitters (chemicals stored in nerve cells) noradrenaline and dopamine by increasing the amount of these in the brain which is believed to help reduce cravings.
The success rate of Zyban is approximately 29%, which in comparison to that of Champix which has a success rate 44%, is considerably less, rendering this treatment far less effective in helping people stop smoking. Further, the results of several comparative studies have found Champix to be far more effective even in fewer doses.

How is this champix treatment taken?

Champix comes in tablet form and is taken for a period of 12 weeks. Your course of champix treatment will comprise of a starter pack which contains 11 x 0.5mg white tablets and 14 x 1mg light blue tablets. These different doses are used as described below:

• From day 1 to 3 – take one 0.5mg dose of Champix daily
• From day 4 to 7, take one 0.5mg dose of Champix twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, at approximately the same time each day
• From day 8 to 14, take one 1mg dose of Champix twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, at approximately the same time each day
• From day 15 onwards until you have completed your course of treatment, you should take one 1mg dose of Champix twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, at approximately the same time each day.
If you experience unpleasant side effects once you have started taking the 1mg dosage of Champix, it is possible to revert back to the 0.5mg dosage, which will be taken twice daily for the remainder of the treatment. You will need to inform our customer service department who will take information from you regarding these champix side effects and seek the advice of our doctor.

What are the side effects of Champix?

As with all prescription medications, there are several possible side effects attributed to Champix. The more common side effects, which you will more than likely not experience at all, include nausea, insomnia, abnormal dreams and headache. These champix side effects are usually mild with fewer than 3% of patients ceasing treatment as a result.

UK doctors urge ban on smoking in cars

A British doctors group reaserch that smoking should be ban in cars, saying the secondhand smoke inside a vehicle can cause severe health problems for children and adults.The Royal College of Physicians made the recommendation in a new report on how secondhand smoke, also called passive smoking, affects children.
The report found that, for children, secondhand smoke annually causes more than 20,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infection, 120,000 cases of middle ear disease, at least 22,000 cases of wheezing and asthma, 200 cases of bacterial meningitis, and 40 sudden infant deaths.
England's chief medical officer, Liam Donaldson, said the report will contribute to the the government's review of existing smoking legislation in England later this year. Smoking was made illegal in all public spaces in the United Kingdom in 2007.

"This is a serious public health concern," Donaldson said.

Health effects on children from secondhand smoke are "entirely avoidable," the report says. It laid out a series of policy recommendations to reduce those effects, including the ban on smoking in cars.
"Smoke-free legislation should be extended much more widely to include public places frequented by children and young people, and to prohibit all smoking in cars and other vehicles," the report urged.
The report also urged a hike in tobacco prices, more effective health warnings, more generic packaging for tobacco products, and tailored stop-smoking services.
"This report isn't just about protecting children from passive smoking, it's about taking smoking completely out of children's lives," said John Britton, chairman of the Royal College of Physicians' Tobacco Advisory Group.
Smokers' lobby group Forest said the proposals "go way beyond what is acceptable in a free society" and are a first step to banning smoking in homes.
"They wouldn't encourage people to smoke around children, but adults should be allowed to use their common sense and act accordingly," said Simon Clark, director of Forest. "They don't need laws to regulate every aspect of our behavior."
Clark said the report's claims are a "huge exaggeration."
"Unfortunately the anti-smoking industry isn't interested in compromise. It just wants to bully smokers until they quit," Clark said.

UK control Lungs Cancer

Britain has the largest decrease in the world in premature deaths from lung cancer, and widespread smoking cessation is the chief reason, according to a major new study to be reported in this week's British Medical Journal by Sir Richard Doll, whose work 50 years ago first linked smoking to lung cancer in the UK. Speaking at a BMJ press conference today (2 August), Professor Doll, age 87, from Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Oxford unit, said: "Our 1950 study showed that smoking was a cause of most of the lung cancer in Britain at that time, and our new study shows that widespread cessation of smoking has halved the number of lung cancer deaths that would otherwise be occurring in Britain in the year 2000."
The 1950 study was the first to link lung cancer in Britain to smoking. It compared the smoking habits of 1,465 people with lung cancer and 1,465 without the disease. The new study compares the smoking habits of 982 people with lung cancer and 3185 without it. Because so many smokers have stopped, the new study can assess the effects of prolonged cessation. It finds that, among men who continue to smoke, 16% will die from lung cancer before age 75 (unless they die of something else first). But, for those who stop at age 50 this risk is only 6%, and for those who stop at age 30 it is less than 2%. See fig. 3
Nationwide effects on lung cancer deaths of big changes in smoking often show up first among men in early middle age. The UK had about the worst lung_cancer_death rates in the world in 1950, but has had the best decrease since then. The US is lagging 25 years behind, but since the 1970s US male lung cancer mortality in early middle age has halved. See fig. 2a, 2b, and other graphs and data of lung cancer deaths since 1950 (male & female, early middle age & later) for the UK, US and many other developed countries.
In addition, smoking kills many more people by other diseases than by lung cancer: overall, half of all cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by tobacco if they don't stop. But, even the smokers who stop in middle age avoid most of their later risk of being killed by tobacco, and those who stop before middle age avoid nearly all the risk. Said Professor Doll: "In 1950, 80% of the men and 40% of the women in Britain smoked, and tobacco deaths were increasing rapidly. Nowadays, among people over the age of 50 there are twice as many ex-cigarette smokers as cigarette smokers, and tobacco deaths are decreasing rapidly. But, smoking is still the biggest cause of premature death in Britain." There have been six million deaths from tobacco in Britain over the past 50 years, of which three million were deaths in middle age (35-69). Those killed by tobacco in middle age lost, on average, more than 20 years of life.
Professor Sir Richard Peto of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Oxford unit and co-author of the new report said "There are still 10 million smokers in Britain, and about five million will be killed by tobacco if they don't stop. In the United States there are 50 million smokers: about 25 million will be killed by tobacco if they don't stop. Tobacco deaths over the next 50 years will be affected much more by the number of adults who manage to stop than by the number of adolescents who start smoking."
Professor Peto cautioned that while premature deaths from tobacco are decreasing in Britain, and are beginning to decrease in some other developed countries, they are increasing rapidly in many other countries. Worldwide, there were about 100 million (0.1 billion) tobacco deaths in the 20th century, but if current smoking patterns continue there will be about 1,000 million (1 billion) in the 21st century. The increase is partly because of population growth, and partly because the increases over the past few decades in cigarette smoking by young adults imply increases over the next few decades in deaths from tobacco (if those young adults continue to smoke as they reach middle and old age). There are currently 1.1 billion smokers in the world.
Sir Richard Peto said: "On present smoking patterns there will be about 150 million tobacco deaths in the first 25 years of this century and 300 million in the second quarter. Most of those who will be killed by tobacco in the first half of this century have already begun to smoke. So, these numbers of tobacco deaths could be substantially reduced only by current smokers giving up the habit. In contrast, the extent to which young people henceforth become persistent smokers will affect mortality rates chiefly in the middle or second half of the 21st century."

UK Tobacco control objectives

Current government targets for reducing smoking prevalence in the UK are to achieve a reduction in smoking rates from 26 per cent in 2002 to 21 per cent of the general population by 2010 (Choosing Health - A White Paper on Public Health, 2005).
The NHS National Plan expands upon this with a target of 1.5 million smokers quitting by 2010. This equates to around 125,000 smokers stopping each year. The NHS Cancer Plan prioritises social inequalities in smoking and targets a reduction in smoking in routine manual groups from 31 per cent in 2002 to 26 per cent in 2010.
The NHS National Plan has set out and implemented a number of initiatives aimed at meeting these targets. These have included the NHS stop smoking services, making cessation products available on prescription, the NHS stop smoking helpline (0800 169 0169) and ongoing television adverts and public information campaigns.

No Smoking Day is also a major contributor to achieving smoking prevalence targets. With such high awareness levels, the Day is a focus for many smokers attempting to stop. The No Smoking Day charity works closely with groups involved in smoking cessation to ensure the information and advice given to smokers is the most up-to-date available. Each year more than a million people will attempt to quit on No Smoking Day.
Calls to helplines, sales of stop smoking products and visits to stop smoking services peak on every No Smoking Day, demonstrating the continued impact and effectiveness of the campaign.
On No Smoking Day 2006, call volumes to the NHS stop smoking helpline reached four times the daily average for the rest of the year, with around 12,000 calls made on the Day. Data from the NHS stop smoking services shows that the busiest time of the year is the January to March quarter.

What Happens when You Stop Smoking

The benefit timeline

This timeline shows when the benefits of stopping smoking will come through after your final cigarette.

20 minutes, 8 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 2-21 weeks, 1 year, 10 years, 15 years

20 minutes after giving up

Your blood pressure and your pulse rate return to normal.

--What this means

Raised blood pressure and high pulse rate both put strain on your heart, increasing your risk of a heart attack. The minute you stop your risk is reduced.

8 hours after giving up

The carbon monoxide levels in your blood are halved.

--What this means

Carbon monoxide from smoking can also produce distortions of time perception, psychomotor and visual impairment and negative effects on cognitive skill. Reducing the level of carbon monoxide in your blood will reduce these problems. Carbon monoxide reduces the uptake of oxygen from the lungs - the higher the levels of carbon monoxide, the lower the levels of oxygen.3 Oxygen is vital for the functioning of all energy systems in the body; so as soon as you cut carbon monoxide levels, you will experience enhanced energy levels.

24 hours after you Stop Smoking Carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body.

--What this means

Look forward to better sports performance, with stronger endurance, lower levels of fatigue, improved recovery after exercise and a lower heart rate for each level of exercise.

48 hours after you Stop Smoking Nicotine is eliminated from the body.

--What this means

Nicotine has a number of unpleasant side-effects on the body. It can act as an emetic (cause vomiting) and it can produce stomach upsets. It raises blood pressure, and increases the likelihood of hypothermia and seizures. Get rid of the nicotine and you will get rid of these symptoms.

2-21 weeks after you Stop Smoking Circulation improves.

--What does this mean

Bad circulation causes numerous problems, ranging from persistently cold feet, slow skin healing, Raynaud's disease and peripheral vascular disease (PVT) which can even lead to limb amputation. Giving up smoking will reduce your risk of most circulation problems.

After 1 year

Your risk of a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker.

--What this means

Each year, tobacco smoking accounts for around 26,000 deaths from coronary heart disease in the UK - approximately 17 percent of all heart disease deaths. The UK has one of the highest heart disease deaths in the world. Luckily, giving up will quickly start to reduce your risk.

After 10 years

Your risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker


--What this means

In 1999, 22 percent of all cancer deaths were due to lung cancer, making it the most common form of cancer death. Over 80 percent of all lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking. Giving up is the most important thing you can do to reduce your risk.

After 15 years

Your risk of a heart attack is the same as someone who has never smoked.

--What this means

A better chance of a long, healthy life!

Hypnosis- This is the way

Smokers, who are getting aware of the possible health hazards and want to quit smoke at any cost, need not worry. There are several options for them. All of us know that smoking is nothing but addiction of nicotine. There are several companies manufacturing pills or nicotine replacement patches. These nicotine replacement pills are quite helpful in quitting smoking. Apart from these pills, there is one more option for quitting this addiction of nicotine. It is Hypnosis!
Most of the smokers stop smoking for some time after using these products. However, after sometime they start smoking again. The cause for again taking up smoking is that they were always conscious of having replacement pills for smoking. This means they were always conscious that smoking provides them something. Thus, the desire to smoke still exists in them. On the other hand, Hypnosis completely changes the attitude of smoker towards smoking. It put an end to the inner desire of the smoker for smoking. Once the smoker put an end to his inner desire for smoking, then he will never take up the cigarette again.
If you are a little health conscious then you can understand the importance of Hypnosis rather than nicotine replacement pills. The cause of your quitting smoking is that you want your body to be healthy, free from all kinds of toxins. However, nicotine is still getting entry into your body through the intake of these pills. So, consider Hypnosis rather than pills.
Duration taken by Hypnosis to quit smoking is quite shorter than the replacement pills. You would be astonished to know that Hypnosis takes only one hour or less to quit smoking completely. On the other hand, these replacement pills take many weeks.
In US, from your taxes you can remove the cost of programs that you have attended for quitting smoking. The cost of these programs can be added in the medical expenses amounts.
There is no provision for including the amount you have paid for drugs, in the medical expenses. The cause for not including them in the medical expenses is that they do not require any prescriptions. Thus, it would not be beneficial for you not to buy these drugs.
Finally, the result of Hypnosis on the smokers who wants to be a non-smoker is 70-80%. On the other hand, result of nicotine replacement pill is 50-60%. The cause of there low success rate is the inner consciousness of the user that, “I want to smoke and so I am substituting it.” However, Hypnosis completely puts an end to smoker’s inner consciousness and he never feels the desire to have it again.

Cigar Smoking

It’s a common misconception that cigar smoking is less dangerous than cigarette smoking. Not true. Cigars are not safer than cigarettes, but because they are used differently, the health hazards differ somewhat as well.
How does cigar smoking differ from cigarette smoking?
Approximately 75 percent of cigar smokers don't inhale and don't smoke cigars on a daily basis.
Cigarette smokers do inhale, and most smoke 20, 30 or more cigarettes every day.
These differences in smoking habit explain why cigar smokers are generally exposed to less of the poisons and carcinogens present in cigars than cigarette smokers are to similar toxins in cigarettes, and why there are fewer instances of cigar smoking-related disease and death than we see with cigarettes.
Let's take a look at a few facts about cigars and cigar smoking -- some of them might surprise you.


Facts About Cigar Smoking
1. One cigar may contain as much tobacco as an entire pack of cigarettes.
A single cigarette typically has less than a gram of tobacco, while a single cigar may contain as much as 5 to 17 grams of tobacco.

2. Cigars are addictive.
Cigar smoke breaks down in saliva, allowing the smoker to easily absorb nicotine through the lining of the mouth in quantities sufficient to cause addiction, even if the smoke is not inhaled. And, the amount of nicotine in a single cigar is many times greater than what is found in a cigarette. A typical cigarette contains one to two milligrams of nicotine, while the nicotine content of a cigar is 100 to 200 milligrams, with some as high as 400 milligrams.

3. Cigar smoke is more concentrated and toxic than cigarette smoke.
Secondhand smoke from cigars varies from that of cigarettes for a couple of reasons. First, the manufacturing process for cigars requires a fermentation period. During this time, high concentrations of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) are produced. TSNAs are some of the most carcinogenic compounds known to man. Secondly, cigar wrappers are not as porous as cigarette wrappers, making the combustion of a cigar less complete. These two factors result in higher concentrations some of the toxic chemicals in cigars than in cigarettes.

4. Smoking as little as one cigar a day increases the risk for cancer.
Cigar smoking has been linked to several different cancers, most notably those of the oral cavity, which include lip, tongue, mouth, throat and larynx. Cigar smokers who inhale are also at an increased risk for lung cancer, cancers of the pancreas and bladder, as well as heart and lung disease.

5. Cigar and pipe smokers are at risk for early tooth loss.
In a study published in the January 1999 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association, it was discovered that cigar and pipe smokers are at an increased risk for early tooth loss, compared to that of their nonsmoking counterparts. Cigar and pipe smokers are also at an increased risk for alveolar bone(the bone that holds the tooth in place) loss.

6. Cigar smoking has been linked to erectile dysfunction in men.
Smokers are twice as likely to be impotent as nonsmokers due to the adverse effects smoking has on circulation, hormones and the nervous system. Cigar smoking and exposure to second hand smoke in particular have been shown to be significant risk factors for erectile dysfunction.
All forms of tobacco have risks associated with them, and cigars are no different. Steer clear of cigars, and avoid the secondhand smoke they produce.

There is no such thing as a "safe" tobacco product.

How To Talk to Your Teen About Smoking

Starting a conversation about not smoking really isn’t as hard as you may think. Your teen is expecting for you to say something – he/she knows that most parents do. That can take the edge off. Here is how to make these conversations as effective as possible, so your teen doesn’t ever start smoking.

1: Don’t think that one talk with your teen is going to work. This is a topic that needs to come up in conversations between you and your teen often to reinforce the don’t smoke message. Have mini-talks about the different reasons for not smoking.

2: Start early – even before middle school. Tailor the conversation to your child’s age and maturity level. Keep talking until you have grandchildren to talk to.

3: Use the media, newspapers or television, to help you bring up the subject. When you see a smoking advertisement, show your teen how it targets him/her. Ask your teen how he/she would fight against this kind of advertising.

4: Talk about smoking addiction. Ask your teen how he/she likes making his/her own choices. Tell him/her that while the first cigarette is their choice, smoking becomes addictive very quickly. Therefore, it will soon be the cigarettes making the choice for them.

5: Talk to your teen about the financial cost of smoking. Smoking is an expensive habit and it will only get more expensive as time goes on. Does your teen really want to spend all of their allowance on cigarettes? Smoking means less money for other fun activities.

6: Know the facts about smoking and your health. Bring them up when someone you know is suffering from them. This sounds harsh, but it is life. Don’t shield your teen from it. When Aunt Millie calls and her voice is raspy due to cigarette smoking, you should make it clear to your teen that smoking is the reason her voice sounds like that.

7: Make the consequences of smoking personal for your teen. Bring up what smoking can do to your teen’s ability to play sports, be in band or insert your teen’s activity here.

8: Discuss the fact that the majority of teens, and adults, do not smoke. It may seem to your teen that smoking is common if their friends smoke, but it isn’t.

9: Talk about the immediate side effects of smoking with your teen. Bad breath, yellow teeth and the stink on a smoker’s clothes are side effects that teens can relate to. These things are ‘gross’ and do not make them ‘look cool’.

10: Tell your teen that it is okay to say no to a friend who is offering him/her a cigarette. Role-play how this is done and go through a few scenarios.

Teen Girls Smoking

Concern about weight and the drive to be thin increase the risk a girl will become a daily smoker by the time she’s 18 or 19 years old, according to a new study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Weight concerns increased the risk for both black and white girls.
The study found that other factors early in life also increased the risk of later smoking, including stress, a parent with high school or less education, being from a one-parent household, drinking alcohol, poor academic performance, and poor conduct. Each factor affected the risk to differing degrees in black and white girls.
The study, which appears in the June issue of Preventive Medicine, was based on data from the NHLBI-sponsored Growth and Health Study (NGHS). Lead investigator Dr. Carolyn Voorhees of The Johns Hopkins University Medical School and an NHLBI Research Fellow at the time of the study, led the analysis with collaborators at the University of California at Berkeley, CA, Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, OH, Westat, Inc, in Rockville, MD, and the Maryland Medical Research Institute in Baltimore, MD.

“Getting youths not to start smoking has been very hard,” said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant. “Many environmental, social, and psychological factors are involved in determining which youths are at most risk. By helping to identify key factors involved in girls’ decisions to smoke, the study may lead to the development of more effective smoking prevention programs.”

“Many of the factors identified in this study as increasing girls’ risk of becoming smokers were not even on our radar screens 10 years ago,” said Voorhees, “and the drive for thinness among black girls has not been previously reported.”

National surveys show that teenage smoking, especially among whites, is on the rise, with the biggest increase being among high school seniors. More than 3,000 young persons start smoking each day, according to Federal estimates. Current predictions are that, in the United States, more than 5 million of today’s young smokers will go on to die of a tobacco-related illness.
NGHS involved 2,379 black and white girls at three locations — Richmond, CA, Cincinnati, OH, and metropolitan Washington, DC. The girls were followed for 9 years and were ages 9 and 10 at the start of the study.
Researchers looked at five categories of smoking. The categories were based on the number of days a girl had smoked over 30 days: No smoking, experimental (5 or fewer days), occasional (6-19 days), regular (20-29 days), and daily (30 days).
Researchers also assessed the girls’ blood lipids, blood pressure, food intake, and physical activity. Additionally, girls underwent in-depth interviews on various subject areas. Most assessments were repeated annually. Information on parental and guardian education and other topics also was gathered.
In this study, researchers compared the effects of risk factors for becoming a daily smoker in black and white girls, as well as examining the impact of each risk factor independently for each group.

Among the study’s other key findings were:

White girls were more likely than black girls to become daily smokers, while black girls were likely than white girls to become experimental or occasional smokers.
For black girls, weight concerns and a drive for thinness at ages 11-12 were the most important factors leading to daily smoking at ages 18-19.
For white girls, in addition to weight concerns at ages 11-12, poor conduct and stress at those ages and having a one-parent household were the most important factors leading to daily smoking at ages 18-19.

Suicide from Cigarette

Smoking, especially after the introduction of tobacco, was an essential component of different cultures and became integrated with important traditions such as weddings, funerals and was expressed especially in literature and poetry. Smoking is a “practice where a substance, commonly tobacco, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled”. It means a person who smoke is going to kill himself, because he is inhaling smoke of fire. In other words we can say that he is going to suicide. The Hubly Bubly and cigarette are common methods of smoking in all over the world.
Smoking causes many types of diseases. The most obvious drawback of smoking is that it effects our appearance. Through smoking nails become yellowish and rough. These yellowish and turned nail looks very bad and effect on the personality. It creates wrinkles on our face and we become older than our present age. So, in short smoking effects our outlook.

Smoking causes most deadly diseases like Cancer and Heart diseases. Smoke damages the respiratory system due to which our lungs suffer. The symptoms are permanent cough and it become verse by the passage of time and finally become lungs cancer. There is Nicotine in tobacco and it increases the blood pressure and forces the heart to work harder to deliver oxygen. Meanwhile, carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke puts a negative effect on the heart. Medical science proves 80% of smokers got heart dieses.
National health and medical research council of Australia has proved that almost more than 60% people in the world are smokers and from these 30% are passive smokers. It means whenever people smoke, all the others around them are smoking too because they breathe in the same environment. A review of the evidence on the health effects of passive smoking showed that passive smoking causes lower respiratory illness and asthma in children. Giving up smoking can reduce the risk of developing many of these and diseases.
Quitting smoking is not easy, but it can be done. If a person quit smoking, his skin will become fair, he will feel taste better, think better, energetic, breathe smoothly and he can avoid himself from different deadly diseases. With in days he can feel a beautiful change.