You
promised yourself you would quit when you graduated from college, or when you
turned 30, or when you had your first child. You promised your family you would
quit just as soon as you got settled at your new job, or found the right
program, or retired. Every year, millions of Americans make a promise to
themselves and to their families to quit cigarettes once and for all. And every
year, millions of Americans succeed. You can be one of them.
The
number of smoking-cessation aids and quit-smoking programs has grown
dramatically in recent years as more and more people seek to quit through
solutions tailored to them. Working with your doctor or a medical professional,
you can find the right plan, using one method or a combination of methods.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Nicotine
replacement therapies (NRTs)—such as patches, gums, and inhalers—deliver to
your body the nicotine it is craving in a much safer form than cigarettes. Over
time, you reduce the amount of nicotine you consume until you have hopefully
curbed your cravings entirely.
Smoking-Cessation Medications
Prescription
drugs like Chantix or Zyban alter chemicals in your brain in order to ease
cravings and withdrawal symptoms. With some of these medications, you’re able
to concurrently use nicotine replacement therapies like a patch or gum to ease
severe withdrawal symptoms. Some even let you continue smoking at the beginning
of the program.
Alternative Therapies
Procedures
like hypnosis, acupuncture, and meditation can address some of the mental and
physical habits you have developed around cigarettes. Some people who have quit
use these therapies alone, while others use them in conjunction with medicines
or nicotine replacements.
Support Therapies
These
include counseling and stop-smoking groups. Many doctors and smoking-cessation
specialists highly recommend them, in addition to chemical or low-nicotine
methods, as an additional level of help.
If you
smoke, you know the damage your habit is doing to your body—shorter life span,
dramatic increase in cancer risks, quicker aging process. You probably
know more than one lifetime smoker who lost a battle with lung cancer,
pancreatic cancer, or heart disease.
You can
probably recite the roadblocks one encounters when trying to kick the
habit—relapse, weight gain, withdrawal. Each person’s journey is different.
Each success brings with it a new difficulty, and each milestone you reach—one
week without lighting up, one month, one year— brings untold joy to you and
your family. In the end, the decision to quit should be yours, but the journey
does not have to be taken alone