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Archive for the ‘Quit Smoking’ Category

If you are reading this article then you are most likely a smoker who has at least considered the possibility of quitting. There are a great many quit smoking programs, products, and techniques available, one of them being the NicoCure quit smoking patch. Smokers often have varying reasons for wanting to quit such as improving their health, increasing their lifespan, being around to take care of their families, or just to avoid the harassment that todays smokers often receive from the anti-smoking sector. An ideal quit smoking product would be all natural with no dangerous drugs, does not use nicotine substitutes, has a high success ratio, and controls the dreaded nicotine withdrawal symptoms. NicoCure claims that it does all these things and this article looks at the validity of these claims and investigates whether the NicoCure quit smoking patch really does help people quit smoking.

The NicoCure quit smoking patch uses an all natural herbal based remedy that contains the extract of Lobelia Inflata which is a North American herb that is said to improve the respiratory tract of anybody that takes it. In addition to helping to clear the lungs, it is said that Lobelia will remove all cravings in as little as 10 days but may take up to 30 days to be completely effective. The manufacturer of NicoCure also makes an interesting claim that if a smoker lights up while wearing the patch, the Lobelia extract will interact with the tobacco and make the taste extremely unpleasant giving further incentive to quit smoking. Being an all natural herbal extract, the NicoCure patch does not contain any nicotine.

Many quit smoking cures rely on nicotine replacement to curb the smokers cravings while trying to quit and to many people this philosophy may appear ludicrous. After all, it is the nicotine that the smoker is addicted to and it should be the goal of a quit smoking program to remove the nicotine addiction instead of replacing it with a different source such as gums and nicotine patches. Many smokers who use some type of nicotine replacement therapy often fail to quit mainly because while they may quit the smoking habit for awhile, they never break the powerful nicotine addiction. It is even said that some people who do manage to quit smoking remain addicted to the cure and cant quit using the gum or nicotine patches.

Obviously, nicotine withdrawal can be very unpleasant causing symptoms such as irritability, weight gain, nervousness, and insomnia and is the main reason that many smokers trying to quit give up. The NicoCure quit smoking patch claims that it will reduce these terrible cravings as soon as you begin wearing it and completely remove them within 10-30 days, all without using any nicotine or other drugs. The manufacturer says that NicoCure utilizes the healing properties of its all natural herbal formula to completely eliminate the smokers body of its need for nicotine. This sounds great but does it really work?

The NicoCure team says that the quit smoking patch was extensively researched and tested for 10 years and claims a quit smoking success rate of 97% compared to around 20% for nicotine replacement programs. It comes with a 30 day money back guarantee for those that dont find it to work as claimed. NicoCure claims that there is nothing similar to its quit smoking patch available on the market today. The manufacture says that it has developed its own special blend of herbal extracts concentrated to allow the use of only 1 patch while other herbal remedy products require you to take 3 or more formulas each day just to achieve the same potency of NicoCure.

As with most quit smoking programs and products, NicoCure makes claims that may seem too good to be true. NicoCure claims a very high success rate but then most products that are trying to make a sale make the same claim and if all products worked as well as claimed, there would be very few smokers left in the world. While it is hard to substantiate the claims of most quit smoking programs including NicoCure, testimonials show that many people have benefited from this program and it may very well work for you as well.

Zyban is prescribed as an antidepressant and a quit smoking therapy. It was the fourth most prescribed antidepressant in the US market in 2006 with over 21 million prescriptions. But how does the Zyban quit smoking method work?

The Zyban quit smoking method involves the subject taking Zyban for about 10 days prior to an agreed quit smoking date. The drug is taken in advance of the actual quit date in order to ‘build up’ within the subject’s metabolism. To this end, Zyban is only prescribed for quitting smoking within a well controlled and doctor lead, regimen.

The Zyban quit smoking method works by reducing nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Carefully controlled testing of the Zyban quit smoking method against a placebo have shown that the urge to smoke over the 7-week treatment was only 27% likely compared to 56% within the placebo group, or about half as much.

There are other advantages of the Zyban quit smoking method over so-called cold turkey (or placebo). Mood swings in the placebo group were experienced by 32% of quitters as opposed to 21% – a 50% reduction.

However, the main advantages of the Zyban quit smoking method are the actual success rates that one can expect. In placebo groups or those quitting cold turkey, the chance of maintaining a quit was only half as likely as those taking the Zyban quit smoking method. A year after quitting, subjects that used Zyban as part of their quit program were one and a half times more likely to still be smoke free.

However, as laudable as these statistics sound, the likelihood of staying quit by cold turkey remains very low at just 10% at best after 12 months. The Zyban quit smoking method therefore fairs only marginally better at 15% of subjects remaining smoke free after 12 months. Zyban is by no means a magic pill!

Chantix (Champix in the UK) or Varenicline to give its formal name has shown more promise than Zyban as a quit smoking medication. Whilst this article is not aimed at reviewing varenicline, it is only fair to note that 23% of subjects using varenicline remained smoke free after 1 year.

Moving back to the focus of this article though, the Zyban quit smoking method also has some side effects that any would-be ‘Zybaner’ should consider. Zyban is known to more than double the likelihood of a dry mouth or sore throat during a quit – 7% in placebo v 17% for Zyban. It also increases the likelihood of excessive sweating (2% v 6%), nausea (8% v 17%) and skin rashes (0% v 2%). Indeed the nausea and skin irritation can be severe enough for the treatment to be abandoned.

Finally, the two most notable side effects of the Zyban quit smoking method is the propensity for seizures and there remains a risk of up to 1 in 1000 people suffering from severe seizure. Another is the false positive reading zyban can cause in urine tests for amphetamine – if these form part of your life, be cautious about taking zyban.

Before taking Zyban, it is also important to let your doctor know of any history of seizures, head injury, heart disease, liver problems, kidney problems, eating disorders, any mental conditions, diabetes, alcohol dependence, and allergies. Because Zyban may make you dizzy and affect coordination, you should not drive or operate machinery until you get used to the drug’s effects.

You should limit or avoid consumption of alcoholic beverages as alcohol can increase your risk of seizures. Chronic alcohol users who suddenly stop the intake of alcohol while taking Zyban may also increase the risk of having seizures.

Finally, remember that you should ALWAYS consult your doctor before using prescription drugs.

If you are a smoker then you already know full well the reasons why you should quit and may have already tried in the past but failed. In addition to the many health hazards involved, being a smoker in todays society is just plain hard. Most smokers know full well how many non-smokers in our society treat smokers like criminals and make them feel worthless without realizing the fact that most smokers are truly addicted and would gladly quit if only they could. I would like to talk about how the Quit Smoking Right Now program and some truths about tobacco addiction and why it can be so hard for smokers to quit.

The first thing that a smoker must realize is that smoking is neither pleasurable nor natural in the beginning. If you think back to the time when you first tried smoking, you will remember that your body rejected smoking with symptoms such as coughing, dizziness, and nausea. Obviously these types of feelings are not pleasurable but many people continue to keep smoking because of peer pressure or to be cool and the bad symptoms fade away. The problem is that these symptoms fade because the smoker has developed an addiction and their body begins to need what it originally rejected. Essentially, the smokers mind had convinced the smokers body to smoke until the body became addicted.

Because the smokers mind is what originally got the person to smoke in the first place, it is important that the mind be used to convince the body of a smoker to quit smoking. When a smoker quits cold turkey they are essentially doing this very thing, with their mind telling the body to quit. Regrettably, most smokers dont have the willpower to quit cold turkey because they are already truly addicted to tobacco and their body wins over their mind no matter how bad they want to quit. The Quit Smoking Right Now program claims that it manipulates a smokers belief system making it possible for the mind to beat the body and enable the smoker to quit for good. In order to quit, the smokers body must overcome the addiction that tobacco creates.

Many quit smoking programs operate on the assumption that treating the nicotine withdraw symptoms is what it takes to help a smoker quit. The Quit Smoking Right Now program claims that nicotine addiction is not the factor that really makes it difficult for a smoker to quit and this is the reason that programs that rely on treating the symptoms of nicotine addiction often fail. As you may or may not be aware, there are thousands of chemicals other then nicotine and tar in tobacco. Did you know that some of these chemicals are so hazardous that they are not even allowed to be deposited into landfills. The Quit Smoking Right Now program claims that of these thousands of other chemicals there is actually one that makes it harder for a smoker to quit then nicotine and upon joining their program they will reveal what chemical it is and a very simple way of defeating its effects so you can become a non-smoker. It would seem that if quitting was this simple then this chemical would be well know but it appears that there are good reasons why most people dont know about it.

Almost everybody including non-smokers realize why the tobacco companies dont what smokers to quit. With each smoker that quits, they lose money and it is in there best interest financially for a person to start smoking at an early age and continue to smoke until the day they die. But did you realize that companies and pharmacys that make nicotine patches and gums and anti-smoking drugs also have an interest in smokers not quitting. If all smokers quit, then who would they sell their products to. While I feel that for the most part the governments around the world do wish to help their citizens live a longer, healthier life, we do need to take into account the fact that the tobacco lobby is one of the most powerful in the world and some unscrupulous politicians may benefit from smokers who fail to quit. As you may now realize, there are a great many people and organizations that do benefit from the fact that many smokers dont ever quit.

The Quit Smoking Right Now program makes some great claims, some of which may seem a bit unbelievable but if these claims are true then this may be a great program for a smoker who really wants to quit. I will not presume to make any guarantees about this program helping you quit but it does claim a money back guarantee if you dont. With the amount of money most smokers spend on tobacco products, it would seem that this program would pay for itself in no time if it successfully turns you into a non-smoker.