Quitting Smoking Takes Several Tries
Quitting smoking is hard. According to scientists, nicotine is the most addictive substance known.
Despite what you see in TV commercials, people who successfully quit smoking have usually tried several times unsuccessfully before they finally manage to quit for good. Yes, there are a few who simply stop one day and never smoke again, but they are rare.
That means doctors should treat smoking as a chronic health problem, not as simply a matter of willpower (or lack thereof). Smokers, especially those who have smoked heavily for many years, may need long-term support to successfully kick the habit that is killing them.
Instead of being made to feel like a weakling or a failure, a long-time smoker needs to be patiently supported in their efforts to quit. They need to be reassured that the best way to quit is to keep trying, over and over if necessary, until you succeed.
The Annals of Internal Medicine has published a new study which says that to succeed in helping their patients to quit smoking, doctors need to treat smoking as a chronic disease. They may have to try a number of methods, including prescribing medication and talking with patients on an ongoing basis.
The study involved 750 primary care patients who smoked at least half a pack (10 cigarettes) a day to what worked best to help them quit. Patients were either
(A) Simply prescribed randomly assigned medication (either nicotine patch or bupropion).
Or
(B) Assigned to groups that were either
……(1) Prescribed medication and received either one or two calls from trained counselors
……(2) Only received up to six counseling calls.
During the two-year study, doctors offered help with smoking every six months—with either medication only or medication plus intensive counseling. The more times smokers tried to quit, the more likely they were to succeed in quitting.
