Posts tagged ‘Clinic’

Behavior Modification, a New Way to Quit Smoking?

Behavior Modification: Smoking

Even as a child, I’ve always known smoking was bad for your health. My dad smoked when I was very young, but quit due to the health risks he imposed on his family as well as himself. He quit cold turkey, meaning immediately and solely by himself. He said it was hard, but he got over it. Since then he told me never to smoke. Now I can’t exactly tell you how I picked up smoking, but it definitely started after my 18th birthday when I was legally able to purchase cigarettes. I bought my first pack just because I could, and I smoked them periodically at school, especially when others were doing it, and especially if they were attractive females. This made me think I was cool enough to associate with them. As the months went on, I started getting more and more stressed with school and work, I slowly grew dependent on cigarettes. By the time I was 19, I needed to smoke whenever I studied, worked, or socialized with my friends, because most of my friends were also smokers. I have quit numerous times and succeeded at the goals I’ve set because I would set goals such as not smoking for two weeks, however I have never set a permanent goal due to fear of losing my crutch. For example, I would not smoke for two weeks, what allowed me to abstain was the thought that I can have a cigarette after two weeks.

Tracy Orleans, et al., (1991) conducted a research study on quitting smoking interventions. The study consisted of four groups, (a) the self help group, who were given a standard self quitting guide to quit with no other support, (b) the social support group, who were given the same self quitting guide along with a support guide for their family and friends, (c) the telephone group, who were given the same self quitting material, but with four telephone calls to a counselor, and (d) the control, who were given only tips to quit smoking and a referral to local quit smoking programs. The results of the study were not significant, the quit rates of the control and experimental groups were about the same, the only difference was the way the two groups quit. The experimental groups tended to quit using behavioral requiting strategies (e.g. setting a quit date, switching brands, etc.) while the control group tended to use outside interventions (like voluntary group therapy, nicotine gum/patches, etc). An interesting finding in this article was that heavier, long time smokers were less likely to quit using self help interventions alone, than were lighter, less addicted smokers (Orleans et al., 1991). This may appear like common sense in hindsight, because clearly longer, heavier smokers are more addicted, therefore its harder for them to quit, similar reasoning could be added to the opposite; lighter smokers are less likely to quit because they feel that the health threats are trivial because there is no immediate concern, whereas long time smokers are more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic illness as a result of their smoking, thus forcing them to stop due to their health. Although the former is a finding as a result of the study, the latter was found in my specific intervention, as well as my brief encounter with smokers in the past.

My specific strategy was to monitor my smoking for five days, then implement my plan, which was to smoke one less cigarette a day. Now I only smoked about 4-5 cigarettes a day so my plan was to start with five, then kick it down to zero. Of course, as I’ve stated before I knew this would be easy because my goal for the future was to smoke again. I started my change in behavior smoking five the first day, only three the next day, but then on the third day I was angry at the thought that nicotine was controlling me, so using self control, I smoked no cigarettes on day three. Day four I was supposed to smoke two, but only smoked one at night, this one cigarette at night felt better than any cigarette I had previously smoked in weeks. I wanted this feeling again; I knew it was from nicotine withdrawal. The next three days I went off track of my original plan and smoked one cigarette a night. I used a form of operant conditioning, where “the individual performs a behavior, and the behavior is followed by positive reinforcement” (Taylor et al., 2006). In this case the very euphoric feeling of a nicotine rush is the reward due to a nicotine withdrawal from not smoking all day (which is the behavior). Sure this may not be the ideal goal of operant conditioning, but it did greatly reduce the number of cigarettes I smoked in a day.

This behavior change was only temporary in my mind, as were the past attempts. I chose to monitor my smoking habits because it is probably my most health compromising behavior (aside from riding my motorcycle but I don’t think that is a “health” issue, more of a “lifestyle” issue). According to the text, “smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable death…In the United States, it accounts for at least 430,700 deaths each year” (Taylor et al., 2006) Even without the book, and without the media telling me the negative effects of smoking, I knew it could not be good for me. When I go to sleep just after smoking, I notice my heart rate is very high, anytime I do strenuous physical activity, I always gasp for air after, although I do notice that I can hold my breath longer than many of my non smoking peers. I smoke mainly because the immediate payoffs outweigh the immediate consequences, and because I am human, evolutionary psychology shows that my immediate future is more salient than anything many years ahead (Ornstein, 1991). Sure I can get lung cancer or heart disease in 20-30 years, but that is less salient on my mind, besides I, like many others fall into the false consensus effect theory; I believe that the same health compromising behavior that kills hundreds of thousands a year, probably won’t affect me.

After the twelve day period, I continued with the one cigarette a night, after a few days of that, I went to one every other night. As I am writing this paper, I am down to two a week. My goal is to bring it down to zero, however as I have implied, the thought of being able to smoke in the future is the only thing allowing me to go without a cigarette for a period of time. What worked well in my intervention was that I did not give in to the abstinence violation effect which is “a feeling of loss of control that results when a person has violated self-imposed rules” (Taylor et al., 2006). On a couple of days I gave in and smoked more then I was supposed to, mainly because I was with my smoking friends, a main effect of abstinence violation is relapse, but I made sure I did not by telling myself it was a one time thing and I will continue with my original plan, that definitely helped me from saying “screw it” and continue to my old ways of four to five cigarettes

This intervention has taught me a lot about my specific cues for smoking and I have realized that for the most part it is not a severe addiction for me; rather it is just something to do between classes, lunch breaks, or socializing with friends. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to do this, as I probably would have never monitored my smoking otherwise. Because of this project, I have cut my cigarettes down to only six percent of what I used to smoke, with no signs of relapse, or cravings during the day. Perhaps for the future, I will only smoke when girls hit on me, which is never. :)

References

1) Orleans, CT, Schoenbach, VJ, Wagner, EH, et al. (1991). Self-help quit smoking interventions: effects of self-help materials, social support instructions, and telephone counseling. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 59(3), 439-448.

2) Ornstein, R (1991). Evolution of Consciousness: The Origins of the Way We Think. New York: Touchstone

3) Taylor, S.E (2006). Health Psychology: Sixth Edition, Health-Compromising Behaviors (pp. 133-148), Health Behaviors (pp. 54-78). New York: McGraw Hill

Varenicline Stop Smoking Pill

A Pfizer drug shown to help more than one in five smokers stop smoking received federal approval on Thursday, adding another option to the limited pool of effective stop-smoking prescription medicines.

Varenicline is only the second nicotine-free smoking cessation drug to gain FDA approval. Pfizer Inc. plans to market the twice-daily tablet as Chantix stop smoking pill.

Varenicline works in two ways, by cutting the pleasure of smoking and reducing the withdrawal symptoms that lead smokers to light up cigaret again.

Most other stop-smoking pills are various nicotine-replacement therapies, sold by prescription and over the counter in gum, patch, lozenge, nasal spray or inhaler form. In 1997, the FDA approved bupropion, an antidepressant already sold as Wellbutrin but rebranded it as Zyban, an anti-smoking drug.

The approved course of Chantix pill treatment is 12 weeks, a period that can be doubled in patients who successfully stop to increase the likelihood they will remain smoke-free, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Other clinical trials show the drug’s effect is more pronounced in the short-term: 44 percent of patients quit smoking following a 12-week course of treatment with Chantix, compared to the 30 percent of Zyban patients who quit, according to Pfizer. However, smoking cessation experts said the longer-term data are more applicable, given the difficulty of quitting the habit for good.

“It’s not going to be a revolution, it’s going to be a substantial step forward,” Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society, said of varenicline. Glynn added that the greatest value will be for smokers who have tried Zyban or nicotine-replacement therapy but failed to quit.

“My bet is that it will work as well as they do and, from the look of things, a little bit better,” he said.

Varenicline latches on to the same receptors in the brain that nicotine binds to when inhaled in cigarette smoke, an action that leads to the release of dopamine in the pleasure centers of the brain. Taking the drug blocks any inhaled nicotine from reinforcing that effect.

The drug also slows the release of dopamine, which cuts the craving to smoke that occurs when nicotine’s effect wears off, said Pfizer research chemist Jotham Coe, who invented the drug.

“It’s a shield and at the same time, it stabilizes you and prevents you from having the lows, which lead to craving and withdrawal, but at the same time, it shields you from the highs,” said Coe, a former 2 1/2 pack-a-day smoker who quit smoking a first time cold turkey and then a second time with the help of nicotine gum.

One in five American adults, or nearly 45 million people, smoke. An estimated 32 million of those smokers would like to quit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking kills nearly 440,000 Americans a year.

“Tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States and is responsible for a growing list of cancers, as well as chronic diseases including those of the lung and heart,” said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs.

Quitting, as any smoker will tell you, isn’t easy. Fewer than one in 20 smokers can do so without help, Schroeder said. With help, whether it’s a drug, counseling or both, the success rate rises at most to roughly one in five, he added.

Both the FDA and European regulators recently shot down attempts by Sanofi-Aventis to gain approval for rimonabant, or Accomplia, as a stop-smoking aid. Both have recommended that the drug, which blocks the same pleasure centers in the body activated when pot smokers get the munchies, be approved for weight loss.

And at least two vaccines are being developed that could block nicotine from ever reaching the brain.

The FDA does not recommend that Chantix be used with other smoking-cessation products. Its most common side effect is nausea.

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Stop Smoking Treatments – Which One Is The Best?

With the push today to get everybody to quit smoking, today a smoker can choose a wide range of stop smoking treatments of his own personal choice. With different choices of a stop smoking treatment coming out all the time, if one doesn’t work for you then another one may – or you can choose several types of treatment to work together.


But the best stop smoking treatment will be your own determination and will to want to quit – if you don’t want to, then the entire stop smoking aids together will not work. Once you decide to quit, and chose the date you are throwing away your last cigarette, the option you choose as a treatment is the one you are the most comfortable with: inhalers, patches, injections, pills, pills, or cold turkey. This can be natural or traditional medicine – with everything being a matter of personal preference or medical concerns.


The cold turkey method has an advantage over all other treatments, as the nicotine will be out of your system in just a few days. But the largest disadvantage is the withdrawals will be extremely intense and painful. But what happens is the body demands its maximum amount of nicotine that it has had over the years. Long-term heavy smokers use this method over all the others – about 90% of smokers will suffer through these first 72 hours to two weeks of exhausting and hard cold-turkey from nicotine to make the body 100% nicotine clean and chemical withdrawn.


And as you read this, you think of pain and suffering instead of a short period of withdrawal but of the 90% of smokers who use it, they have a larger chance of success than with the other stop smoking treatments. The body recognizes there will be no nicotine offered and the pain and withdrawal stress will disappear, as compared to a slow and easy treatment. The body knows it will eventually be getting some amount of nicotine, creating some form of chronic state of drug withdrawal. It is a matter of choice – two weeks compared to life.


If cold turkey doesn’t appeal to you, try one of the other popular stop smoking treatment for nicotine replacement therapy. It gives the smokers a wide range of products to choose from with each product releasing a small amount of nicotine into the body, negating the urge to smoke. Some of the nicotine products that have been developed to kill the smoking urge are: the nicotine inhaler, nicotine gum and the nicotine patch. Or the smoker can use a pill like Zyban to stop smoking.


Zyban prods the pituitary gland to release endorphins in the bloodstream, which, in turn, cause a positive upswing in the smoker’s mood. Generally, a Zyban course lasts 8 to 12 weeks and should be taken under medical supervision.


A few other unique methods is to quit naturally, using the time-tested Asian therapy of acupressure. In this therapy, silver needles are used to release energy inside the body while creating a sense of well being, assisting the smoker to combat withdrawal symptoms. Another way to combat withdrawal symptoms is to take laser treatment. The low intensity laser beam stimulates the release of endorphins, and kills the urge to smoke. Some smokers also use herbal cigarettes to give up the habit.


Besides this, the smokers can take the help of clinics or self-help groups that provide advice and guidance. Such clinics provide counseling to individuals who want to give up smoking. They conduct mind exercises to improve an individual’s will power and the desire to return to smoking. Hypnosis is yet another method that can be used to give up smoking.


Considerable self-discipline is needed for any of these treatments to work. More often than not, smokers give up smoking for a few days or a few weeks and then pick up the habit again. They need the support of family members and close friends during this troublesome period. To quit smoking and recover from the nicotine addiction is a period of readjustment of the mind and body. Over time, the body and mind combination heals itself and breaks free of the addiction, teaching itself to function without cigarettes or any form of tobacco on a dependency level.


The same way different people smoke and are addicted differently, they will also quit and recover in the same ways. Some can quit and walk away with no symptoms or problems, while others double over with pure intense physical pain with multiple symptoms. This is why there are so many different stop smoking treatments for assorted types of smokers. Know yourself and what works the best and the most efficient way.

How to Help a Friend Quit Smoking

How to help a friend quit smoking

 Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S.  Smoking causes lung cancer, heart attacks, emphysema, and stroke.  People who smoke have much  shorter life expectancies than people who don’t.

 How do you help a friend or family member quit smoking?  It isn’t easy.  Smoking is a difficult habit to break.  Smoking is an addiction with physiological and psychological components.

 Nevertheless, there are things you can do to help someone quit smoking.  In my talk I will explain how to present a smoker with information on the health consequences of smoking, how to develop a Quit Smoking Plan, and how to persuade a smoker to follow such a plan.

 I realize that by talking about the health affects of smoking I run the risk of depressing the whole audience.   I promise to move quickly to the more practical question of how to quit.

 The health consequences of smoking are well documented.  Two places to find such information are the Mayo Clinic website and the American Lung Association website.

 Smoking is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States. Almost half a million people die every year from the consequences of smoking.

On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years sooner than nonsmokers do.

Lung cancer is the No.1 cause of cancer death in the United States.

Almost 90,000 Americans die each year of coronary heart disease caused by smoking.  Smokers have triple the risk of coronary heart disease that nonsmokers have.

Smoking raises your blood pressure, cholesterol level and your risk of blood clots. A smoker is two to six times more likely to have a heart attack, and the more you smoke, the higher your risk.

Depending on how well you know a smoker, you could simply mention these websites or print out and discuss the information with the smoker.

 

 After reviewing the health affects of smoking, the next step in quitting smoking is the Quit Smoking Plan.

 A quit smoking plan is a detailed list of steps that someone should take to quit smoking.  It is usually not realistic for someone to just wake up one day and quit smoking.  A certain amount of planning and preparation is needed.

A quit smoking plan should mention some of the health and other reasons that provide the motivation for a smoker to quit. 

A quit smoking plan should set a quit date, which is a date sometime in the near future, when the smoker will plan to stop smoking.  This gives a smoker time to prepare to kick the habit.

The bulk of the quit smoking plan contains a series of actions the smoker needs to take to get ready to quit.  Such actions include joining a local smoking cessation class, identifying a group of people who can provide support when the smoker quits, and reviewing the quit smoking literature available on the ALA website.  This website contains a detailed seven module program called Freedom from Smoking which describes how to quit smoking.

A smoker can also join a gym or get a treadmill, because exercise is helpful for someone giving up smoking.  In addition, smokers can consult a doctor or pharmacist about nicotine patches and gum and become familiar with smokeless cigarettes as an alternative to smoking.  

Other possibilities include starting deep breathing yoga exercises, using relaxation CDs, or squeezing a physical therapy ball to relieve tension.  A quit smoking plan needs to be tailored a bit for each individual.

 A Quit Smoking Plan is fairly easy to prepare.  The hard part is getting a smoker to follow the plan.

 There is no guaranteed way to get a smoker to follow a quit smoking plan.  However there are some things you can try.
 To get the smoker’s attention you might try sending the smoker some of the anti smoking merchandise available for sale on the ALA web site.  There you can order T shirts and other items with slogans urging people not to smoke.

 You may be able to convince the smoker to prepare a quit smoking plan.  If not, you can prepare one yourself and give it to the smoker.  You can also talk about the plan with the smoker and explain the importance of each step of the plan.

 Repetition is a useful tool of persuasion, so remind the smoker as often as possible of the quit smoking day and the need to prepare for it. 

 Explain to the smoker that the withdrawal symptoms are worst in the first 7 to 10 days after quitting.  This may enable the smoker to get through the first few days.

 Spending some money on the effort may also help.  For example, if the smoker cannot afford a quit smoking class or an exercise program, you could pay for it yourself.  This will show that you take the issue seriously, and they should too.

 Preaching  to or nagging the smoker not to smoke is probably not that helpful.  Part of what you do will depend on the smoker’s attitude.  The smoker may have no interest in quitting and rebuff your efforts entirely.  Or, he or she might have some interest in giving up smoking, but may be unwilling to follow every step of the quit smoking plan.  In some cases a smoker might need just a little nudge to quit smoking.

 Another possibility is that after the quit smoking date the smoker succeeds in cutting down on smoking but does not quit entirely.  In this case you need to praise the smoker’s effort to quit but also remind the smoker that it is necessary to quit completely.  Review the reasons to quit with the smoker – often health benefits alone are not enough to persuade a smoker to quit.  Also review the parts of the quit smoking plan that were not followed and try to get the smoker to follow those parts of the plan as well.

 You are doing a friend a big favor by trying to help him or her quit smoking.

 To be successful, you need the right tools.  Consult relevant websites for information on the health affects of smoking.  Prepare a detailed quit smoking plan.  Convince the smoker to follow the plan.

 46 million Americans who once smoked have successfully quit.  It isn’t easy, but the health benefits are considerable. 

 You may feel bad if your friend does not quit.  The best thing to do in that case is to say “good try.”  Quitting smoking often takes several attempts, and each attempt is a step forward.

 If you have a friend or family member who smokes, try helping them to quit.  Stick with it.  If you are not successful on the first attempt, remember the old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

 

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My Stop Smoking Laser Experience

I was a smoker in the past. I do not smoke now as I have stopped smoking by stop smoking laser therapy treatment. My stop smoking laser experience is a remarkable experience. I did not face any difficulty during the stop smoking laser treatment because no drug was used and I didn’t use nicotine replacement therapy the during stop smoking laser treatment. My stop smoking laser experience did not leave any side effects on my body but made my body healthy because no smoking desire burns in me now.

I was initially afraid of the quit smoking laser until I spoke to someone that quit smoking laser is an ideal treatment for smokers and they stop smoking when they are treated. I had many doubts in my mind related to quit smoking laser but as I was tired of my smoking habit and wanted to get rid of it, I decided to have the quit smoking laser treatment.

One can stop smoking by the laser treatment which is specially done for helping the smokers to quit smoking. Every smoker will like to have laser treatment when he will come to know about the side effect of smoking, think about the cigarette costs per month, price of laser therapy for quitting smoking and when he will think about the easy steps of quitting with the quit smoking laser.

Let me share my own experience completely with you all. I sat down in a comfortable chair and was given a dark pair of glasses to wear to avoid the laser light. They pointed a red laser at various meridian points on my face, hands, and wrists. It was extremely relaxing and I did not feel awful pain as I was expecting to feel. The purpose of stimulating the nerves was that they would increase the production of endorphins in my body. It was told to me during my treatment that the endorphin production would help me to reduce my depression and nicotine carvings.

I was treated with the laser therapy for stopping smoking habit within 2 stages. In the first stage, I was helped about detoxification and in the second stage; I was treated to reduce my depression and nicotine carvings. I was treated friendly during the laser therapy.

All this made my laser therapy for quitting smoking experience easy and I got rid of my smoking habit permanently. After my experience of having the laser therapy, I keep distance from smoking now because I am aware of harmful disadvantages of smoking now. I will suggest you that you must too have the laser therapy for quitting smoking because smoking is a very dangerous habit and does not affect you only but also other people of your surroundings. The laser therapy treatment is painless and cheap by price.

There are many smokers in this world including me who have very pleasant experience about stop smoking laser and you should be one of us if you smoke. Get rid of your smoking habit permanently by the laser therapy treatment for quitting smoking. I have shared my pleasant experience of quitting smoking with you and I hope that you can get treated with the quit smoking laser too.

Healing Laser Clinics Quit Smoking Laser therapy. Stop Smoking Laser can help you to quit smoking in 1 hour. Learn the easy way to quit smoking with low level laser therapy. For details http://www.healinglaserclinics.net

Stop Smoking Laser Therapy. Does it Work? Is it a Fraud?

Quit smoking laser therapy has been touted as a simple pain free and successful way to stop smoking. However there is some controversy over laser therapy to stop smoking.

But first, what is quit smoking laser therapy?

Laser therapy to stop smoking has been around for quite a number of years. It is, according to those who practice it, the application of low level laser to the acupuncture points in the body to stimulate the nerve endings which in turn produce endorphins.

And this, it is claimed, is a way to help smokers to kick those cigarettes and stop smoking. The release of endorphins help relieve the stressful effects of nicotine withdrawal and make it easier to kick the tobacco habit. The physical cravings are reduced and the stress of the addiction withdrawal are reduced.

This low level laser treatment is combined with counselling in most cases, and it is the overall treatment which results in tobacco addiction sufferers being able to quit smoking according to those who offer low level laser treatments for stopping smoking.

It is claimed by some practitioners that one half hour laser therapy session can be enough to be successful for getting a large number of people stopping smoking. Others claim no more than a few sessions should be sufficient.

It is, of course, quite expensive to undertake this quit smoking laser therapy, given that the actual amount of face to face time is quite limited.

I don’t intend to tell you here whether quit smoking laser therapy works or not. That’s for a number of reasons, particularly that I don’t have sufficient evidence to tell you either way. However I do intend to alert you to the fact that there is quite some doubt over the technique, and there are those who maintain that it does nothing at all to assist people to quit smoking.

Unfortunately it seems that there is little published and publicly available scientific evidence on the efficacy of using low level laser therapy for stopping smoking. Although the laser clinics claim scientific evidence it is difficult to find any, and they do not offer links on their websites to the papers published by the scientists who have studied this laser therapy. The author has been unable to find any authoritative published studies, and there are plenty of others who claim this lack of any supporting evidence means that, currently at least, laser therapy to stop smoking has to be viewed as unproven.

For example, in 2006, the US consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to stop 5 US quit smoking laser treatment companies from claiming that low level laser therapy is successful in helping people stop smoking. It is not approved by the FDA as an anti smoking treatment, although it is as a pain relief treatment.

And I document on my website a range of other sources all of which suggest that stop smoking laser therapy is a fraud or close to.

Even the companies which market laser therapy will admit to it being “experimental”.

For those in the grip of a serious nicotine and cigarette addiction it isn’t easy to find a way forward to combat that addiction and to stop smoking successfully. However anyone who opts for laser therapy as a means to stop smoking should understand that it isn’t currently scientifically proven to work.

Peter runs a website that looks at the evidence for and against quit smoking laser called the Quit Smoking Laser Therapy Guide. Readers can contribute their own experiences with stop smoking laser therapy on Peters website to aid others in their search for a successful method to stop smoking.

Quit Smoking Drugs: a Challenge That Can?t be Faced Alone

If you want to quit smoking drugs, or have a friend or family member that wants to quit smoking drugs you have to be conscious that you, he, or she can’t do it alone. This is a rough thing to go through and the most effective way to get passed it is with the help of the closest people to the drug addict.

It’s a tricky process with different phases and you should know what is going to happen in order to face the challenges correctly. In my opinion you can identify four main phases. The first phase, as with alcoholism, is denial. A person addicted to anything will refuse to believe he or she is because he or she thinks is in total control. You have to try to the greatest extent to let the person realize that he or she is addicted and has to quit smoking drugs.

Detox

The second phase… Detox. Even though each phase is extremely difficult to overcome, the particular phase is the one where more physical instability is visible. The body has gotten used to the chemical substance inside it, and now is manifesting its dislike for not having it anymore. Things like anxiety attacks, vomiting, shakiness, blackouts… are all common. After this comes the phase of maintenance; extremely difficult.

In this part you have to make sure that the person, whether you or someone else, doesn’t have contact with the drug. If not, it will result in a relapse and the addiction will continue. The person can NEVER be in contact with the drug. It doesn’t matter if the person was addicted at 16 years old and then stopped at 1 and in his late thirties decides to try it again because of some personal crisis.

The best way to successfully get rid of a drug addiction problem is by interning the person in a drug rehab clinic. There he or she will find more people to count with support, which is a vital part if he or she wants to quit smoking drugs.

Jake Wells, born in 1981, has seen many of his friends become drug addicts. He couldn’t see them destroy their lives like that so he had them interned in drug rehab facilities. He believes anyone can overcome drug addiction with enough determination and information. Visit his website at www.addictionsrehab.net to read about the different drug rehab centers available.

Stop Smoking-Improve Your Health

Many campaigns have been, and are being, conducted all over the world to educate people and help them to get rid of this addiction. Individual Governments, NGOs, and medical clinics conduct smoking cessation campaigns and awareness programs regularly. Campaigns by NGOs and medical clinics in different cities around the world carry the name of the city with messages to citizens to stop smoking or call for assistance for smoking cessation. For example, an awareness campaign in Dallas-Texas could be called Dallas Smoking Cessation or Stop Smoking in Dallas. But smokers will always be averse to quit smoking as the tobacco addiction is just like any other addiction like alcohol and drugs.

The Smoking cessation programs educate smokers about the harmful effects of smoking to themselves and to the people around them including their loved ones. Chain smokers and people around them are more at risk than casual smokers. According to the WHO, smoking is one of the leading, but preventable causes of death the world over and estimates are that it is the cause of 5.4 million deaths every year. This has not only prompted Governments, but also NGOs and medical clinics to conduct regular campaigns in countries and cities the world over. Campaigns with banners, media ads, etc have catchy names, slogans, and messages like the example \’Stop Smoking in Dallas\’ mentioned earlier.

But why is smoking so harmful and why are Governments, NGOs, and medical clinics so earnestly trying to stop smoking? The reason is that most smokers are not aware of the harmful effects of smoking, and even if they are, they are so addicted that they tend to ignore the truth. Smoking tobacco is the inhaling and exhaling smoke from cured leaves used in cigarettes. Some people smoke casually for temporary pleasure, or habitually due to an addiction to nicotine in tobacco, or social pressure. Research has ascertained that smoking causes emphysema, lung cancer, and cardiovascular or Heart disease among the many other problems. The WHO reports that smoking has killed over 100 million individuals worldwide in the twentieth century and has warned that it can kill over one billion people all over the world in the twenty first century.

Cigarette smokers are not the only ones whose health is at risk, but also those around them, as they inhale the smoke that smokers exhale, and this harms their health, even if they are non-smokers. Although smoking is addictive and it is difficult to stop smoking, it is not impossible. Medical spas and clinics all over the world conduct de-addiction programs to assist people to quit smoking. The first step towards quitting smoking is to decide to quit smoking. The next step is to search for an NGO or medical spa and clinic in your city, which can help you to quit smoking. So a smoker in Dallas can search for a medical clinic on the Internet by searching for Dallas Smoking Cessation and a smoker in any other city can look for smoking cessation programs with their city name.

For more information on quitting smoking, Dallas Smoking Cessation and Stop Smoking in Dallas , please do visit our site or call us NOW

I am a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP,MCSD, MCAD.Net,MCSD.Net, MCP-.Net 2.0). I have been conducting Training and Certification Guidance for Microsoft Certifications for the past 8 years. I also own and manage a Web Design and Development Company and a SEO/SEM Company. I also like to write Articles on various subjects.

Stop smoking laser treatment

Smoking causes more deaths than any other vice, being one of the hardest addictions to break and also the most dangerous for humanâ??s health. People who want to live long enough to see their grandchildren should do everything to stop smoking for good. Although most of you have heard of laser vision treatment, tooth laser treatment, etc few people are aware of the existence of stop smoking laser treatment. This therapy is meant to help you control your craving, deal with their addiction and Stop smoking Orlando.  

The first thing you should know about stop smoking laser treatment is that this is a complete safe and natural way that does not interfere in any way with your body. The laser treatment is of a very low power and most people donâ??t feel any pain at all, not causing any pain or burns. Once the therapy is over people get up and leave the doctors without craving to smoke when they walk outside the clinic. However, this doesnâ??t mean that the stop smoking laser works wonders on its own, without any effort on your behalf. For example, when you leave the clinic you should go to a smoke free house, throw out all your smoking items and start doing something that keeps you busy.

Also, when having stop smoking laser treatment you should avoid going to places where smoking is allowed and also stay away from people that smoke, at least for a while after you quit. This therapy is effective but it is part of a bigger puzzle, one in which your will and determination play the most important roles. Another thing we advise you to do before starting a stop smoking laser therapy is to pick up a good time when you are not over stressed. Donâ??t forget to announce your friends and family that you have decided to quit smoking, so that they do their best to support you.

An advantage of the laser treatment as far as Stop smoking Orlando is the fact that there are no side effects and besides stimulating the body to release endorphins it also enhances the detoxification of the body, hastening the removal of the nicotine from the blood and the tissues. A drawback of this therapy is the fact that the laser medication for Stop smoking Orlando is not cheap and not many people can afford it. Many reputable companies charge around 350 dollars for s stop smoking program which includes half an hour treatment and some vitamins.

Stop smoking Orlando laser treatment is now available in most countries, being administered mostly inn hospitals and by professional staff. Furthermore, smokers have to undertake counseling sessions so that they donâ??t return to the previous smoking habit. Although the Stop smoking Orlando laser therapy is a bit more expensive than other treatments and it canâ??t be done at home, this treatment has proved effective and it is worth trying. There are many reasons why people become addicted to cigarettes and identifying those reasons will enable you to decide which stop smoking treatment suits you best. The stop smoking laser therapy has been practiced only for a few years and it is considered quite modern and innovative.

We understand that Stop smoking Orlando is vital for your health and we recommend the stop smoking laser therapy. However, we advise you to combine the laser therapy with a behavioral therapy which is meant to eliminate the psychological aspects of addiction.

Stop Smoking with Hypnotherapy


Gemma from Manchester has smoked for several years. She currently smokes between 5 – 20 cigarettes a day and has decided it is now time to stop. The session was conducted by Clinical Hypnotherapist Matt Kendall and it took about 1 hour. The video sees Gemma before and after her session.