Quit Smoking

If you are a smoker and want to quit smokingg, you must know about the various factors that are going to come into play. The primary consideration is the nicotine withdrawal symptoms (NRT) that you will suffer from. There are also various symptoms that are linked to smoking. They are a surefire way of telling whether you are a smoker or not. Information about the various prescription medications that help overcome smoking will also come in very handy.

Smoking addiction – Minor symptoms

The early signs or symptoms of smoking addiction might sound minor but have the potential to become major setbacks as far as health is concerned. A smoker begins to develop bad breath and the typical smoker’s cough. There is a distinctive change of pallor as far as the skin is concerned, and the lips attain a darker color. Slowly articles of daily use begin to reek of nicotine. A smoker might not be able to sleep properly and will also start losing his/her appetite. As compared to non-smokers, a new smoker suffers from a range of frequent physical symptoms like phlegm, wheezing and shortness of breath. If you start smoking early in life, then you put yourself at an increased risk of dying early, from conditions like heart disease, emphysema, or lung cancer.

Smoking addiction – Major symptoms

As a smoking addict, its important to note that it takes very little time for minor symptoms to convert to bigger symptoms. The risk of suffering from various serious health conditions increases manifold. You increase your chances of suffering from non cancerous and cancerous conditions. Conditions like chronic obstructive lung disease, emphysema and chronic bronchitis are common amongst long term smokers. Other major symptoms of smoking addiction include lung and other cancerous conditions. Repeated chest infections, spitting up of mucous, and coughing are all signs of the major damage that smoking causes your lungs. If you are experiencing these major symptoms, its time that you wake up and stop smoking.

The signs of addiction

When you are addicted to smoking, and you are trying to quit, you are going to face some serious nicotine withdrawal symptoms. If you do, and you go back to smoking, then it’s a certainty that you are addicted. Other signs include:

• You keep trying to stop smoking, but your efforts are futile.
• You do succeed for a few days, but you are back to smoking again.
• As soon as you quit, or even take one less cigarette, you begin to experience an intense craving for tobacco.
• Your state of mind gets disturbed and you might also suffer from headaches
• Even when you are sick, you can’t do without your cigarettes.

For a smoker, smoking is a part and parcel of life, which they simply can’t do without. You can identify an addicted smoker when you notice him/her avoiding specific people and places. The smoker changes company and begins to move around with other smokers and also starts avoiding friends and colleagues who do not smoke. One of the signs of smoking is a slow but sure change in the social circle of the smoker. A smoker also earmarks a specific time for smoking. This time is dictated by the urge to smoke a cigarette at a particular time of the day.

Prescription medication – For smoking cessation

Quitting smoking is never easy at the best of times. The prospect of suffering from severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms has dissuaded many a smoker from giving up smoking. But, there are various prescription medications like Champix that help overcoming these difficulties linked to smoking cessation. Champix, active ingredients varenicline, is a nicotinic receptor partial agonist and works by reducing your cravings for nicotine and also the pleasurable effects of smoking a cigarette.

Before choosing a prescription medication that helps treat your smoking addiction, it’s important that you understand how these medications work and whether there are associated side effects of using this particular medication. A doctor’s consultation is a must if you are to use a prescription medication and it’s important that you stay away from drugs that you know nothing about. Also, if you do choose to use such drugs, you must only choose to use genuine drugs and stay away from fake drugs.