Smoking Cessation Pills - Do They Work?

[sheri bates]

Smokers like the idea of smoking cessation pills. Studies in America
have shown that 80% of smokers think they should quit. Many of them
think that smoking cessation pills have the answers they are looking
for as they offer that potential miracle cure that will take the pain,
anguish and torment of smoking cessation away from smokers. But is
this really the case?
There are a number of treatments available to aid smoking cessation in
the form of smoking cessation pills. There are also varying degrees of
success associated with each type. The two most common types of
smoking cessation pill that actually do have an effect are explained
here.
The first smoking cessation pill I would like to consider is probably
the best known; zyban. It was developed in the 1970s as a treatment
for depression when it was marketed as wellbutrin. When researchers
were conducting trials of the drug, they found that the test patients
were reporting quitting smoking at a significant rate. This lead to
further studies where the sole focus of the study was to determine the
impact of wellbutrin on smokers.
Many studies have been completed since and it is commonly agreed now
that 16% of smokers, who try to quit smoking using wellbutrin as their
smoking cessation pill, will succeed after one year. I.e. they will
quit at some point be smoke free one year after the course of
treatment has been completed.
It is not known how zyban works specifically, but it is clear that it
interferes with the normal brain chemistry associated with nicotine
addiction.
The side effects most commonly reported are similar to the side
effects suffered by any person quitting smoking. These side effects
may be from the drug zyban itself or they may be from nicotine
withdrawal. Significantly, any alcohol, heart or blood pressure
problems will need careful consideration by your doctor if you wish to
use zyban.
The most significant side effect associated with zyban is the 1 in
1000 siezure rate. This can be life threatening so is a serious
consideration for any would be quitter. You dont want to kill yourself
trying to quit smoking after all!
The second smoking cessation pill I would like to consider is the new
kid on the block. It is called varenicline and marketed as chantix in
the US and as champix in the UK.
Pfizer, the manufacturer has claimed a 44% success rate in smoking
cessation studies but there has been much criticism of their claims.
Significantly, when Pfizer have sponsored studies into the
effectiveness of chantix as a smoking cessation pill, they have been
very stringent on which smokers are allowed into the group. It is
thought that hardcore smokers or people who have serially been unable
to quit smoking have been excluded in order to bump up success rates.
Independent reviews of all chantix studies have shown the truer
success rate of chantix as a smoking cessation pill as being about
22%. This is not a huge success rate when compared to the claims
initially made by Pfizer!
The most commonly cited side effects associated with chantix are those
of nausea, sleep problems and weird dreams or nightmares. The other
significant side effects are shared side effects found from nicotine
withdrawal.
Due to the high rates of nausea, stomach cramps, feeling bloated,
constipation or diarrhoea associated with chantix, up to 30% of
patients have to abandon the treatment. Not mush fun if you have
shelled out $300 for your smoking cessation pills only to find you
cannot take the drug after all!
My advice is that smokers should try any non-pharmaceutical methods to
quit smoking before they turn to smoking cessation pills such as
chantix or zyban. Not only is there hypnosis that is very commonly
known and probably as effective as chantix, there is also cognitive
behavioural therapy that has very high success rates thought to be
well over 50%.
As ever, every time you fail to quit smoking, you are one step closer
to success. Never stop trying to
quit.
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