Pills To Stop Smoking
A pill sounds like the best way to stop smoking. Imagine just popping a pill or two each day - sounds like a small price to pay if it means that you never need to smoke a cigarette again, right?
Although people have been trying to stop smoking for decades, especially since the health problems became more widely known and acknowledged, it’s only more recently that the drug companies have come up with a pill which the medical profession consider worth trying. Here, I want to describe the 2 leading drugs available to day.
Zyban
Zyban is the trade name for bupropion. It was originally marketed as an anti-depressant drug but was then found to have other uses such as treating ADHD, obesity and smoking cessation. Usually, people take these tablets for 8 weeks which works as follows: you take a single tablet a day for a week and then switch to two tablets a day. At around the same time, you stop smoking.
Zyban works by affecting the behaviour and levels of two neurotransmitters in the brain which are responsible for regulating mood and other functions. Thus, the cravings are apparently diminished although it is recommended that Zyban be supplemented with appropriate smoking cessation support at the same time to be most effective.
Zyban has been reported to lead to a higher incidence of seizures which has caused some media attention but compared to other anti-depressants is no worse. Strange side effects while using pills to stop smoking are not uncommon as you will see below.
Chantix
Chantix (known as Champix outside the US) is the trade name for varenicline. This drug also works on the brain chemistry but in a totally different way to Zyban. The end result is lower cravings and reduced “pleasure” from cigarettes. Chantix is typically taken for around 12 weeks but sometimes a second course is prescribed if the first one was not successful.
There has been even more media attention and hysteria around Chantix and its reported side effects. First of all, nausea is actually quite common. Secondly, it has been reported that some people can have suicidal tendencies while on Chantix which has given much greater cause for concern.
Zyban vs Chantix
There have been a few studies done on the effectiveness of these drugs with most looking at the 6 month and 12 month range. There is little data or follow up beyond these dates. Despite none of these studies having tested both drugs at the same time with the same testing frameworks, most people agree that Chantix is marginally more effective than Zyban. However, most people also agree that the side effects are worse, relatively speaking.
Are Pills The Answer?
My personal opinion is that although pills appear to work after periods of around 6 months, a year, maybe even two - they are not the magic bullet that people expect. First of all, this time range is “short term” when you consider that true success would be stopping smoking forever, measurable in decades rather than months and years. Secondly, the results vary greatly and neither of these drugs guarantee to eradicate cravings. Third, this “hit and miss” approach of controlling the symptoms but not the cause of them is far from ideal.
Personally speaking, I stopped smoking using an all natural method that did not involve drugs. Nor did it involve herbs, acupuncture, lasers, hypnosis or patches. I stopped smoking using a little known method described to me in a book, of which there are only a few available. If you want to know more about one of these books, click here.