Kicking The Habit: Help Helps

The death of ABC News anchorman and former smoker Peter Jennings from lung cancer, as well as the diagnosis of Dana Reeve have again put the spotlight on quitting smoking.

Former smokers often say stopping was the hardest thing they'd ever done.

In fact, only about five percent of smokers are able to quit successfully on their own.

The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay says that's because, as hard as it is to kick the habit, it's even harder when you don't have any support.

Senay suspects a lot of people overlook support groups when they're trying to quit.

The American Lung Association is a big proponent of smoking cessation groups. The association itself has one, called "Freedom From Smoking." Many towns have local support groups. You can contact yours to find a program near you, or you can find groups through the lung association and the American Cancer Society.

Just being around other smokers who want to quit can help tremendously, Senay points out.

And support from your family and the people around you can give you that extra push to keep going, and not to reach for that cigarette, she says

Using nicotine replacement therapy can double (or sometimes even triple) a smoker's chance of quitting successfully. There are several over-the-counter products that can help, including nicotine gum, patches and, most recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, lozenges.

They all work on the same principle, Senay explains. They help relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms you experience when you quit smoking by delivering a low dose of nicotine into your system.

Such symptoms are frequently hard to overcome. They include irritability, headaches, cravings, sore throat, dry mouth, and even tightness of the chest.

Those products can help soften those symptoms and give you more of a chance of success.As for side effects from nicotine replacement therapy, Senay points out that nicotine is a very potent drug and does have some adverse effects. But years of studies have shown only minor problems compared to the major damage from smoking.

The gums and patches could give you an upset stomach, dizziness, or localized itching where you apply the patch. But overall, Senay observes, the risks are very low.

The odds that you'll end up addicted to the gum are also very low. It does happen, in rare cases, but you're much better off being addicted to the gum than to cigarettes. The risks of smoking are huge; the risk of the gum is almost nonexistent.

There are also some prescription medications designed to help you quit smoking.

There's a nicotine nasal spray that works the same way as the gum or patch, but reaches the bloodstream much more quickly than a gum, lozenge or patch. That might make it an attractive option for very dependent smokers.
There's also a nicotine inhaler, built on the same principle.

But a lot of people are trying to quit using a prescription non-nicotine pill called Zyban. It's actually an antidepressant. Zyban works at the neurological level, reducing the craving for nicotine in any form. Just like nicotine replacement therapies, studies have shown drugs like Zyban can double smokers' chances of quitting successfully.

Senay says it's "absolutely" a good idea to combine any of these methods of quitting.

Using medications such as Zyban or nicotine replacement therapy in combination with a good counseling program has a success rate of 35 percent or more after a year. The more help, the better.

Some doctors have actually been combining Zyban, nicotine replacement and counseling, and they're reporting even higher success rates. But of course, a program like that must be done under a doctor's supervision.