Are nicotine weaning products a bad joke?

Written by John R. Polito Posted by: www.iwanttoquitsmoking.com


Continued from page 1

In one ofrepparttar studies used to computerepparttar 147601 March 2003 OTC NRT findings, at study's end only 18.3% of those inrepparttar 147602 placebo patch group believed that they had receivedrepparttar 147603 "Real McCoy." Althoughrepparttar 147604 authors clearly state that "the effect of such a blinding failure would probably be a reduction ofrepparttar 147605 placebo effect," it didn't stoprepparttar 147606 industry from relying upon it in claiming yet another internal "double your chances" odds ratio victory.

Aside from blinding failures,repparttar 147607 placebo devices in a number of studies did not meetrepparttar 147608 classic definition of "placebo" as, supposedly for masking purposes, they contained from 1 to 3 mg. of nicotine.

The average smoker receives 1 mg. of nicotine from each cigarette smoked. The average pack-a-day smoker inhales roughly 20 mg. daily. In NRT studies they are routinely assigned torepparttar 147609 21 mg. patch where they are expected to engage in weeks or months of gradual stepped-down weaning.

By contrast,repparttar 147610 blood-serum of a cold turkey quitter is 100% nicotine free by day three and 90% of nicotine's metabolites have passed through their urine. It's then that withdrawal normally peaks in intensity and begins to gradually subside.

But what if their brain neurons were never allowed to sense and bathe in nicotine-free blood serum? What if instead they were forced to cope with from 1 to 3 mg. of nicotine contained in a placebo device?

How many pack-a-day smokers could sneak puffs from one to three cigarettes for weeks and still quit? Could it alterrepparttar 147611 intensity and/or duration of normal withdrawal, or even drive their spirit intorepparttar 147612 ground? Would it be honest to declare torepparttar 147613 world that they had attempted to quit "on their own" and failed?

The average nicotine addict only mustersrepparttar 147614 confidence to venture beyond their thick wall of protective denial and attempt a mad dash for freedom about once every three years. With smoking eventually claiming half of all adult smokers, each an average of about 14 years early,repparttar 147615 number of attempts available to each of them is limited.

Prior to NRT's arrival local abrupt nicotine cessation programs in communities aroundrepparttar 147616 globe were routinely generating midyear rates of 20%, 30%, 40% and in some cases almost 50%.

Inrepparttar 147617 1990srepparttar 147618 U.S. government invited eleven researchers with a history of financial ties torepparttar 147619 pharmaceutical industry to join seven researchers with no known associations in rewriting and declaring U.S. cessation policy. In June 2000repparttar 147620 full panel published a revised U.S. Clinical Practice Guideline declaring NRT use a mandatory cessation recommendation.

The 2000 Guideline was a death sentence for many non-NRT quitting programs as they were no longer considered "science-based," were out-of-step with U.S. cessation policy, and, unless willing to play by new rules, no longer credible candidates for funding.

The pharmaceutical industry made billions while forcing short two to four-week cold turkey programs to accept quitters engaged in months of toying with nicotine weaning products. It made graduation day as disturbing as attending an AA meeting where everyone was drunk.

The American Cancer Society's 2003 Cancer Facts and Figures report indicates that 91.2% of all successful long-term quitters quit withoutrepparttar 147621 nicotine patch, gum, lozenge, inhaler, without Zyban or Wellbutrin, and without hypnosis or acupuncture. They did it entirely on their own. Shouldn't we be searching for and sharing their secrets?

The key to effective cessation isn't in renamingrepparttar 147622 addictive substance medicine, labeling its use therapy, pretending that those addicted to it can gradually wean themselves off, or in hiding true NRT performance rates while ignoring thatrepparttar 147623 odds for second time users drop to near zero. It's in learning to fully and comfortably engage life without reaching forrepparttar 147624 addictive substance.

Education, understanding, new skills and solid support -repparttar 147625 same tools enhancing success rates in all human endeavors - dramatically increaserepparttar 147626 prospects of nicotine dependency recovery. Isn't it time they regained center-stage and that pharmaceutical companies were sent back torepparttar 147627 lab to find a magic cure with a bit lower failure rate than 93% for adults, 95% for youth and 100% for second time users?

Posted by www.iwanttoquitsmoking.com



South Carolina nicotine cessation educator. www.iwanttoquitsmoking.com


Nicotine patches in smoking cessation: a randomized trial among over-the-counter customers in Denmark.

Written by Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine,


Continued from page 1
which was fixed to be a treatment period, and 26 weeks after inclusion. There was a significant increase in smoking cessation rates after 8 weeks of follow-up but only among smokers who started on 21-mg/day patches. There was a marked placebo effect at each time of contact duringrepparttar trial, especially in those smoking fewer than 20 cigarettes per day. Althoughrepparttar 147600 noncompliance rate was high overall due to discontinuation inrepparttar 147601 use of patches by relapsed smokers, noncompliance among successful quitters was low. More side effects were seen inrepparttar 147602 nicotine group than inrepparttar 147603 placebo group, but none ofrepparttar 147604 reported side effects were serious. It appears that regular healthy smokers who were customers of nonprescribed nicotine patches and who received 21-mg/day nicotine patches benefited fromrepparttar 147605 active treatment (44.1% stopped smoking after 4 weeks), but almost as many stopped smoking inrepparttar 147606 placebo group (37.3% after 4 weeks). No significant differences in smoking cessation rates were seen among smokers who started withrepparttar 147607 low-dose nicotine or placebo patches.

Publication Types: Clinical Trial Randomized Controlled Trial

Posted by www.iwanttoquitsmoking.com

University of Aarhus, Denmark

Posted by www.iwanttoquitsmoking.com


    <Back to Page 1
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use