Smoking cessation drugs and health issues

Today we are going to let you know about smoking cessation drugs in detail. There are certain medicines prescribed to an individual for quitting smoking. However, these drugs may have some side effects. These drugs may increases the rate of cardiovascular diseases. There are very few people who can follow and skip smoking. However, smoking cessation is the process of discontinuing smoking. Cigarettes and others contain tobacco which has a prolonged effect on smoker. This is one of the reasons why people become chain smokers. Quitting smoking is difficult but not impossible. Smoking is said to be the leading cause of death worldwide. This can be prevented.

Health risks due to smoking

A number of health issues can be caused due to continuous smoking. Smoking leads to cancer because of tobacco. It causes lung cancer, CPOD, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. To counter or to resist this effect of prolonged smoking, doctors prescribe medicines. There are two main medicines which help a lot in quitting smoking. These medicines are Chantix (varenicline tartarte) and Zyban (buproprion hydrochloride).

These two medications are nicotine free and have been approved by FDA as best smoking cessation products. Not only does smoking, but sometimes even these smoking cessation products can cause severe health issues.

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Zyban (Buproprion)

Zyban is anti-depressant that is sold for smoking cessation. Zyban is nicotine free and is said to affect the chemicals of the brain that induce nicotine craving. Nicotine can be consumed alone. One can even consume nicotine together with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Consumption of long term of Zyban is not possible because patients seem to relapse after certain period of time. Therefore, the long term success rate cannot be determined. Another medical approach to quit smoking would be to consume Zyban with non-medication approaches. It can be effective for long. Zyban is also available in market as buproprion, the generic form.

Chantix (Varenicline)

Another drug which is said to have been a major help in quitting smoking is Chantix. Chantix interfers with the nicotine receptors in brain and helps to quit smoking. This interference aids to cut down the pleasurable effect that is caused due to nicotine. Also, the interference of Chantix helps in reducing the unpleasant symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. According to the website, that manufactures chantix www.chantix.com, chantix is said to have 44% of people help in quitting smoking. Chantix is more effective than sugar pills and Zyban. Where Zyban helps 30% quit, sugar pills have 17% quit, Chantix helped in 44% quit.

Both these drugs are approved by FDA as the most effective smoking cessation medicines.

Anti-smoking drugs: Side-effects

Nicotine withdrawal slowly and gradually has effects on the mental health. There are even “black box” warning for Chantix and Zyban stating that they may increase the mental health risks and all of this being associated with its usage.

These medications which aid in smoking cessation, also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. These cardiovascular diseases include cardiac arrest, stroke, arrhythmias, unstable angina and also peripheral vascular diseases.

Not only cardiac events, Varenicline also increases the risk of neuropsychiatric events. People who do not get to smoke tend to do activities like self-harm. They also tend to undergo depression, face anxiety, see hallucinations and also suffer from insomnia.

However, anti-smoking drugs must be consumed in limited amounts. If the amount of consumption increases it can too have serious health issues. These drugs even increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.