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Champix Tablets from £20
Advice for Stop Smoking
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and illness, with second hand smoke causing significant short and longer term risks to health. Smoking is the cause of 20% of all adult deaths in England. Smoking could cause a number of health problems later in life, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes and more.
Smoking rates have fallen significantly, but smoking still accounts for more years of life lost than any other modifiable risk factor. Around 6.1 million people in England still smoke . Smokers see their GP over a third more often than non-smokers, and smoking is linked to nearly half a million hospital admissions each year. Current estimates are that nearly a quarter of women in the UK smoke during pregnancy.
The good news is that it is never too late to stop smoking. Stopping smoking is one of the best things you will ever do for your health. Quitting can be challenging, but the benefits to your body and health are significant. Once you stop smoking, your risk of developing long-term illness decreases, your breathing can improve and you may find you have more energy. After just 1 month your appearance will improve, after 1 year you will have halved your risk of a heart attack, and after 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have halved too. You'll also protect the health of those around you by not exposing them to second-hand smoke.
The most effective way to stop smoking is with a combination of stop smoking medication and specialist behavioural support. Using stop smoking medications, you are 2 times more likely to successfully stop smoking. However, when stop smoking medication is combined with specialist behavioural support you are 4 times more likely to successfully stop smoking.
If you’re a regular smoker and want to quit, we at Pharmacinta can prescribe Champix tablets to help you kick the habit, providing treatment is suitable for you. Champix contains the active ingredient varenicline and is used to help adults to stop smoking. It helps relieve cravings and withdrawals experienced during stopping smoking whilst also reducing the enjoyment of any cigarettes smoked when using the medication. Part of the treatment will include advice and support to make sure your treatment plan is working for you.
Health risks of smoking
Smoking causes about 90% of all lung cancers. Smoking can also cause cancer in the mouth, lips, throat, voice box (larynx), oesophagus, bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, and pancreas. 25% of all cancers are due to smoking.
Smoking also damages your heart and your blood circulation increasing the risk of coronary heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. Lungs can also be damaged causing bronchitis, emphysema, and pneumonia. The risks are increased in people who have chronic diseases such as diabetes. Children are adversely affected by exposure to cigarette smoke. Smoking also raises the risk of osteoporosis (thin bones), erectile dysfunction and infertility.
Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of death and illness in the UK. It causes the premature death of 50% of smokers, and the deaths of around 100,000 people in the UK every year. After the age of 35 years, a person loses 3 months of their life expectancy for every year of continued smoking.
Secondhand smoke is smoke that is exhaled by smokers and smoke emitted from the burning end of a lit cigarette, cigar, or pipe. It causes thousands of lung cancer deaths each year in people who don’t smoke. It can also lead to lung conditions and heart disease. Symptoms linked to secondhand smoke exposure may include:
- Eye, nose, and throat irritation
- Coughing
- Too much mucus in the airways
- Chest discomfort or pain
Children and infants exposed to tobacco smoke are more likely to experience ear infections, and asthma. They are also at a higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than children and infants not exposed to secondhand smoke.
Champix is a medicine that can help you stop smoking. It is only available on prescription. It reduces the cravings for nicotine and helps with the withdrawal symptoms you get when you stop smoking. These can include an urge to smoke again, feeling depressed or irritable, and difficulty sleeping.
Champix, which contains the active ingredient varenicline, is a member of a group of medications known as smoking cessation therapies. It helps people quit smoking when nicotine replacement therapy proves to be ineffective or is found to be inappropriate. Champix is intended to be used by adults in combination with counselling and quit-smoking education.
The treatment is a 12 week course of tablets. During the first two weeks of taking Champix, you can continue to smoke, but then you will be required to set a quit date between 10 to 14 days of taking Champix. You are not recommended to smoke after your quit date, but if you do, Champix can reduce the enjoyment you feel from smoking cigarettes.
Champix is a medicine that can help you stop smoking. It is only available on prescription. It reduces the cravings for nicotine and helps with the withdrawal symptoms you get when you stop smoking. These can include an urge to smoke again, feeling depressed or irritable, and difficulty sleeping.
Champix, which contains the active ingredient varenicline, is a member of a group of medications known as smoking cessation therapies. It helps people quit smoking when nicotine replacement therapy proves to be ineffective or is found to be inappropriate. Champix is intended to be used by adults in combination with counselling and quit-smoking education.
The treatment is a 12 week course of tablets. During the first two weeks of taking Champix, you can continue to smoke, but then you will be required to set a quit date between 10 to 14 days of taking Champix. You are not recommended to smoke after your quit date, but if you do, Champix can reduce the enjoyment you feel from smoking cigarettes.
There are several non-medical and alternative treatments that you could also try to stop smoking. These include: nicotine replacement, e-cigarettes, zyban, behavioral therapy, acupuncture and hypnosis. One in two people on programmes that offer NHS support, therapy, self-help skills and nicotine withdrawal medications succeed and stop smoking as a result.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)
The main reason that people smoke is because they are addicted to nicotine. NRT is a medicine that provides you with a low level of nicotine, without the tar, carbon monoxide and other poisonous chemicals present in tobacco smoke. It can help reduce unpleasant withdrawal effects, such as bad moods and cravings, which may occur when you stop smoking.
NRT can be bought from pharmacies and some shops. It's also available on prescription from a doctor or NHS stop smoking service. It's available as: skin patches, chewing gum, inhalators (which look like plastic cigarettes), tablets, oral strips and lozenges, nasal and mouth spray.
Patches release nicotine slowly. Some are worn all the time and some should be taken off at night. Inhalators, gum and sprays act more quickly and may be better for helping with cravings.
There's no evidence that any single type of NRT is more effective than another. But there is good evidence to show that using a combination of NRT is more effective than using a single product. Often the best way to use NRT is to combine a patch with a faster acting form such as gum, inhalator or nasal spray. Treatment with NRT usually lasts 8-12 weeks, before you gradually reduce the dose and eventually stop.
E-Cigarette
An Electronic Cigarette or e-Cigarette is designed to physically look like a cigarette, right down to the glowing tip and vapor that is inhaled. When you puff on it, you inhale like you would with a normal cigarette, only instead of inhaling smoke you are inhaling a mist of liquid, flavorings, and nicotine. It's worth noting that there has been no published research that suggests that these products work for helping you quit smoking.
Zyban
Bupropion (brand name Zyban) is a medicine originally used to treat depression, but it has since been found to help people quit smoking. It's not clear exactly how it works, but it's thought to have an effect on the parts of the brain involved in addictive behaviour.
It has been suggested that the medication works by reducing the cravings by affecting areas of the brain that influence withdrawal. This means you get fewer withdrawal symptoms and are more likely to be able to resist smoking again. Zyban is a tablet that helps you to stop smoking. It has more side effects and is less effective than Champix and therefore is not generally prescribed.
It's taken as 1 to 2 tablets a day. You should start taking it a week or 2 before you try to quit. A course of treatment usually lasts around 7 to 9 weeks.
Behavioral Therapy
A behavioral therapy strategy could be put together by a counsellor or simply your close friends or family, to help you find your triggers and manage them effectively. For example, you may find that you’re more inclined to smoke when you’re stressed or in a social situation, so figuring this out will help you make a plan to get through the cravings.
Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis is a method used to help reduce the body’s dependence on nicotine. It works by attempting to change your subconscious motivations to smoke and ultimately changing the habits, associations, and/or triggers, which drive the behaviour. Some studies have shown hypnosis methods to be ineffective in helping people quit smoking, but some people may find it useful. Start a conversation with your health care provider to learn more.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture involves placing very thin needles into your skin at specific areas of the body. Acupuncture is commonly used to treat pain and is used in smoking cessation to reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Research has shown that acupuncture can be used as a complementary method to help with the physical side effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's never too late to quit. Stopping at any age will increase your life expectancy, provided that you stop before you develop cancer or another serious disease. Within the first 24 hours of stopping, your blood pressure and lungs will be showing improvement. After three months your circulation and breathing should have improved noticeably. After five years, your risk of having a heart attack falls to about half that of a smoker. After 10 years, your risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker.
When you quit smoking, your appetite and sense of taste can improve and you may be tempted to snack more often. Anyy weight gain need only be temporary and once you've stopped smoking you'll have more energy and you'll find it easier to be active.
If you've tried before and it didn't work out don't worry. You haven't failed! Next time you quit, spend a little longer planning and think about what really worked for you last time and what made you lapse. Think about how you are going to keep on track this time. The preparation you do at the beginning really can make all the difference.
Nicotine triggers the release of pleasure chemicals, including dopamine in the brain. The brain quickly becomes habituated to the nicotine effect and when it is removed, there are symptoms of discomfort which encourage further intake of nicotine to relieve those symptoms. Many of the so-called 'positive' effects of smoking are in reality caused by the reduction of nicotine withdrawal symptoms. The strength of the withdrawal symptoms alongside the strong habit formation around smoking, leads to a very strong addictive effect.
When you smoke, carbon monoxide gets into your bloodstream and reduces the amount of oxygen that reaches your baby. The health risks of smoking when pregnant include: More complications during your pregnancy and labour; Increased risk of miscarriage, bleeding and sickness; Slower growth of your baby; Increased risk of premature birth or stillbirth. There are also health risks for your baby, including: Lower birth-weight and weakness; Higher chance of cot death; Damage to airways which could cause breathing problems or asthma.
Currently e-cigarettes are seen as 95% safer than smoking conventional tobacco-based products. Public Health England states “Vaping is not risk free but is far less harmful than smoking. Our advice remains that people who smoke are better to switch completely to vaping but if you have never been a smoker, don’t start to vape.”
Best estimates by the government are that 5% of 11-18 year olds will vape with the older age bracket more likely to vape. It is mainly concentrated in people who have smoked with only 1% of those vaping having never smoked. Most people who have tried vaping do so from curiosity.
There is a lack of evidence on the effects of vaping on smoking during pregnancy and following childbirth, and on the effects of vaping on maternal health or pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant smokers and health professionals are unsure about the relative risk of vaping for mothers and their babies and clinical practice on vaping in pregnancy varies.
Smoking addiction has a two fold mechanism including the physical effects of nicotine withdrawal symptoms which are relieved by the next smoke, and the strong habit formation often around social situations, the routine of lighting up and often sharing a smoke.
Cravings are powerful urges to smoke. As well as being triggered in the situations where you would normally have smoked, they can be triggered by stress, seeing other people smoking, or becoming intoxicated (alcohol or drugs).
Tobacco smoke causes about 90% of all lung cancers and 1/5th of all UK cancer diagnoses each year. More than 16 different cancer types are linked to smoking, including cancer in the nose and sinuses, mouth, lips, tongue, throat, voice box (larynx), gullet (oesophagus), lung, bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas, leukaemia, bowel, ovary, and cervix. Over a quarter of UK cancer deaths are linked to smoking.
Smoking has also been shown to be among the main causes of heart disease, strokes, and circulation problems including aortic aneurysms. Several studies link smoking to the development of most types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
No. Varenicline is still under patent to Pfizer and so no direct alternatives are available
The half-life of varenicline is 24 hours and so it will soon be fully eliminated from the body, within four days.
Yes, absolutely. If supplies of varenicline are being as seriously interrupted as we anticipate, then this is likely to need to be done with a number of your patients.
If you accidentally take more CHAMPIX than your doctor prescribed, you must seek medical advice or go to the nearest hospital casualty department immediately.
Do not take a double dose to make up for a forgotten tablet. It is important that you take CHAMPIX regularly at the same time each day. If you forget to take a dose, take it as soon as you remember. If it is within 3–4 hours your next dose, do not take the tablet that you have missed.
In smoking cessation therapy, the risk of returning to smoking may be elevated in the period immediately following the end of treatment. You may temporarily experience increased irritability, urge to smoke, depression and/or sleep disturbances when you stop taking CHAMPIX. Your doctor may decide to gradually lower your dose of CHAMPIX at the end of treatment.
Champix is a prescription only medication, and the only of its kind for quitting smoking as it doesn't contain nicotine.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) gives your body nicotine without the harmful effects of smoking or chewing tobacco. The idea is to gradually reduce your addiction by using a low nicotine dose to take the edge off the cravings. There are many options available in addition to nicotine patches and gum, including microtabs (small tablets), lozenges, nasal sprays and inhalators.
Most pregnant women can use NRT. It's important to talk it through with your doctor or midwife first. They can help you to weigh up the risks of continuing to smoke against the benefits of stopping using NRT. Using NRT is safer than smoking because it doesn't contain poisons like tar or carbon monoxide.
