Being a family physician for more than 30 years, I have one ongoing concern about my patients, one problem that is very difficult to resolve. Many of my patients do smoke cigarettes and it is very difficult to explain to them that cigarette smoking is #1 controllable risk factor for heart disease and an important risk factor for early death and prolonged sickness and long suffering. How to explain to smokers that the day to stop smoking is right now!? And why should they stop smoking right now?
I am telling them every time I see them that they are destroying their very precious blood vessels in their eyes, in their heart, in their kidneys and in their lungs, and they somehow don't hear me. They don't get it! How to tell them that they will definitely develop chronic lung disease and emphysema, and possibly get a lung cancer?
But even though we are telling all of that to our patients, they just do not get it! Why do they do not get it? Because, chemically cigarettes are made mostly of nicotine, but there are also close to 1000 chemicals in cigarettes and it is very, very addictive. Medically speaking cigarette smoking is more addicting than cocaine or heroine and any of those very dangerous drugs. Maybe you did not know that even if you are 50, 60 or 70 if you stop smoking now, your body will start repairing itself and making your blood vessels better, your skin quality will improve, your breathing will improve and your overall health will start improving.
There are many resources to help our patients nowadays, but maybe you are not aware of those resources. For example, every doctor has many of those resources and the best one is our knowledge that we can explain to them what is really going on within our bodies and within our brains. There are six stages of change with any chronic disease or with any addiction. They are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and relapse. That means when I see a patient in my office, I can easily identify what stage of change this patient is now. The most difficult patients to get help are patients in pre-contemplation and completion stages because they are like hypnotized and they just do not get it. But if we explain to them many benefits of smoking cessation and if we tell them that probably in a few months they can go from pre contemplation stage to contemplation and yes to third stage preparation and action, they will listen to us better, and start making necessary changes.
The best way to help our patients is while they are in that action stage because they are ready and they want to listen to our advice, and they will quit smoking. First, what I give to my patients is a plastic card that is recommended by California Smokers Help Line. It says on this card that you take charge of your health and if you want to take charge call us we can talk about how to quit smoking or chewing tobacco because chewing tobacco is equally dangerous. So, please call this number 1800 NOBUTTS, or it is 1800-662-8887. You will get many useful information with this Smokers Help Line, and maybe that is all you need, or maybe not. You know that you can get those nicotine chewing gums over the counter and they are somewhat useful too, but the very best medicine so far that we have is called Chantix. Those are tablets and they come in prepackaged packet that is very easy to implement and this medicine is really very safe and results are great.
Close to 70-80% of patients will stop smoking and become eventually nonsmokers with Chantix, and it is indeed great news. You can also join the Get Quit Support Plan when you get prescribed those Chantix tablets from your doctor. This Chantix support is supervised by trained professionals and it is free of charge with medication prescribed for the next 12 months. I think this will be plenty of time that you become a nonsmoker from a smoker.
So! My dear friend, do not wait for tomorrow, pick up the phone and call your doctor right away and ask your doctor to help you to stop smoking. Maybe you do not think that smoking is an addiction. Maybe you think that you can stop smoking anytime you can and that is probably true. Many patients tell me, "Oh, I can stop smoking anytime I want!", but the problem is that they restart smoking again. But the good news is that every time when you decide to stop smoking and even you restart smoking you are one step closer to your definite beginning of becoming a nonsmoker. Medical statistics shows that an average smoker need to stop smoking about nine times until he or she becomes a non smoker from a smoker.
So, I want to give you good news! Yes you definitely can stop smoking and you can become a nonsmoker from a smoker. Again, pickup the phone right now and call your doctor and in my opinion you should get help from this California Smokers Help Line and probably if your doctor agrees, you should start taking those Chantix tablets and in my opinion this is the very best medicine we have had.
In conclusion, smoking is one of the most difficult addictions that human beings can go through. Smoking is worse than being addicted to cocaine or heroine. Smoking is destroying your lungs, your eyes, your heart and your kidneys! Smoking is destroying those tiny blood vessels, which give blood supply to our organs. My professor said that if people would know how much cigarette smoke damages their facial skin by destroying that precious collagen and connective tissue, they would stop smoking right away.
So yes, you can start getting healthier and you can start growing younger if you make that decision to stop smoking now. Please do not hesitate, pick up your phone and call your doctor right away. My only motive of writing this article is to educate smokers that time has come, that you realize my dear friend that you are destroying your the most valuable possession you will ever have, your own body! You can stop smoking, and time to do it is right now! So please call your doctor and make an appointment and make a decision to stop smoking today!
With love and respect,
S. Mike Neskovic, MD.
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