Although anti-smoking pills are the most popular among those who quit a bad habit, today there are many other forms of drugs on the drug market in the country that help to permanently quit smoking. Which technique is most effective for the patient, the doctor decides on the basis of a comprehensive clinical and laboratory examination and the individual characteristics of the person. It is important to understand that all medications work in different ways. Tablets are the largest and most effective group of anti-smoking medications.
The multivector damage of smoking
The danger of nicotine extends not only to heavy smokers, but also to the people around them. This is secondhand smoke. Family and friends are forced to endure tobacco smoke by being next to a smoker. This is the risk of oncology, infertility, obstructive lung diseases, pathological changes in the heart and blood vessels, kidneys.
Scientifically Proven Fact: Children who like to lift have significant developmental delay, poor intelligence, and limited horizons. This is a consequence of the lack of oxygen. The blood does not receive the required amount of oxygen, which leads to the development of hypoxia. The neurons of the brain in such conditions are, as it were, under oppression, they cannot fully perform their functions.
The heart, which pumps blood saturated with carbon dioxide, experiences excessive stress through the hypotonic vessels. Against the background of atherosclerosis as a result of metabolic disorders and changes in blood viscosity, this becomes the cause of heart attacks and strokes.
In addition, this situation applies to both smokers and those who have never put a cigarette in their mouth.
Fans of tobacco smoke are at risk for vascular diseases of the lower extremities: intermittent claudication, varicose veins, obliterative endarteritis, diabetic foot, polyneuropathy.
But the nervous system is still the one that suffers the most. Toxic damage to nerve cells, receptors, fibers leads to uncontrollable headaches, mood swings, unreasonable irritability, memory loss, loss of ability to concentrate, concentration. The peripheral nerves cause the development of neuritis, the most famous of which is sciatica. Having arisen once, it does not leave the patient all his life.
The lungs are the first to find toxins from tobacco smoke. In addition, the attack on the structure of the bronchi and the parenchyma of the organ comes from two sides: through the blood and locally, with direct irritation of the mucosa. There is tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, COPD. This causes persistent respiratory failure, emphysema, asthma, cancer.
The digestive system also comes into direct contact with the metabolites of nicotine and cigarette tar. They become triggers for erosive and ulcerative processes, hepatitis, gallstone disease, and cirrhosis. The nightshade alkaloid takes the kidneys hostage. It is they who metabolize the poison, while destructive processes occur in the organ itself, nephron sclerosis, chronic kidney failure develops.
Libido in men and women, reproductive, erectile function suffers.
Appearance: repels others: gray, dry, flaky skin, brittle nails, thinning hair, yellow teeth, and foul breath. Calcium is removed from the bones, causing osteoporosis and pathological fractures.
Such a multifaceted effect of nicotine a priori requires a multifaceted approach to the restoration of the body after quitting smoking, it assumes the help of multiple vectors to quit smoking. For this, pharmacologists offer smoking pills and other forms of multidirectional action.
How do nicotine lozenges work?
It must be said that recently, traditional forms of drugs have been changing, adapting to people's habits. Today we see many para-tablets in pharmacies.
Remarkable:
- Lollipops- representatives of substitution therapy. They contain a minimal dose of nicotine which, when ingested, eases withdrawal symptoms caused by the cessation of the flow of tobacco into the blood and brain. That is, it helps you not feel unhappy when you quit smoking. An indisputable advantage is the inclusion of herbal extracts in the composition of the product and the fact that they can be prepared independently, at home. Patients with diabetes should be treated with caution. A doctor's consultation is required to adjust the dose of sugar-lowering medications.
- Chewable tablets- regardless of the country of origin, they have the same anti-nicotine effect: they replace the absence of nicotine. They contain 2-4 mg of a medicinal substance and act similar to pills. The main advantage and difference is that the alkaloid gradually enters the blood and brain as the product is chewed. Usually in half an hour, no less.
- Spray- This is the same liquid anti-smoking medicine. It is a means of quick help when you want to puff on a cigarette. Reaches blood flow and neurons in just one minute.
- Patch- a representative of the transdermal direction in reducing anxiety for pyridine poison. Maximum comfort to quit smoking. It enters the body through the skin, begins to act instantly, practically does not bind to albumin. It is metabolized and excreted by the kidneys. Therefore, it should be used with caution in patients with organ failure.
Today, pharmacologists offer anti-smoking injections. Essentially a cigarette vaccine. This is innovation. The principle of operation is to break the vicious cycle. Once in the blood, the components of the solution elicit an immune response from the body. The antibodies produced by the defense system bind to the pyridine alkaloid, forming a very large antigen-antibody complex. It cannot overcome the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain from any harmful substances.
The center of happiness remains intact. It turns out that the person smokes, but there is no pleasure. The chain of addictions is broken and the patient gives up the cigarette.
However, in the context of all innovations, drugs in the form of tablets are still the most in demand.
Smoking drug groups
Modern pharmacology divides all tobacco dependence drugs into several main groups:
- The first includes substances that contain chemical compounds that affect the body, such as a pyridine alkaloid. They activate cholinergic receptors like nicotine, mimicking their presence. As a result, a person experiences the same feelings as with a smoked cigarette. But toxins from tobacco do not enter the bloodstream and neurons, the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract does not burn. However, the patient still needs the nightshade poison.
- The second directly affects the brain centers responsible for the desire to smoke. These are antidepressants.
- The third, the most interesting, blocks the mechanism of action of nicotine, killing the desire to smoke a cigarette, since this process does not give any pleasure.
Anti-smoking medications
These are groups of all the most commonly used pill formulations for smoking today, with a mechanism of action and contraindications for use - a reliable assistant for everyone who decides to end a bad habit. It is necessary because tobacco lovers must understand: addiction is based on two pillars: the physical and mental desire for nicotine.
So some of these drugs help to say goodbye to physiological addiction, others to psychological.
The wrong selection can end in complete failure. Experienced smokers are advised to pay attention to the first group of drugs, beginners - to the third.
Nicotine analogs
The composition of these funds contains alkaloids in contact with cholinergic receptors.
The mechanism of action is the substitution of the tobacco poison, an attempt to take over its functions. These drugs activate the same biochemical processes, sensations, but without negative consequences.
There is one more nuance. Nerve endings are extremely sensitive. Any overdose causes many negative symptoms. Therefore, if their intake is accompanied by the use of cigarettes, tachycardia, nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, fainting occur.
This "impresses" the organism so much that the idea of the danger of repetition is clearly fixed in the subcortex.
All drugs in this group have common contraindications:
- Carry a baby and breastfeed.
- PUD and duodenal ulcer, erosive processes in the intestine, pancreatitis.
- Atherosclerotic changes in the vessels and associated ischemia of the myocardium, brain, hypertension, encephalopathy, heart failure.
- Disorders of the blood clotting system.
- Obstructive diseases of the bronchopulmonary system.
Nicotine-containing products
Tablets containing minimal doses of nicotine help patients to gradually and permanently stop smoking, reduce the dose of tobacco they consume, or survive a temporary forced quit. This is the same substitution therapy, but not with nightshade venom simulators, but by itself.
The therapeutic effect is due to the intake of a pyridine alkaloid in the body without harmful impurities and in small volumes. The dose is gradually reduced. To the point where quitting smoking is easy and natural.
Contraindications to the use of drugs in this group are somewhat different:
- Intolerance to the components of the solanacea alkaloid individually.
- Until 18 years.
- Pregnancy and lactation period.
- Schizophrenia.
- Insufficiency of the kidneys, liver, heart muscle, peptic ulcer.
Solanaceous alkaloid blockers
The essence of its action is to prevent the penetration of nicotine into cholinergic receptors. The very meaning of smoking is lost in the absence of pleasure about it.
Herbal medicines are included in this group. They contain calamus and mint, which, with their sharp taste sensations, provoke aversion to bad habits, suppress the urge to smoke.
Products without alkaloids
They are parallel in their mechanism of action with the previous group, but they do not block the contact of cholinergic receptors with nicotine, but they interact directly with the centers of the brain responsible for pleasure, suppressing them. Smoking becomes a burden.
It is not entirely clear what is the reason for the different effect of drugs in this group in patients. The main point is believed to be in the technical synthesis of varenicline by different manufacturers.
Side effects are quite frequent: headache, nausea, cramps in the epigastrium, rises in blood pressure, insomnia at night and drowsiness, apathy during the day. Rhinorrhea, sore throat, shortness of breath, causing respiratory failure and pulmonary edema are common.
Antidepressants
These pills, unlike all other drugs, increase the activity of the brain centers, stimulating the production of hormones of happiness and thus interrupting the effect of nicotine.
Tranquilizers
Medications for anxiety help the smoker to get out of the stressful situation of quitting nicotine.
Drugs of this group are contraindicated for pregnant women and nursing mothers and for individual intolerance.
Homeopathy
Today it is generally accepted that homeopathic remedies act like a placebo. Still, there are three new generations of effective drugs that can reliably and safely alleviate smoking withdrawal.
The mechanism of action of these pills is to detoxify the body and eliminate the psychological attachment to tobacco.
There are several restrictions on use: intolerance to the components of the funds individually and the allergic mood of the body. Diabetics should take them with caution, since glucose is one of the components. The regimen and dosage are determined by the doctor, without whose consultation treatment is impossible.
Each person can independently assess the degree of harmfulness and usefulness of smoking pills according to the main parameters, but does not give an unequivocal answer to the question of what is the best remedy. This is due to the fact that there is currently no optimal anti-smoking drug that meets all the requirements. Advertising is the engine of progress. But the truth is more expensive.