President Barack Obama has recently signed a bill with changes to the SCHIP program increasing health insurance coverage for children. Guess who will be paying.......smokers! Along with the new bill, there will be $0.61 increase in Federal cigarette tax per pack increasing it to $1 total. Average costs per pack will be reaching $7 in some states. A 1 pack per day smoker will end up spending $2548 a year! Do you need another reason to stop smoking?
Nicotine dependence causes more morbidity and mortality then all other addictive drugs to put together. Luckily, quitting smoking is easier then ever. There are great pharmacological treatments available from your primary care doctor and many come with behavioral programs available by phone or through the Internet.
In my practice, patients have overwhelming success with Varenecline (Brand name Chantix). In my opinion, it is the best addiction treatment drug to come out since buprenorphine. Varenecline works by acting as a partial agonist at nicotinic receptors in the brain. These are the same receptors that are stimulated by the nicotine in cigarettes and gives that pleasurable feeling when you smoke. However, varenecline activates them just enough to take away you cravings. It also appears to block the effects of smoking. In short term studies scientific studies, 45% of patients are able to stop smoking. In my experience, about 90% of patients cut back to at least 2-3 cigarettes daily.
Varenecline is generally well tolerated as it is very similar to nicotine. The most common side effects are stomach upset, insomnia, and irritability. More severe mood swings and suicidal thinking have been reported but theses are very rare.
