Although anti-smoking pills are the most popular among those who have gotten used to the bad habit, there are many other forms of drugs on the pharmacological market in the country today that help to get rid of cigarettes permanently. The doctor decides which technique is the most effective for the patient on the basis of a complete clinical and laboratory examination and individual characteristics of the person. It is important to understand that all medications work in different ways. Tablets are the most numerous and most effective group of anti-tobacco drugs.
Multi-vector smoking damage
The danger of nicotine extends not only to heavy smokers, but also to the people around them. It is about passive smoking. Relatives and friends are forced to suffer tobacco smoke, in addition to smokers. It is a 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 a significant developmental delay, low intelligence, limited horizons. This is due to oxygen starvation. The blood does not receive the required amount of oxygen, which leads to the development of hypoxia. Brain neurons in such conditions are, so to speak, under oppression, unable to fully perform their functions.
The heart, pumping blood saturated with carbon dioxide, experiences excessive stress through hypotonic vessels. Against the background of atherosclerosis as a consequence of metabolic disorders and changes in blood viscosity, it becomes the cause of heart attacks and strokes.
Moreover, this situation applies equally to smokers and those who have never taken a cigarette in their mouth.
Tobacco smoke lovers are at risk of vascular diseases of the lower extremities: intermittent claudication, varicose veins, obliterating endarteritis, diabetic foot, polyneuropathy.
But the nervous system still suffers the most. Toxic damage to nerve cells, receptors, fibers leads to uncontrolled headaches, mood swings, unreasonable irritability, memory loss, loss of ability to concentrate, concentration. Peripheral nerves cause the development of neuritis, the most famous of which is sciatica. Once it appears, it does not leave the patient for life.
The lungs are the first to encounter tobacco smoke toxins. Moreover, the attack on the structure of the bronchi and parenchyma of the organ comes from two sides: through the blood and locally, with direct irritation of the mucosa. There are tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, COPD. It causes permanent respiratory failure, emphysema, asthma, cancer.
The digestive system also comes into direct contact with nicotine and cigarette tar metabolites. They become the initiators of erosive and ulcerative processes, hepatitis, gallstones and cirrhosis. The alkaloid velebilja takes the kidneys hostage. They metabolize the poison, while destructive processes, nephron sclerosis, and chronic kidney failure occur in the organ itself.
Libido in men and women, suffers reproductive, erectile function.
Appearance - repels others: gray, dry peeling skin, brittle nails, sparse hair, yellow teeth and disgusting odor. Calcium leaks out of the bones, causing osteoporosis and pathological fractures.
Such a multiple effect of nicotine a priori requires a multiple approach to the recovery of the body after smoking cessation, presupposes multi-vector assistance in parting with tobacco. For this, pharmacologists offer smoking pills and other forms of multidirectional action.
How do nicotine paralyses work?
It must be said that lately, traditional forms of drugs have been changing, adapting to people’s habits. Today we see a lot of para-tablets in pharmacies.
Important:
- Lollipops- representatives of substitution therapy. They contain a minimal dose of nicotine, which, when ingested, relieves withdrawal symptoms caused by the cessation of tobacco supply to the blood and brain. That is, it helps you not to feel unhappy at the moment of giving up cigarettes. The indisputable advantage is the inclusion of plant 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. It is necessary to consult a doctor about adjusting the dose of sugar-lowering drugs.
- Chewable tablets- regardless of the country of origin, they have the same antinicotine effect: they replace the absence of nicotine. They contain 2-4 mg of medicinal substances and act similarly to lozenges. The main advantage and difference is that the alkaloid gradually enters the blood and brain, as the product is chewed. Usually within half an hour, no less.
- Spray- This is the same liquid anti-tobacco drug. It is an ambulance when you want to smoke a cigarette. It reaches blood flow and neurons in just a minute.
- Patch- a representative of the transdermal direction in reducing the craving for pyridine poison. Maximum comfort for smoking cessation. 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 an innovation. The working principle is to break the vicious circle. Once in the blood, the components of the solution elicit the body’s immune response. Antibodies produced by the defense system bind a pyridine alkaloid, forming a very large antigen-antibody complex. It is not able to 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 has no pleasure. The chain of addiction is broken and the patient quits smoking.
However, in the background of all innovations, drugs in the form of tablets remain the most sought after.
Smoking drug groups
Modern pharmacology divides all tobacco addiction drugs into several main groups:
- The first includes substances that contain chemical compounds that affect the body, such as pyridine alkaloids. They activate cholinergic receptors such as nicotine, mimicking its presence. As a result, the person experiences the same feelings as with a smoked cigarette. But tobacco toxins do not enter the bloodstream and neurons, the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract does not burn. However, the patient still has a need for poison ivy.
- 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 withdraw cigarettes, because this process does not provide any pleasure.
Anti-smoking drugs
These are the groups of all the most commonly used formulations of smoking pills today, with a mechanism of action and contraindications for use - a reliable helper for anyone who decides to quit a bad habit. This is necessary because tobacco lovers must understand: addiction stands on two pillars - physical and mental craving for nicotine.
So, some of these drugs help to say goodbye to physiological addiction, others - to psychological.
The wrong choice can end in complete failure. Experienced smokers are advised to pay attention to the first group of drugs, beginners - to the third.
Nicotine analogues
The composition of these agents contains alkaloids in contact with cholinergic receptors.
The mechanism of action is the replacement of tobacco poison, an attempt to take over its functions. These drugs activate the same biochemical processes, sensations, but without negative consequences.
There is another nuance. Nerve endings are extremely sensitive. Each 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 recurrence is clearly fixed in the subcortex.
All drugs in this group have common contraindications:
- Carrying a baby and breastfeeding.
- PUD and duodenal ulcer, erosive processes in the intestines, pancreatitis.
- Atherosclerotic changes in blood vessels and associated ischemia of the myocardium, brain, hypertension, encephalopathy, heart failure.
- Disorders of the blood coagulation system.
- Obstructive diseases of the bronchopulmonary system.
Nicotine-containing products
Tablets containing minimal doses of nicotine help patients to gradually stop smoking permanently, reduce the dose of tobacco they use, or survive a forced temporary cessation of smoking. This is the same substitution therapy, but not with simulants of the venom of the nightshade, but with itself.
The therapeutic effect is due to the intake of pyridine alkaloids in the body without harmful impurities and in small quantities. The dosage is gradually reduced. To the extent that quitting cigarettes is simple and natural.
Contraindications to the use of drugs in this group are somewhat different:
- Intolerance to components of nightshade alkaloids on an individual basis.
- Up to 18 years.
- Pregnancy and lactation.
- Schizophrenia.
- Kidney, liver, heart muscle failure, peptic ulcer.
Solanaceous alkaloid blockers
The essence of their action is to prevent the penetration of nicotine to cholinergic receptors. The very meaning of smoking is lost in the lack of pleasure.
Herbal remedies are included in this group. They contain calamus and mint, which with their sharp sense of taste provoke aversion to bad habits, suppress the desire to smoke.
Alkaloid-free products
They are parallel in mechanism of action with the previous group, but do not block the contact of cholinergic receptors with nicotine, but directly interact with the brain centers responsible for pleasure, suppressing them. Smoking becomes a burden.
What is the reason for the different effects of drugs of this group on patients is not entirely clear. The whole thing is believed to be in the technical synthesis of varenicline by different manufacturers.
Side effects are quite common: headache, nausea, cramps in the epigastrium, jumps in blood pressure, insomnia at night and drowsiness, apathy during the day. Rhinorrhea, sore throat, shortness of breath, which lead to 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 happiness hormones and thus interrupting the action of nicotine.
Sedatives
Anxiety medications help smokers get out of the stressful situation of quitting nicotine.
Drugs of this group are contraindicated for pregnant and lactating women and for individual intolerance.
Homeopathy
Today, it is generally accepted that homeopathic remedies act as a placebo. Nevertheless, there are three new generations of effective drugs that can reliably and safely alleviate smoking cessation.
The mechanism of action of these tablets is to detoxify the body and remove the psychological attachment to tobacco.
There are several limitations in use: intolerance to the components of the funds individually and allergic mood of the body. Diabetics must take them with caution, because glucose is one of the ingredients. The regimen and dose are determined by a doctor, without whose consultation treatment is impossible.
Each person can independently assess the degree of harmfulness and usefulness of smoking tablets according to the main parameters, but does not give an unambiguous answer to the question of which drug is best. This is due to the fact that there is currently no optimal anti-smoking drug that would meet all the requirements. Advertising is the engine of progress. But the truth is preferable.