Although anti-smoking pills are the most popular among those who quit a bad habit, there are many other forms of drugs on the country's pharmacological market today that help to give up cigarettes forever. Which technique is most effective for the patient, the doctor decides on the basis of a complete clinical and laboratory examination and individual characteristics of the person. It is important to understand that all medicines work in different ways. Tablets are the most numerous and effective group of anti-tobacco medicines.
The multi-vector harm of smoking
The danger of nicotine extends not only to heavy smokers, but also to those people around them. It's about secondhand smoke. Relatives and friends are forced to endure tobacco smoke, being next to a smoker. This is the risk of oncology, infertility, obstructive pulmonary diseases, pathological changes in the heart and blood vessels, kidneys.
Scientifically proven fact: children of lovers to raise have a significant developmental delay, low intelligence, limited horizons. This is a consequence of oxygen starvation. 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, cannot perform their functions in full.
The heart, pumping 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.
Moreover, this situation applies equally to smokers and to those who have never taken a cigarette in their mouths.
Fans of tobacco smoke are at risk for vascular diseases of the lower extremities: intermittent claudication, varicose veins, obliterating endarteritis, diabetic foot, polyneuropathy.
But the nervous system still suffers most of all. Toxic damage to nerve cells, receptors, fibers leads to uncontrollable headaches, mood swings, unreasonable irritability, memory loss, loss of the ability to concentrate, concentrate. Peripheral nerves provoke 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 encounter the toxins of tobacco smoke. Moreover, 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 mucous membrane. There are tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, COPD. This causes persistent respiratory failure, emphysema, asthma, cancer.
The digestive system also comes into direct contact with metabolites of nicotine and cigarette tar. They become triggers of erosive and ulcerative processes, hepatitis, gallstone disease and cirrhosis. The nightshade alkaloid takes the kidneys hostage. It is they who metabolize poison, while destructive processes occur in the organ itself, sclerosis of nephrons, chronic renal failure develops.
Libido in men and women, reproductive, erectile function suffers.
Appearance - repels others: gray, dry, flaky skin, brittle nails, sparse hair, yellow teeth and disgusting breath. Calcium is washed out of the bones, provoking 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, assumes multi-vector assistance in parting with tobacco. For this, pharmacologists offer smoking pills and other forms of multidirectional action.
How do nicotine parapills work?
It must be said that recently, traditional forms of drugs have been changing, adapting to the habits of people. Today we see a lot of para-tablets in pharmacies.
Noteworthy:
- Lollipops- representatives of substitution therapy. They contain a minimal dose of nicotine, which, when ingested, softens the withdrawal symptoms caused by the cessation of the entry of tobacco into the bloodstream and brain. That is, it helps not to feel unhappy at the moment of giving up cigarettes. 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 on adjusting the dose of sugar-reducing drugs is required.
- 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 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. He is a means of quick help when you want to take a drag on a cigarette. Reaches blood flow and neurons in just a minute.
- Patch- a representative of the transdermal direction in reducing cravings for pyridine poison. Maximum comfort for quitting 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 action is to break the vicious circle. Once in the blood, the components of the solution cause an immune response of the body. The antibodies produced by the defense system bind the pyridine alkaloid, forming a very large antigen-antibody complex. He is unable 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 there is no pleasure. The chain of addiction breaks and the patient leaves the cigarette.
However, against the background of all the innovations, tablet formulations remain the most in demand.
Groups of drugs for smoking
Modern pharmacology divides all drugs from tobacco dependence into several main groups:
- The first includes substances that contain chemical compounds that affect the body, like a pyridine alkaloid. They activate cholinergic receptors like nicotine, mimicking its presence. As a result, a 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 get burned. However, the patient still has a need for nightshade poison.
- The second directly affects the centers of the brain 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 drag on a cigarette, since this process does not give any pleasure.
Anti-tobacco medicines
These are the groups of all the most commonly used pill formulations for smoking today, with a mechanism of action and contraindications for admission - a reliable assistant for everyone who decides to end a bad habit. It is necessary because tobacco lovers need to understand: addiction stands on two pillars - physical and mental craving for nicotine.
So, some of these medications 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 medicines, beginners - to the third.
Nicotine analogs
The composition of these funds 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 one more nuance. The nerve endings are extremely sensitive. Any overdose causes a lot of negative symptoms. Therefore, if their intake is accompanied by the use of cigarettes, tachycardia, nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, fainting occurs.
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:
- Carrying a baby and breastfeeding.
- 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 in the blood coagulation system.
- Obstructive diseases of the bronchopulmonary system.
Nicotine-containing products
Tablets containing minimal doses of nicotine help patients to gradually quit smoking permanently, reduce the dose of tobacco they use, or survive a forced temporary cessation of it. This is the same substitution therapy, but not with simulants of nightshade poison, but by himself.
The therapeutic effect is due to the intake of a pyridine alkaloid into the body without harmful impurities and in small volumes. The dosage is gradually reduced. To the point where quitting cigarettes is easy and natural.
Contraindications to the use of drugs in this group are somewhat different:
- Intolerance to the components of the nightshade alkaloid on an individual basis.
- Up to 18 years old.
- Pregnancy and lactation period.
- Schizophrenia.
- Failure of the kidneys, liver, heart muscle, 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 absence of pleasure about it.
Herbal medicines are included in this group. They contain calamus and mint, which, with their sharp taste sensations, cause aversion to the bad habit, suppress the desire to smoke.
Alkaloids-free products
They are parallel in their mechanism of action with the previous group, but do not block the contact of cholinergic receptors with nicotine, but interact directly with the centers of the brain responsible for pleasure, suppressing them. Smoking becomes a burden.
What is the reason for the different effect of drugs in this group on patients is not completely clear. It is believed that the whole point is in the technical synthesis of varenicline by different manufacturers.
Side effects are quite frequent: headache, nausea, cramps in the epigastrium, surges in blood pressure, sleeplessness at night and drowsiness, apathy during the day. Often there is rhinorrhea, sore throat, shortness of breath, leading to respiratory failure and pulmonary edema.
Antidepressants
These pills, unlike all other drugs, increase the activity of the centers of the brain, stimulating the production of hormones of happiness and thereby interrupting the effect of nicotine.
Tranquilizers
Anxiety medications help the smoker get out of the stressful situation of quitting nicotine.
Medicines of this group are contraindicated for expectant and lactating mothers and for individual intolerance.
Homeopathy
Today it is generally accepted that homeopathic remedies act like a placebo. Even so, there are three new generation of effective drugs that can reliably and safely alleviate smoking withdrawal.
The mechanism of action of these pills is to detoxify the body and remove 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 need to take them with caution, since glucose is one of the constituents. The regimen and dosage is determined by the doctor, without whose consultation the treatment is impossible.
Each person can independently assess the degree of harm and usefulness of pills from smoking according to the main parameters, but he does not give an unambiguous answer to the question of which remedy is the best. This is due to the fact that currently there is no optimal anti-smoking drug that would meet all the requirements. Advertising is the engine of progress. But truth is dearer.