Smoking

Smoking related deaths are amongst the highest throughout the world, with millions of people dying each year from smoking. This addiction, which affects one out of every four of us throughout the UK, is one of the hardest habits to overcome, with some studies indicating that nicotine is on par if not more addictive than illegal narcotics such as heroin or cocaine.

There is help however, with several treatment options currently available to aid you in getting back your independence from this highly addictive recreation. On this page you will find a wealth of information related to smoking, its impact on your health, along with the ways in which you can combat your addiction and finally quit smoking for good.

If you’re amongst the 70% of smokers who actively want to quit and move on with their lives without addiction, then you have come to the right place to kick start your journey to a tobacco-free life. We can help by putting you in contact with our team of UK registered doctors who may be able to prescribe you with a course of treatment to successfully aid you in quitting the habit.

Is smoking really as bad as people make out?

Smoking is one of the biggest killers in the UK. It is the direct cause of five times more deaths than those caused from road traffic accidents and other accidental deaths, overdose and poisoning, liver disease caused by alcoholism, murder, manslaughter, suicide, and HIV combined. In addition to this, smoking is responsible for around 30% of all cancer deaths, of which 84% are lung cancer; 80% of deaths caused by bronchitis and emphysema and 17% of deaths caused by heart disease. As you can see, smoking can be extremely detrimental to your health and as a smoker, you’re twice as likely to die from smoking related diseases than from any other cause. In addition, smoking has also been attributed to the development, worsening or increased risk of some of the following conditions:

• Impotence and Infertility – Smoking can cause impotence and infertility in both men and women. In men, this can result in the inability to gain an erection, as well as a decrease in their sperm count and sperm abnormalities.
• Diabetes – Smoking is a serious risk factor for diabetes as this has been directly linked to insulin resistance, which often leads to this condition.
• Angina – Smokers are twenty times more likely to develop this condition than that of their non-smoking counterparts.
• High Blood Pressure – This condition, of which smoking is an attributing factor, can lead to an increased risk of angina and other cardiovascular problems, kidney damage and loss of vision.
• Depression – Long-term suffering of this condition is known to be more common amongst dependant smokers, with there being evidence that smoking can be the direct cause of this.
• Optic Neuropathy, Amblyopia and Macular Degeneration – All of these conditions can lead to impaired vision or blindness with smokers running an increased risk of developing these by up to 16 times that of a non smoker.

What is Passive Smoking and what are the risks?

Passive smoking is when other people around you, whether they are your colleagues, friends or family, breathe in the smoke from your cigarettes when you smoke. The process itself is often referred to by a number of different names like secondhand smoke and has been shown by scientists to be considerably detrimental to an individual’s health. Passive smoking has been linked to causing a number of smoke related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, impotence and has also been linked to increasing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome or “cot death”. What this means is that by smoking you are not only worsening your own health and shortening your life span, but also that of the people around you. In addition to the highly conclusive studies conducted to highlight the risk of passive smoking, there has also been considerable speculation about the health effects of “third hand smoke”, a term which refers to the smoke residues left on clothes and surfaces which are contaminated by tobacco smoke. All of these forms of second hand smoke can have serious long term health effects and should be food for thought the next time you light up a cigarette.

What Are the Benefits of Quitting?

It is never too late to give up your habit as there are benefits to be had whether you have been a smoker for a single year or for more than 10 years. These health benefits include a drastic reduction in your risk of developing many conditions such as lung cancer, heart disease and other life threatening illness. Many of these health benefits will be experienced within a short period of time from when you have given up; however there are also some which will take several years. To see these improvements in health and roughly how long they take to occur please use our chart below:

In addition to the obvious health benefits of quitting, there are a host of other reasons to quit including the financial cost of smoking. The average smoker in the UK will have 10-15 cigarettes each and every day, which will cost around £125 per month or £1,500 per year. This may not seem like an awful lot of money to some but if you think about it I’m sure you could find a much better use for all of this wasted money. When you look at how much you will spend throughout your life time on this fatal habit, you may be quite surprised to hear that for the average smoker this will range upwards of £100,000. This significant sum of money could be put to far better use than the shortening of your life and damaging of your

What treatment options are available to help stop smoking?

There are currently three main treatment options to aid people in their goal to stop smoking. These are NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy), Zyban and Champix.

NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy)

Nicotine Replacement Therapy comes in a variety of different product names and brands, but all work by replacing the nicotine you would usually have in your body from smoking. This nicotine can be administered in various ways which most commonly include patches, chewing gums, inhalers and nasal sprays. With this nicotine in your body, the withdrawal symptoms and cravings are reduced as the brain receptors,which are stimulated from smoking, remain so. Up to 1 in 5 smokers should be able to give up smoking using this form of treatment, however to be successful with NRT, a vast amount of willpower is required as this treatment has no action designed to physically stop you smoking.

Zyban (bupropion)

Originally designed and marketed as an anti-depressant, Zyban was first found to have benefits for smokers who were prescribed this when they began to notice that they were able to quit smoking. Although it is not fully understood how this treatment works, we do know that this prescription medication alters brain chemistry which is responsible for this effect. The success rate of this treatment is approximately 29%, with these patients giving up over a period of 12 weeks.

Champix (varenicline)

I want to give up smoking. What do I do next?

If you are seriously considering putting down your packet of cigarettes for good then you might like to consider taking one of our free online consultations for smoking cessation. The entire process is completely free, without any obligation, and will be reviewed by a member of our team of fully qualified and registered UK doctors. They will use the information you have provided to establish whether or not you are be suitable for treatment through our service. Completing your consultation should take no more than a few minutes and will be reviewed within the hour, allowing you to purchase your treatment for next day delivery provided you have been found suitable. Should you have any questions or are not quite sure about anything relating to our service or our treatments and the conditions themselves, then please do not hesitate to contact our team of dedicated customer service representatives. We are on hand to assist you as much as we can whilst using our website to help you quit smoking.