One of the stages of overcoming the craving for smoking is the elimination of the body's physical dependence on nicotine. Special preparations will help the smoker in this.
Smoking is a fairly common form of addiction that affects hundreds of millions of people on the planet. According to statistics, the majority of smokers, at least once in their life, tried to quit smoking, but without success. The difficulty lies in the fact that smoking is not only a physical, but also a psychological addiction. In addition to the need for nicotine, a person also feels the need in the very process of smoking a cigarette. And if physical addiction can be fought with the help of drug therapy, then overcoming psychological addiction is painstaking work on oneself, perhaps not without the help of a psychotherapist.
Nicotine hungerIn a smoker with experience, nicotine has already managed to "get stuck" in a number of biochemical cycles. That is, the body feels the need for nicotine like other vital compounds. Subsequent portions of nicotine must regularly enter the body, and if the smoker does not smoke for several hours, the smoker begins to experience unpleasant symptoms. This is a withdrawal syndrome that occurs as a result of nicotine starvation.
Overcoming the withdrawal syndrome is the main task of drug therapy for nicotine addiction.
One of the methods of treating smoking addiction is aversion therapy. The patient takes certain medications immediately before smoking, which causes nausea, vomiting and other unpleasant sensations in the smoker. Within a few days of such therapy, smoking becomes an unpleasant activity. Subcutaneous administration of a 1% solution of apomorphine causes a nausea-vomiting reaction when inhaling tobacco smoke. Over time, such therapy contributes to the development of a negative reaction to tobacco.
In addition to apomorphine, preparations based on an infusion of ink nuts, halodubilic acid, a decoction of the rhizomes of a snakewort and young shoots of a cherry tree are also used.
Therapeutic nicotineNicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a popular way to overcome nicotine addiction. The treatment method is reduced to taking small doses of therapeutic nicotine with a gradual dose reduction during the therapeutic course. There are several medicinal forms with nicotine: chewing gum, inhaler, patch and aerosol.
Thanks to the introduction of small doses of nicotine into the smoker's body, it is possible to avoid pronounced symptoms of the withdrawal syndrome, such as anxiety, sleep disorders, nausea, cardiovascular disorders, and others.
Drugs containing nicotine should not be taken by people with erosive-ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract (in particular, in the acute stage), pregnant women, as well as people with cardiovascular diseases and impaired cerebral circulation.
Treatment with nicotine-like substancesSome NRT preparations may contain nicotine-like substances instead of pure nicotine - compounds that mimic the effects of nicotine, but are less toxic to the body. Taking these drugs also reduces the feeling of nicotine starvation in smokers, which significantly "smoothes out" the unpleasant symptoms of the withdrawal syndrome.
Means that imitate the effect of nicotine are alkaloids that are obtained from plants or synthetically. Such are the following compounds:
· Pilocarpine is a substance obtained from the pilocarpus plant (Pilocarpuspinnatifoliuslaborandi). It is used in the form of a 5-6% aqueous solution. However, due to difficulties in storage (destroys under the influence of light), the drug is practically not used today.
· Cytisine is an alkaloid contained in the seeds of sea buckthorn and thermopsis. Today, cytisine preparations are produced in the form of an aqueous solution, tablets and ampoules. Possible side effects of cytisine treatment may include headaches, nausea, high blood pressure, dizziness and cardiovascular disorders.
· Lobelin is an alkaloid obtained from plants of the bellflower family. For therapeutic purposes, a 1% aqueous solution of the drug is used.
Smoking is the only proven cause of a number of malignant diseases.
Adjunctive therapyIn some cases, the above methods of treatment are ineffective, as the addiction to smoking is strongly expressed. In this case, there is a need for auxiliary therapy, which includes taking special sedatives, psychostimulants, and vitamins. Symptomatic treatment of manifestations of withdrawal syndrome is also carried out: correction of cardiovascular, digestive, excretory and other body systems.