Update on How to Quit Smoking…..

Today's post: Wednesday, 1-16-2008

Last Thursday, 1-10, I did a post on how dramatically dangerous smoking is for cardiovascular & heart health. The post highlighted that smoking is dangerous even for younger people & so powerful a cause of heart disease that it sometimes even kills people in their 40’s.

I then suggested for people trying to quit that they ask their doctor for a drug called Chantix.

I had gone by the listed side effects that mild nausea was the main problem. So I passed on that reducing the dose of the drug temporarily has been found to help & that taking ginger has been found to increase the level of your body being able to withstand things without giving you nausea symptoms & that might also be a solution.

However, I found some information since that suggests that taking the antidepressant drug Zyban plus a nicotine substitute might be as effective as Chantix in helping people quit.

And, of more importance, an unlisted side effect of Chantix on many people is that it can induce or worsen depression & that this can be severe in some people.

Ouch !!

For many smokers, they smoke in part because their lives have been extra stressful or because nicotine has some antidepressant effects that help them feel a bit better.

To me, this means Chantix is likely NOT a good bet for helping people quit smoking after all.

So I’ve changed my thoughts on this subject.

I now believe that taking the antidepressant drug Zyban plus a nicotine substitute plus some strong support group help is your best & safest way to quit smoking.

Many people do manage to quit cold turkey. So that may be the best thing to try first.

But if you have too many withdrawal side effects or find you have re-started, enlist your doctor’s help & ask for the antidepressant drug Zyban plus a nicotine substitute.

In addition, be sure to get into a support group as that has also been found to help. Your doctor may have a program to refer you to -- or your HMO or insurance company may offer one. If not, the American Cancer Society or the American Lung Association can help you locate one.

The other thing your doctor can do is help you get your HDL & your homocysteine level tested. If you smoke, there is an excellent to very high chance your HDL is under 50, possibly under 35, & a similar chance your homocysteine level is well over 9.0.

You may well find your HDL is something like 27; & your homocysteine level is 13.0 or higher. That indicates damage is happening now that will result in heart disease.

What does that do for you in helping you quit?

If you get a bad reading on either of these tests or a very bad reading like the 27 & over 13.0 example above, it means that smoking is giving you heart disease RIGHT NOW. And, you then do NOT have to guess if you need to quit smoking to protect yourself. These two measures are quite likely to show that you do need to quit or even that it’s imperative that you do.

The great news is that they give you objective proof that you need to quit. And, even better, they tell you BEFORE you die of a heart attack or stroke caused by smoking.

Of course this also suggests that as soon as you quit, you begin doing the things that increase your HDL & lower your homocysteine to help you recover faster from the effects of the smoking you’ve already done & speed up the damage repair & lower the harm to your heart & blood vessels.

Consider taking steps like the following to do that. And, if you do them, you get an extra benefit too. By taking steps to turn down or turn off the damage smoking has caused you, it will significantly increase your motivation to quit.

Here are things that boost HDL. There are many others. But these seem to work well for most people.

Taking at least 300 mg of real niacin after two meals a day for a total of 600 is likely safe & has boosted HDL quite well for some people.

Regular exercise, particularly progressive strength training & interval aerobic exercise, boost HDL.

And, the drink or two a day that has been found to increase longevity likely does so in part because it boosts HDL. (Just drink in locations where smoking is NOT allowed & never smoke at the same time you drink even before you quit.)

Using only extra virgin olive oil instead of oils like corn oil or safflower oil or soy oil also boosts your HDL studies have found. And, it helps reduce your bad LDL if you use it to replace butter when you can.

To lower your homocysteine levels, try these things.:

Try taking 500 to 1000 micrograms of B12; 50 to 75 mg of B6, & 1600 iu or more of folic acid each day. (Note: More than 1000 of B12 & more than 1600 of folic acid is likely OK. More than 100 mg of B6 is NOT as it has caused nerve damage.)

For some people, that may be enough to reduce your homocysteine to below 9.0. If not, try adding 500 mg a day of the supplement NAC. You can also take 500 mg twice a day if your homocysteine is well over 10.0 now or doesn’t drop below 9.0 with the B vitamins & 500.

If your homocysteine is 14.0 or above or still not below 9.0 after the B vitamins & 500 mg of NAC twice a day, try adding the supplement TMG two or three times a day.