Smoking Cessation Health Center

Medical Reference Related to Smoking Cessation

61. Ned's Story: Quitting Smoking - Ned's story
    

    I've been smoking ever since I was a teenager. That’s 40-something years ago. I never really thought about what could happen to this old body if I kept lighting up. I just knew that I loved to smoke. Then I started to notice that it was getting harder and harder to do simple things like walk to my mailbox. One time my chest was so heavy that I lay down on the sidewalk until I could catch ...

62. Interactive Tool: How Much Is Smoking Costing You? - What does this tool measure?
    

    Click here to find out how much smoking is costing you.This interactive tool calculates how much money you have spent on cigarettes in the past or how much you will spend on them in the future. When computing future costs, this calculator does not take into account inflation or the rising cost of cigarettes or the taxes on them. The actual amount you spend will be higher.Although you may be ...

63. Should I take medicine to quit smoking?
    

    This information will help you understand your choices, whether you share in the decision - making process or rely on your doctor's recommendation. Key points in making your decisionIn the past, the only way to quit smoking was "cold turkey." Today, you have the option of using medication such as bupropion (Zyban) that can make the process easier. This information also applies if you use spit ...

64. Nate's Story: Sick of Smoking - Nate's story
    

    After 8 years of trying to quit smoking,Nate was sick of it-literally. His throat hurt so much from smoking that he said to himself,"This is stupid." He tossed his pack of cigarettes to a friend and hasn't looked back. Nate started smoking in his teens with friends from school. After 2 years of smoking,he'd had enough. But by then he was hooked,and quitting was hard. "It was like a ...

65. Nancy's Story: Quitting Smoking Takes More Than Willpower - Nancy's story
    

    Nancy started smoking in nursing school back in the 1970s. It helped relieve the stress of school. But 10 years later,something happened to make her think twice about her smoking habit. Nancy was working as a nurse and was exposed to someone who had a bad case of pneumonia. As a precaution,Nancy was checked for pneumonia. The X-ray revealed that she didn't have pneumonia-but her lungs did ...

66. Clonidine (Catapres) for quitting smoking
    

    Drug details for Clonidine (Catapres) for quitting smoking.

67. Interactive Tool: Are You Ready to Quit Smoking? - What does this tool measure?
    

    Click here to find out whether you're ready to quit smoking.This interactive tool measures your readiness to quit smoking. The tool uses the stages of change approach, which is based on research about how people typically make behavior changes. The approach suggests that to make positive change, people must go through distinct stages from not thinking about quitting to actually quitting. Based on

68. Interactive Tool: Are You Ready to Quit Smoking? - What's next?
    

    Quitting smoking, like most major lifestyle changes, is a process. Understanding where you fall in this process-your current stage of change-will help you and your doctor find the right strategy. For more information, see the topic Quitting Tobacco Use. Adapted with permission from: Zimmerman GL, et al. (2000). A "stages of change" approach to helping patients change behavior. Figure 1. American .

69. Interactive Tool: Are You Ready to Quit Smoking? - What does your score mean?
    

    Your score will appear as one of the following:Not ready. You are not considering quitting for a variety of reasons. You may believe that smoking will not harm you, or you may rationalize your behavior. Thinking about it. You may have mixed feelings about quitting. In this stage you acknowledge that smoking is a problem, but you are not ready or not sure you want to quit. For example, you may ...

70. To Learn More
    

    CALL For more information,U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Deaf and hard-of-hearing callers with TTY equipment may call 1-800-332-8615. The call is free and a trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions. WEB ..