Help! I quit smoking but I'm going out to dinner with a couple who both smoke. I'll be surrounded.

You will be surrounded by smokers only if you allow it. I have no problem telling smokers that I choose to not be around second hand smoke due to MY health issues. I don't tell them they can't smoke, only that I won't be around it. I hope that you ask to sit inside in a non-smoking section and allowed them to go outside when they want to smoke. If they insisted that this is unreasonable then I

Can e-cigarettes help me quit smoking and are they safe?

I have been doing a lot of research into electronic cigarettes since that is what my next book will be about. There have been many confusing headlines, some saying that they are just as harmful as tobacco cigarettes, while other headlines will tell you they will help you quit. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

The controversies that make headlines are often not the real issues, such as-cig

Is Nicotine an Alternative Vice and Should We Prohibit it's Use?

A colleague of mine shared that she had met a man who had quit spit tobacco by switching to nicotine gum. He uses 3 or 4 pieces at a time. He was happy that he quit spit and had no desire to stop using the gum. She wondered what she could say to him about his addiction to nicotine gum. Other colleagues gave her suggestions as to how to get the NRT user to change his behavior but no one really

I am a former smoker, what should I do went I am with my friends who still smoke?

​Just something to think about when you are with friends who still smoke----None of us want to be that nasty holy-than-thou former smoker who shames their smoking friends but do you 

1. want to be around secondhand smoke? 

2. Enable your friend in their addiction?

1. Secondhand smoke is a carcinogen. Instead of saying to a friend--"you can't smoke around me." Say- "I (have a medical problem,

What is a Tobacco Treatment Specialist and how can you help me quit smoking? Can't I just quit smoking on my own?

A Tobacco Treatment Specialist (TTS) is a person who has been specially trained in the treatment of nicotine addiction. I was trained at the Mayo Clinic. I also belong to a professional organization: The Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence(ATTUD). A TTS will use evidence based material (proven strategies) to help a smoker become smoke-free. One guideline that is used is

I just quit smoking, when will I feel better?

Most smokers feel better in three to four weeks. By this time the nicotine withdrawals have subsided or are being effectively managed and "habit" cigarettes have gone away.

Nicotine withdrawal is the main reason why smokers relapse the first month they quit. Physical withdrawal symptoms are: Cravings, depression, anger, irritability, insomnia, hunger or weight gain, fatigue, restlessness and

Hidden danger of e-cigarettes

At a recent social event a man seated next to me pulled an e-cig out of his pocket he said, "I hope you don't mind, but this isn't a real cigarette, it's only vapor."
"I guess you don't know what I do for a living?" was my response.
Steve had quit smoking 15 years ago. He had smoked two packs a day and quit cold turkey. Now he was using 8 to 10 cartridges a day in his e-cig.
When I asked why he

Tobacco company sponsors teen cessation conference

A few weeks ago I listened to a webinar about reducing teen smoking rates. I knew it was sponsored by Altria (formerly known as Phillip Morris, AKA Marlboro land). It wasn't so much what was said but what was NOT said. There was no disclosure for this webinar that Altria was paying for it and I bet that if it had been disclosed, many of the call participants would have hung up.

Next, I started

Genes to blame for difficulty in quitting

A new study shows some smokers have a genetic factor which makes it more difficult to quit smoking.  Smokers who have an abundance of "mu opioid receptors" (MOR) in their brain, are more likely to relapse because their brains find nicotine more rewarding. PET scans were used to show that smokers with excess MOR's had different genetic factors than smokers with less MOR's.
When nicotine fits into

What is addiction?

Have you ever thought of the perfect response to a comment later? That happened to me a few days ago when I was talking to a group of physicians. One said, "Nicotine is not an addiction. Addiction is when you hold up your mother for money to buy your drugs." I mumbled some answer and only later thought about what I wish I had said:

When I talk about nicotine being addictive, I'm talking about

Nicotine hijacks the survival instinct of the brain

Have you ever gone without smoking and developed an overwhelming craving that felt like, "I'M GOING TO DIE OR GO CRAZY IF I DONT' HAVE A CIGARETTE!"?
If so, nicotine has hijacked the survival part of your brain. From the very first puff of a cigarette, nicotine produced a powerful effect on the primate part of our brain that controls our survival instincts. Often people will say that smoking is

Is nicotine addiction a disease?

Addiction Box by Dirk Hanson

This is an interesting article about whether addiction is a disease or not. The case can be made that individuals that are addicted to a substance (whether it's nicotine or something else) have a powerlessness over the ability to abstain from their nicotine (or other substance). In this post, the point is made that often addiction is a change in the nervous system

President Obama continues to struggle to quit for good

The White house released the results of President Obama's first physical which noted that occasional use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Obama admitted to smoking an occasional cigarette but what does that mean -what is "an occasional" cigarette. Regardless of his apparent health--no one who smokes is healthy. One cigarette increases the heart rate, blood pressure, releases carbon monoxide

Time to think of nicotine addiction in a different way

Last night was graduation for the participants in my smoking cessation workshop. All had quit smoking for varying lengths of time from a couple of days to two months. For most, it had been three weeks but a common thread was, "Why is it still so hard? Why do I still have cravings? Why doesn't it seem to be getting any easier?"
Those comments are an example of still thinking of smoking as just a

Turning the Fears of Quitting into Confidence of Becoming Smoke Free

Fear often holds a smoker back from even trying to quit. I remember being afraid of success, "If I quitting smoking, What will I do?" Smoking has become part of our identity, "Who am I, if I'm not a smoker?" Others have tried to quit so many times that there is a fear of another failure. The fear of gaining weight will stop some smokers, especially women, from ever trying to stop smoking. Other

Why Are Smokers More Likely to have less Education and Less Income?

More and more people are quitting every day. If it was easy for you to quit smoking, you probably would have quit already. But those who are still smoking are more likely to have less education, less income and are more likely to have a substance abuse problem or a mental illness. This does NOT apply to all smokers but this is the group that are having a hard time quitting. Is there a connection?

Top 8 Reasons Why Medications Don't Work When Quitting Smoking

I've heard it over and over again--"I tried The Patch (or the gum or any other medication) and it didn't work". there are several reasons why the 7 FDA-approved medications don't work.1. Under dosed. The guidelines with the use of nicotine replacement products may not deliver sufficient nicotine. If a smoker is smoking two packs a day that is the equivalent to two-21mg patches. If they were only

Romancing the Cigarette After You Have Quit Smoking

Have you ever been in a bad relationship and had it break up? There were so many things that you didn't like about the person you were involved with. But after six months, you haven't started dating anyone else and your thoughts drift back to the fond memories, you tell yourself it wasn't so bad, you had some great times together, you forget all the negative qualities and before you know it,

Different Reasons Why We Smoke

I have personally quit a total of nine separate times for at least 3 months each time. This is not counting the numerous attempts of a day here or a day there. Each time I have quit, I have learned something else about how I was connected to my cigarette. The first time I quit, it seemed easy, too easy and I thought I could control my smoking. But I was wrong, I needed to learn about relapsing