Category: Advise Quit Tobacco

Articles on how to advise patients to quit tobacco, on how to drive the conversation and how to approach to motivate to quit tobacco

Quitting Tobacco Strategy and Capacity Building – ICanCaRe Protocol

Quitting Tobacco Strategy and Capacity Building – ICanCaRe Protocol

Quitting tobacco is frustrating. And for a healthcare professional it is a challenge! Every day whatever discipline one is practicing, tobacco users, do visit your clinic. Most of the symptoms the patient has are also related to tobacco use – smoking, chewing, or vaping. The outcome of treatment is compromised if the person continues to use tobacco, thus losing trust with the patient.

It is also seen that a doctor who addresses the issue of tobacco with the patient and goes the extra mile in guiding the person to quit tobacco gains instant recognition from the patient and family. By doing this the doctor does gain directly and indirectly better value in society and definitely more clientele.

268 million people in India use tobacco in some form. The numbers are increasing every day. WHO reports that 70% of educated people who have taken tobacco for a substantial time wish to quit tobacco. They try it unsuccessfully by themselves and frustrated look for support from medical professionals. Medical professionals need to be skilled in tobacco cessation.

I am an Oncosurgeon, practicing for 27 years now.  70 % of my patient are tobacco addicts, as is the case with all other medical professionals, except a few branches. My initial intervention was restricted to just asking the person to quit tobacco. Beyond that I did not know, referring to the psychiatry department was not agreeable, and more importantly, the low quit rate was not acceptable. So, my journey into tobacco cessation began with a deeper understanding of the psychosocial and physical patterns of tobacco addiction and coming up with a successful ICanCaRe intervention model. ICanCaRe launched a comprehensive tobacco control program as SAVE the Youth Campaign.

QUITTING TOBACCO – is now easy

Tobacco addiction is multifactorial. The skill lies in assessing each of the components and balancing the issue with the patient. The intervention is individualized and is not a copycat prescription for all. The most important roadblock for every patient is the “Fear of Failure”. ICanCaRe incorporated all the components into digital format http://app.icancare.in and made it simple, scalable, and saleable. The balance lies in managing withdrawals, cravings, suffering, societal pressure, and managing medical issues. This intervention process is simplified as “ABCD of Tobacco CESSATION” which is Active Motivation, Behavioural intervention, Co-morbidity management, and Drugs and medications like Nicotine-Acetylcholine receptor agonists and supplements.

ICanCaRe E-pharmacy for tobacco medications is available to ensure timely doorstep delivery of the medications to ensure compliance. And more recently multilingual virtual clinics have been introduced to help guide remote patients. Quit tobacco is now just a call away – 011-43077695.

The ICanCaRe standardized protocol for cessation has been designed, piloted, and implemented to help individuals quit any form of tobacco and smoking with ease. This protocol is tailored to suit the individuals’ needs and habits so that adapting to the tobacco-free routine is easy and simple. More details are available at www.icancare.in/quittobacco. 

Quitting tobacco is now available, feasible, and effective!

CAPACITY BUILDING – ICanCaRe Academy

Capacity building is the absolute need of the hour so that the HCPs are readily available across every corner of the country to offer help for a cessation to their patients. Every hospital needs to establish a dedicated cessation center with a dedicated team to offer assistance in quitting and oral examination.

ICanCaRe Academy – introduced the Certified Tobacco Cessation courses accredited with GUJARAT UNIVERSITY to train doctors and health care workers across India. Lots of trained skilled HCP and Tobacco cessation clinics are needed across India. Tobacco MARSHALs in society are trained influencers who motivate people to SAVE the youth. www.icancare.in/academy

The pillar of success for the program lies in visibly, available skilled and networked Health Care Professionals following a reproducible digitalized intervention for a successful outcome.

At ICanCaRe we are committed to SAVE the youth by sensitization, assisting them to quit, Volunteer Training, and Enforcing tobacco control.

ICanCaRe is here to stay with its innovative 360-degree intervention for tobacco cessation.

Collaboration and synergizing together are the way ahead to putting an end to this pandemic. ICanCaRe is open for collaborations with institutions, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and tech-based institutions to amplify cessation across the country.

Join the ICanCaRe community to #SAVEtheyouth www.facebook.com/groups/icancare.

(The Author – Dr. Pawan Gupta M.Ch. is Director of Surgical Oncology at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali. Patparganj and Noida. He authored the book – Win Over Tobacco Made Easy, Be Smart Do Not Start and is highly recognized for his work on Oral Cancer and Tobacco Cessation. He is the convenor for the Certified Course in Tobacco Cessation at Gujarat University. He launched the #SAVEtheyouth campaign and Tobacco MARSHALs in the community)

 

REACH OUT FOR TOBACCO CESSATION

Tobacco – Enjoy to Suffer

The start of the journey of a tobacco user is of enjoyment. The tobacco is packed and advertised to attract the youth. The flavor, menthol, etc added to tobacco – smoking. chewing or vaping is to make it an enjoyable thing. But the addictive factor added to it is slowly affecting the brain making it irresistible. The youth are attracted to tobacco by surrogate advertisements and misleading advertisements.

TOBACCO ENJOY TO SUFFER

Cigarettes contain 7000 chemicals, of these 200 are severely harmful and 69 are cancer-causing chemicals. In chewing tobacco similar constituents with 28 very harmful carcinogens. The Vaping device also contains chemicals that are leading to new forms of diseases.

No chemicals cause acute injury, it is a journey. In simple words, tobacco will not cause any diseases immediately. Its chronic use will slowly take its toll. Slowly diseases appear and it affects the body, initially reversible and later irreversible. This can be any time from the start of the tobacco journey and depends on many other factors. 200 types of diseases have been documented to be caused by tobacco. Tobacco users will have some or other diseases related to tobacco use, they cannot escape! In India, the introduction of chewing tobacco in the 1970s  and massive advertisements brought a new form of disease Oral and oropharyngeal Cancers and Submucous fibrosis. Now, we are the World’s highest in these diseases.

If you have taken tobacco for some time and you think you are not suffering, you are mistaken. The brain is adapting to your tobacco use, its function starts deteriorating, and to keep up with its pace as a non-tobacco user, the demand for tobacco keeps increasing. You are in a vicious cycle.

The journey starts with some foolish person enticing you to your first tobacco – smoking, chewing, or vaping will soon turn into suffering for yourself and for your relatives. These are the phases of tobacco use that will ultimately end in a painful untimely death.

Your present choice will determine your future life! #knowtobacco to choose your life journey.  

Tobacco is a disease.  Tobacco industries are enticing the new generation with newer forms, packaging, and flavors. One has to be smart not to start. For those who have started it is important they quit the earliest. Quitting needs hand-holding by a certified tobacco cessation specialist. Look for someone around you or call 011-43077695 or download the app- ICanCaRe at http://app.icancare.in

Every day 5500 youths are trapped and they start tobacco. Every day 3700 are dying a painful death. We have to change this scenario. Every unit must have a TOBACCO MARSHAL. Join a Tobacco MARSHAL to SAVE the youth! http://icancare.in/academy/marshal

 (The Author – Dr. Pawan Gupta M.Ch. is Director of Surgical Oncology at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali. Patparganj and Noida. He is the author of the book – Win Over Tobacco Made Easy, Be Smart Do Not Start and is highly recognized for his work on Oral Cancer and Tobacco Cessation. He is the convenor for the Certified Course in Tobacco Cessation at Gujarat University. He launched the #SAVEtheyouth campaign and Tobacco MARSHALs in the community)

 (Critically reviewed by Tobacco MARSHAL Sonal Bhatia, Shubh Bhatia, and Lakshay Srijay Gupta)

5 Phases of Tobacco Use

Tobacco is fun, it’s cool. This is what a new tobacco user may say, thanks to the advertisement and glamour attached. Ask a person who has used it for some years and he will spill the truth.

These are the phases of tobacco use that start with experimentation and end with a painful death. 

EXPERIMENT phase – this always starts with peer pressure, generally by advertisement, or a senior or a friend pushing the person to have one. Two things can happen – instant hate, or causal acceptance. Most people hate it from day one and would never ever take it, it tastes horrible and feels pathetic. But some misguided or those who are going through a low phase would like to experiment more, the dopamine surge gives instant pleasure, and that’s the beginning. Now the companies are luring the youth by introducing fancy articles like e-cigarettes and sheesha, hookahs, etc. These are being marketed as a fashion symbol for the youths, which is the beginning of the end.

NEED – BRAIN CRAVING – The experiment which was a fun and instant pleasure, mediated by dopamine surge is now regularly needed by the brain. In this phase, there is a craving and a demand for the brain, and the person uses it to seek pleasure instantly. The person is still in control and can stop. Most would stop, some would become occasional users, and others would progress. Most who stop are aware of the future and they have better means of seeking pleasure, they are health-seeking individuals have support from home. They have to be counseled at the right time, if they go beyond this phase it is going to be difficult.

ADDICTION – WITHDRAWAL, DISEASE – Now the brain is getting adopted, the brain cannot work without the dose of nicotine. The person who was in control now is in control of nicotine. When he/she stops, he/she has withdrawal symptoms. His/her behavior is changed, he/she is no more normal, and he has become a slave of tobacco. Signs of diseases caused by tobacco are visible, but he/she overlooks them. His/her life is in turmoil, loss of respect in society. He/she would need intensive intervention to quit tobacco.

DISEASED and SUFFERING – Now the person is symptomatic, visibly with the diseases due to tobacco like – cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, or cancer and others. He is repenting the day he started tobacco, but the brain is not ready to leave him. The severe withdrawals make him take tobacco again and again. The journey ahead is treacherously laden with fear and pain. He is seeking help to quit tobacco. They are no more in denial but have accepted the fact that tobacco is harming them. They are easy to quit because now the brain is sending them signals that if you continue further, you will have trouble. With proper support, they quit. The quit has its beneficial effect, but the damage that is done will only progress!

The incurable disease will take its toll with suffering and pain!

DEATH – That’s what they start seeking because of the pain they are going through.  Death is inevitable. The journey ENDS. With the hope of a new beginning in the next life!

 

Tobacco is a disease; the best is never to start. Tobacco industries are now enticing the new generation with newer forms, packaging, and flavors. One has to be smart and do not start. For those who have started it is important they quit the earliest. Quitting needs hand-holding by a certified tobacco cessation specialist. Look for someone around you or call 011-43077695 or download the app- ICanCaRe at http://app.icancare.in

Every day 5500 youths are trapped and they start tobacco and every day 3700 are dying a painful death. We have to change this scenario. Every unit must have a TOBACCO MARSHAL. Join as a Tobacco MARSHAL to SAVE the youth! http://icancare.in/academy/marshal

 

(The Author – Dr. Pawan Gupta M.Ch. is Director of Surgical Oncology at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali. Patparganj and Noida. He is the author of the book – Win Over Tobacco Made Easy, Be Smart Do Not Start and is highly recognized for his work on Oral Cancer and Tobacco Cessation. He is the convenor for the Certified Course in Tobacco Cessation under Gujarat University. He launched the #SAVEtheyouth campaign and Tobacco MARSHALs in the community)

The article has been critically reviewed by Mrs. Sonal Bhatia, Master Lakshay Srijay Gupta, and Shubh Bhatia