Tag: quit chewing

How Can I Self-Quit Smoking/Chewing Successfully?

In one of my blogs earlier, I had described how to quit smoking by self; based on the experience and tried method of a friend. This method to self-quit had helped many individuals in Raj’s (my friend) circle to quit without fail. However, it is a time taking process and will require tenacious dedication from you for at least 6 months to see the results. Besides, not everyone would be able to get the same results as Raj had.

Therefore in this blog, I shall introduce to you a wonderful book that will make your quitting easy and simple. It enumerates ABC of quitting both effectively and successfully. The book is titled “Win Over Tobacco Made Easy” authored by Dr. Pawan Gupta, a renowned oncologist, author and social activist with 25+ years of experience and more than 7000 successful surgeries to his name.

Studies have demonstrated that hardly 7% people across the globe have successfully quit by self. In India, the relapse rate is extremely high. Those who have tried to quit have relapsed in the second month of their quitting! Often I hear tobacco users saying that “I have a strong will power and I can quit any time I want.” But if their willpower is really that strong, then why aren’t they able to quit? Why the relapse rate is so high and quit rate so low?

The answer is very simple. Neither do the majority of tobacco users have strong willpower nor does the internet give them the right knowledge to quit by self. Instead of trying and testing multiple methods of quitting and failing every time, it is better to access the right resource and knowledge on quitting effectively. That’s why I recommend this book by Dr. Gupta who has made quitting simpler and manageable.

This book is available in 2 languages – English and Hindi and over a million copies have been sold already to help many tobacco users quit efficiently. Why not then grab your copy today and make life healthier? This book is available on https://www.icancare.org/book-win-over-tobacco-made-easy-60. Order today either for yourself or for your friend/relative/spouse who wants to self-quit or has failed in quitting multiple times (and still unwilling to seek professional help) but is positive about quitting.

I’m sure this book will enlighten you about the steps you must follow while quitting, the do’s and don’ts, what are withdrawal symptoms and how to manage them, how to design a plan of action in quitting, assessing self-health and most importantly it will help you to audit and monitor your own progress of quitting. This will enable you to understand what is going good for you, what is affecting you and how to improvise your action plan to make quitting successful.

In a nutshell this book will tell you “How to Quit” your habit of tobacco. Grab your copy without any delay and add atleast 13 more years of life to yourself by quitting a disease!

Will I Get a Heart Attack from Smoking / Chewing?

Is Your Heart Healthy or Did You Experience a Heart Attack? Write in the Comments Below.

When someone asks you, “What is the health problem of tobacco consumption?” your immediate answer is “It causes Cancer”. Another answer might be “Nothing! I have not experienced anything yet. I have been smoking/chewing since years and I’m still healthy.” However, do you know that tobacco consumption can cause other diseases too? Have you ever got yourself screened to really know the damage tobacco has already caused in your body?

Tobacco consumption causes numerous chronic diseases of which Cardio-Vascular Diseases(CVDs), Stroke, CRD, TB, Asthma, COPD and NCDs are the most frequently caused diseases besides cancer. And, in this blog, I will enumerate on heart diseases caused by smoking/consuming smokeless tobacco products.

Let me tell you a few quick and interesting facts. As per the Factsheet released by WHO in 2018, deaths due to tobacco in India was more than 1 million and 48% of the deaths were due to CVD, 23% due to CRD and only 10% due to cancer. This is extremely alarming that more deaths are caused due to heart related diseases than cancer due to tobacco use. 4,49,844 deaths from CVDs could have been prevented if these people had quit tobacco on time (in 2018).

WHO Fact Sheet 2018

It is true that smoking/chewing can give you a heart attack or any other form of heart disease at some point in time in your life if you continue to consume tobacco regularly and do not quit on time. Smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 200%-400%. I’m sure not many people would be aware about it.

Smoking Increases Risk of Heart Disease by 200%-400%

The question is how does smoking/smokeless tobacco cause a heart attack or disease?

Tobacco smoke contains high levels of carbon monoxide (CO) that affects the heart directly. CO reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. Vital organs like the heart, lungs, brains, kidney, etc. do not always receive the right level of oxygen to perform everyday functions. This implies the heart has to pump more and harder to supply the right oxygen to the organs thereby increasing the heart rate and blood pressure. Over time, this causes constant “wear and tear” on the cardiovascular system thus causing a heart attack, high BP, blood clots, strokes, hemorrhages, aneurysms and other disorders.

Use of smokeless tobacco products increases the risk of high blood pressure and heart rate. However, no study has proven that a severe heart disease can be caused due to smokeless tobacco consumption. This does not imply that a smoker should switch to smokeless form because oral cancer is caused in 98% of the smokeless tobacco consumers.

Smoking increases the risks for the following diseases:

  • Coronary heart disease
  • Rheumatic heart disease
  • Hypertension
  • Ischemic heart disease
  • Pulmonary heart disease
  • Cardiac arrest
  • Cerebrovascular disease
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Aortic aneurysm
  • Chest pain
  • Arrhythmia

What Else Can Smoking Do?

  • Increase the level of triglycerides in your body
  • Lower the “good” cholesterol level (HDL)
  • Make blood sticky and more likely to clot, which can block blood flow to the heart and brain
  • Damage the cells that line the blood vessels, leading to build up of fatty material (atheroma) which narrows the artery which causes angina, heart attack or stroke.
  • Increase the  build-up of plaque (fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances) in blood vessels
  • Cause thickening and narrowing of blood vessels thereby harming blood circulation
  • It can also cause sudden cardiac death of all types in both men and women

“Beyond its status as an independent risk factor, smoking appears to have a multiplicative interaction with the other major risk factors for CHD—high serum levels of lipids, untreated hypertension, and diabetes mellitus (USDHHS 1983). For instance, if the presence of smoking alone doubles the level of risk, the simultaneous presence of another major risk factor is estimated to quadruple the risk (2 × 2). The presence of two other risk factors with smoking results in approximately eight times the risk (2 × 2 × 2) of persons with no risk factors.” (NCBI, 2010).

There is no doubt that smoking will definitely cause a heart attack or other forms of heart diseases. It is therefore important to quit immediately, if not, then identify the symptoms as soon as possible before it becomes severe and seek help to quit the habit of smoking.

References

Rostron BL, Chang JT, Anic GM, et al Smokeless tobacco use and circulatory disease risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis Open Heart 2018; 5:e000846. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2018-000846

Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, January 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/diseases/heart-disease-stroke.html, accessed in July 2019

Amy Lukowski, PsyD (August 2015), https://www.nationaljewish.org/health-insights/smoking-and-tobacco-use/health/coronary-heart-disease-and-tobacco, accessed in July 2019

British Heart Foundation, https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/risk-factors/smoking, accessed in July 2019

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US); National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US); Office on Smoking and Health (US). How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US); 2010. 6, Cardiovascular Diseases. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53012/

Certified Tobacco Cessation Specialists to Make Quitting Simpler and Easier

1st Batch of CTCS Participants and Faculty

ICanCaRe organized its 1st Batch on Certificate Course for Certified Tobacco Cessation Specialist endorsed by Gujarat University on 14-15th June 2019 at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali. It was tremendously sensational and an interactive sessions where experts from various specializations had participated to learn the latest techniques of cessation like Motivational Interviewing(MI), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Change Talk, Handling challenging responses from patients, Group Counselling, Pharmacotherapy, Relapse Prevention, Treatment Planning, Documentation, Evaluation, Community Program and Regulations for Tobacco Control in India.

Dr.S.K.Arora Delivering his Lecture
Participants Taking Assessment

Demonstration for e-cessation app and instruments required for evidence based cessation was also given to help the specialists perform a protocol based cessation with the patients to enhance the effectiveness of the patients. MI is specially designed to bring the patients from pre-contemplation to contemplation state by helping them explore their own thoughts and barriers to quitting.

Mr. Rishabh Agrawal on Role of Technology for Tobacco Cessation

There were many case discussions and role plays for different topics which led the participants to imbibe the concepts properly with the experts. Eminent speakers like Dr. Pawan Gupta, Director of Surgical Oncology at Max Hospital; Dr. S.K.Arora, Additional Director General of Health Services of Delhi Government; Dr. Rakesh Rawal, Professor and Coordinator of the course from Gujarat University and Lawyer Rabindra Mishra conducted sessions as faculty and imparted abundant knowledge to help the participants preach and practice cessation with their patients daily.

Role Plays – Played by Participants

Dr Rakesh Rawal, critically evaluated the process of training,  assessment and certification process as per the university mandate and congratulated the pioneer batch to have joined this noble preparation to save millions of Indians from tobacco, the killing agent.

Dr Rakesh Rawal, Gujarat University

Dr Shridhar Dwivedi, an eminent and senior cardiologist enlightened the participants on the history of tobacco and its severe health hazards and impact on day to day life during his lecture.

Dr Shridhar Dwivedi Delivering his lecture
Dr. Pawan Delivering his Lecture

Dr Gagan Saini, Associate Director, Radiation Oncology, Head and Neck , Max Hospital Vaishali explained the participants and equipped them with the knowledge on early detection of oral cancer lesions. During his lecture he provided the technique for oral cavity examination, neck examination for clinically examination and identification of affected areas due to tobacco use.

Dr Gagan Saini lecture on Oral Screening
Dr. Pawan Gupta Discussing Case with Participants
Our Enthusiastic Participants

None the less, the participants were very passionate and enthusiastic. Their rigor and passion to learn cessation was unmatched. They listened to all the speakers with sheer concentration and very vigilant in asking pertinent questions to clarify their doubts besides, vigourosly participating in all role plays.

The course participants included Dr Ravi Ahuja, Council Member IDA; Dr Umesh Sharma, National Secretary CDH; Dr Alok Narang, Surgical Oncologist, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali; Dr. Antosh Kumar,  Senior MO, NTPC Vindhyanagar; Dr Avnica Agrawal, Dr. Suchitra Prasad and Dr. Surabhi Sharma.

Ms Vandana Tomar critically evaluated the course process and was very appreciative of ICanCaRe’s effort to build a course with such lucid language that can be understood, learned and practiced by any healthcare professional.

The session was conducted in a span of two days. It was followed by assessment, memento distribution and a gala dinner to congratulate all participants and faculty to kick start a revolution of introducing preventive healthcare into the industry for tobacco.

Gala Dinner

With this first batch, ICanCaRe is now a team of 10 passionate, energetic and extremely talented specialists who can beat the habit of tobacco in their patients. Let’s begin the revolution and kick tobacco’s butt!

For all those who want to quit smoking or chewing, the right help is now fully available to get over your addiction of tobacco. Don’t fail self-trying again and again. Become a champion with our experts. Call ICanCaRe today on 7838783268 or visit www.icancare.in for more details!