Medical Application of Pharmacological Treatments

Added: 12/12/2005

Nicotine addiction is a serious disease that is, fortunately, curable, though it is not so easy to get rid of. With the age people that smoke dropping more and more sharply, there is increasing evidence of nicotine addiction syndrome needing pharmacological treatments. Today nicotine addiction is actually a social tragedy. However, there is a way out. The World Health Organization found that the most productive and up-to-date method to give up smoking is nicotine replacement treatment.

Nicotine addiction is still one of the main medical and social problems of modern society. It poses hazards to people's lives, provoking lots of chronicle and noninfectious diseases such as cardio-vascular diseases, lung diseases, different types of cancer and others.

Smokers can be divided into three groups:

• Not nicotine addicted, only psychologically addicted

• Nicotine addicted

• Both psychologically and nicotine addicted

The last category of smokers should try the most to struggle against the bad habit. Only a strong will power can help to overcome psychological addiction and as to nicotine addiction, there are special non-nicotine therapies using nicotine replacement medication, that is -- chemicals pharmacologically similar to nicotine.

All the modern applying means and methods of nicotine addiction treatment can be divided into two basic forms: pharmacological treatments and non-pharmacological treatments.

Pharmacological treatments are based on the use of alkaloids with replacing effects. Here belong: cytosine, lobeline, anabasine. Those chemicals create a kind of "competition" with nicotine. Nicotine replacement treatment consists of harmless and pure small nicotine dozes coming into a nicotine addicted organism. And then the process of giving up smoking becomes much easier because there is no sudden cessation in nicotine arrival.

The patient continues to receive the nicotine he/she got used to. But the amount of it is just miserable and what is even more important - no tobacco smoke which causes lung cancer and coronary heart diseases. Day by day the amount of pure nicotine reduces and the patient completes pharmacological therapy. As a result of these kind of pharmacological treatments a person does not feel nicotine "hunger" and does not experience painful effects of nicotine shortage which in its turn contributes to more comfortable and gradual recovery from nicotine addiction.

While giving up with nicotine addiction most frequent unhealthy symptoms are a changing mood, a feeling of internal tense, high degree of irritability, tearfulness, a troubled sleep, a poor appetite, reducing of efficiency and intellectual activity. They appear during the therapy and can harm the recovery even when a person is eager to refuse nicotine consumption. Not to let all this happen doctors practice a subsidiary pharmacotherapy.

It contains three basic kinds of support: sedative remedies; psychostimulants and adaptogens; and vitamins. Besides a symptomatic therapy is needed to normalize the work of cardio-vascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, excretory system and others. Here one of the most efficient therapies is phytotherapy - multicomponent herb compositions. These can be composed with peppermint, black currant, sedge cane, common origanum, valerian etc.

So, science offers various treatments for nicotine addiction: coding, acupuncture, plasters, pills and injections. Nevertheless, after all of them there is a chance of failing treatment and returning to nicotine because to refuse it so easily is hardly possible. And only such kinds of pharmacological treatments as nicotine replacement treatment and non-nicotine therapies do really help to overcome nicotine addiction and forget about cigarettes once and forever.

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