Stop Smoking with Champix

If you smoke and want to improve your health there is nothing more important for you to do than to stop smoking. Quitting will also improve your sex life, improve your appearance, improve the taste of food and protect the future health of your family. Start quitting now!

The dangers of smoking have been well known for many years. In the UK, it is estimated that every year around 22% of all male deaths, and 16% of all female deaths, are due to smoking. That is well over 100,000 deaths, all directly attributable to smoking.

The Benefits of Stopping Smoking

The good news is that once you stop smoking, your life expectancy gets better very quickly. Smokers under the age of 35 who stop will have a near-normal life expectancy, and there are immediate health and social benefits for people of any age who stop.

Improve Your Health. What could be more important?

• Smoking is responsible for nearly all cases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD includes diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis which are associated with shortness of breath and the inability to do things you want to do.
• Cancer. 90% of primary lung cancers are also caused by smoking, and the risk of many other cancers (mouth, bladder, kidneys, pancreas, stomach, liver, colon, and cervix) are also increased by smoking.
• Heart Disease. If you smoke, you are 2 to 3 times more likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker, and much more likely to die from heart disease. Smokers are also more likely to have strokes, blood clots, and angina.

Improve Your sex life.

Smoking increases the risk of impotence by about 50% for men in their 30s and 40s. Smoking also makes you less able to keep going because of the shortness of breath. In a recent study it was estimated that smoking women were only 72% as fertile as non-smokers.

Improve Your appearance

• Your skin. Quitting allows more oxygen and blood to the skin. The yellow tint to your hands will also disappear.
• Your breath. Your breath will no longer smell like an ashtray. Neither will your hair and clothes.
• Improve the taste of food. Smoking may suppress your appetite, but it also deadens your taste buds. If you can't do it for yourself – DO IT FOR YOUR KIDS
• If you smoke, it's likely your children will too. Your children are nearly 3 times more likely to become addicted to cigarettes if both parents are smokers.
• If children are frequently exposed to cigarette smoke, they are at increased risk of developing asthma, respiratory disease, cot death and chest infections.

Save loads of money – it speaks for itself.

Smoking is an addiction

When stopping smoking, it’s important to understand that smoking is an addiction – not just to the nicotine in the cigarette, but there is also an element of psychological addiction (where certain places or situations make you want to smoke), and a strong habit to the action of smoking – usually of holding the cigarette in your hand. So you have to rid yourself not only of the chemical addiction, but of the psychological addictions too.

Help to quit

There is no doubt that before you undertake quitting smoking you have got to want to do it. Once you have the will to quit, then medicines are available that can help you succeed, and make the journey easier.

Champix (varenicline)

Champix is effective in smoking cessation as a result of its partial positve activity at the α4β2 nicotinic receptor where its binding produces an effect sufficient to alleviate symptoms of craving and withdrawal (agonist activity), while simultaneously resulting in a reduction of the rewarding and reinforcing effects of smoking by preventing nicotine binding to α4β2 receptors (antagonist activity).

When taking champix for 12 weeks, 44% of over 2000 people in 2 official trial did not smoke at all for the last 4 weeks and 22% did not smoke at all up until a year after the start of the trial even though champix was not taken after week 12. This quit rate was more than twice as good than if no medicines were taken, and champix was shown to be significantly better than zyban (bupropion). Champix was shown to reduce the craving and withdrawal and also reduced the pleasure from smoking.

It has also been shown that if champix is taken for a further 12 weeks (24 weeks in total) 70% of over 600 patients did not smoke at all in the 24 week period.

Champix should only be taken if prescribed by a registered doctor. Champix should only be taken by adults over 18 years and should not be taken if you are pregnant. A lower dose may be needed if you have a problem with your kidneys. Please tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking or have recently taken any other medicines, including medicines obtained without a prescription. The effects of changes in your body resulting from stopping smoking, with or without treatment with champix, may alter the way other drugs work. Therefore, in some cases an adjustment of the dose may be necessary. Examples include theophylline (a medicine to treat breathing problems), warfarin (a medicine to reduce blood clotting), and insulin (a medicine to treat diabetes). If in doubt, you should consult your doctor or pharmacist. For some people stopping smoking has been associated with an increased chance of experiencing feelings such as depression and anxiety. You may temporarily experience increased irritability, urge to smoke, depression and/or sleep disturbances when you stop taking champix. Your doctor may decide to gradually lower your dose of champix at the end of treatment.

Champix can cause side effects. The most common are headache, difficulty sleeping, abnormal dreams and Nausea. Other common side effects are increased appetite, changes in the way things taste, dry mouth, sleepiness, tiredness, dizziness, vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea, feeling bloated, stomach discomfort, indigestion, flatulence.

Always take champix exactly as your doctor has told you. Before starting your course of champix you should decide on a date in the second week of treatment (between day 8 and day 14) when you will stop smoking. You should write this date on the pack as a reminder.

The usual dose for adults which you should follow from Day 1 is described in the following table:

Week 1

Day 1 - 3: From day 1 to day 3, you should take one white champix 0.5 mg film-coated tablet once a day.
Day 4 - 7: From day 4 to day 7, you should take one white champix 0.5 mg film-coated tablet twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, at about the same time each day.

Week 2

Day 8 - 14: From day 8 to day 14, you should take one light blue champix 1 mg film-coated tablet twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, at about the same time each day.

Weeks 3-12

Day 15 - end of treatment: From day 15 until the end of treatment, you should take one light blue champix 1 mg film-coated tablet twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, at about the same time each day.

Should you experience adverse effects that you cannot tolerate your doctor may decide to reduce your dose temporarily or permanently to 0.5 mg twice daily. After 12 weeks of treatment, if you have stopped smoking, your doctor may recommend an additional 12 weeks of treatment with CHAMPIX 1 mg film-coated tablets twice daily.