Wanna quit smoking? Help is now within reach

Have you always been a failure in your attempts to quit the nasty smoking habit?

Don’t lose hope. The Sto. Tomas University Hospital (STUH)-Lung Institute Nicotine Dependence Treatment Program in Manila could just be the answer to your problem.

Launched in September last year, the program has helped nine out of 16 smokers who availed of the program to successfully get rid of the habit for good.

The program is based on the Start SMART (Supervised, Medication Assisted, Reduction Therapy), the most successful nicotine dependence treatment program in the US.

It consists of one screening session and six group counseling sessions that last for approximately one to two hours at most.

It also offers behavioral intervention, the use of Zyban, the only available drug in the country that effectively inhibits one’s craving to smoke, and regular physical examinations.

And unlike in the United States where therapy sessions are fixed, the UST hospital adjusts to the availability of the person so as not to interrupt his work and other daily activities.

Phone contacts are also made regularly to increase the potential for success and prevent relapses.

According to Dr. Patrick Gerard Moral, head of the UST hospital Smoking Cessation Clinic, the program only gives proper motivation but if the smoker has no firm resolve to quit, the effort is useless.

"The success of a person who decides to quit will greatly depend on his conviction to kick the habit. He must muster all the will power he can get if he wants to quit smoking for good," he said.

Studies have shown that even after years of smoking, the body repairs much of the damage caused by smoking.

Upon quitting, blood circulation will improve and if the lungs have not been structurally damaged, they will begin to repair themselves. Breathing becomes better and running short of breath will be a thing of the past.

Eventually the quitter will cough less and within the first year of quitting, his risk of heart attack will drop to that of one who has never smoked. Risks of stroke, lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses also drop.

"A smoker who decides to quit and enters our program is like one enrolling in a course where in the end he doesn’t only get a diploma but his life," Moral added.