Month: October 2020

Evidence Based Approach for Successfully Quitting Tobacco

Quitting Tobacco is easy but staying quit is difficult! People quit tobacco to restart and this cycle goes on leading to frustration and loss of confidence. With increasing awareness people come to me with “Please don’t tell me why, TELL ME HOW TO QUIT”.

Why is it So difficult to quit?

Why is it people are not able to quit tobacco, in spite of so much of awareness about Tobacco.  According to World Health Organization Tobacco is a DISEASE (and not just a habit). And it is a Complex disease. Like any other disease it has to be treated. Complexity lies in the fact that there are various component of this disease that includes – social, psychological, and physical.  Each of these components have to be recognized, explored and treated.

When to quit?

Earlier the better. Continuing Tobacco use is definitely going to harm you and it is just not cancer, it can be cardiovascular, respiratory, Central nervous system, skin, dental every part of our body is harmed by tobacco besides unidentified mineral and vitamin deficiency. Has tobacco started affecting you – it is important you check yourself and recognize any of the 27 early signs of Tobacco use. If you quit hopefully these may be reversed and you can get back to normal. Continuing will lead to more of any of the 19 diseases   And if one still continues it would cause major 10 advanced disease which would cause morbidity, pain and death.  Remember all tobacco users will have some or the other disease, better quit now.

Components of Tobacco Disease – Is your will power enough to quit tobacco? This is the dilemma. A proper assessment by Fagerstrom grading system into mild, moderate and severe grade of the tobacco addiction disease is to be done. Recognizing the predominant component of the tobacco disease – social, psychological and physical for the person and treating accordingly.  A tool is available to assess the will power of the person (free APP for android  – ICANCARE). The treatment of this disease is done accordingly.

Methods of Quitting – The intervention therapy includes – Behavioral therapy and Pharmacological therapy. Both intervention are important and essential part of the treatment.  The proper intervention includes individual and group counselling and treatment with medication to decrease the withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms are the biggest deterrent of successful cessation. Now specific medicine is available which decreases the withdrawal symptoms and at the same time blocks the nicotine receptor in the brain.

Who can help me quit– Most of the people have tried quitting multiple times before they actually seek help by a professional who is trained for the purpose. Most of the doctors fail to help as tobacco addiction is a complex disease and everyone are not trained to handle this. There are two types of doctors – AAR (ask, advise and refer) or 5A (ask, advise, assess, assist and arrange). Training program – Certificate Course has been introduced  for the first time in India to upgrade the skills of the doctors to be able to treat these large number of patients of tobacco addiction. Recognized ICanCaRe Tobacco Wellness centers are coming up to specifically help these patients.

Relapse  – The cycle of tobacco addiction includes the planning phase, active phase and maintenance phase. The whole cycle lasts for 2 years. A person may relapse at any point of time so has to be vigilant and recognize any triggers. Most common cause of relapse is social, and one trail means you have to START once again. A Tobacco Wellness App is available to keep track of the tobacco habit for the patient.

Tobacco is a complex endemic disease. It is well recognized and now diagnostic methodology, specific medicines and counselling process are available to treat this disease. The book WIN OVER TOBACCO MADE EASY authored by Dr. Pawan Gupta is a comprehensive guide for those willing to quit and also for doctors. It is moral responsibility of all doctors taking training to understand the intricacies of the disease and advise the patient in an evidence based method for tobacco quit to be successfully.

Max Super Specialty Hospital understands the need and ICanCaRe Tobacco Wellness center is now serving tobacco addicts to help them quit the habit at the Vaishali unit of Max Hospital. Current success rate is 92%. Do visit ICanCaRe site to know more about the quit process and to register for seeking professional help for quitting today!

(The Author – Dr Pawan Gupta M.Ch. is Director of Surgical Oncology at Max Super Specialty Hospital, Vaishali and has written many book on tobacco and is highly recognized for his work on Oral Cancer and Tobacco Cessation.)

Make quitting tobacco a pleasure journey. Talk to the experts!! Call ICanCaRe Quitline 011-43077695 or visit  www.icancare.in.

I’m a Tobacco Marshal

ICanCaRe Tobacco Marshal certificate program has been designed for all the healthcare workers, teachers, social activists and others working at the grass root levels for the wellbeing and welfare of the society. This program empowers an individual to create awareness, become more vigilant about Tobacco use and it’s harms not only from the mainstream smoke but also from the second hand and third hand smoke.

We, the marshals, are the gamechangers and influencers in the society who shall be able to address the tobacco habit in an individual, address the concerns on the harms of tobacco use, address concerns on withdrawals, address the fear of quitting and ultimately incept the thought of quitting the habit at an early stage before severe damages are experienced by the tobacco consumer. We are responsible to encourage an individual to self-quit or seek professional assistance so that we can contribute towards a healthier nation.

With this certificate program, we are equipped with the adequate knowledge to create awareness among the youth that tobacco is a pernicious and neurobiological disease. One must refrain from it fully – even from the first experiment.

This program also taught me about e-cigarettes, now banned in the country but also available illegally; about its various forms and how to identify it. I can now help my friends and people around me, especially young children to identify it and not be enticed by strangers into consuming it.

Marshal is an officer of the highest rank in the armed forces. Hence the title itself suggests the level of responsibility that this title holds for each one of us. We must contribute towards a cleaner, greener and healthier community! Let’s be the Tobacco Marshals and unite together to fight against this disease!

This certificate program is an interactive training program of four hours consisting of 2 live sessions with the faculty.  It included many crucial and critical topics like: 

  • Understanding tobacco 
  • Understanding addiction
  • Understanding harms of tobacco use
  • Recognizing new forms of tobacco – e-cigarettes
  • Addiction recovery
  • Second hand (SHS) and third hand smoke (THS)
  • Contributing towards community welfare as Marshals

The most interesting part of the workshop was the session on SHS/THS that busted many myths and misconceptions about the same. Other interesting areas included e-cigarettes and hookah smoking that was very well explained by the faculty and clearly stated that these products contain nicotine and are equally harmful as other forms of tobacco. It was interesting to note that water in the hookah does not filter the chemicals and toxins, as against the common belief that it does.

We also learnt about identifying the signs and symptoms of tobacco use in young children and youth and how to address the same so that the individual can have the right intervention at the right time before experiencing any fatal damages. One can now quit by calling the helpline number 011-430-77695 or visiting the website here.

I heartily thank Rishabh sir, Pawan sir, Shruti ma’am, Reena ma’am and the entire team of ICanCaRe for kickstarting this wonderful initiative of freedom from slavery of tobacco and entrusting in me this responsibility of Tobacco Marshal to make a better India, a Swachh and Swasth India.