A new study reveals that hypnosis is the best method for smoking cessation, if you truly wish to stop smoking!

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Quitting smoking before New Years’ Eve has extra benefits…

Every smoker’s top New Year’s resolution is to stop smoking. However, the pressure of having to show your partner, family, friends, and coworkers (and ultimately yourself) that you can quit smoking is especially enormous with New Year’s resolution.

Everyone knows that this is your resolution! And some want to see you succeed, some want to see you fail - each for their own reasons.

So why not quit smoking a couple weeks early, avoid all that unnecessary pressure - and already BE a non-smoker, come January 1st!

Another benefit of quitting smoking before New Year’s Eve is that you will have an expanded holiday gifts budget, or an easier time paying your January mortgage.

Jennifer and Timothy Crowne, a couple who each smoked about a pack a day, came in to work with me less than 2 weeks ago. They just sent me an email, saying, the extra $300 they were usually spending on cigarettes per month and that is now available to them to either save or spend otherwise, helps ease their current financial worries tremendously.

And this is making their holiday season -and their lives in general- a whole lot more enjoyable.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

Reasons To Stop Smoking - A Reality Check

At the risk of running a little longer than I usually do here, I feel that, as another year is coming to an end, it is time for a much needed reality check:

Smoking is bad news and everybody knows it - whether we are talking about smokers harming their own health, or that of people around them via secondhand smoke.

And while over 45 million Americans have quit smoking, and smoking bans are in effect all over the place, more than 20 % of US adults are smokers, and every day thousands of teens are taking up that habit.

Smoking is the #1 killer in the nation: 1 out of 5 deaths are caused by nicotine and tobacco. This translates into 20% of all cardiac deaths and almost a half a million casualties annually.

On average, a nonsmoker lives roughly 14 years longer than a smoker. And the American Cancer Society says, that 650 million of the 1,3 billion smokers alive today who don’t stop smoking will pay for their habit with their lives…

Almost 9 million Americans suffer from smoking related diseases: lung-, throat-, mouth-, tongue- and breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes, artery disease, emphysema, COPD,  bronchitis, and pneumonia.

And that’s not all: Smoking also contributes to diabetes, osteoporosis, cataracts, sinusitis, dental disease, prematurely aging skin, heartburn, and, in men, bladder cancer and erectile dysfunction.

And, no, so called "light" cigarettes are not any "healthier" than regular ones.

Make sure you do not become part of any of the above mentioned stats. Check out how you too can easily stop smoking - if you truly desire to do so.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

No end in sight for the negative and extremely disturbing news about Pfizer’s alleged stop smoking drug Chantix (Champix in Europe):

The blood thinner Heparin as well as the alleged smoking cessation drug Chantix accounted for the major share of 21,000 reports of serious drug reactions that the Food And Drug Administration received in the first 3 months of this year alone!

This was concluded after an analysis by the Institute For Safe Medications Pratices.

Please also refer to the "Chantix / Champix" section of this blog for more information and the history on this topic.

For detailed information on a completely safe and highly effective way to quit smoking with my breakthrough hypnosis technique browse the pages of this website.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

The number of serious drug reactions and deaths reported to the government shot up in the first three months of this year to set a new record, a health industry watchdog group said Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration received nearly 21,000 reports of serious drug reactions, including more than 4,800 deaths, said an analysis of federal data by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Two drugs accounted for a large share of the latest reports. One was the blood thinner heparin. The other was Chantix, a new kind of anti-smoking drug from Pfizer.

Earlier this year, the FDA warned that Chantix may be linked to psychiatric problems, including suicidal behavior and vivid dreams. Pfizer said Wednesday it stands by Chantix, and that the volume of reports might be linked to publicity about the side effects.

”The FDA is aware of the increasing number of reports, and we take them seriously,” said spokesman Christopher DiFrancesco. But officials are not sure whether reports are up because problems are getting worse, or simply due to greater awareness about drug safety issues.

The watchdog group that prepared the analysis has served hospitals and pharmacists for years as a clearinghouse for information on medication errors. Known as ISMP, the organization is now trying to reach consumers with regular reports on drug safety trends.

”We believe that one of the most important tools to promote is to monitor trends on a regular basis,” said Thomas J. Moore, a senior scientist with ISMP. ”Knowing which drugs are causing injuries and how many people are being hurt is the raw material we need to fashion sound measures to promote patient safety.”

The FDA defines serious drug reactions as ones that cause hospitalization, require medical intervention, or place a life in jeopardy. The agency’s monitoring system relies on voluntary reports from doctors and is only believed to capture a fraction of overall problems.

The 20,745 cases reported from January through March was 38 percent higher than the average for the previous four calendar quarters, and the highest for any quarter, the report said.

The number of deaths, 4,824, was a nearly threefold increase from the last calendar quarter of 2007. The FDA said heparin was largely to blame.

The ISMP study found that heparin accounted for 779 reports of serious problems, including 102 deaths.

Heparin ”illustrates an example of a significant drug safety problem that was promptly and effectively resolved by the drug manufacturers and the FDA once the issue was detected and understood,” the report said.

Not so with Chantix, it concluded.

The FDA should forcefully warn patients taking Chantix that they may have blackouts that could lead to accidents, the report said. Current warnings say patients may be too impaired to drive or operate heavy machinery, but such language is standard for many medications. The government has banned the drug for pilots.

The report found 15 cases of Chantix patients who appeared to have been involved in traffic accidents, and 52 additional cases involving blackouts or loss of consciousness. The FDA said it taking a second look at the Chantix warnings.

The agency received 1,001 reports of serious injuries linked to Chantix, more than for the 10 best-selling brand name drugs combined.

Chantix ”continued to provide a striking signal of safety issues that require investigation and action,” the report said. The authors acknowledged Pfizer’s concern that publicity may be driving up the number of reports, but concluded there’s enough evidence to warrant stronger FDA action.

[Click below for the entire article]

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A person who recently quit smoking will not be triggered into a relapse because they smell cigarette smoke! A study further revealed that this is even the case if the ex-smoker considers that smell to be pleasant.

Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

A regression analysis showed that a return to smoking was a function of general urges, not smoke-related cravings, Hayden McRobbie, M.B.Ch.B., of Auckland University of Technology, and colleagues reported in the November issue of Addiction.

And reporting that the smell of smoke was pleasant had no relationship to the risk of relapse.

"Recent quitters can be reassured that finding the smell of cigarette smoke pleasant is not likely to lead them back to smoking," Dr. McRobbie said.

Patients in smoking cessation programs have a variety of reactions to the smell of other people’s smoke, ranging from disgust to temptation, according to the researchers.

To investigate whether these reactions affect the risk of relapse shortly after quitting, they analyzed data from 1,110 patients (mean age 47; 55% female) attending a smoking cessation treatment center in London.

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This quote from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg on quitting smoking is just too good to pass it up… Bloomberg is a former smoker himself, by the way.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

“It’s relatively easy to stop, and once you stop, you’re going to feel so much superior to those who do smoke that there’s instant gratification.”

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The next time you are watching an old Hollywood movie from the 30s, 40s, or 50s, look at how Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda (and many, many other idols of ‘cool’) just can’t seem to ever stop smoking! The Los Angeles Times as well as some other media now revealed the reason why…

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

 

Actors from the golden age of Hollywood were paid thousands of dollars by tobacco companies to smoke and endorse their products.

A study reveals how more than 200 stars, including matinee idols John Wayne, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, all benefited and one firm paid more than $3m in today’s money in a year.

In return, the tobacco firms funded print and radio adverts for the stars and their films.

The research by the University of California, published in the journal Tobacco Control, shows how film classics of the Thirties and Forties still help to advertise smoking today.

The extent of smoking promotion was revealed following the release of documents from anti-smoking court cases.

Gable, Tracy, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford were all top earners in 1937, each taking $10,000 ($146,583 today) in one year’s sponsorship from American Tobacco, makers of the Lucky Strike brand.

Bette Davis and Betty Gable were also among 50 household names giving endorsements-with others such as Bob Hope paid $2,500 ($36,646).

Deals started as talkies took off with Jazz Singer’ star Al Jolson testifying that Lucky Strike was ‘the cigarette of the acting profession’.

The study, which concentrated on the period between 1927 and 1951, points to classic films such as Casablanca and Now, Voyager that feature prominent smoking scenes, and says glamorous publicity posters helped to ‘perpetuate public tolerance’.

Other brands that benefited from the celebrity endorsement included Old Gold, Chesterfield and Camel.

 

The researchers claim that as a result, more young people took up smoking during the era because they were influenced by Hollywood stars.

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The single most successful solution to stop smoking is hypnosis. When facilitated by a well trained and experienced smoking cessation specialist, its success rates can be triple those of any other treatments or therapies to quit smoking that are available today.

The medical establishment is realizing this more and more. The vast majority of the  referrals to our offices these days confirm this fact, as they come from doctors and sometimes even hospitals. - Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) are defining the most effective ways to treat tobacco dependence. They highlight the surprisingly significant role that the health practitioner can play in helping people quit smoking. Many people’s attempts to quit smoking are unsuccessful, so effective interventions are critical for smokers.

Research shows that since an estimated 70% of smokers visit a physician each year, family doctors have a substantial opportunity to influence smoking behaviour. "Even a short intervention (three minutes or less) can increase a person’s motivation to quit and can significantly increase abstinence rates," the authors write.

They provide an algorithm topped by the simple question "Are you smoking?" to help physicians integrate a patient’s smoking status and his or her readiness to quit.

This research article is published in the November issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Adapted from materials provided by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

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