How to Quit

Some of the benefits of quitting nicotine are immediate, and the longer term benefits are even greater. Quitting nicotine can be challenging and difficult for many users, but there are several good options for kicking the addiction.

You can quit nicotine, but it's okay to need help!
Attend Our Seminar
Medications
Counseling
Support Groups

Options for Quitting Nicotine

Nicotine is so addictive that the success rates for quitting are approximately 5% without assistance. Fortunately, you have options to help you break nicotine’s hold and improve your health.

Medications

The Quit-Nicotine.com campaign has no financial relationship with Pfizer or other pharmaceutical companies.

The pharmacological treatment of nicotine addiction has been shown in many scientific clinical trials to be the most helpful in quitting nicotine. Several FDA-approved, non-nicotine medications are available on the market to help you quit nicotine.

Varenicline (formerly marketed as Chantix)

The most effective of these drugs is Varenicline (formerly marketed as Chantix). Nicotine users have greatest success quitting (45% to 55%) with this drug at 3 months than they do with either nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or other medications. Varenicline was approved by the FDA in 2006 for the assistance of tobacco and nicotine cessation, and multiple scientific clinical trials have demonstrated this benefit. Today, Varenicline is only available in its generic form, which means it is much more affordable than when it was marketed as Chantix.

Unfortunately, there was a common misconception that Varenicline caused severe side effects. In 2009 Pfizer temporarily stopped promoting Chantix due to the concern for these possible side effects from post marketing surveillance reports. The FDA placed a black box warning on the medication due to these concerns and asked Pfizer to perform a very large international clinical trial to further evaluate these possible side effects and further assess the risk and benefit of Varenicline. This trial was called the EAGLES (Evaluating Adverse Events in a Global Smoking Cessation Study) trial and the results were published in the Lancet on April 22, 2016. This study is the largest trial to date studying medicines to help tobacco cessation. This trial demonstrated Varenicline was scientifically the best way to quit tobacco/nicotine and was a safe medicine. The black box warning was removed by the FDA in 2016. 

This misunderstanding of the benefits and risks of Varenicline still exists today. The side effect significantly more common in the Varenicline group (30%) compared to the placebo group (10%) was transient nausea. This transient nausea usually resolved after 2 to 3 weeks.  Less than 3% of Varenicline patients had to stop the medicine in the trial due to adverse events. The details of these side effects are published in a post hoc study in the Mayo clinical proceedings. In summary, Varenicline was the best way to quit and is well tolerated with less than 3% of the patients in the trial having to stop due to adverse events. The most common side effect was transient nausea. 

Patients inadvertently blame the severe nicotine withdrawal symptoms of nicotine on Varenicline rather than on the nicotine withdrawal as the cause of these symptoms. Very few patients and a large portion of physicians are unaware of this correlation and not causation. In other words, you are more likely to have the significant nicotine withdrawal symptoms because you are more likely to quit nicotine with Varenicline.

Wellbutrin / Zyban (Bupropion)

Another drug commonly used for the cessation of nicotine is Wellbutrin / Zyban (generic version Bupropion). The success rate of this drug is lower (30%, relative to the 18% success rate of the placebo group), but some people tolerate it better, with fewer reports of nausea. However, there are more reports of insomnia.

Behavioral Treatments

These include various methods to help you quit nicotine—from informational materials and resources (such as this website) to counseling and support groups. These treatments teach you to understand nicotine’s dangers and temptations, recognize high-risk situations, and develop strategies to deal with them. Self-help measures like improving your diet and exercising more also contribute to your success in quitting.

Quit Nicotine Today

Nicotine is available everywhere, in an ever-growing number of products. Cigarettes are obviously the most common product on the market, but there are alternative products that also contain nicotine and can be as dangerous as cigarettes.

In response to tobacco’s grim global death toll, the World Health Organization (WHO) negotiated a treaty in 2003 that encourages governments to reduce the production, sales, distribution, advertisement, and promotion of tobacco products. The treaty was signed by 170 countries and is seen as a significant step toward reducing and eliminating tobacco and nicotine products worldwide. Despite strong opposition from the tobacco industry, the treaty has made steady progress in achieving its goal of comprehensive tobacco control around the world.

The newest nicotine danger comes from vaping, which delivers nicotine with flavorings and other chemicals to the lungs. The manufacturers of these e-cigarette products are actively marketing them to young customers and often advertise them as safer than traditional cigarettes because they don't burn tobacco. Vaping incidence has skyrocketed over the past few years, yet researchers know little about the health risks of using these devices.

Whether you recently started using nicotine products or have used them all your life, you can and should quit nicotine for better health and to live a longer life.

The Benefits of Quitting Nicotine

The 2020 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking Cessation offers evidence that quitting tobacco and nicotine products is beneficial at any age, because it improves your overall health and enhances the quality of your life. It also reduces the risk of premature death and can add as much as a decade to your life.

The health benefits of quitting smoking or any other nicotine-containing product start quickly and improve over time as your body rids itself of the addictive drug, and heals.

The results can be dramatic…

Within 20 minutes of quitting

Your pulse rate returns to normal.

Within 8 hours

Your oxygen levels return to normal and the nicotine levels in your body decrease by over 90%.

Within 24 hours

Your blood pressure begins to drop and the risk of heart attack decreases.

Within 72 hours

Breathing becomes easier as your lungs relax.

5-10 days after quitting

The average smoker notices a reduction in the number of daily nicotine cravings.

2-12 weeks later

You will experience less coughing and shortness of breath, your blood circulation improves, and physical activity becomes easier.

After 3-9 months

Your risk of respiratory infections decreases exponentially, and you will experience a decrease in sinus congestion and fatigue.

After one year

The cilia in your lungs have healed enough to eliminate mucus and help fight infections.

After 10 years

Your risk of mouth, throat, or pancreatic cancers is reduced significantly.

The Challenges of Quitting Nicotine

It is estimated that 18.7% of US adults use tobacco and/or nicotine products; most (1-in-5) consume nicotine by smoking cigarettes, so they represent the largest pool of statistics we have to evaluate the situation.

70%

Smokers want to quit.

30-50%

Smokers try to quit each year.

3-5%

Tobacco users quit without help.

The average smoker attempts to quit 6-9 times over their lifetime. Unfortunately, very few users (3-5%) succeed without help, especially over the long term. That’s how powerful nicotine’s addictive hold over its users is.

Nicotine users who want to quit also face unique challenges related to mental health, in addition to the addiction. Studies show that consuming nicotine—smoking tobacco, in particular—is a risk factor for depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide (in fact, smokers are 3.2x more likely to commit suicide than non-smokers). Many nicotine users smoke or use other products to self-medicate.

The best thing you can do for your health is to quit nicotine entirely. Thousands of people kick the addiction every year by seeking help. It won’t be easy, but you can do it, too!

Get Help Quitting Nicotine Today!

Behavioral treatments and medications can help you quit nicotine, but the combination of medication with counseling is more effective than either method on its own.

For help quitting tobacco, call the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services national toll-free quit line: 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

Attend Our Seminar