Many treatments have been and are used for nicotine abuse and dependence.  The approach with the best success rate is rapid-smoking aversion therapy.  It appears to be the easiest way to stop, but in reality there is no easy way.  Hypnosis has no evidence that it is of any benefit at all.  At best, it might help a very small percentage.   Nicotine and Zyban (bupropion) are definitely the two most common approaches currently promoted and both are worthwhile. 

There are 20 research studies which have been completed with Zyban.  These average one year abstinence rates of about 7% greater than placebo patients.  Zyban is worthwhile, but a far less expensive anti-depressant ($100/month vs. $13/month wholesale), nortriptyline, appears to be somewhat better.  Both of these require a prescription.  It is definitely worthwhile giving these a try is other approaches have failed.  Combining one of these with other approaches is probably still better, but this has not been proven.

Nicotine Replacement has many more studies than Zyban or nortriptyline.  Nicotine, like Zyban and nortriptyline, is most often prescribed for an 8-12 week period.  Used this way, its average one year abstinence rate is roughly the same by Zyban, i.e., 7% greater than the rate for placebo patients.  The longest follow-up of nicotine I have found, an eight year study of 1625 adult smokers in England given nicotine gum for 12 weeks, found those assigned to nicotine replacement did 1.4% better than those assigned to placebo (5.7% vs. 4.3% continuous abstinence). Of the 1625 English adults, 88% were still smoking and only 10% had achieved at least one year of abstinence at the 8 year point.  Actually, long-term nicotine maintenance might be a much better approach, but the longest study is only 24 weeks of nicotine patches.

In Champaign County, many physicians will encourage nicotine gum, lozenges, patches, spray, or inhalers.  Some will prescribe Zyban.  I doubt that any are aware of the research with nortriptyline.  There are only two actually stop-smoking programs in the county that I know of.  My own group program restarts every six weeks and I am willing to work individually with patients at any time.  I don't know of anyone else doing individual treatment of nicotine dependence. 

To find the second program, it took me quite a bit of work: six phone calls and more persistence than most smokers would have.  I had heard that the American Lung Association (ALA) had a stop-smoking program.  Unfortunately, the Champaign ALA phone number was not working.  So I called the Springfield ALA office who gave me the correct name but the wrong phone number, a non-working number.  Since Springfield had told me the groups met at Carle Hospital, I called Carle.  Unfortunately, the operator had never heard of the program or of the person for whom I was searching.  Based upon the first three digits of the phone number, the operator suggested I call the Pavillion.  The Pavillion suggested I call the Carle Forum.  The Forum said that they indeed provide the space for the Champaign County Health Department's program.  I looked up the health department's phone number, which wasn't easy to find.  I finally reached Kerisa Fish with the health department who was very helpful.  The health department does offer monthly group programs which consist of eight meetings using the ALA Freedom from Smoking program which weans people off of nicotine.  The cost is only $10.  They also provide free nicotine gum and patches.   I strongly encourage anyone not interested in my program to call the health department today at (217) 373-7901.

My approach uses what I consider the easiest and most effective way to stop smoking.  It uses a mild form of aversion therapy where patients actually smoke right in the group meetings.  The smoking helps them wean off of nicotine and I use a form of psychological condition to eliminate the urges to smoke.  The minimum number of sessions is four the first week, two the second week, and then booster sessions 4 and 10 weeks after the last session.  Severely dependent patients will often need a few extra sessions.  My approach, officially called Rapid Smoking, has by far the highest one-year success rates, averaging 40% in long-term studies according to the last Surgeon General's report.

I am actually expecting to do still better than 40% by being more flexible in adding extra sessions, using nicotine replacement when necessary, using nortriptyline if necessary, and using a mineral and vitamin approach which I think, based on some recent studies, should eliminate or at least reduce the weight gain commonly associated with smoking.  In fact, I am so confident that you will quit, I guarantee success or your money back if you go back to smoking within the first six months.   I accept all insurances and the maximum charge for individuals without insurance is just $100, although a sliding scale means that many people pay only $50.  For comparison, one session of "hypnosis" in a huge hall of people costs $80.  Most people I have spoken with say they never felt hypnotized and went back to smoking within 24 hours.

Is it be worth eight or ten or 20 or even 30 treatment sessions to live 4 years longer, save an average of $60,000 in tobacco expenses, and enjoy a much happier and energetic life?  You bet it is!  Why does society spend so little effort trying to stop the tobacco menace? 

We spend massive amounts of time and money treating alcohol and drug addiction with over $10,000,000 spent each year in Champaign County alone.  We have two huge treatment centers, Prairie Center and the Pavillion, and also many smaller programs.  We spend over $50,000,000 each year in Champaign County treating the damages of tobacco addiction.  Tobacco kills an estimated 215 Champaign County residents each and every year, four people every week.  Tobacco is the #1 preventable cause of death in Champaign County, but the city councils and county government ignore this killer, the state government slashes tobacco prevention and treatment budgets, and the federal government does nothing.  The air stinks in many local restaurants and bars.  Pro-tobacco advertising is much more plentiful than counter-advertising.  Its plastered all over every gas station in town.

Who cares?  I care.  I actually spent over $85,000 of my own money doing the nation's first nationwide tobacco-sales-to-minors research study.  My study was used by Rep. Mike Synar (D-Ark.) to help pass the law that requires states to enforce their own tobacco sales to minors laws.  I have personally done over 40,000 tobacco and alcohol sales to minor inspections working with many different state governments.

However, what I want to do now is to help you get off of tobacco as soon as possible.  Come in and work with my program.  I have people from 14 year old teenagers to 65 year old grandmothers in my groups, from recovering alcoholics to single adults and young mothers.  The groups are enjoyable and educational.  People afraid of groups find that it is much easier than they had thought.  Of course, I am willing to do individual therapy, although the cost might be higher.  Actually, I think that the groups might work better, since group members make so many good points and contributions.  Give me a phone call today: (217) 328-3349.