Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Taashi Rowe/ANN]
With many options for ending the fatal habit of smoking, millions have found that trying to quit using only one of the following methods: support groups, taking medicines, or using nicotine replacement aids such as the patch or gum, is not enough, said Dr. Linda Hyder Ferry in a recent interview.
Ferry is a Seventh-day Adventist pioneer in the field of smoking cessation and the primary consultant for the booklet “Tobacco: You Can Be Free,” which came out in June.
Ferry added, only 3 percent to 5 percent of those who try to quit smoking on their own actually succeed. Ferry, an associate at the Loma Linda University schools of medicine and public health in California, is actively involved in a medical and treatment program for tobacco users at the school’s Jerry L. Pettis Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
With more than 20 years of experience with smoking cessation programs, Ferry advocates a combination of medication, a support group and counseling to be successfully free from cigarettes. She realized in the early 1980s that smoking was more than just a habit when she treated people who wanted to quit but had trouble staying tobacco-free.
She found that those who quit with only a behavioral modification program, such as a support group, “suffered from withdrawal symptoms that left them feeling irritable, angry and out of control … but smoking fixes that.”
With a faculty grant from Loma Linda, Ferry started a study that compared those that used an anti-depressant, Bupropion, to those who did not. She found a higher quit rate among those who used the drug.
Today Bupropion or Zyban is the only non-nicotine addictive drug available to millions as effective or more effective than the nicotine patch, said Ferry. While she continues to use the nicotine patch or gum along with Bupropion in some cases, she says nicotine replacement aids perpetuate dependence on nicotine. Some smokers are addicted and depressed and need both Bupropion and nicotine, she added.
Dr. DeWitt Williams, director of Health Ministries for the North American region of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, agreed that once people start smoking, the nicotine keeps them hooked. “Nicotine is as addictive as cocaine,” he said. “I once visited a neighbor who was just recovering from surgery due to lung cancer. When I walked into the hospital room he was smoking.”
In 1959, Adventists were one of the first to have a stop smoking program with BreatheFree, a five-day program. The program focused on changing the habitual or behavioral aspects of smoking. The now nine-day program acts as a combination support group and education center for smokers. In the meetings, members discuss the health benefits of quitting, and they go through the process of preparing to quit mentally and physically.
Williams said BreatheFree is different from other programs because “We have a spiritual component. We offer prayers … and tell people God can help them quit smoking.”
Although Ferry agrees behavioral therapy has its benefits, she added that in the 40 years since the United States’ Surgeon General warned of the fatal effects of smoking, “only 5 to 10 percent were able to quit at the end of one year. But with medication there is a much higher quit rate ranging from 35 to 50 percent.”
Medicine alone is not effective, said Stoy Proctor, associate director of Health Ministries for the world church. He says BreatheFree now suggests using medication during the program.
Ferry added that while community or church groups may not be equipped to give medical advice, they can partner with local hospitals, psychiatrists or other medically trained entities to provide more complete treatment plans.
The booklet, “Tobacco: You Can Be Free,” is a comprehensive guide to understanding the health impact of smoking and why people smoke. It also offers various resources to help stop the habit. It suggests consulting doctors, using medications, tips for coping with cravings, trusting in a higher power, and building a support group.
“The booklet is patient-centered, but the focus is not to quit smoking by yourself, but to help others realize the seriousness of smoking,” Ferry said.
Copyright © 2004 by Adventist News Network.
