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Smokers like the idea of smoking cessation pills. Studies in America have shown that 80% of smokers think they should quit. Many of them think that smoking cessation pills have the answers they are looking for as they offer that potential miracle cure that will take the pain, anguish and torment of smoking cessation away from smokers. But is this really the case?

There are a number of treatments available to aid smoking cessation in the form of smoking cessation pills. There are also varying degrees of success associated with each type. The two most common types of smoking cessation pill that actually do have an effect are explained here.

The first smoking cessation pill I would like to consider is probably the best known; zyban. It was developed in the 1970s as a treatment for depression when it was marketed as wellbutrin. When researchers were conducting trials of the drug, they found that the test patients were reporting quitting smoking at a significant rate. This lead to further studies where the sole focus of the study was to determine the impact of wellbutrin on smokers.

Many studies have been completed since and it is commonly agreed now that 16% of smokers, who try to quit smoking using wellbutrin as their smoking cessation pill, will succeed after one year. I.e. they will quit at some point be smoke free one year after the course of treatment has been completed.

It is not known how zyban works specifically, but it is clear that it interferes with the normal brain chemistry associated with nicotine addiction.

The side effects most commonly reported are similar to the side effects suffered by any person quitting smoking. These side effects may be from the drug zyban itself or they may be from nicotine withdrawal. Significantly, any alcohol, heart or blood pressure problems will need careful consideration by your doctor if you wish to use zyban.

The most significant side effect associated with zyban is the 1 in 1000 siezure rate. This can be life threatening so is a serious consideration for any would be quitter. You dont want to kill yourself trying to quit smoking after all!

The second smoking cessation pill I would like to consider is the new kid on the block. It is called varenicline and marketed as chantix in the US and as champix in the UK.

Pfizer, the manufacturer has claimed a 44% success rate in smoking cessation studies but there has been much criticism of their claims. Significantly, when Pfizer have sponsored studies into the effectiveness of chantix as a smoking cessation pill, they have been very stringent on which smokers are allowed into the group. It is thought that hardcore smokers or people who have serially been unable to quit smoking have been excluded in order to bump up success rates.

Independent reviews of all chantix studies have shown the truer success rate of chantix as a smoking cessation pill as being about 22%. This is not a huge success rate when compared to the claims initially made by Pfizer!

The most commonly cited side effects associated with chantix are those of nausea, sleep problems and weird dreams or nightmares. The other significant side effects are shared side effects found from nicotine withdrawal.

Due to the high rates of nausea, stomach cramps, feeling bloated, constipation or diarrhoea associated with chantix, up to 30% of patients have to abandon the treatment. Not mush fun if you have shelled out $300 for your smoking cessation pills only to find you cannot take the drug after all!

My advice is that smokers should try any non-pharmaceutical methods to quit smoking before they turn to smoking cessation pills such as chantix or zyban. Not only is there hypnosis that is very commonly known and probably as effective as chantix, there is also cognitive behavioural therapy that has very high success rates thought to be well over 50%.

As ever, every time you fail to quit smoking, you are one step closer to success. Never stop trying to quit.

Why do people try to quit smoking before they know how to quit smoking? Pete Howells is the author of the EasyQuit System available only online at http://easyquitsystem.com. He also blogs, post articles and videos at http://easyquitsystem.com/blog and at http://quit-smoking-motivator.blogspot.com