Quit for good
Diana Schwab, Lake County Health Department Tobacco Prevention Program
May 2009 marks the fifth anniversary of the Montana Tobacco Quit Line. The Quit Line’s goal is to provide free personalized quit plans, free cessation coaching, free nicotine replacement therapy - including patches, lozenges and gum, and reduced-cost Chantix - $25 month co-pay.
Calls to the Montana Tobacco Quit Line are toll-free at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669).
The Montana Tobacco Quit Line, funded by the Montana Tobacco use Prevention Program, offers assistance to tobacco users who want to quit. The Montana Tobacco Quit Line has helped close to 10,000 people quit smoking and using spit tobacco since its inception in 2004. Montana is only one of several states that offers Chantix as one of its cessation medications. If prescribed by a healthcare provider, an individual may be eligible to receive up to a 3 month supply of Chantix at the reduced rate, in conjunction with telephone coaching sessions through the Quit Line. Chantix is a non-nicotine medication that greatly reduces the urge to smoke, which is one of the main reasons for its huge success.
Personally, having spoken with a handful of people in the Polson area, Chantix has been the one medication that helped them over anything else to kick the nicotine habit for good. All had smoked for more than 30 years, described themselves as “seriously addicted,” all smoked about a pack per day, and all had tried to quit numerous times. One gal used Chanitx to cut down gradually on the number of cigarettes she smoked per day, and, after about two weeks, she had no desire to smoke. Another woman admitted to having “vivid dreams” while on the medication, but thought that was a minor annoyance to put up with for a few months in exchange for the greater benefit of becoming tobacco free. Sometimes, this small percentage of cases gets blown out of proportion or distorted; it’s what we read or hear about in the media, rather than the reality: The majority of people who use the medication successfully to quit smoking. If any side effect becomes bothersome, just as with anything else, the patient should discuss it with their physician to find ways to alleviate or lessen the side effect. The common thread that ran throughout these success stories was that Chantix took away their desire to smoke.
When a person calls 1-800-QUIT-NOW, they are making contact with “quit specialists” at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colo. National Jewish is the only medical and research center in the United States devoted entirely to respiratory, allergic and immune system diseases, including asthma, tuberculosis, emphysema, cancer and more. Founded in 1899, National Jewish is a non-profit institution dedicated to enhancing prevention, treatment and cures through research, and to developing and providing innovative clinical programs (such as individual state’s quit line programs) for treating patients, regardless of age, religion or race.
The Montana Tobacco Quit Line is experiencing a surge in the number of calls from people trying to quit, because of the economic downturn and due to the increase in price, caused both by the recent tobacco industry price increases and the new federal tobacco tax (.62 per pack). In response, the Montana Tobacco Quit Line is hiring and training more staff in order to continue to provide high quality service. With Montanans who receive their full range of recommended quitting services, including telephone counseling and the new Chantix medication, Montana has one of the highest success rates nationwide with nearly 40 percent of people successfully quitting, compared to about 4 percent to 5 percent when people try to quit alone. People who want to quit are much more likely to succeed if they use proven methods like Quit Lines, counseling and FDA approved cessation medications. Services like the Montana tobacco Quit Line provide one part of comprehensive tobacco use prevention programming, which is administered by the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program, a division of the Department of Public Health and Human Services. MTUPP’s collective efforts save lives and help reduce the tremendous cost of medical care and lost productivity caused by tobacco-related illnesses.