Transcription:

Scott Webb: Many smokers want to be former smokers. But despite the desire to quit tobacco use of any kind, the road to quitting can be mentally and physically challenging. And joining me today to help us understand them any challenges and benefits to quitting tobacco and the services and support that Genesis Healthcare System offers is Rob Williamson. He's a registered nurse, certified tobacco treatment specialist and a member of the lung care team at Genesis.

This is Sounds of Good Health with Genesis, brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. I'm Scott Webb. So Rob, thanks so much for your time today. We're talking about quitting smoking, tips that you have, e-cigarettes. We're going to talk about all that today. But before we get rolling here, if somebody uses tobacco, how will quitting help them?

Rob Williamson: Well, the nice thing is that, once you quit using tobacco, so you quit smoking, the health benefits are almost immediate. Twenty minutes after you quit smoking, your heart rate and your blood pressure start to come back down to a more normal level. Within anywhere between two and twelve weeks, your risk for heart attack begins to drop after you quit smoking, your lung function begins to improve. Within a year, your risk for having coronary artery disease is half that of somebody who is a smoker. And in 15 years, the risk of heart disease is the same as a non-smoker. You also have the benefit of lessening your chance of developing or worsening emphysema. And in 10 years, your risk of lung cancer is half that of a smoker.

So, you know, there's all kinds of health benefits, and there's also the benefit of the savings, the cost savings. If you're a person who smokes a pack a day with the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in the US being around $6 a pack, you could save $2,200 a year financially, which is always a big help. There's immediate health benefits from quitting smoking. It's not something you necessarily have to be smoke-free for a long time to start to see the benefit.

Scott Webb: Yeah, it sounds like there are a lot of benefits, financial, health and you know, all the above, which is great. And good to know that the health benefits can be almost immediate, you know. And I've been to the gas station and I see all these e-cigarettes. I don't really know what they are. I see all the different flavors and I just don't understand exactly what's going on there. I assume that you do. So the question I have for you is really, should people use e-cigarettes as a method to quit smoking?

Rob Williamson: The Centers for Disease Control definitely does not recommend that people use e-cigarettes or vaping devices as a means to quit smoking. It's a relatively new practice as compared to, say, cigarettes, which had been around for, you know, decades, obviously. And the results of studies that are being conducted are relatively limited.

But what we've seen in our practice is that in the case of adults seeking to use vaping or electronic cigarettes as a means to quit cigarettes, what a lot of times ends up happening is folks will continue to use cigarettes in areas where they can smoke and then they'll use electronic cigarettes or vaping devices in areas where they can't, that's also called dual use. And, when they kind of fall into that pattern, it serves to increase the amount of daily nicotine that they're getting and making it in turn more difficult to quit because it heightens that nicotine addiction.

The other piece of it is, that, you know, they call it a vapor. And it's really not a vapor. It's a cloud of aerosolized chemicals. And you're breathing these chemicals in, and a lot of those aerosol chemicals are known to be harmful. Obviously, nicotine is addictive. It's harmful to developing brains in unborn babies, children, young adults up to the age of 25. It can impact their development.

The other thing that we always like to tell folks who do use these liquid nicotine devices, that if a little one, a toddler or a young child would swallow liquid nicotine, it's very dangerous and can even be fatal. So we always let people know, you know, make sure you keep those liquids out of the reach of children, because that can be very dangerous.

The other aspect of it when we're talking about our youth and people getting to use nicotine, there was actually a recent report that came out of Johns Hopkins, where they were saying the number one concern right now about vaping is the gateway effect. Their literature suggested that 2 million young adults use electronic cigarettes as their first nicotine product. And it's not that they're trying to quit smoking, it's their first introduction to using nicotine. And ultimately, many of those folks end up transitioning to cigarettes as they grow older. As opposed to a means of getting away from cigarettes, it can actually bring young folks to cigarettes. So that's an interesting fact about the e-cigarettes and vaping as well.

Scott Webb: Yeah. So if e-cigarettes aren't recommended by the CDC or anybody else, if that's not recommended to help quit smoking, what are some of the methods you recommend to quit tobacco smoking, et cetera?

Rob Williamson: The first thing I always speak with the folks I work with about is having that desire to quit, that personal desire to quit. And that's something that's usually not lacking with folks. Seventy per cent of the folks nationally, according to surveys, would love to quit. They want to quit. The problem is they don't necessarily know how to quit. The desire's there, but there's not a pathway. That seems overwhelming to folks.

One option or one piece of the treatment plan for folks looking to get away from tobacco products is counseling. Counseling helps you identify why you smoke. It also helps to identify some alternatives to smoking, some healthier behaviors. And it really helps to develop an individualized treatment plan, because smoking cessation is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Every person just like folks learn differently, some people like to read versus hearing spoken word.

People use different forms of counseling. There are group counselings where you're involved in a group setting with other smokers. And some folks really enjoy that because it gives some comradery. They can share stories and strategies and that sort of thing. Other folks like one-on-one personal counseling, like in an office setting where you meet with a certified tobacco treatment specialist, who develops that individualized care plan with the person smoking. And there's also over the telephone or telephonic smoking cessation counseling for folks who maybe prefer to stay at home in that setting and get their counseling over the phone. And studies have shown they're all of equal benefit long-term depending on what works best for that individual. There's no advantage of one over the other. It's just more that which one works best for the individual. And that's something that can be developed in a plan with your tobacco treatment specialist and also your primary care provider for what works best.

The other piece of that is there's also pharmacological options. There are nicotine replacement products, which help to supplement nicotine through various forms. Many people are familiar with the nicotine replacement patch. There are lozenges, there are gums to help the individual off of the nicotine, so they don't have nicotine withdrawal symptoms, and ease that transition from, you know, tobacco use to being smoke-free or tobacco-free. And those are normally prescribed by your primary care provider. There are also other products out there that are also prescription products that will also help with smoking cessation and we just always encourage folks to speak with their primary care provider about those options as well. So those are really the three pieces of it, the decision, the counseling, and the pharmacological part of it that you work with your primary care provider.

Scott Webb: Yeah. And it's great to know that there are so many options and I think you're so right, that many smokers want to be non-smokers. And, you know, it has to start with that. You have to want to quit, that's what I've heard before. But it's that path. How do you get there? And good to know that there's counseling and so many options and a lot of assistance available at Genesis, which is great.

You know, Rob, this has been really educational. As we wrap up here, anything else you want to tell listeners about quitting smoking, about the options, and just generally that it's not something that's insurmountable. They can do it, right?

Rob Williamson: Yeah, there's no what I would call easy way to quit. But there are lots of things that can be done to improve those chances of success. It all involves work on the part of the care team and also on the part obviously of the person looking to quit. But we have the resources here at Genesis to meet those needs every step of the way to help to support you, to be there, either be it with in-person counseling, over-the-telephone type counseling, which has been very popular, especially here recently.

And again, the benefits of not smoking, starts almost immediately. 1.3 million people in the United States quit smoking each year. And a study in 2018 showed that of all of the people who were smokers in the United States, the active smokers who had quit, 55 million adults currently in the United States are former smokers. They've done it, so it definitely can be done. But it's just a matter of taking that first step, you know, having that discussion with your primary care provider, and then getting in with a tobacco treatment specialist to develop that plan of care. And I always tell my patients that the most important thing is that plan. And most people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. And so that's always something that I help the patients that I work with keep in mind is, you know, if you've got a map to get there, then it's much easier to get there. So we look forward to working with folks absolutely.

Scott Webb: Okay. Yeah, you're so right. And that's a big number, 55 million former smokers. So it can be done. Just got to take that first step, reach out to your primary care, potentially work with a tobacco treatment specialist, you know, like yourself. So, Rob, thanks so much for your time today. And you stay well.

Rob Williamson: Not a problem. You too, be well.

Scott Webb: Visit genesishcs.org for more information and talk to your family doctor. And thanks for listening to Sounds of Good Health with Genesis, brought to you by Genesis Healthcare System. If you found this podcast helpful, please be sure to tell a friend and subscribe, rate and review this podcast and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well.