Tobacco Addiction

Drug companies make many kinds of nicotine replacement therapies including the patch, a spray, gum and lozenges, which are available over the counter. In addition, the Federal Drug Administration approves two prescription medications for tobacco addiction: bupropion and varenicline. These drugs have different act on the brain differently, but both help to prevent relapse in people trying to quit smoking. Doctors recommend each medication for use in combination with behavioral treatments, including group and individual therapies, as well as telephone quit lines.

Addicts Use Drugs

Almost every addicted individual believes at the outset stopping using drugs without help is easy and most people try to quit without seeking treatment. Although some people are successful, many attempts result in failure to achieve permanent abstinence. Research suggests that long term drug abuse results in changes in the brain that last long after a person stops using drugs. These changes in brain function from drugs can have many behavioral consequences, including an inability to exert control over the impulse to use drugs, despite adverse consequences the defining characteristic of addiction. Understanding that addiction has a fundamental biological component may help explain the difficulty of achieving and maintaining abstinence without treatment. Psychological stress from work, family problems, psychiatric illness, pain associated with medical problems, social cues or environmental cues like encountering streets, objects or even smells associated with drug abuse, can trigger intense cravings without the individual being consciously aware of the triggering event. Any one of these factors can hinder attainment of sustained abstinence and make relapse more likely. Nevertheless, research indicates that active participation in treatment is an essential component for good outcomes and can benefit even the most severely addicted individuals.

Common Signs of a Sleep Disorder

Look over this list of common signs of a sleep disorders and talk to your doctor if any of these symptoms appear:

• It takes more than 30 minutes to fall asleep at night
• Waking up in the night and then have trouble falling back to sleep again
• Waking up too early in the morning
• Not feeling rested despite spending 7 to 8 hours or more asleep at night
• Feeling sleepy during the day and fall asleep within five minutes given the opportunity to nap; or falling asleep at inappropriate times during the day
• While sleeping audible snoring, snorting, gasping or choking sounds occur or breathing stops
• While sleeping creeping, tingling or crawling feelings occur in the legs only relieved by moving or massaging
• Dreams are vivid or dreamlike experiences occur while falling asleep or dozing
• Muscle weakness occurs when angry, fearful or when laughing
• A feeling of paralysis upon first waking up
• Arms and legs experience jerking movements during sleep
• Stimulants are necessary to stay awake during the day

Also keep in mind that, although children can show some of these same signs of a sleep disorder, children often do not show signs of excessive daytime sleepiness. Instead, children may seem overactive and have difficulty focusing and concentrating. Children also may not very good in school.