Doctors Offering Their Patients E-Cigarettes

Surprisingly, doctors have been offering their smoking patients electronic cigarettes.  Doctors are slowly realizing that the electronic cigarette can be a good harm prevention device for their smoking patients.  Logically speaking, the patient that switches to the electronic cigarette from regular cigarettes have a greater chance of quitting.  A study done recently has shown that 31 percent of respondents reported having quit smoking within six months of purchasing the E-Cigarette.  This is much more effective compared to the traditional nicotine replacement products like nicotine gum and the patch which have a 12 – 18% average 6 month abstinence rate. This is definitely good news to doctors who are offering e-Cigarettes and nicotine withdrawal programs to patients who want to quit smoking.

With the above stats, Doctors who are who are offering e-Cigarettes and nicotine withdrawal programs to patients can now give assurance to their patients. Interesting information that was gathered from the survey is that 67% of respondents reported a reduced number of cigarettes smoked after the 6 month period.  According to the author of the study, Michael Siegel said “the e-cigarette is helping thousands of ex-smokers to keep off smoking completely”.

Siegel is also a professor of community health science in Boston said “While it is well known that nicotine is the main cause of smoking addiction, little attention or no attention has been given to the behavioral aspects of the addiction. These devices simulate the smoking experience, which appears to make them effective as a smoking cessation tool.”

Better than cigarettes?

A number of studies done in the past have also shown that electronic cigarettes are much better than tobacco cigarettes. However, a number of municipalities and states are trying to ban the device since they believe that it still associated to smoking tobacco cigarettes. According to Michael Siegel: Banning the electronic cigarette will make many ex-smokers return to tobacco cigarette smoking and this would be more harmful to public health.

Second hand smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals most of which are harmful to those around you and especially children. The most harmful chemicals contained in second hand smoke include, but are not limited to, carbon monoxide, cyanide and benzene. These chemicals can make children and the public suffer from or be susceptible to ear infections, pneumonias and asthma. Babies of smokers are more likely to suffer from sudden infant death syndrome and other respiratory diseases.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has been fighting to regulate the e-cigarette but a recent court ruling signals a loss of ground for the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). This basically means that electronic cigarettes are here to stay and their use will be more widespread than even today.

Impact on Smokers Lives

One thing is for sure and many Doctors will agree with me that e-cigarettes have  made a huge impact  on smokers lives and their use is growing quickly every year. Although they are not marketed as smoking cessation products so to speak but many ex-smokers are using them as part of their nicotine withdrawal program.