Seven Tips to Stop Smoking Once and For All

Smoking tobacco is as much a psychological habit as it is a physical addiction. The act of smoking is rooted in a daily routine and, at the same time, the nicotine found in cigarettes offers a boost that’s temporary but difficult to control. The elimination of nicotine from your body can cause you to experience physical withdrawal symptoms and, as a consequence, a great deal of anxiety. To successfully quit smoking, you will need to deal with both the habit and the addiction – changing your behavior and treating the nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Here are seven tips for you to both plan and achieve your goal of quitting smoking.

Know your motivation. When the urge to smoke strikes you, your mint will tell you “What’s the harm in smoking one more cigarette?” and you’ll quickly forget why you were wanting to quit smoking so badly. You need to have a strong grasp on why you want to quit smoking before you get the urge to smoke suddenly. Is it for your wife and children? For your Florida cardiologist? For your health? To be better able to exercise? For the girl you like who doesn’t like smokers? Try to have a good reason or reasons for quitting. Make yourself a list. Print it. Put it on your wall. And remember your reasons every day and every time you feel the need to smoke.
Make a plan. You can’t just say “I’m going to quit today” – if only it were that simple. You need to prepare yourself. Plan a system of rewards, a system of support. Have someone close at hand who you can call if you’re anxious and feel the urge to smoke. If you expect to resolve this type of thing when the urge to begin smoking again strikes you, you’ll be lost. You need to be ready and have potential solutions at hand for when this occurs.
Clean your house and your things. Once you’ve smoked your last cigarette, get rid of your ashtrays and lighters. Wash any clothes that still smell like smoke, and clean your rugs, curtains and upholstery. Air out your house to free yourself from the smell. You won’t want to see or smell anything that could remind you of smoking.
Don’t do it alone. Tell your friends, family members, and co-workers that you’re trying to quit smoking. Your breath will make the difference. You can even join some type of support group. These groups can help you identify and plan strategies for quitting.
Replace bad habits with good ones. What do you usually do when you’re stressed? If your immediate response is to light a cigarette, you should find something to replace it. Breathe deeply, give yourself neck and shoulder massages, or do some type of exercise (which even helps eliminate toxins from the body). Other habits, like the first thing you do in the morning or what you do in the car or in places where you usually smoke, should be replaced with more positive actions. You can turn up the music, eat a sweet treat, or do whatever you can that would replace smoking and works for you.
Avoid alcohol and coffee. Certain activities can aggravate your desire to smoke. Alcohol is the most common trigger factor, and because of this you should try to reduce your consumption of alcohol during your first few weeks of quitting smoking. If the same thing happens to you with coffee, replace it with tea for a few days. And if you usually smoke after meals. Find something that you can do instead – like brushing your teeth or chewing gum.
Try it again and again. It’s very common to give up. Many smokers try time and time again until they’re able to stop definitively. Examine the emotions and circumstances that are causing you to relapse. Use this as an opportunity to reaffirm your commitment to quitting. Once you make the decision to try again, set yourself a “date to quit smoking” within the next month and go for it.

Quitting smoking has enormous benefits for the body – even if you’ve been smoking for twenty or thirty years, stopping can completely change the way you feel and can significantly reduce your risk of cardiac and lung diseases. Smoking is known to be a prime factor in the development of a number of heart conditions and problems with the circulatory system, including:

Heart failure
Heart attack
Stroke
Carotid artery stenosis – the narrowing of the carotid arteries supplying blood to the brain
Atherosclerosis – the narrowing of the arterial walls around the heart
Angina – tightness and pain in the chest

With more and more adults choosing to retire in southern Florida, cardiologists in Florida see many older patients with cardiac problems related to lifelong tobacco use. Quitting now could help you take strides toward a healthier future and protect your family as well as yourself.

Don’t Let Heart Disease Come as a Surprise

Being diagnosed with carotid artery stenosis can be difficult to understand and accept, especially if you do not have any major symptoms. In fact, many patients who may be at risk often wait too long to seek diagnosis and treatment. However, diagnosing this condition as early as possible can make the difference between life and death. Coronary artery stenosis poses serious health risks including the increased risk of having a heart attack and the possibility of heart damage due to reduced oxygen flow.

While the most common symptom for both men and women is chest pain, patients often do not immediately associate their chest pain with heart disease or see it as an urgent concern. As a result some patients first suffer from a heart attack and then have little choice but to undergo further treatment and preventive care for their heart disease.

Upon learning of this life-threatening condition, patients are faced with making several significant changes to their everyday lives. Healthy lifestyle changes can postpone and even reverse heart disease. Patients who quit smoking, follow a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, exercise regularly, and manage stress are practicing the most fundamental elements of preventive care, and, as a result, they will probably see improved outcomes. Also, patients who are overweight will greatly benefit from losing the extra weight.

Living with coronary artery stenosis can be very difficult both physically and mentally as it can cause anxiety, stress, and even depression. Our cardiologists understand the many challenges of living with heart disease and are committed to working with and educating patients in managing and improving their heart health.

Soy Protein Decreases Carotid Artery Stenosis in Women

Carotid artery stenosis, the narrowing or constriction of the carotid artery, is a major cause of stroke, a problem affecting at least 731,000 people in the United States. Atherosclerosis, which is also known as hardening of the arteries, generally is at the source of this condition.

A recent study conducted by researchers at the USC Keck School of Medicine reveals that by having a diet rich in soy protein reduces the development of atherosclerosis by 16% in postmenopausal women. Among women who experienced menopause within the past five years, the reduction increase to 68%. All the women tested did not have diabetes or heart disease and the study was conducted by giving a daily dose of 25g of soy protein over the course of 2.7 years. Given the connection of atherosclerosis to carotid artery stenosis, this study has greater implications for stroke.

Soy is an excellent source of protein that is free from the heavy saturated fat found in animal protein. Substituting animal protein with vegetable protein can also be an effective way to lower blood cholesterol.

Currently there is no recommended daily allowance for soy protein, however, the FDA has declared that “25 grams of soy protein a day as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease”. It is possible to reach this limit by consuming 2-3 servings of most soy foods per day.

Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to incorporate soy into your diet, such as dried soy nuts, edamane beans, tofu, soy burgers, soy milk, dehydrated soy to make red sauce in place of meat, and soy powder to add to fruit smoothies. There is even soy ice cream. Soy is very versatile and a variety of flavorings can easily be added and combined to suit your taste buds.

Eating soy alone will not be enough to prevent carotid artery stenosis and stroke all together, but it certainly proves an effective practice to incorporate into other health promoting routines, such as daily moderate exercise.

Stroke Prevention: Carotid Artery Stents vs. Medical Therapy

A new study has found that Carotid Artery Stenosis might not be as effective as medical therapy in stroke prevention. The study found that the risk of stroke after carotid artery stenting was much higher than was originally thought; and at the same time the results of medical therapy for stroke prevention were much better than they had expected.

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off or significantly reduces. Doctors have been increasingly using stents, especially in patients who have already had a stroke and run the risk of a second stroke occurring in the same place as the first. Carotid artery stenting involves the insertion of a small balloon into the blocked carotid artery to open up the artery and therefore the blood supply to the brain. Previous trials have shown it is a relatively safe procedure, however, it now seems that it might not be as safe as we think.

The trial, published online on September 7th in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that carotid artery stenosis was associated with more strokes and death than medical therapy. Carotid artery stenosis is an extremely advanced surgery that requires highly trained surgeons, therefore, its success is far from guaranteed. It seems that the insertion of the stent could in fact be damaging the artery and causing a stroke. This was also found to be the case in brain stents which were damaging the blocked blood vessels in the brain upon insertion, resulting in strokes as opposed to preventing them.

Medical therapy, on the other hand, involves aspirin, clopidogrel, management of LDL and blood pressure, to prevent strokes. This turned out to be a far safer and more effective treatment than they had thought. Therefore, perhaps medical therapy is the best option for high risk patients than carotid artery stenting which, far from preventing stroke, might actually be causing them.