By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
My then five year old daughter came home from kintergarten in the fall with a pamphlet about head lice. My wife and I asked if her teacher was trying to tell her something. She said no that everyone in her class got the pamphlet. So we felt better as parents, and that is one of the reasons we usually start getting lice questions at the pharmacy in September and October. Head lice doesn’t just happen at the beginning of the school year, though. It can happen at any time.
What are lice? Head lice are parasites that live in humans’ hair. The scientific name for them is Pediculus Humanus, and they are wingless insects with six legs. They are tiny grey insects that are the size of a pinhead and can barely be seen with the naked eye. They multiply very quickly. Females lay 7 to 10 oval and whitish eggs called nits every day. Seven to ten days later, the nits hatch and are called nymphs. The nymphs mature in 10-14 days and lay more eggs. So the whole life-cycle is about 30 days.
So how is head lice transmitted? Lice are transmitted two main ways. Lice can be transmitted directly by close contact from one infested scalp to another (i.e. touching heads together). They can be transmitted indirectly by sharing personal articles that come in contact with the head (e. brushes, hats, etc). Louse transfer has been found to be optimal when hairs are relatively stationary and parallel, suggesting that louse transmission is more likely to occur while children are at rest (e.g. taking a nap together), than during periods of vigorous play (e.g. wrestling on the ground). Children from 3 to 10 years old are the most affected age group. However, anyone can get lice, regardless of sex, race, age, hair length or socio-economic status. There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about head lice. Head lice is not a sign that your child’s hair is dirty. Lice actually prefer clean hair. Lice cannot fly and lice cannot jump. Lice can only survive on humans; therefore you cannot get lice simply by being in contact with pets, sand, grass, trees or plants.
What are the symptoms of having lice? The most common symptom is persistent itching, especially around the ears and back of the scalp. There can be small sores, or small scabs on the person’s scalp or neck. If these sores get infected, there can be pus. How do you recognize head lice? First you should see nits (the eggs) attached to the base of the hair shafts on the warmer parts of the scalp (the back and sides). The egg or nit is oval and glued to the hair. Nits are laid close to the scalp for warmth, usually around the ears and the nape of the neck. Live nits are brownish in color, and dead ones are whitish. Dandruff, hair casts, and hair spray globules are sometimes mistaken for nits. You can tell that they are not nits because they can be easily removed, while nits are firmly cemented to the hair and can only be removed with the fingernails or a fine toothed nit comb. Nits found more than 1.0 cm from the scalp have grown out with the hair and have either hatched or are dead. The nymph is a miniature replica of the adult louse, but it cannot reproduce. It goes through three stages before becoming an adult. And then there is the adult. It is approximately 1-2 mm in length. It is elongated in shape, greyish, has six claw like legs, and no wings. It avoids light by staying away from the top of the head and is usually found around the ears and nape of the neck.
The main product used to treat head lice is permethrin (one of the brand names is Nix). It actually sticks around for up to ten days after use to kill any more lice that hatch. It is generally the product of first choice because is very good at killing the eggs, it has low toxicity and it sticks around for about 10 days. Although it is not absolutely necessary to do a repeat application, it is often recommended that one uses the permethrin again in 7 to 10 days. There is a similar product to permethrin on the market and it contains natural pyrethrins (one of the brand names is R&C Shampoo). It is not as good as permethrin at killing the eggs. It doesn’t hang around after application. It must be reapplied in 7 to 10 days for it to be effective. Both permethrin and pyrthrins can cause allergic reactions in ragweed or chrysanthemum sensitive individuals. There are older products that contain lindane available as well. Lindane is not as good as permethrin at killing eggs. It doesn’t stick around so you must do a second application in 7-10 days for it to be effective. About 10% of the lindane actually goes into the rest of your body and it can accumulate with repeated exposure. It can cause seizures and other neurologic disorders so lindane is not my favorite product.
Because of the perceived lack of effectiveness of some of the commercially available products, the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy has developed an all natural oil lice treatment. It coats the hair and suffocates the lice. It can be used as an alternative to the commercially available products.
There is a new product on the market now for lice called Resultz. It contains isopropyl myristate. This is different that the Nix like products. The permethrin in Nix attacks the nervous system of the louse. Isopropyl myristate is more like a soap. It dissolves the waxy outer coating on the louse and the louse dehydrates. The down side to Resultz is it does not kill the nits or eggs in the hair. So you absolutely need to do the second treatment in one week. On the positive side, there is no documented resistance to Resultz. Back in the 1980’s permethrin like products killed 100% of lice. I have seen estimates now that in places it kills more like 28% of the lice. It can be hard to tell if these treatment failures are due to poor application technique, but resistance to permetherin is probably real. There were small studies where Resultz killed more lice than permetherin. I don’t know if I am ready to say it is definitely better than permetherin yet, but it is nice to have another tool against lice.
Some non-medication measures should be taken when a family member gets lice. Combs and brushes should be soaked in alcohol or Lysol for one hour; or they can be soaked in water 65oC or hotter for 10 minutes. Bedding, towels, and clothing should be washed in hot water and dried in a dryer for 20 minutes to an hour. It is actually the heat from the dryer that kills the lice. Other items may be dry-cleaned or stored in a sealed plastic bag for 2 weeks. Lice can’t live away from human contact for very long, so the two weeks allows the eggs to hatch and the new lice to die. Some people have even stored these plastic bags full of teddy-bears etc. in the freezer. Vacuuming of carpets and furniture is also a good idea.
The eggs, or nits, are very difficult and tedious to remove because they are cemented onto hairs. Hold the hair at its end and comb towards the scalp with a fine toothed comb or tweezers. Vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio can be used to help dissolve the cement that holds the nits onto the hair. Although tedious, nit removal is very important because even permetherin only kills about 70% of the eggs.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these products, ask your pharmacist.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
QUITTING SMOKING –SOMETHING OLD AND SOMETHING NEW Part 2
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
The experts who study how people make decisions say there are 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Last time we were talking about the 5 stages of change and how they apply to quitting smoking. We left off with Stage 3 – Preparation or “I’ve made up my mind to do it, but now I need a plan.”
Stage 4 – Action – I’m actually doing it!
You have quit smoking! That’s amazing! Now, not to rain on your parade, but there are going to be bumps on the road. Also, if you have gone cold turkey, you may be now wishing you had a little help. Let’s review the products out there to help you stay quit.
Smoking Cessation products fall into three categories: nicotine replacement, antidepressants and nicotine receptor modifiers.
Nicotine replacement is still the most common smoking cessation aid. Whether it is a gum, lozenge, lollipop, patch, inhaler, etc. we are actually giving you back nicotine. It works like this. You quit smoking. Although there are thousands of compounds in the cigarette smoke that you inhale, we think the one that causes addiction is nicotine. So, after your last cigarette, the amount of nicotine in your body falls. Your body says, “I WANT MORE NICOTINE. SMOKE! NOW!” So if you give your body nicotine in the form of a patch, lollipop, etc. the craving goes away, or at least gets less intense.
People do ask about if the various nicotine replacements are safe. This is understandable as nicotine is a dangerous toxin. It raises blood pressure, increases heart rate and other nasty things. My standard answer is if you aren’t sure, ask your doctor. If your doctor gives says nicotine replacement is okay for you, I feel comfortable saying nicotine replacement is safer that smoking. If the various nicotine replacements are used properly, they give you less nicotine than cigarettes and they don’t give you the tar, cyanide, arsenic, and many, many other chemicals in cigarette smoke.
So what about buproprion? Its brand name is Zyban. Ideally, you should start using Zyban about 2 weeks before you quit smoking. That gives it time to build up in your system. However, if you have already quit, and ask your doctor about Zyban now, it still could help. It was originally marketed as an antidepressant, and an interesting thing happened, less of the depressed patients taking buproprion in the trials smoked than those taking sugar pills. So it was re-branded for smoking cessation. (FYI the brand name of the antidepressant is Wellbutrin). We don’t know exactly how it helps people stop smoking, but we do know that as an antidepressant, one of the brain chemicals it effects is dopamine. We know dopamine is involved with the reward center in your brain and that the reward center is involved with addiction. So my favorite theory says that through dopamine, Zyban effects the reward center in your brain and that slowly makes you want to smoke less and less. Under doctor’s supervision, Zyban can be used with nicotine replacement as well. The mostly commonly reported side effects with Zyban are dry mouth and insomnia. There is a rare but serious side effect with Zyban that makes a patient more likely to have a seizure.
The newest product is called varenicline or Champix. Again, Champix should be started one to two weeks before quitting smoking. Champix is interesting because it is what is called a partial nicotine agonist. It attaches to nicotine receptors in the body and stimulates them a little, but not as much as nicotine. So this should take the edge off of nicotine withdrawal. Champix also blocks the nicotine receptors, so patients get fewer pleasurable effects from smoking. It is not a good idea to use champix with nicotine replacement. There is no evidence it works any better and increases the chance of nausea. Speaking of nausea, 30% of the trial patients experienced mild to moderate nausea, compared to only 10% on placebo.
So what is the best product? Whichever one gets you to quit. Champix might be more effective than Zyban. One study found it more effective at 12 weeks, but that advantage seems to have disappeared by 1 year.
Stage 5 – Maintenance – Staying Quit
Okay you have quit. You have battled through the cravings, mood swings and other nastiness of the first 7 to 14 days. Now you have to focus on changing habits. If you used to smoke after supper, now you should schedule a walk. If you used to smoke with a group of ladies over coffee, you should tell them you won’t be seeing them for a while. You will keep running into triggers that will make you want to smoke. You will need to be creative in avoiding them, or doing something else instead of smoking. The reason most smoking cessation products say you should take them for 12 weeks is that we think that is how long it takes to change a habit. The actual withdrawal is probably over in the first week. It takes much longer to change your lifestyle.
Relapse – Oops I smoked again.
Don’t panic, and don’t beat yourself up. Just because you smoked one, two or a pack of cigarettes doesn’t mean you have failed and should start smoking again. Figure out what the trigger was. Figure out what you are going to do differently next time that trigger happens. There will be bumps in the road. But, if you stay smoke free, it will be good for your health.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
The experts who study how people make decisions say there are 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Last time we were talking about the 5 stages of change and how they apply to quitting smoking. We left off with Stage 3 – Preparation or “I’ve made up my mind to do it, but now I need a plan.”
Stage 4 – Action – I’m actually doing it!
You have quit smoking! That’s amazing! Now, not to rain on your parade, but there are going to be bumps on the road. Also, if you have gone cold turkey, you may be now wishing you had a little help. Let’s review the products out there to help you stay quit.
Smoking Cessation products fall into three categories: nicotine replacement, antidepressants and nicotine receptor modifiers.
Nicotine replacement is still the most common smoking cessation aid. Whether it is a gum, lozenge, lollipop, patch, inhaler, etc. we are actually giving you back nicotine. It works like this. You quit smoking. Although there are thousands of compounds in the cigarette smoke that you inhale, we think the one that causes addiction is nicotine. So, after your last cigarette, the amount of nicotine in your body falls. Your body says, “I WANT MORE NICOTINE. SMOKE! NOW!” So if you give your body nicotine in the form of a patch, lollipop, etc. the craving goes away, or at least gets less intense.
People do ask about if the various nicotine replacements are safe. This is understandable as nicotine is a dangerous toxin. It raises blood pressure, increases heart rate and other nasty things. My standard answer is if you aren’t sure, ask your doctor. If your doctor gives says nicotine replacement is okay for you, I feel comfortable saying nicotine replacement is safer that smoking. If the various nicotine replacements are used properly, they give you less nicotine than cigarettes and they don’t give you the tar, cyanide, arsenic, and many, many other chemicals in cigarette smoke.
So what about buproprion? Its brand name is Zyban. Ideally, you should start using Zyban about 2 weeks before you quit smoking. That gives it time to build up in your system. However, if you have already quit, and ask your doctor about Zyban now, it still could help. It was originally marketed as an antidepressant, and an interesting thing happened, less of the depressed patients taking buproprion in the trials smoked than those taking sugar pills. So it was re-branded for smoking cessation. (FYI the brand name of the antidepressant is Wellbutrin). We don’t know exactly how it helps people stop smoking, but we do know that as an antidepressant, one of the brain chemicals it effects is dopamine. We know dopamine is involved with the reward center in your brain and that the reward center is involved with addiction. So my favorite theory says that through dopamine, Zyban effects the reward center in your brain and that slowly makes you want to smoke less and less. Under doctor’s supervision, Zyban can be used with nicotine replacement as well. The mostly commonly reported side effects with Zyban are dry mouth and insomnia. There is a rare but serious side effect with Zyban that makes a patient more likely to have a seizure.
The newest product is called varenicline or Champix. Again, Champix should be started one to two weeks before quitting smoking. Champix is interesting because it is what is called a partial nicotine agonist. It attaches to nicotine receptors in the body and stimulates them a little, but not as much as nicotine. So this should take the edge off of nicotine withdrawal. Champix also blocks the nicotine receptors, so patients get fewer pleasurable effects from smoking. It is not a good idea to use champix with nicotine replacement. There is no evidence it works any better and increases the chance of nausea. Speaking of nausea, 30% of the trial patients experienced mild to moderate nausea, compared to only 10% on placebo.
So what is the best product? Whichever one gets you to quit. Champix might be more effective than Zyban. One study found it more effective at 12 weeks, but that advantage seems to have disappeared by 1 year.
Stage 5 – Maintenance – Staying Quit
Okay you have quit. You have battled through the cravings, mood swings and other nastiness of the first 7 to 14 days. Now you have to focus on changing habits. If you used to smoke after supper, now you should schedule a walk. If you used to smoke with a group of ladies over coffee, you should tell them you won’t be seeing them for a while. You will keep running into triggers that will make you want to smoke. You will need to be creative in avoiding them, or doing something else instead of smoking. The reason most smoking cessation products say you should take them for 12 weeks is that we think that is how long it takes to change a habit. The actual withdrawal is probably over in the first week. It takes much longer to change your lifestyle.
Relapse – Oops I smoked again.
Don’t panic, and don’t beat yourself up. Just because you smoked one, two or a pack of cigarettes doesn’t mean you have failed and should start smoking again. Figure out what the trigger was. Figure out what you are going to do differently next time that trigger happens. There will be bumps in the road. But, if you stay smoke free, it will be good for your health.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Friday, February 08, 2008
QUITTING SMOKING –SOMETHING OLD AND SOMETHING NEW Part 1
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at http://www.dcp.ca/
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Have you quit smoking yet?
There has been a Manitoba wide smoking ban since October 1, 2004. It is hard to believe that is now over 3 years ago. Across the pond in the European Union, Ireland was first to institute smoking ban in March 2004. Bans now exist in Italy, Spain, Belgium and Britain. On January 1, 2008, the smoking ban in France was extended to bars, discotheques, restaurants, hotels and cafes. Those romantic images of people in Paris discussing the issues of the day in a Parisian café over a cigarette and café au lait are a thing of the past. Who says the world doesn’t follow Manitoba’s lead?
The big brained people who study how people make decisions say there are 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Let’s look at them in regards to smoking.
Stage 1: Precontemplation – Not thinking seriously about it yet.
So you are not planning on quitting smoking in the next 6 months? That is okay. Here is your home work: Write down three things you like about smoking. Yes I said like. For example, “Smoking relaxes me.” Bring these 3 points with you the next time you see your doctor or pharmacist or health nurse or any other health care professional. Have a quick conversation about your smoking. That isn’t too intimidating/annoying is it?
Stage 2: Contemplation – Starting to think about it.
What if you would like to quit smoking before June 15, 2008? That is good. Write down three things you don’t like about smoking. For example, “I am afraid my smoking hurts my grandchildren.” Bring these 3 points with you the next time you see your doctor or pharmacist or health nurse or any other health care professional. Are you afraid you have smoked too long to make any difference now if you quit? It is never too late. Within 8 hours of quitting your carbon monoxide level drops and your oxygen level returns to normal. After 48 hours your chances of having a heart attack start to go down and your sense of smell and taste start to improve. Let’s go to the other extreme. Let’s say you had an advanced smoking related lung disease called COPD and were on death’s door. If you quit smoking the COPD won’t go away, but it won’t get worse as fast.
Smoking is the number 1 cause of premature death in North America. The Health Canada says smoking causes 47,581 deaths annually. That is more than the total number of deaths from AIDS, car accidents, suicide, murder, fires and accidental poisonings combined. Of those 47,581 deaths, Health Canada estimates that 30,230 of the deaths were men, and 17,351 were women including 55 boys an 41 girls under the age of 1. You women are also working hard to close that gender gap. There were 9224 more smoking related deaths in 1998 than in 1989 with females accounting for more than 6531 of these increased deaths.
Death doesn’t scare, you? We all gotta die of something, you say? Well how about stopping smoking to reduce your chance of a debilitating stroke that leaves you unable to walk, talk or feed yourself. Even before something as drastic as a stroke, smokers start to suffer. Smoking decreases the blood flow to the skin, and this leads to leathery-looking skin and increased wrinkling. The more you smoke, the more likely you are to get cataracts -an eye problem that can lead to blindness. Smoking is the main reason people get cancer in the mouth. Smoking makes it harder for your saliva to remove germs in your mouth. Smokers get stains, bad breath, and a higher chance of gum disease. Smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to develop psoriasis - a disfiguring red and silver rash that can occur anywhere on your body. Smokers are more prone to stomach ulcers. Smoker’s ulcers don't heal as fast as non-smokers, and they're more likely to recur. Finally, guys, smoking causes impotence.
Stage 3:Preparation – I am going to do it, but I need a plan
You have set the goal of quitting by Feb 18, 2008. That is very good. So, you have decided to quit, but you want something to reduce your cravings. Nicotine replacement is now available as a patch, gum, or an inhaler. There is a prescription pill called Zyban, and a new pill called Champix. They don’t have nicotine in them and works on brain chemicals that have to do with addiction. I will compare and contrast them pills next week. Maybe its time to try something different. How about a Nicotine Lollipop? Nicotine Lolli’s are items that we can customize for people under the direction of their doctor.
At the moment we make 2mg and 4mg Nicotine Lollipops in strawberry flavor, but we can customize the flavor or the strength under the direction of your doctor. The idea behind the Nicotine Lollipop is the same as the nicotine gum or nicotine patch, we are putting some of the nicotine back into your system that the cigarette used to provide. This will help reduce (not eliminate) the cravings for cigarettes. The added bonus is psychological. People who have used the Lollipop say they like that they are still putting something in their mouth like they used to do with cigarettes.
How do you use the Nicotine Lollipop and how long does it last? This will vary person to person, but in general one Lollipop will last about 1/2 a pack of cigarettes. During your regular cigarette break you put the Lollipop in your mouth for about 5 minutes or until the craving passes (whichever is less) and then you reseal the Lollipop in our special child proof container and put it away until your next craving. What strength of Lollipop do I need? Your doctor will help you choose when they write the prescription, but usually the 2mg Lollipop is for 1 or less packs a day, and the 4 mg is for people who smoke more than a pack a day.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at http://www.dcp.ca/
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Have you quit smoking yet?
There has been a Manitoba wide smoking ban since October 1, 2004. It is hard to believe that is now over 3 years ago. Across the pond in the European Union, Ireland was first to institute smoking ban in March 2004. Bans now exist in Italy, Spain, Belgium and Britain. On January 1, 2008, the smoking ban in France was extended to bars, discotheques, restaurants, hotels and cafes. Those romantic images of people in Paris discussing the issues of the day in a Parisian café over a cigarette and café au lait are a thing of the past. Who says the world doesn’t follow Manitoba’s lead?
The big brained people who study how people make decisions say there are 5 stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Let’s look at them in regards to smoking.
Stage 1: Precontemplation – Not thinking seriously about it yet.
So you are not planning on quitting smoking in the next 6 months? That is okay. Here is your home work: Write down three things you like about smoking. Yes I said like. For example, “Smoking relaxes me.” Bring these 3 points with you the next time you see your doctor or pharmacist or health nurse or any other health care professional. Have a quick conversation about your smoking. That isn’t too intimidating/annoying is it?
Stage 2: Contemplation – Starting to think about it.
What if you would like to quit smoking before June 15, 2008? That is good. Write down three things you don’t like about smoking. For example, “I am afraid my smoking hurts my grandchildren.” Bring these 3 points with you the next time you see your doctor or pharmacist or health nurse or any other health care professional. Are you afraid you have smoked too long to make any difference now if you quit? It is never too late. Within 8 hours of quitting your carbon monoxide level drops and your oxygen level returns to normal. After 48 hours your chances of having a heart attack start to go down and your sense of smell and taste start to improve. Let’s go to the other extreme. Let’s say you had an advanced smoking related lung disease called COPD and were on death’s door. If you quit smoking the COPD won’t go away, but it won’t get worse as fast.
Smoking is the number 1 cause of premature death in North America. The Health Canada says smoking causes 47,581 deaths annually. That is more than the total number of deaths from AIDS, car accidents, suicide, murder, fires and accidental poisonings combined. Of those 47,581 deaths, Health Canada estimates that 30,230 of the deaths were men, and 17,351 were women including 55 boys an 41 girls under the age of 1. You women are also working hard to close that gender gap. There were 9224 more smoking related deaths in 1998 than in 1989 with females accounting for more than 6531 of these increased deaths.
Death doesn’t scare, you? We all gotta die of something, you say? Well how about stopping smoking to reduce your chance of a debilitating stroke that leaves you unable to walk, talk or feed yourself. Even before something as drastic as a stroke, smokers start to suffer. Smoking decreases the blood flow to the skin, and this leads to leathery-looking skin and increased wrinkling. The more you smoke, the more likely you are to get cataracts -an eye problem that can lead to blindness. Smoking is the main reason people get cancer in the mouth. Smoking makes it harder for your saliva to remove germs in your mouth. Smokers get stains, bad breath, and a higher chance of gum disease. Smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to develop psoriasis - a disfiguring red and silver rash that can occur anywhere on your body. Smokers are more prone to stomach ulcers. Smoker’s ulcers don't heal as fast as non-smokers, and they're more likely to recur. Finally, guys, smoking causes impotence.
Stage 3:Preparation – I am going to do it, but I need a plan
You have set the goal of quitting by Feb 18, 2008. That is very good. So, you have decided to quit, but you want something to reduce your cravings. Nicotine replacement is now available as a patch, gum, or an inhaler. There is a prescription pill called Zyban, and a new pill called Champix. They don’t have nicotine in them and works on brain chemicals that have to do with addiction. I will compare and contrast them pills next week. Maybe its time to try something different. How about a Nicotine Lollipop? Nicotine Lolli’s are items that we can customize for people under the direction of their doctor.
At the moment we make 2mg and 4mg Nicotine Lollipops in strawberry flavor, but we can customize the flavor or the strength under the direction of your doctor. The idea behind the Nicotine Lollipop is the same as the nicotine gum or nicotine patch, we are putting some of the nicotine back into your system that the cigarette used to provide. This will help reduce (not eliminate) the cravings for cigarettes. The added bonus is psychological. People who have used the Lollipop say they like that they are still putting something in their mouth like they used to do with cigarettes.
How do you use the Nicotine Lollipop and how long does it last? This will vary person to person, but in general one Lollipop will last about 1/2 a pack of cigarettes. During your regular cigarette break you put the Lollipop in your mouth for about 5 minutes or until the craving passes (whichever is less) and then you reseal the Lollipop in our special child proof container and put it away until your next craving. What strength of Lollipop do I need? Your doctor will help you choose when they write the prescription, but usually the 2mg Lollipop is for 1 or less packs a day, and the 4 mg is for people who smoke more than a pack a day.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
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