BOSTON -- If you're a smoker looking to quit, you may want to put out your cigarette and prick up your ears.
Researchers are testing a new patch that may help nicotine addicts kick the habit once and for all.
Rex Woodleigh has smoked on and off for 30 years. He thinks he may have finally kicked the habit, but the urge to light up is always there.
"Oh, the cravings always resurface -- always. Now they resurface -- it's just a question of whether you have the tools to get through the craving," Woodleigh said.
Nicotine is so addictive that more than 50 percent of smokers who try to quit fail. But a clinical trial is testing a new patch that may help smokers put their cigarettes out for good.
"What this patch does is it combines nicotine, which the traditional patch has, with mecamylamine, which is another drug, which we think will probably help to block the cravings," Dr. Nancy Rigotti said.
Mecamylamine, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administartion to treat high blood pressure, may not only block cravings, but it may also diminish the satisfaction smokers get from lighting up.
"Mecamylamine, which is the new part of this patch, blocks nicotine receptors in the brain so that when nicotine gets to the brain from, say, a cigarette, it doesn't have anything to hook onto, and so it doesn't have its effect," Rigotti said.
Rigotti said that the most effective way to quit smoking is through a combination of medication and counseling.
After six smoking cessation programs and using the standard patch, Woodleigh said that smoking is finally a thing of the past. The benefits are obvious.
"I joined a health club and can do exercises now that totally winded me before. I can use the treadmill," Woodleigh said.
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Immediate Benefits Of Quitting
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