Tnc vol7#2fall99.qxd

project has an opening for afull-time program staff mem-ber. Responsibilities include A different subject is featured in this column in each issue of The Nicotine Challenger.
Please send questions or suggestions for topics to Dr. Slade at Addressing Tobacco…
training state-wide on tobaccoissues and nicotine dependencetreatment. Bachelor's degree Bupropion as an Adjunct in Treating
Instructions for patients using Zyban are Tobacco Dependence
knowledge that antidepressants don't relieve In the early 1990s, Linda Ferry, a physi- depression immediately after the medicine is cian at the Loma Linda VA Medical Center, begun, patients are advised against trying to Zyban for a week. Initially, one dose is taken ducted a small clinical experiment to see if it each day and this is increased after a few worked. It did. Taking it further, Dr. Ferry days to one twice daily. (If the second dose is not tolerated, then the person can continue studies. Those studies showed that bupropi- on, indeed, makes it easier for many people marked reduction in urges and pressure to smoke right from the first dose. Without try- ing, the amount smoked will fall markedly.
Administration and received permission to falloff. The medicine is helpful for some people and not for others. It is not clear how Zyban for managing tobacco dependence. (It to tell these two groups apart other than by is still available as Wellbutrin for the treat- taken for between seven and twelve weeks.
This time limit is arbitrary, dictated by the the management of tobacco dependence. It is conditions of the clinical experiments that the first (and so far only) non-nicotine med- icine approved for this indication. Like the In practice, the actual length of treatment may vary considerably. Occasionally, a per- (NRT), bupropion enhances the success rate son will find that Zyban has actually helped of effective tobacco addiction treatment.
lift an unrecognized depression. In such a That is, the use of bupropion about doubles case, it may be appropriate to continue the the rate of abstinence achieved from coun- medicine indefinitely, pausing occasionally seling or other behavioral treatment alone, (with a medicine "holiday") to learn if it is and its usefulness is closely tied to how good still helping keep the depression at bay.
There are suggestions in the literature and in clinical practice that combining bupropion Wellbutrin but not Zyban. Fortunately for with NRT provides even better results than them, there is a formulation of Wellbutrin that is exactly the same as Zyban, namely It is advised that people who have a his- tory of having had a seizure or who have had a history of an eating disorder not use Zyban.
with NRT, it is important to keep in mind This is because bupropion is known to lower that Zyban is not a magic bullet. It is good the threshold for seizures and it is associated medicine, but the benefit people get from it with an exacerbation of eating disorders. A is only as good as the counseling and support person who is already taking another antide- that they get for the addiction. The medicine pressant should consult the physician who is an adjunct; it rarely can do a good job just

Source: http://www.tobaccoprogram.org/pdf/tnc/fall99/page6.pdf