Preventive care & physicals
Help quitting smoking
We help people stop smoking using the methods that actually work — prescription medication, nicotine replacement used properly, and scheduled follow-up. That combination is several times more effective than willpower alone, and most people who quit needed more than one attempt to get there.
Come in if you have
- You want to stop and have not managed it alone
- You have tried before and it did not stick
- You want to know what medication options exist
- You vape and want to stop that too
- You are not ready yet but want to know what is available
What happens at your visit
- We ask what you smoke, when, and what happened on previous attempts. Past attempts are information, not failure.
- We go through the options honestly, including how well each works and what the side effects are.
- We set a quit date and put a plan behind it, including what to do about the difficult moments.
- We follow up. Scheduled check-ins substantially improve the odds, and that is most of the value.
No lecture
You already know smoking is bad for you. Being told again is not treatment, and it is the main reason people avoid this conversation with their doctor.
What we can offer is the practical version: medication that genuinely reduces cravings, nicotine replacement used at a dose that works, and someone checking in on the specific days it gets hard.
Why medication matters
Willpower alone succeeds a small percentage of the time. Medication plus structured support multiplies that severalfold. This is one of the best-studied areas in medicine and the answer is not ambiguous.
There are prescription options that reduce cravings and make smoking less rewarding, and nicotine replacement in patches, gum, lozenges and sprays — often best combined, a patch for the baseline plus something faster for the spikes.
Most people underdose nicotine replacement
A very common reason it “does not work”. People use one weak patch, still get strong cravings, and conclude it is useless.
Getting the dose right for what you actually smoke, and combining a long-acting form with a short-acting one, changes the experience substantially. We will work that out with you rather than leaving it to the packet instructions.
Previous attempts are useful
If you have tried before, that is genuinely valuable information — what worked for a while, what triggered the relapse, which situations were impossible.
Most successful quitters made several attempts. The pattern is normal. We use the previous ones to build a better plan rather than repeating the same approach.
The benefits start quickly
Blood pressure and heart rate improve within a day. Circulation and lung function improve over weeks to months. In COPD, stopping is the only thing that slows the underlying decline — at any stage, at any age.
Not ready yet?
Come anyway. Knowing what is available makes the decision easier when you are ready, and there is no requirement to commit to a date at that appointment.
Common questions
- I have tried before and failed. Is it worth trying again?
- Yes. Most people who successfully quit made several attempts first — that is the normal pattern, not a sign it will not work. Each attempt teaches you something about what trips you up, and the plan gets better for it.
- What medications are available?
- There are prescription tablets that reduce cravings and blunt the reward from smoking, and nicotine replacement in several forms. They can often be combined. Which suits you depends on your health history and what you have tried — that is the conversation.
- Is nicotine replacement just swapping one addiction for another?
- No. The harm from smoking comes overwhelmingly from combustion — tar and the other products of burning — not the nicotine. Nicotine replacement at a correct dose is far safer, and most people underdose it, which is why it often seems not to work.
- Is vaping a safe alternative?
- Less harmful than smoking, but not harmless, and not something to take up if you do not already. If you are using it to get off cigarettes, that is a reasonable step — but come and talk about a plan for stopping that too.
This page explains how we care for this condition at our office. It is general information, not medical advice for your specific situation — please talk to us about your own care.
Ready to get this looked at?
Call us or send a request and we will get you in — often the same or next day.