Nicotine And Women

March 20th, 2010  

Smoking is a habit that does no one good. Even a single cigarette is harmful for the system. Women suffer from all the negative effects of smoking as men do. These include a higher risk of cancer including cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, kidney and bladder. Other smoking risks associated with the habit include all kinds of respiratory diseases. Women smokers are at a 12 times higher risk of dying from lung cancer and 10 times more likely to meet their death from bronchitis and emphysema.

Some of the specific risks that women face when they indulge are discussed below.

Infertility

Women smokers have reduced fertility. A study showed that 38 percent of non smoking women conceived in their first cycle as against only 28 percent of those who did. A woman smoker is more likely (3.4 times more) to take more than a year to conceive.

Menstruation

Secondary amenorrhea (absence of menstruation or irregular menstruation) is a common issue that female smokers face. Vaginal discharge that is not regular and bleeding is also common. The toxic effect also leads to a quicker menopause than what would have been otherwise.

Hormones

Lower levels of estrogen in women who smoke leads to early menopause! While estrogen replacement therapy helps, taking external hormones and smoking at the same time increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Osteoporosis

Smoking reduces the bone density and therefore increases the already high risk of osteoporosis in women. It was seen that women who smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day lower their bone density by 5 to 10 percent. This reduction can lead to significantly higher chances of fractures.

Pregnancy

Women who smoke through their pregnancy have children who are more susceptible to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The habit also leads to preterm delivery that can bring other issues related to it along with. Chances of low birth weight, placenta previa, miscarriage and neonatal death is also common. Smoking can also reduce the flow of blood to the fetus thereby reducing the amount of nutrients that reach it.

Oral contraception

The use of oral contraceptives along with smoking increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in women by ten times. This smoking risk increases with age and is considerably higher in women above the age of 35.

Other smoking risks

Smoking risks include lung cancer to a large extent in women. It is estimated that about 68,000 women in the US die each year from the condition. The risk of cardiovascular diseases is three times higher in middle aged smoking women than in middle aged non smoking women, according to the American Heart Association. Skin related issues such as wrinkles and spotting are also known to appear in women who smoke. It also leads to yellow and stained teeth, bad breath, tartar deposits and tooth loss.

The best way of managing the issue of smoking is to ensure that you never really start. One way in which you can keep your teenager from smoking is to make her aware that you have a nicotine test at home that you can use anytime. Stay vigilant about telltale signs of smoking so as to prevent the habit from forming in the first place.

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Are You Keeping Your Resolution? How to Quit Smoking

January 21st, 2010   1 Comment

Stop smoking hypnosisEveryone knows that smoking is extremely harmful for one’s health and the government has done a lot to create awareness of the various problems that smoking can cause. The issue is not with creating awareness about the negative effects of smoking but actually quitting. The New Year is an excellent time to see how this is true because there are thousands of smokers who resolve to quit smoking only to find that they are itching to hold a cigarette in their hands after a few hours of the resolution. A nicotine test, among other methods, is a great way to give up the habit for good.

If you try and ask advice of smokers who have successfully quit smoking for good, you shall find that there are as many suggestions as smokers. While you can review each one of these methods, you will have to check out the one that works best for you. Make sure that you continuously use tobacco testing at home so that you can be aware of the presence of nicotine in your body. Awareness of the pervasiveness of nicotine in your body with these nicotine tests may actually shake you out of your inertia.

Such testing can be done at home very easily. All that you need is a small sample of urine. The tobacco test checks out the level of cotinine in the urine. This is a by-product of nicotine that is processed in your body and excreted through the urine. This is why the nicotine test is also called the cotinine test at times.

Some of the methods that you can adopt to quit smoking have been listed below. These can be used as standalone options or in combination to ensure that you are able to successfully quit the habit. While you work with these methods, use the tobacco test as well.

– Just quit – Some people believe that a slow reduction in the number of cigarettes is not an option but that a cold turkey method should be adopted.

– Reduction over time – This is a method that can help if you have specific times when you reach out for a cigarette and want to slowly eliminate those rituals as days pass. Use a nicotine test when you finally have not smoked for a few days. This can be a great motivator because you can see how your body is actually getting cleansed – you will see after 2 to 4 days that you actually test negative for nicotine!

– Quit with a friend – This is another method that works because it creates a sense of competition and/or cooperation.

There are other methods like nicotine patches, nicotine chewing gums, nicotine lozenges and nicotine inhalers that you can use. Whichever choice you make, everyone wishes you the best of luck in quitting smoking!  As a company that specializes in the home drug test, we know of a lot of drugs out there, and nicotine certainly is hard to quit!  That’s why we have a test designed along those lines to help you with that legal but addictive substance.

– Anne Hamilton

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Nicotine Test – Top 5 Reasons to Buy

December 3rd, 2009  

Have you ever thought of purchasing a tobacco test? You know, an easy to use urine drug test that allows you to figure out if cotinine is still in your system? Here are the top 5 reasons why this might be a good idea for you:

1. You will learn what cotinine is. Cotinine is a metabolite of nicotine, and when you purchase a nicotine test, that is what you are testing for in urine. Cotinine can still be detected in urine up to 2 to 4 days after the last tobacco use. And indeed, as wikipedia states, it is an anagram of nicotine. So that is one fun fact about the nicotine test already!

2. It is really, really easy to use. Just like any other urine-based home drug test, the nicotine test uses a very simple procedure. Just collect a urine sample and use the included dropper to put a few drops of urine on the cassette (see the full nicotine test instructions for details). You will have your results in all of five minutes!

3. Nicotine tests are an increasingly popular form of screening among insurance companies and employers. The days of 50s chain-smoking live on only in Mad Men. Insurance companies are keen to know who smokes and thus has higher risk factors for a number of conditions, and employers who provide health insurance want to know as well. A recent story about someone who lost their job because of a nicotine test highlights the issue, as does this blog article on smoking.

4. It is extremely accurate. Nicotine tests are very, very good at detecting tobacco use of all kinds – cigar smoke, cigarette smoke, chewing tobacco. They are FDA approved and 99% accurate. They can also detect very very small amounts of cotinine in urine – the tests we sell meet the standard cutoff level of 200 ng/ml.

5. It will help you quit. When you quit a habit like smoking, it is good to set goals and have a plan. You may want someone else to monitor your progress, or you may want to use them to monitor someone else’s progress. Will you be gratified when you take one of these tests and see that your test comes back negative for cotinine – that your body is clean? We think so.

There are many reasons to be interested in this particular home drug test, but these are your top 5 for today!

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Nicotine Test As Part of the Great American Smokeout!

November 18th, 2009  

You may know as a reader of this blog that the Great American Smokeout is tomorrow. It’s an opportunity to give up smoking or plan to do so, and if you’re planning, to figure out how to do it – get rid of ashtrays, attend a class, prevent relapse by keeping a nicotine test or two around.

Some fast facts about from the American Cancer Society about smoking. Did you know…:

    This is the 34th Great American Smokeout?

    That smokers who quit at age 35 gain an average of eight years of life expectancy?

    That smokers who quit at 65 gain three years?

So it is never too late to quit smoking, nor is it an impossible task.

We welcome you to join us on twitter (we are HomeHealthTweet) with any of your comments about the Great American Smokeout, or if you have any questions about our nicotine test. It works like any home drug test we carry (check them out by clicking on the link) that requires a urine sample, and is just as easy to do and accurate. Quitting smoking is, as the American Cancer Society says, about commitment – and it is good to have as many tools by your side to make sure you stay the course once you choose to quit. There may be events going on in your area, or support groups springing up to help you make the choice to quit.

A tobacco test could be your best friend during the Great American Smokeout tomorrow and days hence! We wish everyone luck tomorrow with quitting and look forward to your comments and questions. If you wish to add a home nicotine test to your efforts, just click on the link and checkout as an anonymous guest or register with us. You can change the quantity from 5 to 10 pack, and choose how many of the chosen pack you would like at the shopping cart screen. We hope you find our nicotine test an effective way to keep committed to quitting – for good!

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Nicotine Test – Do You Need One? We Help You Find Out

November 11th, 2009   1 Comment

With the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout coming up on November 19, you may be in a position of wanting to take the opportunity to quit. But how should you quit? There are so many strategies, among them our very own nicotine test. Some use it as a monitoring tool so friends or family can help keep them honest in terms of truly quitting.

But in addition to using a nicotine test to quit, you may also want additional help and resources, one of the reasons why the link above is so great. We also found this easy 6 question test brought to you by the University of Maryland Medical System. It’s a nicotine dependency test. Based on your answers to the questions, the test will tell you how dependent you are and what methods of quitting might best help you – behavior modification, nicotine replacement therapy, etc.

Now of course, you can buy a nicotine test at any time during the year, and you can access great “how to quit smoking” features online all the time too. The US government set up a website entirely dedicated to quitting smoking at Smoke Free. Smoke Free.gov recognizes the difficulty of quitting and the unique journey everyone makes. Controlling a craving for a cigarette can be extremely difficult – that is why some people use a nicotine test as a benchmark to prove they did not smoke, for themselves and for others who may be helping them in their quitting effort. Knowing that a cigarette might be the difference between passing or failing a tobacco test is a strong motivator. You want to both beat the habit and pass the test. Our packaging is ideal for this kind of use, as this home drug test comes bundled in five and ten packs.

Home Health Testing wants you to know that there are plenty of resources out there to help you quit smoking, and you are not alone in doing it! You can make November 19, or any day, the beginning of your effort. Check out the links in our article and/or head to our nicotine test page to purchase a test.

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