Justine Speller, a gardener from London, quit cigarettes with the help of an NHS Stop Smoking group. She kept a week-by-week record of how she achieved it.
My smoking diary: week one
"I didn’t smoke during the day or at home, but after a glass of wine I could get through a whole pack. As I drink every other night, I sometimes smoked 60 cigarettes a week. My skin looked dull and I was starting to get tiny wrinkles round my mouth. I knew it was seriously damaging my health.
"I’d decided to join an NHS Stop Smoking group. My first session lasted for 90 minutes. The other six were an hour each.
"Angela, our co-ordinator, was very friendly. She told us how the programme works, the aids available, such as patches and gum, and the 'quit date', which would be on the third session. We were encouraged not to change our smoking habits before then. The idea was that we would all give up together, so that we could support and encourage each other."
Angela, the group's Stop Smoking co-ordinator, says: "Groups are great for people who don’t want to give up alone. If one person is having a withdrawal side effect, someone else will be going through the same thing. Sometimes some healthy competition goes on, which makes people think twice about letting themselves and others in the group down by having a smoke after the quit date."
No comments:
Post a Comment