Health & Beauty..but Smoking is?

Having smoked now for the best part of 17 years, I’ve finally decided to give up properly. This month, I turned 30 and with the forthcoming ban on smoking in enclosed places I felt I was ready to try (again) and kick the habit once and for all.

The main reasons for giving up are financial and health related. I smoke on average, 25 cigarettes a day. At £5.70 a pack of 20, that works out to almost £50 a week, or a whopping £2,500 a year. That’s a bloody good holiday and shopping spree paid for. Right now that money is literally going up in smoke.

The health benefits that I’m hoping for include: not being out of breath when running up a few flights of stairs; getting rid of the annoying cough in the morning and generally improving skin tone and circulation (and, of course, to avoid the dangers of heart disease and lung cancer).

This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to give up smoking. Our house contains almost every single brand product for helping giving up the habit.

In the bathroom there are: patches (itched and the adhesive was almost impossible to remove), some gum (tasted foul); a nicotine nasal spray (which made me sneeze so much I could hardly breathe, never mind smoke); a plastic cigarette with nicotine inhaler vials – which, in a moment of inebriation was lit up and inhaled (thus possibly causing more damage to my lungs than 17 years of smoking).

In the bedroom there are numerous self-help books and handy guides from the NHS stopping smoking service.

All of these approaches have previously failed, mostly I guess because the drive to give up smoking wasn’t really there. I have constantly toyed with giving up, whilst appeasing my long-suffering (and non-smoking) partner that, once again, his nagging had made me do something about my addiction.

However, I did concede (a few years ago), that once I turned 30 I would do something serious about giving up. Almost by coincidence, the government introduced the no-smoking regulations in England and now I feel a lot more confident that any attempt I’m making will succeed. Whilst I try and be a considerate smoker (and go outside to smoke if people around me are eating), smoking in bars is definitely my downfall.

It used to seem so right, cigarette in one hand, drink in another – that is until the next morning when your clothes still stink, your head is pounding and your throat feels raw from all the smoke. Thus, even as a smoker myself, I’m largely in favour of the ban.

The method I’ve chosen this time is the newly licensed drug, varenicline (or Champix). It was almost as a matter of ruling out those methods which I’d previously tried (and therefore might associate with failure), coupled with recent figures suggesting that users of Champix are three times more likely to succeed than willpower alone.

Whilst my NHS providers were unwilling to provide me with Champix (since I’d previously received some reduced-price nicotine patches), it is available via private prescription for a 12 week supply. You need to continue smoking for between 7 and 14 days after starting Champix.

As luck would have it, my quit date (1st July) nicely coincides with this date, which will hopefully mean less temptation around to deal with. Watch this space for updates on how I’m getting along and how I feel whilst taking Champix.

Dr Martin Broadstock

source:uk.gay.com