NHS Quit Kit

As all the regular readers will know, i am a non smoker, (that still makes me feel good when i say that), a non smoker of only 15 weeks i know, but a non smoker all the same. So why would i, a non smoker, apply for the free NHS Quit Kit that is being advertised nationally (uk) to aid people in giving up smoking?......Why?......because i was curious to see what our NHS and Government were doing to aid those that need help.

For those that aren't aware of this and to any overseas reader that i may have reading this, our National Health Service is on a purge at the moment where smoking is concerned, and they are offering this free "Quit Kit" in order to aid you in quitting the cigarettes. A good thing??.....yes, of course it is, anything that is available to you when you want to give up is a good thing. Will it do what it is intended to do?, IE, help you make that first step and quit cigarettes?......no it wont !! Don't get me wrong, the idea was good, the fact that it is free is good, it is well advertised, national tv and papers, which is good, and the fact that there are people out there trying to help is good, but at the end of the day what you get in this kit is NOT going to help you in any shape or form to stop smoking (in my opinion that is). I smoked my whole adult life, for 26 years in total, i knew for months in advance that i was leading up to giving up. I didn't give up overnight, i did a bit of homework, prepared myself etc, well if i had of gotten this "Quit Kit", whilst in that period of being a smoker but knowing i was about to give up, i know that it would have been totally useless to me.

This are the 6 items that the kit contains:

• A toothbrush
(with "smokefree" written on it)
• A Web Address
where you can download "free stress-busters" for your mp3
• A leaflet
asking you to write down, 1) Your triggers. 2) How you are going to beat them. 3)Set your sights
• A Questionnaire
that will give you an idea how much willpower you have.
• A Booklet with some FAQ's
.........4 FAQ'S to be precise
• A health and wealth wheel
that will tell you how much you will save and how your health will improve over periods of time

The leaflet, questionnaire and booklet are not substantial and probably contain no more that about 200 words on each.....and a toothbrush????? whats that all about??

I would love to be able to get some statistics as to how successful this "Quit Kit" has been, because for me, speaking as a smoker who has just recently given up, its a total waste of time. Its appreciated that the NHS are trying, but i feel their efforts are wasted.

Have you received the NHS Quit Kit???
Has it helped you quit cigarettes?


Would love to hear your views on this. For anyone who wants one they are available by ringing the NHS Smoking Helpline on 0800 0665 826.

Regards

Vattie

Quit Smoking---Gain Weight?? True or false?

Sometimes, somethings that you do that you are expecting to be really hard turn out to be relatively easy, you may have an exam coming up that you are dreading, only to find that it was indeed quite simple, you may be worried about telling someone something, only to be surprised afterwards how understanding they were or you may quit smoking after years of doing it only to find that it wasn't as hard as you expected it to be.
The latter is true for me, having smoked for 26 years,(whole of my teens and through my 20's and 30's),that when i gave up 14 weeks ago i was expecting it to be absolute hell for months and months, but in truth it hasn't been, it hasn't been a bed of roses, don't get me wrong, but it certainly hasn't been the hell that i was expecting.
So why was this so?...why did i find giving up smoking so easy?....Why? its because i ate !!.....and ate !!.....and ate !!

People often opt for NRT (nicotine replacement treatments)when they give up smoking, these come in various shapes and sizes like gum, patches etc, and do exactly as they say, they allow you to stop smoking, but keep your cravings under control at the same time by giving you small doses of nicotine. Now i didn't opt for this system as you will well know, it was something that i had read up on, and decided the best way for me to give up would be to have a clean break.....better known as cold turkey. I am now just over 14 weeks in and have now realised why my cravings haven't been as bad as i was expecting, hence why i have found it easy.....whenever i had a craving i ate food.
I did a little homework before i gave up but no where near enough, i knew that giving up smoking would possibly make me put on weight, but i really wasn't expecting to replace the cigarettes quite so much with food, which in hindsight is what i have been doing, but at the time haven't really been noticing that i have actually been using the food as a replacement treatment just like those who use NRT.

So....to answer the question...Quit Smoking---Gain Weight?? True or false?...the answer is true, but it doesn't have to be for everyone. I have just been down right stupid and naive, i didn't do my homework and i didn't take to much notice of the ever increasing waistline, as i thought it was expected, but now realising my mistake of replacing food for cigarettes, i now have to overcome the weight-gain as well as keep of the smokes.

So the moral of this story is.......stock your cupboards up with lots of fruit the day before you give up smoking, if you need to pick between meals, which you will find you will, then go grab a banana :).....it will save you the hassle of having to lose about 30lb 3 months down the line like i now have too.

Not to worry.....i live and learn

Vattie

My personal Story - 11-13 years (Part Two)

Thought it about time I carried on with the second part of "My Personal Story". This is something I started writing about 6 weeks ago, so if anybody is new here and wants to catch up with reading the first part first you can do so by clicking here.....The start Of My Personal Story (Part One). The first part of my story covered my preteen years, here we will move forward into my teens, and tell how I got hooked at thirteen.

11-13 Years:

Yup.....11 !! That's how old I was when I put that first cigarette into my mouth, 11 !!.I am now 40 years old, and I can still remember that day as if it were yesterday, I could still even go and stand on the very spot that I stood in all those years ago, the memory is that vivid. We were at primary school, and in those days to get out of lessons we used to ask the headmaster if there were any "jobs" that needed doing, very often there were, and these often ranged from getting out/putting away P.e equipment to posting a letter for him at the local postbox........there was nearly always something. I cant actually remember what errand we were running on this particular day, but myself and this other lad (who I shall call TB) were halfway across the playing field, when he suddenly gets out this packet of ten Lambert and Butler, and says here have one of these. TB was a cool kid, and not to look uncool I stupidly took one, trying to look hard and be tough just like him......I didn't look to tough for the next 20 minutes whilst I was coughing my guts up I can tell you!!.....How on earth could anybody enjoy smoking?? it was just so gross it is almost indescribable.......I'll never forget what TB said to me once I stopped coughing, "everyone does that, but don't worry you'll soon get used to it".......and he was right, I, just like millions of others who coughed their stomachs up did get used to it.

From that day on, on and off, I would smoke, but I wasn't a smoker, I wasn't hooked, it would only be the odd one here and there in front of my mates, trying to fit in with the crowd......looking "tough" (stupid). I never bought any, we use to get them off the older kids. This went on for about a year, one every now and then turned into one everyday, which turned into 5 a day, which in turn turned into buying my own (as well as smoking as many of the older kids cigarettes as I could). I was now 13 and hooked on nicotine....sad but true, I was now a fully fledged smoker. The price of cigarettes back then, and we are now talking 1983, was something like .79p for 20 and about .40p for 10, and what are they now? somewhere around the £6.00 mark i think for 20.

Right from the start I was aware of the "smell" and did all sorts of things to try and disguise this when I got home. I didn't want my parents to know I was smoking at that age (oh how little did i know). I used to walk out through my back garden, over the heathland, into the next village where all my mates were. At the top of my garden I had hidden in the bushes, a bottle of vinegar and a can of fragranced aerosol, so when I used to return home from being out and about with my mates, I used to get to the top of the garden where I used to spray myself with this aerosol and "gargle" with the vinegar, before going indoors.
It wasn't until I was about 15 when my parents knew for definite that I smoked, but now being an adult myself, I bet they knew quite sometime before that :)

Will carry on this story over the next few weeks
Regards

Vattie

(now a non smoker for over 3 months)

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