"I decided to quit smoking after I attended Leeds General Infirmary to have stents fitted in my arteries. I was informed this was caused by 40 years of smoking.
The vascular nurse had told me about the stop smoking service so I made an appointment as soon as I could and have been attending the Sunbeams Family Hub in Lupset to have my weekly appointments with Julia, the Stop Smoking Advisor there.
This time I knew I needed a bit of assistance and support from Yorkshire Smokefree, and I had it in my mind that I would quit smoking for good.
I expected the nicotine patches and the inhalator to be good, but coming to clinic and seeing Julia each week kept me accountable, and I don’t like letting people down, although there was no pressure to quit and no judgment.
The encouragement from the service has been great and it has been an education – learning about how quickly carbon monoxide leaves the body once you have quit – I found this insightful.
I had tried to stop smoking lots of times before by going cold turkey which would result in me quitting for six months, then buying a packet of cigarettes and continuing the cycle for another two years and then stopping again.
I travel a lot with my job, and I think the shear boredom has been the trigger for me to smoke – but now I have my inhalator in the van and use that when I am driving between jobs.
The combination of quitting smoking and my recent operation have motivated me to get out and exercise a bit more. I am currently up to 4000 steps a day and can see by the health app on my phone how much my fitness has improved".
Nigel - Wakefield.
Congratulations on your quit, Nigel. Julia says you've worked incredibly hard for this and we couldn't be happier for you!
