Rachel contacted her local Smoking Cessation Service after
hearing about it through friends. Before contacting the service,
Rachel remembers seeing the Freephone number advertised
"everywhere", before finally taking the plunge and calling!!
After speaking to staff about what support was available to help
her quit smoking, Rachel attended the Smokers Clinic based at the
North Middlesex Hospital and set a quit date with the clinic on the
20th January 2003.
Rachel was really pleased with the support she received from the
Smokers clinic, from both the group and the specialist staff, and
nicotine replacement helped her to deal with the withdrawal
symptoms she experienced. She also particularly enjoyed seeing her
carbon monoxide levels drop from "48" as a smoker to "0" by the end
of the 7-week treatment programme. This gave her a visual idea of
how her health was improving just weeks after stopping smoking. She
felt that making a commitment to the group made the quit attempt
more serious as "nobody wants to be the one that fails", and the
group provided a really positive support system for
her.
Over 18 months down the line, although Rachel occasionally still
thinks about life as a smoker, she says things are getting much
easier. She has experienced many benefits from quitting smoking,
both physically and financially, and has been recommending the
clinic to her friends and family. As a keen exerciser, she has
noticed her fitness levels increase significantly since she quit
smoking and can now do twice as much cardio exercise as when she
was smoking!
Rachel's advice to smokers who want to quit is to contact their
local Quit Smoking Service, make a firm commitment to give up and
stick to it, and most importantly to remember that as a non smoker
you will "feel loads better, there are no two ways about it".
