Paul Taylor, 48, a dad-of-two and chemist from Barry, gave up smoking ten weeks ago after attending a smoking cessation course at his local pharmacy.
He first started smoking in his early 20s and decided to quit to mark his and his three-year-old son’s birthday. This is his story:
I first started smoking in my early 20s and I’ve got to say I’ve had a few attempts at quitting over the years. Sometimes I’ve gone a year, sometimes a couple of years. This is my latest attempt and although I haven’t smoked for ten weeks I don’t quite feel I’m out of the woods yet.
The main reason I decided to quit is because I’ve got two young kids now and I want to be around for them as long as possible. There’s also the financial side of it. A packet of fags costs around a tenner now which is a bit daft really. My wife was keen for me to give up too.
I planned this quit attempt to coincide with my birthday which is also a day before my son’s birthday. It’s a good landmark and hopefully a year down the line I can say I smoked my final cigarette on my last birthday. It’s just a nice present to my son really.
In the past I’ve found it difficult to stop smoking because events have come up in my life that have put me under pressure. I’ve then fallen into the trap of having one cigarette and not been able to give myself the message that one leads to another. And then I’m back to where I started.
The last time I stopped was five years ago and I stopped for three years. I used NHS patches and an inhaler. I went to group meetings once a week and did the CO tests. I learnt from that experience that quitting is much easier when you have support both from NRT and from the people around you.
Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon because of stressful events in our lives. Then, seven months down the line, I thought ‘let’s go back and try again’.
We already know High Street Pharmacy because it’s where we collect our prescriptions and they’ve been good to us as a family.
One day when I was collecting my wife’s prescription I saw the poster advertising the 12-week smoking cessation course and I signed myself up.
I’ve tried cold turkey in the past and it’s horrible. The difference between that and using NRT to quit is a quantum leap. This time I’m using nicotine patches and a nicotine inhaler, but mainly the patches. They really take the edge off the cigarette cravings.
The great thing about the pharmacy is that they don’t just give you support to cope with the physical side of withdrawing from nicotine but also to overcome the psychological challenges.
This time has honestly been ok, and I feel fine. I miss cigarettes occasionally, but I don’t think about them that much. I’ve definitely noticed the difference in my pocket, but I won’t lie and say ‘I feel so much better now’. I think the health benefits are incremental and you notice them more over time. You don’t wake up straight away and suddenly feel better.
For now, I’m taking this one week at a time and hoping I can make a success of it this time. I do think you have to be in the right place mentally in order to have the strength to quit. Of course, you need NRT to deal with nicotine cravings, but you also need to have built up resilience within yourself.
My message to other smokers who are thinking of quitting would be, that it doesn’t have to be hell on earth. There is support out there. You just need to be ready to accept it.
If you want to stop smoking Help Me Quit is run by NHS Wales and will help you to find the stop smoking service that best suits you. Contact them on 0800 085 2219 or visit www.helpmequit.wales.
