How many of you smokers have said that you’re going to try to quit smoking, but failed after a few days because it’s just too damn difficult?
I’m not a smoker myself, but I do know quite a number of people who are. While I know a few success stories, there are also those who have struggled with quitting for years.
One hardcore smoker has decided to reveal his experience of trying to quit smoking with Changi General Hospital (CGH).
A Hardcore Smoker
When he was just 21 years old, Dexter Ng was a hardcore smoker who smoked 30 sticks in a day. That’s about one-and-a-half packets of cigarettes in a day.
He picked up smoking after his cousin offered him a stick when he was still a teenager, and he tried a puff of shisha when he was 15 after his friend introduced it to him.
He shared that inhaling the sweetened tobacco bubbled through water pipes gave him a “huge kick”.
As he grew to become a heavier smoker, he started noticing that his voice became huskier, and he started losing his voice more often. He also recalled tasting blood in his throat.
Previously, his friends would often show him videos of heavy smokers losing their voices because of how much they smoke, but he never believed them because how could it be real? And only when he experienced it himself did he realise that he needed to do something about his smoking habits.
He tried to completely stop smoking, used nicotine patches and chewed gum, but they simply didn’t work for him.
Smoking was his escape from stress. Whenever he experienced anxiety or was unable to sleep, cigarettes were there for him. While one may not think much of this, this actually shows a type of psychological dependence on cigarettes.
The Change
When he had to undergo a surgical procedure at CGH for an unrelated medical condition, he was referred to the hospital’s smoking cessation programme by his doctor.
After being enrolled in the programme, he has not smoked for more than six months, and the main reason he hasn’t smoked is that he’s afraid of letting down the “very nice” people who are helping him to quit.
The programme’s “certified quit smoking consultants” have also assisted in his quitting by regularly following up with him through phone calls, which is something that Mr Ng deems as supportive.
He revealed, “For example, they would remind me not to fall for the ‘one-stick’ trick of rewarding myself with one smoke after a period of abstinence, which was one of my struggles. Every time I was tempted to light up again, I would think about how paiseh (embarrassing) it would be at my next appointment to disappoint the people trying to help me quit. But of course, you must want to quit for it to work.”
Why Is It So Hard To Quit Smoking?
There are a few reasons why it is so difficult for one to quit smoking.
- Addiction to nicotine
- Many smokers are addicted to the nicotine present in cigarettes because it works like a drug, and without it, many smokers experience withdrawal symptoms like irritability, nervousness, headaches, and trouble sleeping.
- Lack of support
- Working environment/social activities
- View smoking as a form of escape
- These smokers smoke every time they feel emotions like anger, anxiety, stress, fatigue and sadness
- No point in quitting
- Smokers who have smoked for more than 30 years believe they cannot quit.
- Misconceptions about quitting smoking
Targetting The Lack Of Support
Mr Amrin Amin, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health announced in early March that there will be more smoking cessation pilot programmes that will be introduced, along with full subsidies for nicotine replacement therapy for those who are eligible, so that smokers can get the support they need to quit.
These programmes will be launched in public healthcare institutions like hospitals, polyclinics and national speciality centres after normal operations resume.
The programmes will allow Singaporeans to benefit from the intensive behavioural support, follow-up for up to a year, as well as a three-month nicotine replacement therapy.
There will also be standardised packaging for tobacco products from July 2020 onwards, and the minimum legal age to smoke will be 21 next year.
Who Will Be Able To Benefit From The Programmes?
Smokers, duh.
But who, specifically?
These programmes will help patients as young as 13 years old to quit smoking. As of now, there are 600 inpatients and 300 outpatients, and their ages vary from 15 to 93.
About half of them are heavy smokers, which means that they smoke at least one pack or 20 sticks a day.
How Does Quitting Smoking Help?
The CGH’s inpatient smoking cessation programme found that many of the patients enrolled in their programme actually have smoking-related medical conditions.
These include:
- Heart disease
- Respiratory conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder
- Strokes
So how does quitting smoking actually help? Will my health conditions really just disappear like that?
Well, according to Dr Jason See, who is the smoking cessation lead and consultant at CGH’s cardiology department, the risk of heart attack drops by half after one year of you quitting, and the risk of stroke becomes that of a non-smoker after five years.
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The risk of dying from lung cancer is also half that of a smoker after you quit smoking for 10 years.
How Do I Quit?
If you’re interested to quit, Mr Mah Choon Siong, senior pharmacist at National Healthcare Group Pharmacy and Certified Quit Smoking Consultant, shares that these tips could help:
- Choosing to quit is the first step: quitting is possible, even if you’re a heavy smoker
- Get professional help: you can always speak to a pharmacist first to find out your options
- Tell your friends and family: support from your loved ones is more powerful than you think
- Know your reasons for quitting: noting these reasons down can help motivate you especially when you feel like giving up
- Be realistic: quitting takes time, so you should be open to different methods to quit smoking and to cope with withdrawal symptoms
- Don’t stop trying: don’t give up after failing once. Many smokers take a few tries to be successful, so learn from your previous failure and try again.
