A Guide to Stopping Smoking

USEFUL NUMBERS:

SCOTLAND NATIONAL SMOKING HELPLINE:

0800 84 84 84

QUIT LINE:

0800 00 22 00

PREGNANCY HELPLINE:

0800 169 9 169

SMOKING SUPPORT GROUP:

0141 531 6120

STARTING AFRESH:

Pharmacy Nicotine Replacement Programme –

Offers free treatment for up to 12 weeks

0800 389 3210

A GUIDE TO STOPPING SMOKING

Drs Pettigrew, Polding & Henderson

Springburn Health Centre

200 Springburn Way

Glasgow

G21 1TR

Tel: 0141 531 9610

YOU CAN DO IT

WE CAN HELP

You’ve made the difficult decision to stop smoking and, here at the Practice, we know how hard quitting can be, so this guide is to let you know how we can help and support you at this time.

You should make an appointment with one of the Practice Nurses, either Anne Zuk or Carole Tong. They will help you to make a plan to stop smoking and be able to help you with both aspects of smoking addiction: physical addiction and psychological addiction.

Tackling Physical Addiction

Nicotine addiction can cause real withdrawal symptoms when you try to quit. Research has shown that using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) can, along with your own determination and willpower, increase your chances of quitting for good.

NRT is now available on NHS prescription from the Practice Nurses who will be able to guide you to the treatment that will suit you best. This may be:

Chewing gum, Patches, Inhalator, Nasal Spray or Tablets.

As there is a slight risk of becoming addicted to this new form of nicotine, it is imperative that we review you

regularly, so the nurse will arrange to see you every 2 weeks to monitor your progress and support you. Unfortunately we would not be able to prescribe NRT for you unless we can carry out this review.

Tackling Psychological Addiction

There are several ways smokers can help break a psychological addiction:

Choose a date when you want to quit and stick to it

Tell family and friends so they can support you

Find something else to do for the times when you usually smoke ( go for a walk, a swim, to the cinema or shopping – anything that you really enjoy )

Save the money that you would normally spend on cigarettes – watch it mount up ! Have a holiday !

Make a list of all the reasons why you want to quit. Carry this with you and when you have the urge to smoke, look at your list and this will strengthen your resolve.

Join a Support Group – the Practice Nurse can refer you or you are free to contact them yourself. Some useful numbers are given at the back of this guide.

By quitting your habit, you will be reducing your chances of lung & heart diseases, strokes, cancer

of the lung/lip/tongue/gullet/bladder/pancreas & voice box, impotence, infertility, premature wrinkling and poor circulation. What have you got to lose?