Why Is It So Hard to Quit Smoking?
While many people have successfully quit smoking, they will tell you it wasn’t easy. Many other people – perhaps you – have tried to quit more than once but have not yet been successful. But don’t give up. There are reasons why it’s so hard, and when you address those reasons, you can quit. BCHIP has a free online Quit Smoking Program for residents of Bucks County that will help you address the issues and succeed the next time you try.
Biological reasons why quitting is hard
Most people know that smoking is addictive and that nicotine is the main culprit. Nicotine stimulates the parts of the brain that release chemicals that make you feel good. When you feed your brain nicotine frequently, the nicotine changes the way your brain works, and eventually your brain will need nicotine in order to release these feel-good chemicals. We call this requirement an addiction.
If you don’t have the nicotine when your brain thinks it needs it, you will feel irritable or jittery, anxious or low. You may have trouble concentrating or sleeping. These feelings are what we call withdrawal, which is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to quit. Naturally, in order to feel well again, you will be tempted to reach for a cigarette (or whatever nicotine product you use).
The good news is that, once your brain is starved of nicotine for a few weeks, it goes back to being able to operate just fine without it, and you won’t need a cigarette to feel well or to concentrate anymore.
Social and lifestyle reasons why quitting is hard
The other reason why it’s so hard to quit smoking is because, if you’ve been smoking for a while, you will associate many of your activities with smoking. This includes routine activities such as eating or drinking, work activities such as concentrating on a difficult project or staying late at the office, and relaxation activities, such as hanging out with friends or relaxing with a drink and a cigarette.
An even bigger challenge than saying “no” to your brain is saying “not anymore” to your lifestyle. You’ll have to start doing things differently, and you’ll want to enlist friends and family to help you. You’ll need to change your routines at least a little, so you can send a signal to your brain that “this is new; we’re doing things differently now” and you won’t automatically associate the activity with smoking anymore.
One of the things we teach you in the smoking cessation program is to brainstorm simple changes to your daily rituals. For instance, if you usually sit at the kitchen table in the morning and have a cigarette with your morning coffee, instead try tea or an energy smoothie that wouldn’t taste good with a cigarette. Still want your coffee in the morning? Then change your setting. Instead of the kitchen, sit on the patio. Eat pretzel sticks or baby carrots instead of smoking a cigarette.
The other benefit of our Quit Smoking Program is that we show you how to build support among your friends and family. If your friends are smokers, you’ll need to tell them you’re trying to quit and that you’ll need to back off for a while until you succeed, so you’re not around the smell of smoke. That will be hard, but good friends will support you in this. Your family will also want to help you improve your health by quitting smoking.
Motivation to quit
Another important part of quitting smoking is having a really good reason to do so. Is it because you’re tired of smelling like smoke and having discolored teeth? Is it because you feel like you’re always coughing or catching every illness going around, or because you get winded going up the steps? Or is it so you can be there for your children in 20 years? Pick your motivation and put reminders where you’ll see them.
In the BCHIP Quit Smoking Program, we’ll help you get on track to success, providing education, tools, and the support you need from others who are undertaking the same challenge.
Start today. Register here, or call 267-291-7882.
College Kids and Health Care Directives – What Parents Need to Know
When your child turns 18, he or she is considered a legal adult. If you do not put the right legal documents in place, you lose all rights to know about or get involved in his or her medical care. Even if your child uses your health insurance and even if you pay the bills, according to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) a parent must have an 18-year-old child’s permission to be informed about the child’s health or to make medical decisions if the child is unable to do so.
For residents in Bucks County, PA, we can help ensure that the right legal documents are in place in case you need to get involved in medical care decisions.
Imagine your child is a few states away, miles from home, and is lying unconscious in the hospital. The hospital has no authority or responsibility to contact you, and your child’s roommate, RA, or other school official calls. Unfortunately, it’s too late for your child to sign forms to put you in charge of his or her care.
This is a nightmare situation, which unfortunately happens frequently, even when a child is still in high school and living at home at age 18. But it can be very easily avoided by having your child complete an advanced medical care directive (also called a living will). BCHIP has sample forms to make it easy for you. For a young person, it does not have to be very elaborate.
Your child should complete a medical directive and medical power of attorney and include more than one person, for instance, Mom, Dad, maybe grandmother or grandfather in the event that the parents cannot be reached. The documents should also include HIPAA authorization. The documents need to be signed by your child and the other parties named and signed by witnesses who are not the parties named.
Make copies and supply them to your child’s doctors and school, and keep a copy for yourself. Your child should also have a copy if living away from home. You may wish to have scanned copies or photos on an online document source for easy access in case of emergency.
Hopefully, you will never need this document, but if you don’t have it and your child is incapacitated, you may have to go to court to receive authority over your child’s healthcare. Prevent that nightmare by signing a simple healthcare directive with your child.
How to Talk to Your Children about Your Estate Planning
If you have adult children, the time is now to talk to them about your estate plan, including your Advance Healthcare Directive. While you may expect it to be an awkward conversation, the awkwardness often dissipates once you begin talking things out.
An advance healthcare directive is much like a will, and thus, healthcare planning is much like estate planning. Just as you don’t want to leave the distribution of your remaining assets to chance or leave the kids fighting over who gets what, you don’t want to leave your kids arguing over what medical care you should receive when you are unable to speak for yourself. Therefore, if you are creating an estate plan for your worldly goods, create an Advance Healthcare Directive for your health.
Talking about your plans and wishes before you are unable to do so – such as due to serious illness or mental decline – will take away much of the stress and the guesswork to try to figure out “what Mom or Dad would want.”
Having the conversation
Try not to go into the conversation feeling awkward. Rather, point out at the start that the discussion should, in fact, settle fears, avoid future conflict, and limit strain on the family.
Based on your own particular family dynamics, you may choose to talk to the kids separately or together. However, speaking to them all together at least once – perhaps at the onset – will allow you to give them the big overall picture of your plans.
At this group meeting, discuss whom you have chosen to take on various responsibilities and why. You will need, at the very least, an executor of your will and someone who will hold medical power of attorney to make medical decisions based upon your wishes, as defined in your Advance Healthcare Directive, also known as a “living will.”
While you will want to discuss the division of your assets during this meeting, your healthcare directive will probably need a good deal more explaining. In your directive, you will have defined what life-sustaining care you want, what procedures you want and don’t want, and your moral, religious, and ethical considerations to guide your medical power of attorney on any specific matters that are not clearly defined in your advance directive.
This discussion will undoubtedly generate a lot of emotion. Answer questions honestly. Explain your reasoning and the research you have done. Be willing to hear their ideas and suggestions, and be willing to make minor adjustments, if you think they have good points. However, if you have taken the time to research and consider your healthcare directives, you probably should not change them too extensively. These are your express wishes, after all.
Finally, offer to talk to each person individually. They may feel more comfortable speaking to you one-on-one about these serious and emotional decisions. Just keep in mind that planning ahead will benefit your loved ones in the long run.
If you have not yet completed your Advance Directive, BCHIP provides an Advance Healthcare Directive form to help you think ahead about what care you would like to receive and what decisions you would like made on your behalf.
What Should Be Included in Your Advance Care Planning?
What is advance care planning and how can you complete it? Our team here in Bucks County is here to help you, your friends, and your loved ones put together these important documents so your wishes are clearly understood and legally stated should something happen to you.
Medical science has improved dramatically in recent years, to the point that we are able to save the lives of people who would surely have died only a few short decades ago. This has been a great blessing for many, but it has also led to situations in which unresponsive individuals who have no reasonable hope of recovery are kept alive for extended periods of time.
Often, at the end of our lives, we are unable to speak for ourselves to define what level of care we would like to receive. For this reason, BCHIP provides an Advance Healthcare Directive form to help people think ahead about what care they would like to receive and what decisions they would like made on their behalf, should they become incapacitated and unable to make these decisions for themselves.
The sections of the Advance Healthcare Directive that you will have to consider include:
- Whether or not you will want life-sustaining medical care, what kind, and under what situations
- Whether or not you want to donate your organs or tissues, if you are a candidate
- What you consider your acceptable quality of life
- What comfort care you would like provided
- Any other instructions you would like followed, regarding moral, religious, or ethical considerations
These issues are not easily or quickly answered. They require some thorough research on your part to understand the terms and what procedures are covered under each. You should then take time to deeply reflect on what would be the best decision for you and your family based on your ethics and beliefs. No one should push you to decide in any particular way, but make sure you are fully informed.
What does “life-sustaining” mean?
Life-sustaining treatment refers to treatment that sustains life and that without which, based on reasonable medical judgment, the patient would die. Since this definition is very broad, it can span many treatments that are considered standard care, such as insulin or dialysis. So you may want to make sure that such a broad definition is not used in your case. Many people live very full lives with life-sustaining procedures or treatments.
However, there are some treatments or interventions for a patient for whom death is fairly imminent—for instance, using mechanical means to sustain the heartbeat or breathing of a patient who no longer shows brainwaves. If this is your definition of life-sustaining and you do not want this type of intervention, you should clearly define this in your Advance Healthcare Directive.
Who will administer your wishes?
Once you have thought through these issues and have made some choices about your future healthcare, you will need to decide who will speak for you when you cannot speak for yourself and ensure that your wishes are followed.
Choose someone who shares your values about matters of life and death. You will want to choose more than one person since you will need an alternate agent in case your primary agent is unavailable. In fact, BCHIP recommends two alternate persons, if possible.
Many patients choose a spouse as the primary person and children or other close relatives as alternates. However, a close friend is also an excellent choice if you have shared values. Have a sincere conversation with these people, and explain your decisions and the research you did in order to inform yourself. Be open to their suggestions, as they may have additional information to help you in your decision process, but maintain your moral and ethical position, even if you see benefits in adjusting some of your original thoughts based on their input. These people love you and want the best for you.
Once you have completed your Advance Directive, make copies for each of your health care agents, keep a copy in your own home in a place that is easy to find (and tell your family where it is), provide one to your lawyer if you have one, and request that your primary physician make your Advance Directive a part of your permanent medical record.
You can update or adjust your Advance Directive at any time. Just make sure you provide updated copies to these individuals. It is wise to keep the older version with the newer one in your home, with the older version clearly marked VOID and the date of the newer version written on it
By taking these steps, you will be able to ensure that your healthcare preferences will be followed, should you be unable to speak for yourself.
National Influenza Vaccination Week Is December 5-9, 2022
Should I get a flu shot? Cold and flu season has just begun, so it’s not too late to get your flu shot to avoid a serious illness this year. Many people do not think ahead about getting the flu shot until they hear of people who come down with the flu.
If you get your shot early, you’ll have a high degree of confidence that you won’t be one of them.
What is the flu?
The flu is not just a “bad cold.” There are many forms of the influenza virus, but all produce more serious symptoms than those of the common cold.
A cold usually starts with a sore throat, followed by upper respiratory symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose. It comes on gradually and you may feel like you’re “coming down with something.” Cold symptoms make you feel under the weather, but rarely include aches and pains (besides a headache) and usually, there is no fever at all. Mild symptoms tend to be mostly gone within a week.
Influenza (flu), however, comes on suddenly, usually with little or no warning. You ache all over, have a splitting headache, high fever, upper respiratory symptoms, and exhaustion. You may also experience GI issues, such as diarrhea or vomiting. The flu is nasty.
Complications
What makes the flu particularly dangerous is the possibility of complications and secondary infections. In the 2018-2019 flu season, there were an estimated 29,000,000 symptomatic cases of flu, with 380,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths due to influenza (per CDC).
The most common complications include bacterial pneumonia, dehydration, ear infections, and sinusitis. Other complications may include muscle inflammation, central nervous system issues, inflammation of the heart or the sac around the heart, and exacerbation of existing health conditions.
Who is most at risk of complications?
Those who are most at risk of complications from the flu are people 65 years or older, those in nursing homes, and both adults and children with chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease or lung disease, and those with compromised immune systems. In past flu seasons, 9 out of 10 adults hospitalized for flu had at least one underlying medical condition.
It’s never too late to get your flu vaccine, but the earlier you get it, the more confident you will be that you’ll make it through this season without catching the flu. Celebrate 2022’s National Influenza Vaccination Week by getting your flu shot and stay healthy this winter!
National Influenza Vaccination Week Is December 5-9, 2022
Should I get a flu shot? Cold and flu season has just begun, so it’s not too late to get your flu shot to avoid a serious illness this year. Many people do not think ahead about getting the flu shot until they hear of people who come down with the flu.
If you get your shot early, you’ll have a high degree of confidence that you won’t be one of them.
What is the flu?
The flu is not just a “bad cold.” There are many forms of the influenza virus, but all produce more serious symptoms than those of the common cold.
A cold usually starts with a sore throat, followed by upper respiratory symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, and a runny nose. It comes on gradually and you may feel like you’re “coming down with something.” Cold symptoms make you feel under the weather, but rarely include aches and pains (besides a headache) and usually, there is no fever at all. Mild symptoms tend to be mostly gone within a week.
Influenza (flu), however, comes on suddenly, usually with little or no warning. You ache all over, have a splitting headache, high fever, upper respiratory symptoms, and exhaustion. You may also experience GI issues, such as diarrhea or vomiting. The flu is nasty.
Complications
What makes the flu particularly dangerous is the possibility of complications and secondary infections. In the 2018-2019 flu season, there were an estimated 29,000,000 symptomatic cases of flu, with 380,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths due to influenza (per CDC).
The most common complications include bacterial pneumonia, dehydration, ear infections, and sinusitis. Other complications may include muscle inflammation, central nervous system issues, inflammation of the heart or the sac around the heart, and exacerbation of existing health conditions.
Who is most at risk of complications?
Those who are most at risk of complications from the flu are people 65 years or older, those in nursing homes, and both adults and children with chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease or lung disease, and those with compromised immune systems. In past flu seasons, 9 out of 10 adults hospitalized for flu had at least one underlying medical condition.
It’s never too late to get your flu vaccine, but the earlier you get it, the more confident you will be that you’ll make it through this season without catching the flu. Celebrate 2022’s National Influenza Vaccination Week by getting your flu shot and stay healthy this winter!
How to Talk to Your Children about Your Estate Planning
If you have adult children, the time is now to talk to them about your Estate Plan, including your Advance Healthcare Directive. While you may expect it to be an awkward conversation, the awkwardness often dissipates once you begin talking things out.
An advance healthcare directive is much like a will, and thus, healthcare planning is much like estate planning. Just as you don’t want to leave the distribution of your remaining assets to chance or leave the kids fighting over who gets what, you don’t want to leave your kids arguing over what medical care you should receive when you are unable to speak for yourself. Therefore, if you are creating an Estate Plan for your worldly goods, create an Advance Healthcare Directive for your health.
Talking about your plans and wishes before you are unable to do so – such as due to serious illness or mental decline – will take away much of the stress and the guesswork to try to figure out “what Mom or Dad would want.”
Having the conversation
Try not to go into the conversation feeling awkward. Rather, point out at the start that the discussion should in fact settle fears, avoid future conflict, and limit strain on the family.
Based on your own particular family dynamics, you may choose to talk to the kids separately or together, however, speaking to them all together at least once – perhaps at the onset – will allow you to give them the big overall picture of your plans.
At this group meeting, discuss whom you have chosen to take on various responsibilities and why. You will need, at the very least, an executor of your will and someone who will hold medical power of attorney to make medical decisions based upon your wishes, as defined in your Advance Healthcare Directive, also known as a “living will.”
While you will want to discuss the division of your assets during this meeting, your healthcare directive will probably need a good deal more explaining. In your directive, you will have defined what life-sustaining care you want, what procedures you want and don’t want, and your moral, religious, and ethical considerations to guide your medical power of attorney on any specific matters that are not clearly defined in your advance directive.
This discussion will undoubtedly generate a lot of emotion. Answer questions honestly. Explain your reasoning and the research you have done. Be willing to hear their ideas and suggestions, and be willing to make minor adjustments, if you think they have good points. However, if you have taken the time to research and consider your healthcare directives, you probably should not change them too extensively. These are your express wishes, after all.
Finally, offer to talk to each person individually. They may feel more comfortable speaking to you one-on-one about these serious and emotional decisions. Just keep in mind that planning ahead will benefit your loved ones in the long run.
If you have not yet completed your Advance Directive, BCHIP provides an Advance Healthcare Directive form to help you think ahead about what care you would like to receive and what decisions you would like made on your behalf.
What to Expect When Your Child Is Vaccinated
Vaccines are an important part of fighting childhood diseases. Since the beginning of widespread vaccinations, many childhood diseases have become extremely rare, saving many children’s lives. But the germs are still out there. It’s important for children to continue to be vaccinated so that they do not contract these serious illnesses, such as measles, polio, and diphtheria.
Vaccines work by stimulating the body to create antibodies to a virus (or bacterium), thus giving the body a weapon to prevent infection with the disease. These antibodies are stimulated by introducing a dead or extremely weakened virus (or portion of a virus), which turns on your child’s immune system to fight off the invaders. Since the amount of the illness is very small, your child is very unlikely to become sick from the vaccine, but there could be some mild reactions to the virus. This is normal and should be expected.
Normal reactions to vaccines
Symptoms generally appear within 12-48 hours after being vaccinated. Common reactions to vaccines in children include:
- Swelling, redness, or pain around the area of the shot
- Fever
- Mild rash
- Sleepiness
- Fussiness
- Decreased appetite
These symptoms are normal and are generally considered a sign that the vaccine is working, because they show that your child’s immune system is trying to fight off the weakened or dead virus that has been introduced. However, these symptoms are still uncomfortable, and you may wish to ease your child’s discomfort.
Making your child more comfortable
We do not recommend painkillers or fever reducers for a fever under 102, because these medications may slow down your child’s immune response, thus lessening the effectiveness of the vaccine. However, you can make your child more comfortable:
- Gently and lightly massage the injection site three times a day or as needed to stimulate movement of the blood away from the area
- Apply a compress for about 10 minutes at a time – a warm compress increases blood flow, which could move the blood away from the area, but a cool (not cold) compress can be used if it makes your child more comfortable
- If the area of the shot is itchy or if the child develops a mild rash, apply a 1% hydrocortisone cream several times a day as needed
- Make sure your child remains well hydrated, especially infants, who may still be nursing. Children may enjoy ice pops or some other hydrating treat that is age-appropriate
- If your child’s fever is over 102 degrees, you may use acetaminophen to reduce the fever and ease discomfort
When you should seek help
Severe reactions are very rare, but you should watch your child for any of the following and call your doctor if he or she develops these symptoms:
- Redness becomes larger than two inches, becomes more painful after several days, or lasts more than a week
- Fever begins after two days or lasts more than three days
- Your child becomes worse rather than better or has extreme discomfort
- Your child is having any difficulty breathing
- Your child develops a rash that seems serious to you
- You are concerned and believe your child needs to be seen
As medical professionals, we respect parents’ instincts, so if you are concerned, call your doctor. However, be assured that serious reactions are very rare. The benefits of these childhood vaccinations have been demonstrated by the dramatic decrease in death and disability caused by these diseases since vaccines were introduced.
Great American Smokeout – November 17th
Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of illness worldwide, causing an estimated 1 in 5 preventable deaths worldwide. While the number of people smoking in the U.S. has decreased dramatically in recent decades, some communities have higher rates of smoking than others and consequently have disproportionately higher smoking-related cancers and other diseases. These communities include persons at lower socioeconomic levels, members of various ethnic communities, those in the military, and others.
It’s never too late to benefit from quitting smoking. No matter how long you’ve smoked, you will notice health improvements right away and will experience long-term benefits. but quitting smoking is hard. Not only is the smoker’s body addicted, but there is also a mental and social addiction that must be overcome.
In order to successfully overcome these powerful factors, it’s important to create a good plan and have the support to see it through. The Great American Smokeout on November 17, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, is a great day to put your plan into action and begin your new life without tobacco.
benefits of quitting smoking or tobacco use
According to the American Cancer Society, within minutes of quitting you begin to see health benefits, which continue to accumulate over time:
- Within 20 minutes after quitting your heart rate and blood pressure drop
- After a few days, carbon monoxide levels in your blood drop to normal
- Within two weeks to three months after quitting, your circulation improves and your lung function increases
- Within one to 12 months, depending on how much you smoked, coughing and shortness of breath decrease because the tiny cilia in your lungs that have the job of moving mucus out begin to regain their normal function and do their job of clearing your lungs
- Within one to two years of quitting, your risk of heart attack drops dramatically
- After five to ten years, your risk of mouth, throat, and larynx cancer is cut in half
- After 10-15 years, your risk of lung cancer is half that of someone who never quit, risks of other cancers decrease, and your risk of coronary disease is close to that of a non-smoker
Quitting also slows premature wrinkling of your skin and gum disease that can cause the loss of your teeth. Other benefits: your food tastes better, your sense of smell improves, teeth and nails are no longer yellow, and your clothes and breath smell better.
besides the physical benefits, quitting smoking saves a significant amount of money that could be put to some other use.
Trying to quit
The benefits listed above are very powerful reasons to quit smoking. You may have other personal reasons, such as not wanting to smoke around your children. Whatever your reason, you will look back a year from now, feeling so much healthier, and be glad you committed to quitting.
When you’re ready to quit, you should prepare ahead of time in order to increase your chances of success.
First, pick a date. The Great American Smokeout is a great day to start or pick your own. It may be a day significant to you – for instance, the date of your wedding anniversary would be meaningful if you’re doing it for your family. Or if a loved one died of lung cancer from smoking, you could pick that day as added motivation, and to honor your loved one who died.
Once you have a day, prepare by decreasing smoking as the day approaches. begin changing habits. For instance, if you started your day with coffee and a smoke, skip the smoke. Or if coffee triggers your desire for a smoke, switch to something that won’t taste good with a cigarette, like orange juice or a smoothie.
Tell your friends and family that you’re planning on quitting and that you need their help. If your family or friends smoke, ask them not to smoke around you. Ask them to help hold you accountable and help distract you when a craving comes along.
Remove all cigarettes, lighters, ashtrays, and any other tobacco-related items from your house, car, office area, etc. Stock up on oral substitutes, such as sugarless gum, carrot sticks, toothpicks, etc.
Talk to your doctor about your desire and see if he or she recommends any prescription help or nicotine replacements if you have been a heavy smoker.
Make a plan for how you will succeed. No one has to go it alone. Here at bCHIP, we have programs that provide support and information. We have a 5-week program to set you on the right path and no matter what turns your journey takes, we can help you stay on that path.
When the day comes, make a really big deal of it! Reward yourself with something that makes you happy to celebrate your decision.
Helping loved-ones quit
If you have any loved ones whom you want to quit smoking, share with them this information and some of the other resources we have here at bCHIP or at the American Cancer Society website.
Remember, your loved ones will only be successful if they want to change. but you could remind them of the day, let them know how important they are to you, and then provide a bit of literature about our programs to help them stop smoking.
Don’t start fighting with them. being adversarial, condescending, or shaming them in any way will not help your cause. If they choose to quit, be the helpful support that you would want if you were trying to overcome a bad habit. Don’t offer advice, nag, or tease. build up their confidence and celebrate each day and each week that they stick to the plan.
And remember, whether it is you or a loved one trying to quit, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Many people need to try to quit more than once in order to succeed. Whatever caused you to give in, consider it a learning opportunity, make a plan to avoid that trigger next time, and start again. The benefits are well worth the effort.
When You Want to Stop Smoking
Quitting any addiction is hard and we applaud you for making the decision to stop smoking. In order to be successful at kicking an addiction, however, you need to prepare ahead of time and know what to expect in order to have the resources to succeed. For Bucks County, PA residents we offer a support/education program to help you quit smoking. We have both in-person and zoom meetings depending on the support you need.
Recognize the addiction
Remember that this is not a sign of personal weakness. Nicotine is addictive – physically, mentally, and behaviorally. Physical addiction refers to the body craving the chemical compounds in tobacco. Mental addiction refers to the mental or emotional desire to experience the effects of tobacco. And behavioral addiction refers to the situations in which you generally smoke. To effectively treat your nicotine addiction, it has to be addressed in all three ways.
Determine your “why”
Kicking a tobacco addiction is difficult. The most powerful weapon you can have in this battle is a very strong incentive to quit. All the benefits you may hear about – better health, more energy, decreased risk of cancer and heart disease – are not always enough incentive to quit smoking. Personal reasons are sometimes more effective. Frame your reasons in a personal and emotional way, such as:
- “We just had a baby and I don’t want to smoke in the house around my precious child.”
- “After smoking a pack a day for 20 years, I had a heart attack. I don’t want to go through that again.”
- “I ran a footrace with my sons, ages 9 and 11, and I barely won, I was so out of breath. That made me realize I need to quit.”
- “I didn’t realize how much my clothes smell of tobacco until I took some out of a drawer that I thought were clean and they smelled.”
Whether it’s for your family, your health, or your personal appearance, find a strong “why” and keep reminding yourself of it. Write it out in very personal terms and post it in a place where you’ll see it frequently.
Plan for success
Plan to reward yourself once you’ve kicked the habit. What does “kick the habit” mean? It should mean overcoming the craving for a cigarette most of the time and being able to easily resist when you do have the hankering for a smoke. Your reward could be almost anything, but if it’s connected to your “why” it may be yet another strong incentive.
For instance, if you’re quitting because you don’t want to smoke around your children, try putting away all the money you save from not buying cigarettes and plan to use it on a trip to an amusement park with the kids. Let them know about the plan, and they will be your enthusiastic cheerleaders!
Kicking the physical addiction
Unfortunately, you will likely feel the ill effects of withdrawal. But the best defense against the physical effects is to know they’re coming and to know they will lessen greatly after a few days.
You will probably have headaches. You may feel shaky, angry, depressed, anxious, or restless. You may even feel tightness in the chest, coughing, bad breath, or trouble sleeping. Nicotine takes over about 200 neurochemicals in the brain and they need to be detoxed. Remain resolute during this period and usually within 72 hours they will begin to decrease.
Intense cravings usually only last a few minutes at a time. Clear your environment of all cigarettes and it will be easier for you to resist, simply because you won’t have any. If you tell yourself “I’m going to wait 10 minutes before I go for a cigarette” and then distract yourself with some other activity like those listed below, you may find those 10 minutes pass by and you no longer have the urge.
Kicking the mental addiction
If you smoked to help you relax, replace it with something else that’s good for you:
- a massage from your partner after a long day
- sitting and listening to relaxing music with headphones on, blocking out the world
- picking up a relaxing hobby, like cross-stitching or yoga
Activity helps to distract the mind from the craving for a cigarette. Try some of these:
- Clean the house
- Go for a walk
- Get a membership to a gym and go regularly
- Brush your teeth – who wants to smoke with a fresh minty toothpaste taste in your mouth?
Kicking the behavioral addiction
Avoid trigger situations as much as possible. Think about where you tended to smoke or what you were doing and either avoid those situations or replace the cigarette with something healthful:
- If you used to smoke while watching the game on tv, don’t replace the cigarette with a bottle of beer or a bag of chips! You could be replacing one health-damaging habit with another. Instead, have crunchy tasty veggies and dip for a snack or sugarless gum to keep your mouth busy.
- Since alcohol makes it difficult to stick to resolutions, it’s best to avoid going to bars or drinking with friends while trying to kick the habit.
- If you used to smoke while drinking your morning coffee, try switching to tea or another beverage, even a morning smoothie, that just wouldn’t taste good with a cigarette.
- If you smoked while talking on the phone, hold a pen in your hand instead and doodle fun things on a pad while talking.
- Take a different route to work to avoid the store where you used to buy cigarettes.
- If you have buddies who smoke, you may need to tell them that for the time being you won’t be able to hang out with them while you try to quit. Hopefully, they will respect your decision and maybe even decide to try to quit with you.
Additional support
One of the most important aspects of overcoming addiction is to enlist the help of friends and family. Have a support system of people who will encourage you and will help to distract you when you feel like smoking.
Besides family and friends, you can join a support group, in person or online, with others who are trying to kick the nicotine habit or have succeeded in doing so. Stories of their success and the benefits of quitting will help you stick to it until you’ve succeeded.
If necessary, nicotine therapy is available. This is sometimes recommended for people who are trying to overcome a very severe smoking habit. This temporary therapy could include nicotine gum, lozenges, nasal sprays, or inhalers along with nicotine patches. They lessen the cravings during the most intense period of withdrawal. Talk to your doctor to see if this would be helpful to you.
Most importantly, remember that if you try to quit once and go back to smoking, consider it a learning experience and try again. Some people have to try a few times, but they do eventually kick the smoking habit. You can do it, too.
Saving Lives
I’m often amazed by the stories I hear from the BCHIP Adult Health Clinic staff. They’re saving lives, yet they seem to almost take their successes in stride! They’re so passionate about their work and they are always willing to go the extra mile to make sure our patients receive exemplary care.
I thought I’d share a couple of recent success stories with you.
Linda
Linda* had been coming to BCHIP for care since 2011, when she experienced two strokes, left side paralysis, and lung cancer. In late 2016, Linda contacted BCHIP for help again after she was hospitalized for gall bladder surgery and experienced complications. After a stay at a long-term care facility for rehabilitation, she would be discharged, but due to her paralysis Linda would also need home-based wound care. However, she was not eligible for the service, due to her lack of insurance. BCHIP intervened, contacting the service provider to facilitate care as a charity service. Linda would not have been able manage her home care without BCHIP.
Veronica
Veronica* is a 56-year-old woman who recently moved to Bucks County from Virginia to live with her daughter. She was without health insurance so she visited our clinic. She has interstitial lung disease and was seen at an emergency room for shortness of breath. A week after discharge she ran out of medication and was admitted with acute chronic respiratory failure. She was treated with I.V. steroids and antibiotics to stabilize her condition and was able to be discharged from the hospital.
During her follow-up visit to our clinic, we were able to coordinate specialty care, including a pulmonary follow up with a doctor who agreed to see her at a reduced rate, and a cardiac physician who saw her free of charge. She was put on a bi-weekly schedule to titrate blood pressure and assess her respiratory status. So far there have been no further visits to the hospital. Veronica was later able to obtain insurance and has successfully started the lung transplant process with Temple University Hospital. She recently contacted us to express how extremely grateful she is for our care coordination efforts while she was trying to obtain insurance.
You may have noted that there were other professionals we coordinated with to help these two patients. There are organizations and people throughout Bucks County partnering with BCHIP every day to make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable residents. I hope you’ll check back to learn more about them.
*Names changed to protect patients’ privacy
