The Donegal Community HSE Stop Smoking Service is keen to help anyone who is interested in or has recently quit smoking.
This is a free, non-judgemental service whose aim is to work with clients to help them prepare well for quitting smoking and also support them for their first year quit.
You are up to 10 times more likely to quit if you use licenced Stop Smoking Medications (Patch, gum, inhaler, quickmist) along with support from HSE Stop Smoking Specialists like Fiona Boyle and Maresa McGettigan who are specifically trained to help people quit.
There are currently 12 clinics throughout Donegal Community and some areas in Donegal are now entitled to get free Stop Smoking Medications as well, especially in Inishowen and some of the Gaeltacht areas under the recent Healthy Communities Programme. Contact Fiona on 0872514790 or Maresa on 0860492465 for further details. Below are some tips to help.
1. Prepare well
The journey to quitting will be so much easier if you want to quit tobacco rather than feeling that you have to quit. Carry out a decisional balance – look at the pros and cons of tobacco for you. What are you expecting to get out of quitting tobacco? Look at the geography of where you smoke and try to make your car and house smoke free before quitting if they are not already. Keep reasons for quitting close to hand, even stick them on your fridge as a reminder to stay strong.
2. Get Support
Get support from a professional in one of the 12 FREE clinics throughout Donegal. Contact Fiona on 0872514790 or Maresa on 0860492465 or you can contact the QUIT team on 1800201203. If possible quit along with your partner, a work colleague or friends as it will give you a much better chance of being successful and you can share the journey to quitting tobacco for good.
3. Use Stop Smoking Medications
A combination of Stop Smoking Medications (i.e. patches, mist, inhaler or losengers) is currently the most successful treatments available to help people quit successfully as they help with the withdrawals. These Medications should be used for around 3 months or longer if still having withdrawals and it’s important to use them correctly to get the best benefit. They will not quit tobacco for you but they take the edge of the difficulties you may have on quitting.
4. Identify routine triggers
Look at your routines to see when you have the first cigarette and then the next etc. It’s beneficial to keep a diary for a full day to see what your normal routine is like. This could look at the time, where you are, who you are with, what you could do instead of using tobacco, how you felt about that particular cigarette on a scale of 1 to 5 both before and after the cigarette. Types of triggers are first thing in the morning, cups of tea/coffee, after meals, work breaks, alcohol, other people using tobacco and emotions. Change your routine and habits – do you normally have a cigarette with a tea/coffee? Then change your routine – have a glass of water instead or hold your cup in the cigarette hand.
5. Set a quit date
Pick a date that you can focus on and avoid difficult times. This allows you to remove cigarettes, ashtrays, lighters etc from your environment and decide on which treatments you are going to use and have them available. Remember you have only decided to quit for 1 day at a time. If it goes well brilliant, and if not the difficulties can be reviewed and a plan worked out to help.
6. Deal with cravings
Physical cravings will only last 3 to 5 minutes when they come and they will go again provided they are dealt with correctly. The 5 D’s technique is very helpful – Delay, Distract, Drink water, Deep breathing x 20 and Don’t dwell on it.
- Delay and the urge will pass in three to five minutes
- Distract by getting up and doing something else
- Drink water instead of tea/coffee
- Take 20 slow deep breaths like you do when using tobacco, particularly concentrating on holding your breath for a second or two and then taking longer to breathe out than you took to breathe in.
- Think about cigarettes but in a positive way such as I don’t need to smoke and I am taking back control of my life by quitting cigarettes. ‘It’s not that I can’t smoke it’s that I’m choosing not to smoke’.
7. Exercise and watching your weight
Quitting tobacco creates a lot of time available for other things and one of the most beneficial things to do is to exercise. Exercise is positive whether trying to quit tobacco or not. Take time out for activities that you enjoy or try out some new ones. Exercise also helps if you are concerned about gaining weight. Weight gain is a huge trigger for relapse. Being smart about it and avoid snacking on high calorie foods, which will make you put on weight, helps. Try and prepare some meals. If you are going to replace cigarettes with food, try and make it healthy snacks. Remember the Deep Breathing and Drink Water can also be helpful as well. Do ‘a quick-fix shop’ to include foods such as fruit, crackers, chewing gum etc. These are taken to satisfy the ‘ hand to mouth action’.
8. Find your incentive
What are your main reasons for quitting and what are your expectations. Ensure they are achievable. Better health, family, financial, regain control, antisocial, fed up, don’t enjoy them anymore are some of the most common reasons reported. Save some of the money you would otherwise have spent on tobacco and watch it grow, treat yourself to something nice like a massage, night away etc
9. Break the emotional connection
Addiction, Habit and Emotions are the three reasons we use tobacco. It is often reported that tobacco is used to help cope with stress. If stress is a big issue then you need to do something about it. If it’s a practical issue around your work or your job, maybe you need to address that first. If it’s general stress then Virtual Stress Control classes can be a very useful way of learning how to control your stress. Contact stresscontrol.ie for a list of dates in 2022 with new programmes scheduled each month with Dr Jim White who created Stress Control.
10. There’s no such thing as “just one” cigarette after you quit smoking tobacco
Instead of asking ‘Do I want a cigarette now’ ask ‘do I want to go back smoking every day again’. This way you will remember why you quit in the first place and congratulate yourself that you’re free and as a result you can enjoy remaining tobacco free for the rest of your life. You can get more advice on how to quit smoking and practical help by contacting Fiona on 087 2514790, Maresa on 086 0492465, QUIT Team on 1800 201 203 or visit Quit.ie.
