HOW I QUIT SMOKING WITHOUT QUITTING SMOKING

Yes you read that right!

I’ve always been of the opinion you need at least one vice in life. I can’t remember the last to I had an alcoholic beverage, I gave up drinking years ago.

I was at a party about 12 years ago at a hotel. We were all congregated outside smoking and a girl said to me “I could easily give up alcohol but never smoking,” those words have stuck with me all these years.

As time went on and I was diagnosed with COPD I started to understand what she meant. I was always getting breathless on exertion but never worried me at the time. As the years went past I became scared of catching a cold and being a parent of young children at the time they were unavoidable. Visiting the GP every time I caught a cold to listen to my chest and prescribe steroids and 2 lots of antibiotics to ward off infection.

Regardless I still continued to smoke cigarettes. I remember a doctor telling me “You must give up smoking” but because I’d tried before and failed miserably I stopped trying to quit.

The worst thing about COPD is you don’t notice it getting gradually worse.

Around 30% of nurses smoke in the UK, and 9% of doctors.

Smoking cessation experts say that stress is one of the main contributing factors to nurses’ smoking. A recent Nursing Times survey on nurses’ well-being found that one in ten of the 1,300 respondents had recently started smoking, or was smoking more due to stress.

How did I quit smoking?

The answer is easy e-cigarettes.

After my son begging me to quit, I took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror and thought “I have to do this for my family.”

Many people believe vaping is as bad as, or worse than smoking but science shows differently and I’ve seen my health improve since making the switch to a safer nicotine device.

There is a lot of disinformation regarding vaping which put me off trying it, one of them being popcorn lung which is a total myth!

Harm perceptions

In 2021, only 34% of adults who smoked accurately believed that vaping was less harmful than smoking. Only 11% of adults who smoked knew that none or a small amount of the risks of smoking were due to nicotine. Inaccurate perceptions need to be addressed.

The evidence reviewed also suggests that:

people’s perceptions about vaping harms can influence their subsequent vaping and smoking behaviour
communicating accurate information about the relative harms of vaping can help to correct misperceptions of vaping, particularly among adults
Interventions on absolute harms of vaping that aim to deter young people need to be carefully designed so they do not misinform people (particularly smokers) about the relative harms of smoking and vaping.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-update/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-update-main-findings#harm-perceptions

So I went onto the internet and bought a selection of disposable vapes. This was the moment I quit smoking for good. I couldn’t believe how easy it was and having tried a selection I got to know which flavours I like and dislike. In fact, I’m still experimenting with flavours and still discovering new options.

Flavours

Fruit flavours remained the most popular among adults and young people who vape, followed by ‘menthol/mint’. Source: Gov.UK

Smoking prevalence is at an all-time low in England, but over six million people are still smoking. The recently published NHS Long Term Plan hails prevention as a way to save over 500,000 lives across the next ten years, and helping smokers to quit is a key part of the plan.

There are 2.5 million e-cigarette users across the country and we’re used to seeing people vaping. As popularity has increased over the past ten years, so too have discussions about their safety and how effective they are for quitting smoking.

In brief, they are not completely risk free, but vaping is far less harmful than smoking – a view supported by many including the Royal College of Physicians, Cancer Research UK and the US National Academy of Sciences. Growing evidence also suggests that using an e-cigarette can be one of the most effective ways to quit.

E-cigarette evidence update – patterns and use in adults and young people

Ideally one day I will quit e-cigarettes but only when the timing is right. I will gradually reduce the nicotine content until it’s zero.

I set up my business to pass on the information I’ve gained to assist you to quit smoking too.

Is vaping not smoking?

Vaping is not smoking, but some people find vaping works to help them quit because it offers experiences similar to smoking a cigarette. Vaping has a similar hand-to-mouth action as smoking, and it can also be social while being 95% safer nicotine.

About a third of smokers have never even tried an e-cigarette and less than 20% are currently using one. If many more smokers could be encouraged to give e-cigarettes a go, the latest evidence indicates that many more might successfully quit.

E-cigarette use decreases as evidence shows they increase smokers’ chances of quitting

An international review published today in 2019 finds e-cigarettes are 70% more effective in helping smokers quit than nicotine replacement therapy. The findings come as public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) publish figures showing e-cigarette uptake dropped in 2020 compared to 2019. The charity warns that unfounded concerns about health risks from e-cigarettes may mean thousands of smokers who could benefit from switching completely are missing the chance.

Tobacco Harm Reduction

In June 2013 NICE published guidance on tobacco harm reduction for the first time. The guidance is intended to support those smokers who are highly dependent on nicotine and not ready or able to quit in one step. It provides Stop Smoking Services with an alternative approach to helping these smokers. It also makes recommendations about how we can create an environment in which more smokers take some action to address their smoking even if they are not yet ready to quit.

You can download the full report here

https://smokefreeaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ImplementationSeminarSlides.pdf