Giving up smoking
If you are a smoker, by far the best change you could
possibly make to improve your health is to stop smoking. Not only
are you far more likely to get lung cancer, heart disease, strokes,
legs that need to be amputated, asthma and so on if you smoke,
but also your children, even if you do not smoke "in the
house" are far more likely to get chest infections, visit
the Doctors, be admitted to hospital and, for that matter, become
smokers themselves.
Giving up smoking may seem a daunting task, but think
of the other advantages as well. All the extra money you will
have, all the extra money the taxman won`t have, all the extra
people that will want to go out with you, no being thrown out
of buildings to have a quick puff on the pavement....
There has never been a better time to give up. There
is a special clinic in Folkestone which you can attend where they
will help you to give up and where you can get support all the
way. The government now allows the prescription of antismoking
medication on the NHS as well. No help, however, will work unless
you yourself have firmly decided you really do want to give up.
This is the first step. Once you have done this, then is the time
to come to us for help.
Once you have made your mind up to stop, we can help
if you need us to. Ask one of our nurses or Doctors for details
of the stop smoking clinics in Folkestone. There is only a very
short wait to get into these clinics and they have been proven
to really increase your chances of succesfully giving up. Medication
can also help, but it works best if used at the same time as attending
a stop smoking clinic.
There are two main types of medication to help stop
smoking. Nicotine replacement medication and Zyban.
Nicotine is the main "drug" in cigarette
smoke which you become addicted to as a smoker. Nicotine replacement
treatments work by replacing the nicotine from cigarettes with
nicotine from elsewhere. Usually, the trick is to stop smoking
and change to the replacement instead which is slowly reduced
over 2-3 months. Nicotine replacement comes in many forms. A particularly
successful form is a patch; this is a sticky patch put on the
skin and changed daily. The nicotine from the patch gets into
the blood through the skin and helps reduce the craving for cigarettes.
The strength of the patch used is slowly reduced as treatment
progresses.
Nicotine replacement treatment (NRT) also comes in
the form of gum to chew and inhalers to inhale.
Zyban is a tablet that works in a different way to
NRT. It acts on the brain reducing the craving for nicotine. it
too, is taken for a few months then stopped.
For a much more detailed look at how to give up smoking
in Kent, check out the health authority web site
http://www.kash.uk.net
If you need help to give up smoking, do not hesitate
to contact us here at the Manor Clinic. If you want to keep from
having to call on us in an emergency, stopping smoking is the
best way to do it!
BACK TO MANOR
MAGAZINE MAINPAGE