"When I first started smoking, I was 15/16, and before I quit, I was smoking about 20-30 a day. I quit after my husband did, who used the service after having a heart attack. I have COPD so we both had to do it.
I had tried quitting 3 times before, and what I learned from those attempts was to persevere. One time, I quit for 6 months but then I lost my Mam, so started smoking again.
One thing that is good about the service now is that you can go back to it without a 6 month wait.
It is like a safety net – you know you can get support without waiting – otherwise you might just smoke again for 6 months instead of quitting.
I had used Champix before, and for this attempt I used Varenicline. To be honest, I felt like I wanted to be sick all the time, but I persevered. Then, I started taking 1 tablet instead of 2, and then I was put on a lower dose of 0.5 [by my advisor to reduce the feeling of sickness].
I had quite a few cravings, mainly just the habit of smoking [itself]. My husband stopped with the service as well, and he was pushing me saying “you don’t need this”, to help my cravings. What also helped was changing my habits – instead of smoking in the morning I would get up and get ready. Another thing that helped was telling myself that I’d already had one [a cigarette].
I’m finding now that my breathing’s a lot better.
We saved about £4,000 between the two of us, so we are going to go on holiday with the money saved. We also had the summer house roof redone.
What helped from the service the most was the support and being kept in touch with; seeing how I was. The advisors also asked after Mark [my husband] to see how both of us were getting on.
What would you say to someone thinking of starting their own smokefree journey?
I would say persevere. Get in touch. If one thing doesn’t help – like for me the patches were no good when I tried them first – don’t be frightened to tell the service, instead of going back to the tabs. And, when you phone up, even if your advisor isn’t there, there’ll be someone else to help."