HSE QUIT INTERVIEW

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une 16th is Bloomsday – the day when James Joyce’s famous novel Ulysses is celebrated in Dublin and around the world. And although that book is awash with booze and cigarettes, the main character Leopold Bloom doesn’t seem to have been a fan of tobacco, describing a cigarette as “a cylinder of rank weed”. Fast forward 100 years and another James — James Cushen — knows as well as anyone how tricky it is to give up that ‘rank weed’ but, after several false starts, he has now been a non-smoker for several months, thanks to the HSE’s QUIT service and he’s seen a significant improvement to his overall health. As coincidence would have it, James’ Quit Date was also June 16th this year and he hasn’t looked back since. With October being the official Quit month for smokers, James would encourage any others to join him and the thousands like him who’ve kicked the habit for good.

October is Quit month — a great time to ditch the habit for good

Say hello!

Oh, yeah, I tried a couple of times but I was kind of struggling.

LEAVE

LEAVE SMOKING BEHIND THIS OCTOBER

SMOKING

BEHIND

this

OCTOBER

Now 69 years of age, James had, like many others, started smoking at a young, impressionable age, “following the gang, as such” he says, reflecting on the influence of his peers. Smoking was just something you did back then and once you started, stopping was considerably more difficult. Numerous efforts to stop over the years had varying degrees of success but James had let cigarettes become a crutch at stages in life when he felt stress or when things weren’t going the way he would like. That psychological reliance on nicotine is as difficult to deal with as the physical cravings. When we think of a particular habit as a “reward” or something we do when we want to distract ourselves, it becomes harder to stop. That’s why smoking is so insidious and difficult to break free from. But the good news is that many people do so every year and the HSE QUIT service are on hand to provide free help and support for those determined to quit. Reflecting on his own battle with cigarettes, James recalls, “Oh, yeah, I tried a couple of times but I was kind of struggling. And then, I had an appointment with my doctor in May or June… She said, ‘Are you a smoker?’ and I said, ‘Yes’. She said, ‘Would you ever think of giving them up? They’re not doing you any good.”

Easier

SAID

THAN

DONE

Easier said than done. James told her how he would quit for periods and then something would trigger a return to smoking. So, his doctor referred him to Ballyboden Primary Care Centre where the HSE runs programmes for people who have decided to call time on their smoking habit. The referral date and subsequent meetings with his QUIT advisor appointment helped to give him the focus he needed; “I said to myself, the hell with this. They’re not doing me any good. It's time to give them up. So, lucky enough I am off them now nearly three months… everyday it kind of gets easier and easier.” James is especially appreciative of the HSE QUIT staff at Ballyboden; “I got great support from them. They would text me and ask how I'm doing and I'd have a weekly meeting every Thursday for about half an hour. We’d just talk about it and it gave you a bit more encouragement to stay off them.”

As well as planning and talking about your roadmap to quitting cigarettes, the HSE QUIT team can provide NRT (Nicotine Replacement Treatments) that can help when any cravings start to test the willpower. James used the patches and inhaler to help him make the transition to becoming a non-smoker. When someone has been smoking for a while and cigarettes have become habitual, it’s good to have something to replace the thought of lighting up. For James, it was working around the home. “I like doing a bit of DIY. I have an apartment and if I know something has to be done, I’ll do it. If you distract yourself from it, it’s easier. During the lockdown, I bought one of those machines — a treadmill. (It’s actually bigger than the apartment but it looked smaller in the brochure!) I do an hour on that a day — so, that's about 6000 steps. In relation to getting off the cigarettes and breathing, I feel a lot healthier… suddenly you have a lot more energy.”

For anyone looking to quit smoking this October, you don’t need to be a DIY buff. You can use anything to replace that ceremonial lighting up. It could be reading, walking, sport, exercise, cooking, chatting to a friend — whatever healthy alternatives that are most appealing. And remember there is help at hand. If — like James — you’re thinking about quitting smoking, there is a HSE centre with dedicated Stop Smoking Advisors that you can talk to, so don’t hesitate to get in touch today.

Most smokers (83%) regret starting smoking and say they wouldn’t smoke if they had the choice again

€

A 10-a-day smoker who quits will save at least €2,500 per year

1 in every 2 smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease

2-3 months after quitting, your lung capacity could increase by up to 30%

James Cushen with Anne Flanagan at Ballyboden Primary Care Centre

James Cushen checking his Carbon Monoxide level