Smoke Free and Line Dancing

When Barbara first rang Quitline she had been a smoker for 46 years. She was facing a double hip operation and feeling very low. Her surgeon had told her that to have both hips operated on she would need to quit smoking.

Quitline advisor Teresa Reynolds remembers taking Barbara’s call. “She had been smoking for 46 years and quit for three years when she rang us. She was in a lot of pain and wasn’t sleeping. She had convinced herself that one cigarette at night would be all right. She had built up that routine,” she says.

“We went through some amazing support calls with her feelings and emotions running all over the place. She wanted to get out of the nicotine trap. She vowed she wanted to quit for good.”

That was a year ago. Today Barbara is smoke free, fit and line dancing. At home she has a picture frame on the wall. Inside it is one ‘grotty’ cigarette, three matches and the end of a matchbox. Below is the word NOPE standing for ‘not one puff ever’.

On the back of the picture Barbara has written her story of stopping smoking. She shares this with her friends.

Hopes and plans

Like most Quitline advisors Teresa has been a smoker herself and knows what quitting involves. Now, on the Quitline phones, she listens to other smokers’ stories – their hopes and plans for becoming a non smoker.

“It’s about finding out in those first few minutes about their life and why they want to quit and become a non smoker. Often smoking is just the tip of the iceberg and there can be a lot of other issues going on underneath,” she says.

“We listen to their hopes, how they think they’ll cope and manage, whether they’ve got support from family and friends and how we can best support them.

“If they want nicotine replacement therapy we can support them through that. Other people choose to go cold turkey and we can support them to do that as well.”

Quitline identifies three stages in quitting smoking – overcoming the chemical addiction, identifying and managing the thought process that leads to someone reaching for a cigarette and finding something that will replace the hand to mouth action of smoking.

Quitline clients are a mix of first time callers and people who have been through the process before. Teresa says it can take several attempts before some people quit.

“People will ring and say, ’I’ve failed’, but they’re on the right track – they’re building up their experience in quitting,” she says. “Each time they try they are getting nearer to being quit.”

Quitline offers free telephone support, resources and low cost nicotine patches or gum to New Zealand residents.

To find out more

www.quit.org.nz

And while you’re there check out the quitters blog.