Angela

Angela successfully stopped smoking with the support of Yorkshire Smokefree in Wakefield. Here's here success story...

I had been smoking since I was 15 years old. Up until I was 62, I had no interest in stopping smoking – I used to tell people I will stop smoking when I can’t breathe.

Last year I became very ill, and I was in hospital for 2 days with an exacerbation of COPD. I was referred to the Yorkshire Smokefree Stop Smoking Service. A few days after being discharged home I was called by one of the Stop Smoking Advisers and at this point I just wanted to cut down – not actually quit.

After several appointments with my Advisor and using NRT patches and lozenges I was able to work out a plan that suited me. I found it helpful to plan each step of my quit with my advisor’s support at each appointment rather than everything all at once. Now I have been quit for 5 months and have now stopped using patches I am chuffed that I have done it!

I feel better – my breathing is better, and I can walk further without being breathless. I had also started to put on weight since quitting, so my advisor referred to a nutritionist for support – this is going well, and I have lost 3lbs!

If you can get it into your mind to stop smoking it is worth doing – I would recommend going to Yorkshire Smokefree – I couldn’t have done it without them!