To let you understand, if you've not read my earlier posts, my mum and I are quite heavy smokers. I would say although we say 20 a day, 30 is probably more like it and, on a bad day, it could be approaching 40. Anyway we decided we would attempt to give up. A smoking cessation nurse came to see us and put us on a programme to cut down. She told us not to beat ourselves up if we didn't manage and when she came back 3 weeks later she congratulated us for our efforts even though we had failed miserably most days and had only stuck to the programme on a few days. We told her we still didn't think we were ready to stop completely but wanted to continue to cut down. She told us that was fine but we really should set a date to quit completely so we did that and she arranged to come back today. Again she told us not to beat ourselves up if we felt we couldn't do without a cig just to take the patch off and start again the next day.
We said we'd try to stop on December 19th but failed miserably. However we have kept the patch on longer and longer and are now on 3 - 5 cigs a day and getting to the point where we feel we'll soon be ready to stop completely.
Today the nurse was due at 2.30pm but at 1pm my mum had a call to say that another nurse had taken over from Cath and could she come in 10 mins. Mum explained I was at work but that it was fine for her to come. When I got home later mum was upset and said the new nurse had had a right go at her. I was furious.
I told mum she had done really well to cut down so much but she said the nurse didn't agree and that she said she should have stopped on December 19th. Mum said she tried to bully her into setting a quit date before she would give her a new prescription. Mum said she couldn't do that at the moment as she wasn't confident she would do it and felt that she needed to continue cutting down for another couple of weeks. She eventually said mum could have a couple of weeks of low strength patches and no lozenges. She left saying she would come back in a fortnight when she would expect mum to have her quit date ready!
My mum was so upset when the nurse left that she took off her patch and had a cigarette, she has been going to 9pm for the past few nights. You could say she's just using this as an excuse but, as an addict myself, I know how difficult it's been for mum to cut down so much, particularly at such a traumatic time. I also know, as she does, that her smoking has caused her terminal illness and she could easily decide 'what the hell the damage is done!' and go back to smoking 30-40 a day as a result of this womans bullying approach!
I phoned the office and asked who had come to see my mum and could I speak to her. I explained my concerns and 10 mins after hanging up I received a call from the new smoking cessation nurse. She made a lot of excuses and suggested mum had misunderstood her and that of course mum had done well so far. She said you can't have a dual prescription unless you are not smoking at all so we can have either the patches or the lozenges.
Both of these products can be bought over the counter. Neither warns you not to use it if you're using the other. The previous nurse gave us both (but perhaps being an ex smoker herself she could empathise with the addict). At the end of my conversation with the nurse it became clear that it was really about resources. The government will help you stop smoking if you can do it really quickly if not buy the products over the counter. That is what we will do.
It has angered me to realise that the government is only playing at getting people to stop smoking. Could this be something to do with the high level of tax they collect as a result of the sale of cigarettes in this country? I am not pro-smoking. I definitely want to stop but I am an addict and thought I would get the support I needed to do it!
