An Inverclyde woman is looking forward to her first smoke-free Christmas in 40 years thanks to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s free stop smoking service.
Mounting pressure from her sons and daughter, combined with the increasing cost of cigarettes, meant Patricia Weir from Port Glasgow was facing an uphill battle to justify her partially-private habit of smoking – something she’d done with close friends and at home regularly for 40 years.
However, after struggling to shake off what felt like a lingering hangover after her son’s wedding this summer, Patricia, 62, knew something was wrong and it was time to make a change.
Patricia said: “I was in the hospital five or six times this year and I came home after my son’s wedding in the summer and didn’t feel right.
“I didn’t feel great on the Monday and by the Tuesday, I still wasn’t myself. When it got to the Wednesday, I still wasn’t right, and my son took me to hospital. I discovered my kidneys weren’t functioning and I had sepsis. I knew then that it was time to stop.”
One call to NHSGGC’s stop smoking service, Quit Your Way, and Patricia was set up with free behaviour change support as well as free stop-smoking medication Varenicline through her pharmacy, and she hasn’t looked back since.
Like all smokers, Patricia had her own unique behaviours to change on her journey to going smoke free. For her, it was breaking away from the secrecy she’d built up around her smoking.
She’d only do it around certain people and in specific places, like late at night on her own.
However, with the help of Alison Workman, NHSGGC’s Quit Your Way stop smoking practitioner in Inverclyde, and Varenicline, Patricia has successfully completed her 12-week quit and is now smoke-free.
Patricia added: “There was a lot of work for me to do to change those habits. My family didn’t like it, it was affecting my health, I was embarrassed about it, and I couldn’t justify spending that money but I still had to make a choice to stop.
“I had to do that and I’m proud of that. I’m chuffed to bits with myself and I’m really grateful for Alison’s help, and the team at the pharmacy were great as well.
“I feel in more control of my life, and I genuinely now enjoy the fact that I don’t smoke.
“I’d highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about stopping. Christmas is the perfect time to give it a go. Everybody’s different and there are all these different products to help you. I knew about Varenicline, and I knew I would be able to do it with that, so I have genuinely quit in my own way.”
Alison said: “Patricia found a way to quit that suited her and that’s why it worked. We decided Varenicline would be the right medication to curb her cravings, but the most important part was her desire to change.
“If you can make the commitment to change, we can support you to see it through. Patricia is living proof of that and is now smoke-free for Christmas after 40 years. We’re very proud of her and I’m sure her family are too.”
If you’d like to find out more about Quit Your Way, visit www.nhsggc.scot/your-health/quit-your-way or call 0800 916 8858
