I have not smoked for 36 months and I feel fantastic – Anita’s story

Anita Curzon had been smoking for over 40 years before she finally managed to successfully stop with the support of our Feel Good Suffolk Advisor, Teresa.

She has now been smoke-free for more than 36 months and here she tells us what motivated her to stop and how the support helped her to achieve her goal.

We recently caught up with Anita to find out more…

When did you first start smoking and how long had you smoked for?

I started smoking from the age of 12 years old, so I had been smoking for about 44 years!
When I started it was in the days when there were smoking areas on the maternity wards! We were never really educated on the harms, and we were never encouraged to think about changing. It was just seen as normal.

The most we knew as pregnant smokers was that our baby may be smaller but of course that was seen as a good thing as we didn’t understand what it actually meant.

I am horrified at the thought of smoking around my children and grandchildren, but now we have better education and knowledge, so I know I don’t want that.

What inspired you to stop smoking?

My first real attempt to stop wasn’t until about 4 years ago, but sadly I started having seizures, life turned upside down and I was having trouble with my landlord, so I started again. The thing that originally inspired me to stop was the birth of my grandchildren. I can remember holding my grandson and trying to get him to sleep and all I kept thinking about was ‘I am dying for a fag’. I hated that, I should have been relishing that moment, not hoping he would go to sleep just so I could go and have a cigarette. There was a whole heap of other reasons too and I began listing them in the notes on my phone. Even things like trying not to set my hair alight when lighting up a cigarette in the wind, smelling, the expense and my health, of course.

I lost my daughter several years ago and that also makes you think life is short and it made me want to be here for as long as possible to be around for the grandchildren and watch them grow up.

What helped you to stop smoking?

Alongside the support from Teresa, I used a nicotine mouth spray and patches. I am not using either product now, but I did replace my mouth spray with a minty mouth spray because I found it hard to break the habit associated with using it.

Teresa made me feel like I could be honest throughout my stop-smoking attempt, I could open up if I was struggling without any judgement. She was always there at the end of the phone and would always come back to me if I needed her. It was a massive help and without her I don’t think I would have done it.

How have you benefitted from giving up smoking?

Firstly, my house doesn’t stink of smoke anymore! I feel cleaner, my sense of smell has come back and I don’t have to constantly go outside to smoke or worry about not being able to get out of somewhere to smoke. I have not smoked for 36 months now, and I feel fantastic. I could have never imagined when I started at 12 years old that I would continue into my 50s but I never thought I would be without the desire to smoke, yet here I am, and I am now thinking about attending one of the weight management groups too.

Anita – The thing that originally inspired me to stop was the birth of my grandchildren.