Smokers quit for Covid
If you smoke, stopping now can protect your lungs and your immune system. Our Stop Smoking Team is supporting a new national movement called #QuitForCovid. It recognises that stopping smoking now could not only deliver all the usual health benefits, but also reduce your risk of developing life-threatening complications from Covid-19.
Matt Seal, Stop Smoking Team Lead explains: “The Stop Smoking team is here to support smokers to make a positive change. Lots of people calling us want to use this pandemic as an opportunity to break free from the addiction to cigarettes, so they can protect themselves, their families, and the NHS.”
Our Stop Smoking Team continues to be available to patients and staff who would like support to quit. They can provide phone advice and support, as well as arranging stop smoking medications on prescription.
Please call them on 0800 0820 388 to find the support that is right for you, or visit www.SmokefreeLewisham.co.uk.
Read one patient’s story of quitting during Covid-19:
Saf had tried several times to give up smoking before she sought help in February from our Stop Smoking team. She was determined to tackle her addictions, as she was spending about £10,000 a year on a combination of cigarettes and alcohol and wanted to save this money to put towards a flat.
She had two face-to-face appointments with Stop Smoking lead, Matt Seal, before the service switched to phone support because of the outbreak of coronavirus.
Saf, who has asthma, was given a course of Champix tablets that can help to relieve the craving and withdrawal symptoms associated with stopping smoking. During the first two weeks of taking Champix you can continue to smoke, while you set a quit date for between day eight and day 14. While it is not recommended that you smoke after your quit date, Champix helps by reducing the enjoyment you feel from smoking cigarettes if you do. Champix is not the same as nicotine replacement therapy, which is also available from our Stop Smoking team.
Little did Saf know that just a couple of weeks after officially quitting, she would develop Covid-19 symptoms. She’d cut her smoking down a lot but continued to have the odd cigarette. For the first few days she just had a cold, which was followed by feeling inexplicably fatigued. Not realising it might be Covid-19 she tried to keep going. Eventually she woke one night with real difficulty breathing, and felt extremely scared. That was the point at which she knew she would not smoke again. Her condition became worse, until all she could do was sit in bed through the fevers, chills and sweating. Her ears felt blocked and her sense of taste and smell disappeared, making her unable to taste even highly seasoned food.
The 111 advice service confirmed that her symptoms were likely to be Covid-19. Fortunately Saf’s health gradually improved over the next two weeks.
Saf is now well and is so glad to be smoke free. Reflecting on the support from our Stop Smoking team she said: “To be honest, saving money was my main motivation for stopping smoking. However, waking up unable to breathe was really scary, and a turning point for me. My coronavirus symptoms made me feel absolutely terrible – like having sludge in your lungs. Taking the Champix and the support from Matt made a real difference this time, and has helped me quit, hopefully this time for good.”
If you’d like support to stop smoking call our Stop smoking team on 0800 0820 388 to find the support that is right for you.
You can find additional support on the #QuitForCovid website at: todayistheday.co.uk.