Q:
I used to smoke, I stopped smoking for 5 years. But recently about 5 months ago I started smoking again. The first time I re-started was when I felt depressed and bored. Now every time I feel stressed out or mad about a particular situation I feel I have to have a cigarette. It becomes also a habit for me these days to smoke while I am on the phone talking to my girlfriend in Norway. I really don't know how to stop smoking again. Please provide me with advice. Thank you for your help.
A:
You can stop smoking successfully again but you do need to know your triggering emotions and situations that make smoking a temptation and be ready with alternative activities when those things happen, because they will happen.
Establish a date that will be your quit day. Strongly consider the use of nicotine patches or gum to help you cut down in preparation for that day and for "rescue" when you are feeling you must smoke. Also have a good supply of sugarless gum as an alternative that is non-nicotine containing.
If depression/anxiety is an ongoing trigger, consider the use of bupropion, an antidepressant that has been extremely helpful in the process of smoking cessation for many people. It is used for about 12 weeks, sometimes longer, on a daily basis, as people are stopping their cigarettes.
Lastly, find support for what you are doing to keep yourself healthy in the long run. Find friends/family who will remind you regularly of your good decision, and go to the new "Quit Smoking" website with Smoking Cessation information through our Self-Care program at http://quitsmoking.wwu.edu. You can sign up for the "Quit Smoking" program offered here at Western. Western also offers other support groups such as one-on-one support at the Wellness Outreach Center in VU432 or at 650-4321.
~The Doc
