Quit Tobacco for life

Today’s laws have made it mandatory for corporates to enforce a tobacco free workplace. However, CPAA believes that it is in the employer’s interest to help employees to quit voluntarily rather than have it forced upon them. Smoking has an adverse effect on your employees’ health and results in loss of productivity; hence the use of effective workplace smoking cessation initiatives will give measurable benefits in terms of health, social and economic gains. We would like to partner you in a step by step journey towards creating a genuinely Tobacco Free Workplace.

We will start the journey towards helping your employees quit through an awareness lecture which can be delivered at your premises. The lecture is designed to explain the dangers of smoking, the causal relationship with cancer and strategies used by the tobacco industry to promote addiction in a scientific, non threatening manner, providing education on the deleterious effects of tobacco on health, benefits of quitting and providing motivation and introductory training on how to quit to the entire employee population, not segregating those who use tobacco. Users will be invited to contact us through email, mobile or personal visit to our centre at Prabhadevi directly or through your HR department. This must be initiated by the individual on his own conviction to maximize the chances of success. They will then be enrolled in our 'QUIT TOBACCO FOR LIFE'.

CPAA’s tobacco cessation process is based on an interdisciplinary model comprising of the following steps:

Behavioural Analysis: The process of cessation begins with an analysis of why the client initiated tobacco abuse and what benefits they feel they get from the experience

One-on-one counseling: A tailor made programme is created depending on type of addiction, frequency and quantity of use and degree of personal commitment. At this stage the personal intervention of a counselor-coach will be available 24/7.

Medical Support: Given the difficulty faced by those attempting to quit tobacco use, especially those who have attempted to quit earlier, medical treatments have been developed to help lessen the intensity of withdrawal symptoms. Our qualified professional assistance will ensure that the NRT is taken under close supervision and withdrawn as soon as possible.

Nicotine Anonymous: Once the client has stopped tobacco use they will be given the choice of enrolling in a Nicotine Anonymous support group, a fellowship of people who have been addicted to nicotine, which helps participants to stay quit.

CPAA’s Quit Tobacco for Life’s online version will act as an easily accessed source of information focusing on tobacco, its deleterious effects on health and quality of life. Message boards with testimonials of success stories will motivate other users to quit and celebrate the successes of those who quit.

For more information contact Dr. Kunal Oswal: kunal.oswal@cancer.org.in or call 99300 11149

How to quit smoking :

Over the years numerous people have come to Cancer Patients Aid Association expressing their genuine desire to quit smoking. Yet they are unable to do so. There are both psychological and pharmacological reasons why quitting is so tricky. The nicotine in cigarettes is potentially as addictive as cocaine and heroine and hence as difficult to give up. Medical aids in the form of patches and chewing gum that release moderate amounts of nicotine into the bloodstream, have been found to be partially successful during the early days in combating withdrawal symptoms.

However the psychological aspects of the habit are equally hard to surmount and must be overcome by sheer will power. Each individual's motivations for trying to quit vary. The most important step remains the first one, making the decision. Subsequently each one of us must assess what it is that will motivate us to quit. Given below are some tips that can be used.

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1. Before you quit smoking, try wrapping your cigarettes with a sheet of paper like a Christmas present. Every time you want a cigarette, unwrap the pack and write down what you are doing, how you feel and how important this cigarette is to you. Do this for two weeks and you will cut down as well as develop new insights into your habit.
2. Many smokers feel that cigarettes give them energy. Such people should try gum, modest exercise, a brisk walk or a new hobby. But keep in mind, most smokers tend to put on weight, so watch your diet and do not start eating rich foods.
3. If you gain weight while giving up smoking, don't start dieting immediately. Wait until you have succeeded in giving up smoking first.
4. If cigarettes help you to relax, try meditating, drinking a new beverage or some new social activity.
5. Try choosing an opportune time to quit, such as when you are ill with a cold or flu and have lost your taste for cigarettes.
6. On a 3"x5" card, make a list of what you like and dislike about smoking. Add to it and refer to it daily.
7. Make a short list of things you have always wanted to buy. Next to each, write its cost. Convert each cost into number of packs of cigarettes. If you save the money each day, you will now be able to buy these items. Use a special piggy bank for collecting this money.
8. Do not smoke after you get the craving until at least 3 minutes have passed. During that time, change your thinking or activity. Telephone somebody you can talk to until the craving subsides.
9. Plan a memorable day for stopping. Choose a vacation, New Year's Day, your birthday, a holiday, your child's birthday, your anniversary. But don't make the date so distant that you change your mind.
10. If you smoke under stress at work, pick a date when you are away from work.
11. Decide whether you are going to stop suddenly or gradually. If it is to be gradual, work out a tapering system so that you have immediate goals on your way to an ‘I Quit' day.
12. Don't store up cigarettes. Never buy by the carton. Wait until one pack is finished before you buy another.
13. Never carry cigarettes around with you at home or at work. Keep them as far away as possible. Leave them with someone or lock them up.
14. Until you quit, make a smoking corner that is far away from anything interesting.
15. Never smoke while watching television.
16. If you like to smoke with others, try smoking alone. If you like smoking alone, try to find the company of people who do not smoke.
17. Never carry matches or lighters around with you.
18. Put away ashtrays or fill them with flowers or nuts. Walnuts will give you something to do with your hands.
19. Change your cigarette brand so that you progressively smoke cigarettes with lower and lower tar and nicotine content.
20. Always ask yourself, "Do I really need this cigarette or is it just a reflex?"
21. Try to help someone else stop smoking.
22. Each day try to postpone lighting your first cigarette of the day.
23. Decide that you will only smoke on even or odd numbered hours or as the habit recedes, on odd or even dates.
24. Keep your hands occupied. Try a musical instrument, knitting or puzzles.
25. Make a major change in your habits. Seek new activities or perform old ones in new ways. Think of different ways to solve problems. Do things differently.
26. Get out of the house if you tend to smoke more at home.
27. Keep to places where smoking is not allowed, libraries, theatres, department stores or just go to bed early during the first few days when you are trying to give up smoking.
28. Keep light reading materials, crossword puzzles or brochures to read during coffee breaks.
29. Take a shower or do something where you cannot smoke.
30. Brush your teeth frequently to get rid of the tobacco taste and stains.
31. Visit your dentist after you quit and have your teeth cleaned to remove tobacco stains and stale tobacco taste.
32. When you have a craving for a cigarette, take 10 deep breaths, hold the last breath while you light a match and blow it out with the exhaled breath. Put the match out in an ashtray, as you would have a cigarette. Pretend that it was a cigarette you put out. Then immediately start another activity.
33. Only smoke half a cigarette and throw the rest away.
34. After you quit, start using your lungs. Increase your activities and start moderate exercise, such as walks.
35. Place a bet with someone that you can quit. Put the cigarette money in a jar each morning and forfeit it if you smoke, keeping the money if you don't smoke by the end of the week. Gradually extend this period until you stop altogether.
36. Purchase a money order equivalent to a year's supply of cigarettes and give it to a friend for safe keeping. If you smoke in the next year, your friend keeps the money order. If you don't, he gives it back to you at the end of the year.
37. If you are depressed or have physical symptoms that might be related to your smoking, discuss it with a doctor. It is easier to quit when you are aware of your health status.
38. After you quit, decide on someone who you can call when you crave a cigarette. Never face the situation of craving a cigarette alone.

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Poems from Stella Dunstan, Cambridge, UK

These poems on cancer were sent to us by Stella Dunstan who lost her brother to lung cancer. They provide strong motivation for all smokers to give up their habit.

WHAT AM I?

Orange and white is what I am -
I wouldn't say that I was glam.
Starting long, I finish short,
Putting you on life support.
I make a mess, I don't smell nice,
And accompanying me is a very high price.
Life with me will never be fun -
I'm sure you'll wish you'd never begun!
To this one I have got no answer.
All I offer is lung cancer.
Do you wish we'd never met?
Yes, me - that killer cigarette!

© Copyright Stella Dunstan 2001
Creative Communication

ALL BECAUSE YOU SMOKE

I cannot breath, you're stifling me
My vision's blurred, I cannot see
The reason for these ghastly things
Is all because you smoke

You take that dirty cigarette
A smell that no one can forget
The reason for these ghastly things
Is all because you smoke

Your teeth are yellow, your breath is stale
Have you thought what you inhale
The reason for these ghastly things
Is all because you smoke

Your purse is empty for they're a price
Very expensive for something not nice
The reason for these ghastly things
Is all because you smoke

You've got lung cancer and it's too late
Do you want to be buried or shall we cremate
The reason for these ghastly things
Is all because you smoke

© Copyright Stella Dunstan 2001

SEALED WITH A KISS

His eyes met mine, I started to melt
This was a moment I'd never felt
He pressed his lips up against mine
But all of a sudden he'd lost his shine
His breath was stale, the taste was bad
I walked away and I was glad
His teeth were yellow, he smelt of smoke
So unpleasant, it was no joke
He was like kissing an old ash tray
And all that I am left to say
Is think of what you might regret
When kissing a walking cigarette

© Copyright Stella Dunstan 2001