Directory of health resources for healthcare professionals.

It was Mark Twain who first said, “It’s easy to quit smoking . . . I’ve done it hundreds of times.” All of us have known the resolve to get rid of the cigarettes, but we keep going back to them. I personally “quit” hundreds of nights as I stubbed out the last butt of the day, only to light up again in the morning.

But, to use the refrain of Paul Simon’s song, “There must be 50 ways to leave your lover” when that lover is the cigarette habit. All of them work—for some people. There’s no magic pill, though certain approaches seem to be just that when you hear the testimonials or the advertising.

All methods work for those individuals who really want to quit. In a way, those who eventually do get rid of the habit have hit bottom in very much the same way as alcoholics do before they will admit to their disease and seek help. For me, it became the realisation that I was no longer in control. The cigarettes, in effect, were smoking me. I was no longer enjoying most of them. And when I tried to cut back I was in a constant state of withdrawal, yearning for the next “allowable” smoke.

I hit bottom the morning I woke up with a throat so sore that I could scarcely swallow. I lit a cigarette and it was like acid hitting my throat. Now, I’d smoked through dozens of colds, coughs, flus and sore throats before, but this one was a real doozy. I decided that I’d not smoke that one day, threw the butts I had on hand away, and somehow made it through the day. The next morning I bought another pack, but the pain was as severe. So I decided on one more smokeless day, just one more. Those days got linked together, one by one, and I’ve never smoked since. But as you and I know, it wasn’t nearly as simple as that, and I’ll share some of the ways I got through it in the coming pages.

Yes, there are many ways to quit, but the best method remains “cold turkey”. Ninety per cent of those who do kick the habit do so on their own, with no outside help at all. And cold turkey means just that: no cigarettes at all. Cutting down may seem like a less painful way to do it, but it’s just not as effective. It comes down to the period of withdrawal.

Nicotine’s effects on the body take about two weeks to dissipate. But if you have a cigarette here and there, and a puff of someone else’s now and again, you maintain a low level of nicotine in the bloodstream. Enough to keep you hooked but not enough to keep you satisfied, so you’re in that horrible limbo state of permanent withdrawal. Most smokers who try to cut down fail miserably and are miserable in the process.

The addiction to cigarette smoking takes two forms. First you have the physical cravings for nicotine. The fact remains that within two weeks those cravings largely subside, as the level of nicotine decreases in the bloodstream and the body is finally rid of it. By the end of the two-week period, the nicotine addiction will have gone.

But now you have to deal with the psychological addiction. As you know, there are seemingly endless social and personal cues for you to smoke. You’ve relied on cigarettes to pick you up, calm you down, celebrate your victories and console you during life’s tougher moments.

For some, the thought of going through the process of quitting on one’s own is enough to create the stress to light up another cigarette. You might not be up to doing it cold turkey. For you there is help, and you might want to consider some of the possibilities.

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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

Case History: Mr S. (Male – aged 56, a diabetic since 1988) I was taking 12 National Health prescribed drugs when I first came to the clinic in July 1993 – now reduced (early 1994) to six a day. Also my insulin intake has been reduced by two-thirds.

In July ’93 when I started, I was struggling to walk on level ground for more than four or five minutes: now I can walk four or five times as far. I have no chest pains any more [he suffered badly from angina], but I still get cramp in the back of my legs, though they’re much better than before.

When I first visited the clinic I was sceptical, so I had a good look round before deciding to shell out a couple of thousand quid. But now I’ve had 20 chelation treatments with them (between 29 July 1993 and 8 December 1993) – one a week.

I got relief after the fourth or fifth week when I suddenly felt quite a bit of improvement. I came home on the Wednesday and on the Friday I suddenly found myself doing something I hadn’t done for 12 months. The improvement came just as quick as that. It was the breathlessness which had got me down before; it happened when I did anything physical at all.

By Christmas last year I was feeling better than I’ve felt for two or three years and my tests show I’ve had 20 per cent overall improvement in my arteries.

In 1986 I’d had balloon angioplasty on my worst (left) leg which had gone numb and it did help for a time. But then they did nothing except give me tablets until March ’93 when they tried to do an angiogram. By that time my leg arteries were so blocked up again they couldn’t get the wires up and they dismissed me, said they couldn’t treat me. They also abandoned any idea of doing a bypass operation, which they had considered for my angina.

Why did they wait all those years from the time of the first treatment? By that time I was beyond help.

It was at that point that a friend of mine, a medical journalist, told me about chelation therapy. I then went to my GP who admitted he knew nothing about it but said, ‘What have you got to lose? They’re offering you nothing.’

When I came to the clinic I saw there were patients getting treatment on the national health so I went to my doctor again and he wrote a letter. Then began another saga.

The local health authority refused the doctor’s request and repeated there was nothing more they could do. I decided to take it further, wrote to my MP and eventually drew his attention to the health minister’s commitment to allow chelation therapy on the National Health provided it was considered suitable by the consulting doctor.

My doctor did agree, but the local health authority turned me down. They said they were considering chelation therapy but at this stage could not allow it. I then wrote again to my MP, who wrote on my behalf to the National Health Authority. They wrote back saying that whilst chelation therapy was available within the National Health for some conditions, it was not considered to be effective for cardiovascular diseases and therefore they disallowed my request. I’m still in the process of fighting this and I won’t give up.

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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol