caring Communication

37-year-old mum of three Sinead Hayes, a smoker of over
20 years, shares her experience of kicking the smoking
habit
My name is Sinead Hayes. I am a mom, wife,
blogger (www.facebook.com/Shin-Hayes-Thinking-Out-Loud)
and this is my quit story…
I had tried several times in the past to quit
smoking but never lasted more than the token
few days. This time was different!!!
My father, who turns 60 this year, was a very
heavy smoker, getting through in excess of 40
cigarettes a day and had been a smoker since
the age of 13. When I heard he was planning to
attend a quit smoking group, of course I encouraged
and wished him well but in my mind I
condescendingly assumed he’d fail. I was wrong.
I’m very proud to say that having attended the
HSE Quit course and, with the use of NRT (nicotine
replacement therapy), Nicorette patches and
Nicorette spray combined, he is smokefree since
September. He is now looking and feeling so
much healthier than he has in a long time. If he
can do it so can I.
My father’s success in quitting led me to contact
Miriam O’Shea, the smoking cessation officer
with the HSE, who led the course my father
attended in Cork city.
Two weeks later, I attended the first group
meeting of the six-week course. At this stage,
my mind was well and truly made up, I was going
to quit, I had to! I have a husband and three
fantastic children that I want to be around for, for
as long as I possibly can be.
I have an auto-immune condition known as
PalindromicRheumatism that requires me to take
daily immunosuppressants. I have little doubt
that my smoking certainly wasn’t beneficial to
my condition. I also had an embarrassing cough
which had plagued me for years.
From day one, I was pleased to find all group
members to be very welcoming and supportive. It
was very encouraging and uplifting to find myself
in a room of like-minded people all willing each
other to achieve a common goal.
As part of our introduction to the course, we
all had our carbon monoxide levels checked. Although
I was the youngest member of the group,
I had the second highest reading of all those in
attendance. This frightened the life out of me. I
actually felt nauseous.
Although as a group we had all agreed to quit
on week three, the result of that test was enough
to convince me to quit there and then. After a
few days, it was however ultimately another failed
attempt. Again it became apparent that cold
turkey wasn’t the way for me to tackle this.
In hindsight, I really should have listened to the
advice and understood the important role that
NRT would play in aiding me in my quest to quit.
I would have to say that the initial out lay for the
NRT products is high and I could easily see how
this would deter some, but I suppose if you look
at it in the long-term, good health is priceless.
It was week five before I fell into line and started
to correctly use the patches and inhalers. Even
then, it was far from plain sailing. I still stumbled
several times along the way. On more than one
occasion, I found myself accepting cigarettes
when offered, more out of reflex than anything
else.
Most recently, I was invited by a good friend to
attend Ladies Day at Leopardstown Racecourse,
something I have wanted to do for a very long
time. I threw myself headlong into the preparations,
a busy mind is a fabulous aide.
On the morning of the event due to being so
busy with getting ready I made a fundamental error,
I forgot to apply my NRT patch before leaving
home for the two and a half hour journey, and on
top of that I did not bring any patches with me.
Needless to say, as the day went on, my cravings
grew, to the point where I gave in and had a
single cigarette.
This only goes to show the importance the correct
use of the wide variety of NRT products plays
in our battle to succeed and quit once and for all.
Thankfully I was able to persevere and reap the
benefits of the NRT products which enabled me
to reach my goal and quit.
I am very happy to say my husband and
children, family and friends are delighted with
my success, and I am also delighted to report
that I no longer have that embarrassing smoker’s
cough!!
Sinead Hayes, who gave up smoking in December,
pictured after her appearance on TV3’s Ireland AM
show where she shared her quit story. Also pictured
is fellow quitter Seán Lynch (back left). Also pictured
is José Ayala, Health Promotion Officer, Tobacco,
and TV3 presenters Sinéad Desmond and Mark
Cagney.
spring 2016 | health matters | 19