The key role of stopping smoking

If you have COPD, the single most important thing you can do to help yourself is to stop smoking.

Stopping smoking will help slow the progress of COPD. You will also find it easier to breathe if you avoid environments where are you exposed to tobacco smoke, and you will also reduce your chances of an exacerbation.

Most medical professionals are likely to tell you that stopping smoking is not an easy process. However, there is a lot of help available for people who are motivated to quit. Some of the best sources of help are listed below.

Don’t be frustrated if at first you don’t succeed. Remember that 80% of people who quit permanently have made at least three serious attempts to quit smoking.

It is important that you do not breathe in other people’s smoke. This means there may be occasions when you need to ask the people around you not to smoke. It can feel unnatural asking other people not to smoke, and this can be a difficult request to make. However if you persevere, you should feel less embarrassed about asking, and eventually it will become a habit to ask people not to smoke around you.

• Talk to your doctor, pharmacist, nurse or local patient organisation. They can give you information on how to stop smoking. Sometimes doctors can refer you to a smoking cessation clinic, where you will be given extra support in stopping smoking. If appropriate, they may also be able to prescribe nicotine replacement therapies or other medication.
• Use nicotine replacement therapies or prescribed smoking cessation medications
• There are many different types of nicotine replacement therapies available from pharmacies or by prescription. These include nicotine gum, inhalers and patches. If you have failed on nicotine replacement therapies in the past, your doctor may be able to advise you on other medications available
• Get advice on the internet. There are many useful resources available on the internet, which are available to people in many different languages. Some of these are listed in the Other Resources
• Print out a nicotine dependence test, and use the results to start a discussion with your doctor or pharmacist download pdf or download Word™ Doc