Smoking fewer cigarettes

In the short-term, smoking cigarettes can lift your mood. If you have a craving for a cigarette and then you actually have one, you obviously feel better. But in the long-term, smoking can make you more anxious and depressed. Stopping the cravings, rather than calming them by smoking more is the best way to feel better.

Smoking can stop your medicine working properly, especially if you take olanzapine or clozapine. You should discuss this with your GP or psychiatrist if you are worried.

Giving up smoking can be difficult, but many people have done it before. According to the charity Quit, there are 12 million ex-smokers in the UK. And there is lots of advice and support available – getting advice and support should make it easier to stop. Your GP may be able to prescribe you nicotine patches or gum or inhalators to help you through cigarette cravings, for example. Knowing what other people did to help them give up smoking can also help.

Advice is available through the NHS website www.givingupsmoking.co.uk  or by ‘phoning 0800 169 0 169. There are many support groups and a lot of professional help available – you can find out what’s available in your area on the website or by phone or by texting ‘GIVE UP’ with your full postcode to 88088.

Or contact Quit on 0800 00 22 00 or look at www.quit.org.uk. They have lots of useful hints about how to give up, such as completing a for and against chart, listing the pros and cons of smoking, keeping a record of how much money you’ve saved and writing a diary of where and when you smoke, so that you can avoid these activities or be prepared for temptation, at least in the short term.