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Swap Stories

Let’s get better and swap to a less harmful form of nicotine this September

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Sam Lee

Sam is working with a Maternity Tobacco Dependency Treatment Advisor on her journey to becoming Smokefree, watch her story here.

Sam’s best swap tip – If you’ve tried something like patches and don’t like them, it’s time to try something else – you will find something that works for you. Working with a stop smoking advisor gives you all of those options at your fingertips.

Pete Connolly

Pete smoked for 60 years. He decided to stop smoking after hearing of a neighbours’ health scare following a lung health check.

Initially he swapped to patches but wasn’t keen. He tried a vape and managed very well with this, he’s planning to swap the vape for fresh air in September!

Pete’s best swap tip – If you’ve tried something and it’s not working for you, try something else – I was totally against vapes, but they helped me make sure I didn’t relapse by stopping me craving cigarettes. It was more straightforward than I thought it would be.

Andrew Burgess

Former cardiac patient at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby

I have tried to quit a few times but started smoking again. This time, I knew I had to quit for my health after my doctor told me to, so I swapped to a vape and nicotine patches, which has worked well.

I was a little worried going back to work and being with colleagues who smoke on breaks, but I just use my vape instead of smoking, and watching my colleagues smoke doesn’t bother me.

Andrew’s best swap tip – I didn’t realise that smoking had such a negative physical effect on me – I just accepted that was how I felt. It’s only from stopping that I realise it was all connected, the shortness of breath, lack of energy and motivation and dull skin.

It’s so good to see all the physical improvements as well as financial which come with stopping smoking!