Developed by the Tobacco Research & Intervention Program of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. (c) 2000.
The
resources above are in the Portable Document Format (PDF), and require the use
of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be obtained from the
Adobe Web site.
Forever Free Series
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree1.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree2.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree3.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree4.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree5.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree6.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree7.pdf
http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree8.pdf
The American Lung Association offers these benefits for smokers who kick the habit: After eight hours, the carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
After two weeks to three months, circulation and lung function improve.
After one to nine months, coughing and shortness of breath decrease.
After one year, your risk of having coronary artery disease is half that of a smokers.
After 15 years your risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of someone who has never smoked.
He says smokers who come to see her "get a
lecture" on the issue.
"Smoking affects everything and goes throughout your body; it can make medical
treatment more difficult because of damage to tissues," Dutta says. "It makes
delivery of treatment more challenging."
Dutta says many patients can stop smoking
with the use of medications, but he also encourages patients to try hypnosis.
Howell hypnotist Curtis Watkins says he has an 85 percent to 90 percent success
rate with his smoking-cessation efforts in his 25 years of practice in
Livingston County. Many local physicians send him patients who want to quit
smoking.
"One of the best ways (to quit smoking cigarettes) is through hypnosis," Watkins says. "But however you get off of 'em, you gotta get off them. It comes down to positive thinking - letting that mind work for you and not against you. When you're smoking, you're using your mind against you, and it can cost you your life."
Watkins offers group sessions of eight to 10 people, where he explains the process of hypnosis, answers questions, hypnotizes his clients and gives them a reinforcing CD to use at home (details on the Web at how2elearn.com/watkinshypnosis).
"You have to want to get off cigarettes," Watkins says.
He offers this advice to those who have made the choice to quit:
Set a date and know that you are never going to smoke again.
Tell yourself, "This is it! I'm going to get off these things. I'm going to be happy. I'm going to be successful and move forward with a positive attitude."
Remember the six most important words in your life: As you think, so you are.
Whatever method you choose to quit, help is as close as your doctor, the Internet, or a call to the Michigan Quit Line at 1-800-480-QUIT (7848).
Freelance writer Linda Theil is a former three-pack-a-day smoker who found success with a Curtis Watkins group session in 1999 and has not smoked since.
