Published by Robert L Senior Reporter on Monday 23rd December 2024, at 08:00hrs
Smoking kills, on average, 8 million people a year globally, and an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke
A smoker from Preston advises people to stop smoking after being told he has the lungs of a 75 year old.
Robert has been a smoker since the age of 16 and would smoke on average thirty cigarettes a day, sometimes even more depending on his stress levels.
Robert said, “I started smoking when I was sixteen, I would smoke around twenty a day, and that increased to thirty a day. If I was stressed out, I’d smoke even more.
He went on to say that smoking is a really bad habit, but despite trying to quit the habit several times, he started smoking again. “everytime I stopped smoking, I would find it difficult to keep calm in situations that would be absolutely trivial, smoking helped me stress less and I quite enjoyed it despite it being a disgusting habit and a smelly one too.
He continued, “it wasn’t until recently I visited the doctors after suffering from a dry cough for over a year, my breathing was becoming increasingly worse, especially during the night, I would wake myself up coughing so much and feel really dizzy.
I was sent for tests to see if I had COPD or asthma and had to have a chest x-ray.
I was at work one day, and I got these chest pains. My chest was hurting, and my back every time I breathed, I seriously thought I was having some kind of heart attack. I called 111 and explained it to them, and they said I had to go to the hospital, they was arranging an ambulance for me as it was an emergency. I ended up driving myself to the hospital, where I underwent further tests to see what was going on.
Luckily, I passed the tests. What worried me the most was that the nurse told me I had the lungs of a 75-year-old, not something you want to hear when you’re only 37.
Robert now plans to quit the bad habit and start the New Year clean and has vowed to focus on his health and wellbeing.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 8 million people die each year as a result of smoking tobacco, and an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers die from being exposed to secondhand smoke.
In 2022–2023, there were an estimated 408,700 hospital admissions in England due to smoking. This was a 4.8% increase from the previous year, but still lower than the 446,400 admissions in 2019–2020, before the COVID pandemic.
16% of those were for respiratory disease and 8% for cancer caused by smoking.
Are you a smoker looking to quit for good? Local stop smoking services are free, friendly and can massively boost your chances of quitting for good.
These services staffed by expert advisers provide a range of proven methods to help you quit.
They’ll give you accurate information and advice, as well as professional support, during the first few months you stop smoking.
They also make it easy and affordable for you to get stop smoking treatments, such as:
nicotine replacement therapy, such as patches or gum
varenicline (Champix)
bupropion (Zyban)
Some local services might also offer access to other types of support such as Allen Carr’s Easyway.
For help to stop smoking visit the NHS website for more information here 👉https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/nhs-stop-smoking-services-help-you-quit/
G2K INCIDENT WATCH 