How I quit smoking and gained a new life

I was just 11 when I started smoking in the 1980s. Finding cigarettes was easy. My mom was a smoker, and when she reached the end of a pack, she’d send me with a dollar to the corner store to buy more. Back then, there were no laws against selling tobacco products to kids, so the store clerk thought nothing of it.

有时，我会从妈妈的供应中偷偷摸摸。其他时候，我会从学校的“酷”孩子那里得到他们，让我参加他们的秘密吸烟课程。

By the time I graduated from college, I was smoking a pack a day.

孩子们激励我戒烟

我想辞职，但是我作为社会工作者的虐待和被忽视的孩子的工作常常使我感到情绪化。香烟有助于缓解压力。我尝试过几次退出冷火鸡，但这些尝试从未持续。

当我结婚并育有孩子时，情况发生了变化。在我的两个怀孕期间，我都戒烟了。这并不困难 - 好像我的思想指示我的身体保护婴儿。但是，一旦我的儿子出生，我就开始吸烟以减轻母亲和工作压力。

Working with so many children in the foster care system sometimes made me sad and frustrated. They didn’t deserve to be in this position. As a social worker, I did what I could to help, but I wanted to do more.

然后我有一个顿悟。我可以申请成为寄养父母。养育的规则之一是您不允许在儿童周围抽烟。我再次辞职，在接下来的八年中，我在无烟的家中养育了一系列的孩子。我收养了两个小女孩 - 一个有特殊需要的小女孩 - 他们找到一个家庭的机会很小。

体重增加和尼古丁成瘾

As my family grew, my marriage crumbled. I tried hard to balance everything, but it was a challenge. Since cigarettes were off-limits, I used food as a de-stressor. I’d always been heavy, even as a child. But now I weighed more than 350 pounds. I was exhausted, depressed and overwhelmed.

Then one magical day, I said “enough.” I was tired of feeling tired. I got on the treadmill. I started eating healthy foods. I lost over 200 pounds. And I filed for divorce. I’m a redhead, and my dad always said redheads are stubborn as mules. I lost the weight and got my life back on track out of sheer determination.

Losing so much weight left me with saggy, excess skin. My doctor said surgery was the only way to get rid of it, so I underwent a full-body lift. During the 17-hour operation, plastic surgeons worked on my neck, breasts, stomach, arms, legs … everything.

我的康复非常痛苦。有一天，当我比平时更糟的时候，母亲递给我一支香烟，说：“在这里，这会有所帮助。”我花了一个长的泡芙，然后BAM呢我又迷上了。尼古丁成瘾很强大。

我对恢复吸烟感到失望，但是在我的脑海中，我合理地说，吸烟可以帮助我减轻自己努力减轻的体重。我方便地“忘记了”，香烟会伤害我的身体并夺走我的生活数年。

A new start

离婚最终确定，我决定离开家乡伊利诺伊州，在德克萨斯州重新开始。我收拾好我的孩子，前往休斯敦，在那里我被雇用为社会工作者，为难以置信的寄养儿童提供高级需求。

我带有30个孩子的案子，我都将它们视为我的kids. My goal is to place each one in a loving foster family or permanent home. When that happens, there’s no greater joy. But getting to that point can be very stressful.

有时候我的日子很紧张。当我第一次带着家人或朋友求助于休斯敦时，香烟再次成为我减轻压力的方式。我讨厌他们，但我需要它们。

Participating in a smoking cessation study

当广播广告引起我的注意时，这改变了一天。“你厌倦了吸烟吗？”播音员问。我大喊“是”，尽管我一个人在房间里。该广告正在招募吸烟者MD Andersontobacco-cessation clinical trial called PISCES, which stands for “Precision-Implemented Smoking Cessation Evaluation Study.”

广告说，该计划是免费的。我不相信。我认为肯定必须有计划费，否则我必须报销MD Anderson如果我在研究期间没有停止吸烟。无论如何我决定打电话，我很高兴自己做到了。

The research coordinator explained that, unlike many other tobacco-cessation studies, PISCES is conducted remotely. I’d never have to go in person for a single visit. Everything would be done by phone and with video visits over the computer. That sounded great to me, especially since I live an hour away fromMD Anderson.

在研究期间，我将被要求在家中收集唾液和尿液样本，并将其提交给MD Andersonby courier. These, along with samples from other PISCES participants, would be analyzed for genetic markers which could potentially be used to tailor smoking cessation treatments for people based on their genetics.

I was eager to quit smoking and happy to contribute to the research, so I joined the study.

How I quit smoking

我的计划很容易遵循。我每天服用一种名为Varenicline的口服药物，持续了12周。该药被邮寄到我家。太方便了。其他参与者以斑块，口香糖或lozenges的形式接受了尼古丁替代疗法。该研究是随机的，这意味着研究人员和参与者都不选择接受哪种治疗。188bet体育网址

辅导员和医生定期通过电话或通过计算机与我联系。我得到了很多支持。

12周后未能停止吸烟的任何人都改用了另一种疗法或更高剂量。那就是MD Anderson– they don’t give up on you.

Today, I’m proud to call myself a nonsmoker. I haven’t touched a cigarette in over a year, and my cravings have disappeared.

I’ve learned that all those years of “self-medicating” with cigarettes to ease stress were actually causing more stress. The program taught me that while smoking makes you temporarily feel calmer by releasing a chemical into your brain, it wears off quickly and you feel worse than before you lit up. Today, I handle stress in healthier ways, like walking my dog, watching a movie or exercising.

我现在在一个好处，从很多方面来看。如果您想辞职，但您害怕尝试，请联系MD Anderson。如果对我有用，它可以为您服务。

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