A NHS worker who lost £50,000 from a deadly addiction that takes 80,000 lives every year is warning everyone to stay away from it.
Ian Taylor, who works as a hospital engineer at NTH Solutions, smoked his first cigarette as a 22-year-old in 1985.
Unlike most smokers who start smoking due to peer pressure, Ian started smoking while working night shifts at a factory in Middlesbrough.
When he first started having the occasional cigarette whilst working strenuous night shifts, he felt more aware and alert.
This is a result of nicotine, which is an ingredient in cigarettes, that entered Ian’s body and triggers the release of several chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) like serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters can cause pleasurable feelings and a sense of wellbeing but they are temporary.
A single cigarette to help him get through his shift spiralled into something the 62-year-old was not able to control, until he was smoking around 40 cigarettes every day.
Besides the health issues that started to show, including constant coughing and breathlessness, Ian was spending more than £200 every month on cigarettes.
Ian said: “This was the biggest wake-up call for me. With the amount of money I have wasted on smoking, I could have saved it and used it for something that would have truly benefited me.”
By the time Ian decided it was time to give up smoking, he had smoked more than 240,000 cigarettes and lost more than £50,000.
“Now, I have saved £40,000 from stubbing the cigarette out”
Following a determined mind to stub out his harmful addiction. Ian came across the smoking cessation clinic at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust in 2007.
The team provide expert behavioural support and stop smoking medications to anyone who is trying to quit smoking. After an initial consultation, Ian was offered further specialist support at the Billingham Health Centre.
Ian said: “I was offered nicotine tabs and nicotine gum on a free prescription. Moreover, my willpower kept me going by saying to myself that if I had a cigarette now, I would have wasted all my efforts.”
Thanks to him and the smoking cessation clinic’s efforts, Ian quit smoking after 22 years and has been living a healthier life ever since.
He continued: “The support I got from the smokefree cessation clinics was amazing. Although when I look back, I feel petrified to know that I wasted £50,000 on smoking, not forgetting the harmful effects it had on my health.
“But I can be relieved thinking that I have saved £40,000 too by quitting smoking for the past 17 years.”
Stub it out today
Find support in Stockton and HartlepoolSmoking cessation clinics across University Hospitals Tees are urging anyone suffering from smoking addiction to stub the cigarette out and seek help from their team of experts.
If you are someone receiving care at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, please contact 01642 383813 or 07789 938825 for more information. You can also ask a member of staff on your ward for help, who can further signpost to the tobacco dependency team.
If you are an inpatient or a pregnant smoker at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, please ask a member of staff for support, who will put you in touch with the tobacco dependency team.