Chase Burton
““I just said to myself ‘enough – it’s time to stop.’”
Chase Burton had been a long-term smoker, but he finally decided that “enough was enough” and quit smoking during Covid Lockdown in 2021.
Hackney resident Chase started smoking in his 20s and had tried to quit off and on throughout his 40-year smoking history. Once he managed to stop for almost 10 years but then slipped back into the habit because he was mixing tobacco with “a little bit of weed” now and again.
“My average had been 10 per day, sometimes a few more, and I enjoyed it. You know it’s bad for you and that it can kill you, but the nicotine makes you feel damn good! I know that a lot of that is because of what’s happening in your brain, and to be fair a lot of it was eventually more habit. I definitely used smoking to calm me down even though I was thinking in my head ‘this is no good for you.’ Over time I’d worked hard to cut down to 4-5 per day.”
Chase was smoking his 4-5 cigarettes a day when he got in touch with Smokefree City and Hackney. “I just said to myself ‘enough – it’s time to stop.’ My chest was a bit tight, and I had the hacking morning cough, but really it was more to do with thinking ‘enough is enough now, I’m done with this filthy, disgusting habit.’ I knew I needed help with weaning off smoking, so I wanted to use Nicotine Replacement Therapy and I knew the stop smoking service could help with that.”
Chase thinks that it was using NRT mouth spray that helped him quit for good. “The Advisor was good; she did her job… the thing that really helped me get the job done was the NRT supply that she organised for me through a local pharmacy. I used the Nicotine mouth spray which was really good – I had used other types of NRT before, but this is what worked for me – different strokes for different folks, isn’t it?”
Now he hasn’t smoked for over 6 months, Chase feels healthier both physically and mentally: “My chest is much better, no more morning cough; I also stopped using marijuana at the same time and that has made a big change in me.
“For anyone who is a long-term smoker like I used to be, I would definitely say do it despite that. I’m happy that it worked for me and I’m happy with the service: I would 100% recommend the stop smoking service to anyone who asks!”
Quitting can make improvements to your lifestyle and health in ways you might not expect.
Medications and nicotine replacement can double the chances of quitting smoking.