Collaborative Efforts Help Mental Health Patients Quit Smoking

That is the title of this article and blog.  It is not worth it to smoke anymore.  I am glad that I quit fifteen years ago. “Persons with mental illness account for more than one-third of adult smokers in the United States and despite a decline in tobacco use during the past five decades, there has been no change in the smoking rate for patients with poor mental health.  To combat reliance on tobacco in mental health populations, experts agree that mental health services and government-sponsored tobacco control programs must work together to improve education and access to smoking cessation programs.”  It is time to quit that is what I felt when I decided to quit.  I could not have done it before than because I enjoyed it too much.  I always carried cigarettes on me.  When I quit I had four packs on me that I gave to a friend besides the two cartons.

I cannot say that I quit with smoke aid.  The wellbutrin I took to stop smoking just made me so upset that I quit in a month.  I just did not want to take it anymore and I wasn’t craving so I quit. “Historically, mental health care has operated separately from general medical practices where collaborations exist to strongly encourage smoking cessation in typical patient populations, said Jill M. Williams, MD, professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.  The result of this disconnect, according to Dr. Williams, has left smokers with disparities to become dominant group of smokers in the United States. This includes smokers with mental illness, as well as other addictions and the very poor. Disparities research indicates we need tailored strategies to effect these remaining populations of smokers, she said.”  I had to ask my doctor when I wanted to quit.  A lot of people with mental illness do not have PCP’s.  I believe you have to have a reason to quit.  It was not that I would die young that made me quit.  It was the reason of having my granddaughter in a smoke free house.  I was not even supposed to quit that was supposed to my ex-wife.  She did not quit.
The article says: “Williams said partnerships between mental health providers and state or county tobacco control programs benefit patients, providers and programs.  For patients, smoking cessation improves their health be reducing the impact of smoking-related illnesses.  This in turn lowers costs in treating those illnesses.  The paradox is that we still pay for the heart disease and cancer that these smokers develop so it makes more sense to help them stop smoking, explained Williams. Likewise, tobacco control programs, already leaders in advocacy, can emphasize the need for smoking cessation programs and policies that focus specifically on underserved populations, including individuals with mental health illness. Ultimately, coordinated efforts can strengthen and expand treatment programs, control healthcare costs, and improve the well-being of individuals with mental illness and other disparate populations, which have limited access to smoking cessation options, said Williams.”  If you can quit why not if it means you will be here longer with your loved ones, I enjoyed every minute I had with my granddaughter when she was a baby that I would not trade to this day for a cigarette.