India knight on smoking in times

[FluffyMummy123]

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I don't agree that quit programmes should be enforced on sectioned patients though (Mental Health Act). But that's a whole other debate.

I don't think that they should either, but isn;t there an exceptionon the smoking in public places act for long stay hospitals etc?

MartianBishop

I quit 31 Dec, because I want to live for DD.

ladylush - 'If my parents got cancer I would be sad but...' - fair enough, of course, but I am utterly desolate at the thought of my mother dying. She is very much loved and needed; my father will lose his wife of 45 years, my children will be losing a superlative granny. I really don't think that smokers should assume that they won't be missed once their children are grown up. It is their respnsibility to consider these things carefully (my mother would be the first to admit that she didn't consider them anything like carefully enough).

And I can confirm that section wards are exempt - still as smoky as a bonfire of wet leaves.

Good on you Cote, all power to you!

I thoroughly enjoyed every single cigarette I smoked, though, so won't be lecturing anyone

I have a very dear cousin who says much the same. He smoked for over 30 years and gave up overnight after he had a heart attack.

He died in the ambulance and was only brought back to life my the swift action of the paramedics. He used to tell his smoker friends that quitting was easy. You just need to wake up in the back of an ambulance, with a paramedic pounding on your chest!

'I don't agree that quit programmes should be enforced on sectioned patients though (Mental Health Act). But that's a whole other debate. '

I agree! If they allow it in prisons then why shouldn't it be allowed for sectioned patients, who have to live in the hospital as a home same as prisoners.

my mother has COPD.

Closet smoker here

well obv not in closet - mainly on the terrace and sometimes in the study late at night but DH grumbles loudly the following day ...

I don't think forced quitting is the way to go. It breeds lots of resentment and keeps alive the yearning for cigarettes.

Perhaps not the same thing, but I quit when I found out I was pregnant. But it wasn't me who decided to quit, I had to quit because I was pregnant. Couldn't wait for pregnancy & breastfeeding to end, and went back to smoking as soon as possible.

This time it is my choice to quit and I'm finding it really easy.

Difference might not be obvious to non-smokers, I guess...

Interesting point. My mother quit when she retired. She'd been smoking for over 20 years, and just stopped overnight. No patches or anything. Never smoked again. She'd just decided she didn't want to do it any more

MB - Me, too. No patches, drugs, etc.

DH still smokes. I am waiting for him to take the same decision. Already he smokes much less because I don't keep him company on the balcony.

my 78 year old dad quit overnight too, 20 a day smoker and just quit. he said he was walking up the road and had to stop because of bad chest pains. so he just quit there an then.

i've been battling with the patches on and off for three months. i just think they're prolonging the agony. though they do work.

I did ask mu several times if there was a 'trigger' and she always said that there wasn't, she just wanted to stop.

A mate of mine used to smoke. He used to do research on interleukins in the early 80s. Part of his job was to wash out the lungs of people with lung cancer, take the fluid and test it. And he used to do this, and then pop into the corridor and have a cigarette!

He gave up because his wife told him that the fags made him smell!

Nowt so strange as folk eh?

just found out the the allen carr clinic accept tesco clubcard voucher and for each £10 they x it by 4 so it's worth £40 towards the course. (if anyone is interested, thought that sounds really good!)

My dad had a heart attack and cut down to 25 fags a day. A year later he had another one - worse than before - and he vowed to give up. The physical addiction only lasts 2 weeks - after that you're battling the psychological addiction.

My dad died at 72 - his non smoking brothers are still fit as fleas at 76 and 83.

What a waste - and so painful to us to be fairly sure that if he had never smoked he'd still be with us.

Give up for the sake of your families if not for yourselves.

Exactly Expat - that is my reasoning. Prisoners are frequently locked up less time than sectioned patients are confined in hospital. The rules should be the same imo - and it is an insult to people who have done absolutely nothing wrong - they are just unwell. It is considered against a prisoner's rights to inflict an opiate detox regime (which is not physically hazardous, though harrowing I have no doubt) and to ban smoking, but it is not against a sectioned patient's rights to stop them from being able to smoke.

The law comes into force in July this year. There will be no smoking allowed in any inpatient environments. Smoking outdoors will be permitted, but not all patients will have leave. It is disastrous.

Policywonk - I spent ages nagging my parents, sulking etc, refusing to buy them cigarettes. None of it worked. My dad smokes much less than my mum (probably only 2 or 3 a day). I am resigned to it now. It is their own choice whether to continue to smoke or to stop. I would be delighted if they stopped and would encourage them, but I think I have reached a point where I would not blame them if they did die of a smoking related disease. Yes I would be distraught - but what can I do to stop them?

I think that's ridiculous, lady. Especially as you pointed out, the mentally ill are unwell.

Some bureaucrat decided it was a good idea

Sorry ladylush, of course you can't stop them.

Completely agree that it's ill-advised to stop sectioned patients smoking - although it's a tricky issue because you have to balance the rights of the patients with the rights of the HCPs looking after them. Locked wards are seriously smoky places in my experience - not unlike pubs - and probably represent a significant health hazard to the people who work there all day.

They should provide super-ventilated smoking rooms or something for those who aren't allowed outside.

What bothers me is the double-standard.

Prisons are generally exempt from the ban because they are considered a home, but plenty of people work in there, too.

For many, in a 'prison town', it's the chief opportunity for employment.

So I feel that if you're going to extend such 'rights' to prisoners, then why are the mentally ill not accorded the same?

how does your mum manage expat? does she use a nebuliser - dad used to have his about 4x a day (he died 18 mths ago of alzheimers )

she uses a nebuliser, yeah. it was caught very early.

she gets pneumonia a few times a year.

she didn't smoke as much as my dad - he was a heavy smoker for over 50 years. no one in her family smoked. or his.

he has hypertension, but i think he may have had that no matter what, as ALL his siblings have/had it (two are deceased).

he only quit when his blood pressure grew so unstable, even with meds, that his vision was affected.