Giving it up after 50

By Dr Tomlin Paul

Mrs Jones' husband had been a heavy smoker for more than 15 years. She had tried all kinds of things to get him to stop. Her last effort was to print information from a website highlighting the bad effects of cigarette smoking. She gave him these to read every few days for three weeks.

So, on that fateful evening Mr Jones came home, sat in his leather recliner and called his wife into the living room. "Honey, I have something to tell you!" he said.

This had an unusual but hopeful ring to it. Holding back her anticipation and figuring that her strategy had worked, Mrs Jones sat across from her husband all ready to hear the good news. "Darling, you know, lately I have been reading so many things about the bad effects of cigarette smoking that I have decided to give up - reading!"

Knowledge is not enough

Having knowledge does not mean behaviour change. When the first set of classic studies were done to look at the bad effects of cigarette smoking, who do you think Doll and Hill, two British researchers, were studying? A group of doctors! In fairness to the doctors, all 40,000 of them were chosen because they were a relatively easy group to follow and not because they had a reputation for smoking. Five years into the study, it was found that heavy smokers were 20 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. Despite this very clear and credible bit of information which remains true, many persons, including some doctors, still smoke today.

Smoking and drinking over 50

If you are 50 and over and engage in cigarette smoking or excessive alcohol use, there's a good chance that you might have done so for many years. A lot of persons who now engage started smoking or drinking in their teens or early 20s and never really stopped. Now, in your 50s or over, you are likely to have had one or more of these experiences:

Someone has been pressing you to stop or might have now gone quiet on you.

You know of all the effects and don't need to be told again (in a column like this) about cancer and cirrhosis and so forth.

You have thought about quitting and might have even done so before, but restarted.

You would have realised, despite your best efforts, that it has been hard to stop, and like Mr Jones you might have got turned off by public media and private nagging.

Be encouraged!

Overcoming an affair with alcohol or cigarettes can be very difficult, but it can be done and it's not too late. If you are thinking or saying to yourself that I would like to stop, you are off to a good start. Having support in your life is a plus. Friends, family, church family, professional health-care workers and counsellors can provide support and structure some of which might feel tough at times.

Give yourself credit for the little steps, even just admitting a tiny bit that you may have a problem. Finding your personal path to recovery may be long, and involve some hiccups and many challenges, but it can happen. If you need help or have a problem in your family, don't think that it is hopeless. Bring it up with a health professional and let him start working out a programme of recovery for you.

Dr Tomlin Paul is a family physician at Health Plus Associates in Kingston; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.