What is Stoptober?
28-day national stop smoking campaign from 1st of October every year.
- Helps participants attempt quitting by providing support and resources
- Provides motivation to make a major change in their life.
- Stoptober offers support through many methods such as online chats and communities, free online personal quit plan, Stoptober app, stop smoking medicines and face to face support.
Reasons to take part in Stoptober
- Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable illnesses and premature death causing over 80 thousand deaths per year in the UK.
- If smokers can quit for 28 days, they are 5 times more likely to quit for good
- Quit with support – people are four times more likely to quit if they identify the right quit plan and support for them. OSS and similar local SSS present the most effective route to stop smoking.
- Most smokers in England want to quit the habit (6 in 10) – normalise quitting and non‐smoking.
- Thousands of smokers have already made successful quit attempts using Stoptober as a springboard. These examples/role models show that quitting is possible. The campaign has helped over 1.7 million people start their quitting journey.
- Target specific disadvantaged communities and groups e.g. routine and manual jobs etc.
- Use motivators for quitting e.g. money and savings- especially for people with low income.
Treatment
- Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is available to combat one of the issues of smoking which is nicotine dependence.
- NRT increases the chance of quitting by 50-70%
- Most products can be used from the age of 12 years onwards
- Adult dose can be recommended for adolescents (12-18 years old) unless treatment is required > 12 weeks
- Side effects with NRT are rare and are either normally limited to Gastrointestinal (GI) problems associated with accidental ingestion of certain NRT formulations such gum. Local skin irritation and vivid dreams with patches. In some cases headache, nausea and diarrhoea have been reported.
- NRT appears to have no significant interaction with other medicines
Visit your local Pillbox Chemist, our Pharmacist can advice you which option is most appropriate to individual case.