Liz Dickey, Balclutha
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Impressing a guy as a teenager led me to start smoking, but it’s taken me a lifetime to give it up!

I had my first cigarette at about 14-years-old. Friends and I would steal tissues from our parents and we’d roll grass and smoke it. It made us feel sick but we kept going back. At 15 or 16-years-old I had my first proper cigarette because I was trying to impress a guy I was dating. He asked if I wanted a smoke and I remember thinking, I had better if I want to impress him! I remember coughing and feeling sick and my throat was burning. That should have been my warning! But instead, I never looked back.

Back then, smoking wasn’t a bad thing and it quickly became a part of me. It was ingrained in my lifestyle. It was like breathing! 

I would never count how many cigarettes I was smoking or how many times I would empty the ashtray during the day. I didn’t really think about the money I was spending either while I was smoking, but of course I noticed the increase. When I first started they were about $.50c a packet for 20, now they’re $30! I would go through a packet a day usually, sometimes I would have a couple left over.

I gave up once for about three years. My son was shifting away and everyone in the family had a phone, but I didn’t. I was desperate to stay in touch with my son. I remember there was a sale on at the Warehouse for a phone. I had a decision to make – do I buy a phone or another pouch of tobacco? I decided the phone was more important and, after years of smoking, I quit cold turkey. I remember contacting Quitline and they referred me on to the Southern Stop Smoking Service. That was about six years ago now. (It may be a “brick” now, but I still have the phone!)

Three years later, a series of traumatic events sprung up in close succession in my life and so, as a way to deal with the stress, I started smoking again. But a year or two later I was getting sick of smoking again. The smell of dirty ashtrays and having to constantly empty them was becoming too much. I knew smoking was my life but that wasn’t what I was put on this earth for.

I remembered the support I received from Anita Clouston the first time I stopped so I decided to get back in touch. One-on-one contact is much better than a phone call and I found the Co monitor to be a real eye opener!

I used patches and they worked for me and I chew chewing gum (not nicotine gum). I have been smoke free for about two months now and I’m loving it!

I am starting to notice the extra money – bills are getting paid off faster! My teeth are still stained, and I will leave it that way for the moment because they are a constant reminder not to start smoking again! Eventually I will have them cleaned professionally – I never thought about white teeth before but I do now.

I don’t miss smoking and I’m definitely sleeping better. I will continue to do my best to stay off it. I am taking it day by day and trying not to put pressure on myself. I haven’t promised anyone anything, I am just doing it – the worst person you can break a promise to is yourself!

The pressures of starting a business led Owaka local Tarran Kristel to start smoking.

I started my business, TK Repairs Ltd, in 2015 but the second year became stressful and I started smoking in 2017.

I had only ever smoked socially in the past but now I was smoking about 30 cigarettes a day and I really enjoyed the habit, although I always found the price tough. It cost $30 a day, which was $200 a week.

I found myself taking a lot of breaks at work and not getting as much done as I used to, and I knew that I needed to stop smoking.

A pretty big wakeup call came when a friend of mine passed away from smoking-related health issues and I became worried for my own health, as well as my finances.

Luckily, I had the best support as my partner is the Southern Stop Smoking Service coach for South Otago Anita Clouston.

I knew I couldn’t quit cold turkey – I would not have been a nice person to be around! So instead I switched to an electronic cigarette and have weaned myself down to 6mg. I found the switch really easy, it only took about a week.

The last time I had a cigarette was 24 April 2017.

I don’t miss smoking. I am finding it easier to breath, I sleep better, I’m not wheezy, I can taste again and I have more money. I’m always finding other things to spend my money on though – mainly car parts.

I get more done at work and I’m enjoying not seeing the butts lying around the floor and outside the building – I was getting sick of constantly picking them up.

I intend to continue vaping in the meantime and will keep trying to convince my friends who smoke to make the switch!

This South Otago client wishes to remain anonymous
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I have tried to stop smoking several times, but this was the first time someone actually made sense!

I didn’t realise how much of a difference it would make to have someone explain to me how to use the patches properly, and once they did I never looked back.

I started smoking at a very young age because my grandfather would give them to me. I was probably only 5-years-old. I was smoking full time by the time I was about 14. Back then, it was normal and it was advertised everywhere.

I have an addictive personality so for me, the addiction to nicotine kept me smoking. Nicotine is the worst addiction out there. I gave up alcohol for 12 years and it was hard, but nothing compared to cigarettes.

I was smoking about two 50g pouches of tobacco a week and at the end, about 30 taillies a day.

I had a lot of fluid of my lungs and I couldn’t have a puff without coughing! I was getting older and I knew it was time to stop. I wanted to stop mainly for my health but also because of the cost.

I noticed the Smokefee South Facebook page and I reached out. I was referred by them to the Southern Stop Smoking Service and sent out some patches.

One of the stop smoking coaches visited me and showed me how to use the patches properly. I have been smoke free now since just before Christmas! 

My lungs are much better and I’m eating a lot better - my taste buds are back. I can take a breath without hearing a rattle and I’m enjoying having a lot more time on my hands. When I was smoking I also had high cholesterol but since I’ve stopped it’s gone back to normal.

I’m so pleased that I reached out to the Southern Stop Smoking Service and to have finally stopped smoking!

​I am the man who could beat all stop smoking plans.

I started smoking in 1965 when I was 15. It was the cool thing to do! I enjoyed cruising around with my mates, one arm out the window and a smoke in the other. Perhaps it was an image thing, I don’t really know. My parents smoked, most of our friends smoked – it was normal back then and no one would tell you to stop.

I enjoyed smoking. It gave me a feeling of calm. I remember once sitting on the side of the Remarkables in Queenstown after finishing work on a fence. I was looking at the fence and the lake below and having a cigarette. It was a great feeling.

The habit started to increase for me, and at one stage I was smoking up to 40 a day. I have always had good paying work so the cost of smokes was hidden in the food bill each week. I was buying 14 packs a week. It’s frightening when I think about it - that’s $420 per week and $21,840 per year!
I smoked away being a millionaire! That could have been handy now that I have retired.

I knew it was becoming too expensive and I was getting fed up with constantly defending my choice to smoke. So, I decided I would try to stop. Quitting couldn’t be that bad.

How many times did I try? How many ways did I try? It really did become a running joke that I was the man who could beat all stop smoking plans.

First, I tried going cold turkey. That lasted two days.
I tried patches but I didn’t know how to use them properly so that didn’t work.
I tried hypnotherapy and that worked for three months. But I started smoking again.
I tried a programme through the Oamaru Hospital where I was asked to nominate places I wouldn’t smoke. I picked my work ute but found myself stopping to have a cigarette outside of it and it was taking all day to get my job done. So that didn’t work.
Then I tried Champix. Twice. It didn’t work.

Looking back, they were all great ways to stop smoking. I realize the problem was me, I just wasn’t ready to stop. I was fit and healthy and smoking was doing me no harm. But eventually some health issues started to arise, and by the time I was 68 I’d visited the emergency department twice because I couldn’t breathe.

Then one day, out of the blue, I had a stroke. The doctor told me I was lucky because it could have been worse. But I figured stress causes strokes, so I wound up my business and retired and continued smoking. I have made some very good decisions in my life. That was not one of them. The health issues continued to pop up.

Then along came Liz from the Southern Stop Smoking Service. Best thing that has ever happened to me!

There were no hard and fast rules, just someone who would listen and encourage and pass no judgement. Sometimes I would fall off the wagon, but we would talk about it and about why I’d done it and how I could overcome it next time. She was so supportive that when I did slip up and have a cigarette I felt like I was letting the both of us down! If it wasn’t for Liz and her help, I would not be where I am now.

It’s been five months now and I’m not missing the cigarettes. I haven’t had a patch on for a while but will have the odd lozenge when needed.

What will I do with the money I’m saving? I’ve already done it! I loaded the van onto my ute and away I went, just cruising around the South Island. I’m spending time doing things that I never had time for before, and enjoying the simple things in life.

Thank you to Liz and the Southern Stop Smoking Service team. Life doesn’t get any better than it is right now!