As representative for staff at the University of Idaho, serving as chair of Staff Affairs, I currently sit on a committee tasked with reviewing the current smoking and tobacco policies affecting students, faculty and staff. I have been asked by fellow committee members (represented by ASUI, Vandal Health Education, Faculty Senate and other Staff Affairs members) to share my personal story concerning tobacco cessation. This really isn’t about me, rather, information that may prove useful to others who would like to quit using tobacco.
I’ve been an on and off user of smokeless tobacco (chew) for over 20 years. I had a long hiatus from “chewing” between the fall of 1995 and spring of 2003, just to become fully engrossed in the habit again — sparked by the close proximity of other chewers while building our first home that summer. I’ve quit more times than I care to think of and spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars for cessation aids.
My first cessation aids included Nicorette gum back in the early ‘90s. It tasted horrible, although through UI Student Health, it was free of charge as a student. It never really helped me quit, but did aid in lessening the amount I was chewing. I tried quitting cold turkey many times, but it never lasted.
Friends and family hated being around me when I tried cold turkey. I was always in a bad mood, easily aggravated and regularly lost my cool. I used nicotine patches to help quit in 2010, and spent over $350 of my own money on them spanning a three and a half month quitting period. I was free of nicotine and my wife didn’t kill me in the process … this was a much better alternative to quitting cold turkey for me. Unfortunately, I had a momentary lapse of reasoning in the summer of 2011 and began the habit again.
Most people have no clue that I chewed, unless they were around me outside of work. My days always started with a chew and I wouldn’t stop until bedtime. I learned early on to not spit as that gave the habit away to others I wanted to keep it from. My habit never took a back seat to work or play. I had a chew in regardless of the meeting, function, who was present or the topic at hand. I was good at hiding it. When the committee reviewing the current smoking and tobacco policies first began meeting, I had one in.
I began chatting with the former Coordinator of Vandal Health Education Shannon Haselhuhn this past September about quitting again. She was very helpful and gave me many tips, strategies and educated me on options that have proved successful. Of those, the best news was that my insurance through UI would pay for much of my tobacco cessation needs. I found out that insurance covers 100 percent of nicotine patches. While it doesn’t cover the cost of nicotine gum or lozenges, it’s still a great benefit. There was, however, a learning curve on how to make the coverage work best.
Haselhuhn and I worked out a schedule that would take me 16 weeks to complete. I had to meet with my doctor and share the program with him, ask him to write a prescription for patches that included the duration of the plan, as well as dosage changes along the way. At this point I was still a bit unclear about how I was going to get reimbursed … I should have inquired.
I went to my local pharmacy and purchased a 21-milligram box for roughly $60 and planned to get reimbursed for the amount. I began my program the Sunday before Thanksgiving and as of today, I have yet to get reimbursed for that first box. HR is still trying, but it has proven difficult to get money back after it has been spent. What I quickly learned was that I was supposed to take my prescription in from my doctor to the pharmacy, where they would place an order for the nicotine patches. I did that and two days later had a shopping basket full of patches,
enough for my entire program. When I picked them up I was asked for no payment whatsoever. What a blessing. I’ve been chew free since that first Sunday and have weaned to 14-milligram patches per day. I was supposed to be on 14 milligrams for two weeks, then 7 milligrams for another two weeks and then be done with the program. I have been feeling like that transition may be a little quick for my body to adjust to, so I had the pharmacy contact my doctor and see if they could extend the 14 milligrams to six weeks, as well as the 7 milligrams. A couple days later, I had two more boxes of 14 milligrams waiting for me … free of charge.
I am supplementing the patches with nicotine gum and lozenges as suggested by Haselhuhn. A box of 100 usually last me about a month and costs around $35. It’s a small price to pay for my health, and what we pay up front gets reimbursed through our Health Saving Account (HSA).
All in all, I will have received 21 weeks of patches, many of which required two patches per day, 17 boxes total that would have cost me about $850 without UI’s coverage. My end date is May 10, and I’m certain that I’ve finally kicked the habit for good. I’m not here to suggest that everyone needs to quit the way I am, but hopefully knowing that much of the cost can be covered by our insurance may encourage cessation in some way. I hope my story was helpful and educational and that my own successes and failures may benefit others.
Brian Mahoney can be reached at [email protected]