It has been eight years since this 61-year-old family physician from Girgaum has quit smoking. Now his only high is the satisfaction he gets from inspiring his patients with his success story. Dr. Krishnakant Dhebri has not taken a single puff of a cigarette for five years now.
It has been eight years since this 61-year-old family physician from Girgaum has quit smoking. Now his only high is the satisfaction he gets from inspiring his patients with his success story. Dr. Krishnakant Dhebri has not taken a single puff of a cigarette for five years now.
Sitting in his Girgaum clinic, Dr. Dhebri said he smoked his first cigarette when he was thirteen. It was movies that encouraged him to smoke, he said. “In my school days, most movies showed actors carrying branded cigarette packets. My favourite actor, Rajesh Khanna, also smoked on screen, which pushed me further into the habit,” said Dhebri.
The habit entrenched itself when Dhebri became a medical student and shifted to the hostel of Grant Medical College at Grant road. “I used to make lame excuses to get out of my house and smoke. My parents confronted me over it, but though I tried, I could not stop smoking,” he said.
Matters worsened when Dhebri became a doctor. He treated a large number of Arab patients who were in the city for treatment; out of gratitude, they would gift him international brands of cigarettes, thus tempting him further.
Much later, even when his habit threatened his life, Dhebri was unable to quit. About 15 years ago, he had a cardiac arrest. After this he had to get a bypass surgery. “I had no risk factors other than smoking. I decided to quit smoking after that incident, but failed again,” he said.
Then what motivated him to quit? It was no less than an epiphany, or a sudden insight, brought on by his wife. “Smoking led to frequent arguments between me and my wife,” he said. One Sunday morning, his wife, Geeta, sat down with a calculator and totalled the amount which Dhebri had spent on smoking. The figure ran into lakhs. “I was shocked. I had been wasting so much money that could have bought so much for my children. When I started smoking, the price of a packet was Rs4. That had risen to Rs65 when I last smoked. After that day, I have never smoked,” said Dhebri.
To overcome withdrawal...
Drink plenty of water
Avoid hunger
Use chewing gum
Divert your attention by exercising or going for a walk or watching a movie
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