Quitting Smoking with MSK's Tobacco Treatment Program

This video explains why quitting smoking is important for people who have cancer and gives an overview of how MSK's Tobacco Treatment Program can help you.

Quitting smoking is an important part of your cancer care. Tobacco and tobacco smoke contain hundreds of harmful chemicals, and many of them, like benzene and cyanide, are chemicals that cause cancer.

There are many benefits to quitting smoking, even if the cancer you have is not related to tobacco.

If you're having surgery, quitting smoking can speed up your recovery and help prevent problems, like infections. If you're getting chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or radiation, it'll work better, and you'll have fewer side effects, like pain and feeling tired.

Quitting also reduces the risk of the cancer coming back or getting another cancer. It can also help you live longer.

And finally, people who quit say they feel a sense of accomplishment, and they have a better quality of life.

We get it. Being told you have cancer and going through treatment are really stressful. But you can quit smoking, and we can help.

We also understand that you may not be able to quit smoking on your first try. Studies show that many people try quitting 20 times before they quit for good. And that's normal, but it is possible to quit and stay quit.

The best way to quit is to get counseling and take medication at the same time. We're here to help you with both.

In counseling, we'll work to create a plan that works best for you and meets your specific needs. Your counseling may be one-on-one or in a group and can be done in person, over the phone, or through telehealth.

In counseling, we will help you identify the benefits of quitting smoking that are most important to you. We'll also teach you ways to manage cravings to help you quit and stay quit.

We can also give you prescriptions for medications to help with the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and reduce your cravings. There are many options that are safe and effective for people with cancer.

When you use both counseling and medications together, you're up to four times as likely to quit successfully.

Even if you're not ready to quit right away, we can help you slowly start to quit by using quitting medications and behavioral strategies. These can help reduce how much you smoke.

We can also help if you're in the hospital. We'll work with your healthcare team to treat symptoms of nicotine withdrawal to make sure you're comfortable. Then, we'll follow up with you once you're home.

Although it can be hard, many people with cancer successfully quit and stay quit. You can too, and we're here to help.

As a reminder, we offer tobacco cessation counseling in many forms, including telephone counseling, in-person individual and in-person group counseling, telehealth individual and group counseling.

If you'd like to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions, call us at 212-610-0507 or ask someone from your healthcare team.

You can also find more information online by visiting www.mskcc.org/tobacco.