Quitting for real, looking for support.

[Smeds]

Congrats on Day 5 Drewdrew. You're probably through the worst of "the suck" by now, and the brain is clearing. Good job posting roll every day. I quit with you ODAAT.
ZC

Zillah, I know if you didn't somebody else would've, but thanks for jumping in and correcting me. My goal was honestly throw that crap at the end of monday or tuesday, which, if I was to have done it that way, would land me at day 1 or 0 now. Thank you. I'll never forget reading "flush it all now," getting up and doing it with a smile on my face. Thank you again. For the record: I have gained 27,000 pounds, and have been hitting the fiber the last 12 hours...if you don't hear from me later today, know I'm in the john losing weight.

Welcome to freedom brother ... have a plan for tonight, stay strong and resolved! Good luck on the poop, but no pics ...

[Drewdrew]

Congrats on Day 5 Drewdrew. You're probably through the worst of "the suck" by now, and the brain is clearing. Good job posting roll every day. I quit with you ODAAT.
ZC

Zillah, I know if you didn't somebody else would've, but thanks for jumping in and correcting me. My goal was honestly throw that crap at the end of monday or tuesday, which, if I was to have done it that way, would land me at day 1 or 0 now. Thank you. I'll never forget reading "flush it all now," getting up and doing it with a smile on my face. Thank you again. For the record: I have gained 27,000 pounds, and have been hitting the fiber the last 12 hours...if you don't hear from me later today, know I'm in the john losing weight.

[ZillahCowboy]

Congrats on Day 5 Drewdrew. You're probably through the worst of "the suck" by now, and the brain is clearing. Good job posting roll every day. I quit with you ODAAT.
ZC

[Thumblewort]

Tossing every last bit of the poison is an excellent start Drew! My advice is don't recruit local quitters right now, just focus on yourself. You need to be selfish with your quit right now. You have hundreds of quitters at your fingertips with the KTC, use us as a resource - a real life dude that you convince to quit probably isn't going to help much, because the only way to be quit is if they want to be.

I failed at quitting 30-40 times, most of which because my wife guilted me into quitting when I didn't want to. Only when I was sick of poisoning myself did I quit.

[soxfnnlansing]

Remember, keep active on here and know you are never alone with your quit. If guys don't want to get on board with you at work, set a good example for them and they might want what you have in the future. You will feel better soon, but remember you will never be cured and will always be an addict.

[tarpon17]

Great choice Drew. The addict in you thought "tapering off" was a good idea. You know why? Because its rarely successful. The road to quitting is arduous, but you put one foot in front of the other and you move on down the road.

[Drewdrew]

Thank you. Today starts day 3, or ends day 2, depends on how you look at it. I feel better today than I have yet. I tossed the can I had, and the emergency can, right after posting the origional post here, and pray that I can get others to jump on this with me. I have already been recruiting some dudes t work. Aside from the habit part, I feel that I am going through this easier than I thought. It does help that I am extremely tired at night, so I do not notice any sleep problems. Thank you all for your support. If anybody reading this and is "scared" or "not ready" to quit, quit. The hardest part is doing it. Do like Zillah told me, flush the crap and roll with it. Thank you all for support, I know I need it. I know I am not above this, and I know that an addiction is nothing to make small potatoes of.

[Rawls]

Morning Drewdrew, gonna be a long day, stay on the page and read as much as you can. For me it's the thought of docters cutting a muscle out of my arm and building a new tongue, that really doesn't work, because all your salava glands are fried from the radiation treatments. You may be able to talk, but every meal, 3 times a day comes from a blender, that your wife makes and poors in a tube. Seen it bro.... My father-in-law is doing it right now as I type. I dipped proudly for 38 years....I'm done. Your done. Or we all die! I'll be praying for you today Drewdrew, and for every person associated with KTC.

[Wt57]

Drew it's simple, not easy; quit one day at a time!!! I'm just finishing up doing that for the 1,002nd time, it does feel good!

[30yraddict]

I cannot say it any better than Joel Spitzer, This is geared toward smokers, but is equally true for chewing tobacco:

Quitting by the gradual withdrawal method. I discuss this method quite extensively in my seminars. I always tell how if there is anyone attending who knows a smoker who they really despise they should actively encourage them to follow the gradual withdrawal "cut down" approach. They should call them up every day and tell them to just get rid of one cigarette. Meaning, if they usually smoke 40 a day, just smoke 39 on the first day of the attempt to quit. The next day they should be encouraged to smoke only 38 then 37 the next day and so on. Then the seminar participant should call these people every day to congratulate them and encourage them to continue. I must reemphasize, this should only be done to a smoker you really despise.

You see, most smokers will agree to this approach. It sounds so easy to just smoke one less each day. Thirty-nine cigarettes to a two pack a day smoker seems like nothing. The trick is to convince the person that you are only trying to help them. For the first week or two the one downside is you have to pretend to like the person and you have to talk to them every day. They won't whine too bad either. When they are down to 30 from 40, they may start to complain a little. You really won't be having fun yet. When the payoff comes is about three weeks into the scam. Now you've got them to less than half their normal amount. They are in moderate withdrawal all the time.

A month into the approach you've got them into pretty major withdrawal. But be persistent. Call them and tell them how great they are doing and how proud you are of them. When they are in their 35th to 39th day, you have pulled off a major coup. This poor person is in peak withdrawal, suffering miserably and having absolutely nothing to show for it. They are no closer to ending withdrawal than the day you started the process. They are in chronic withdrawal, not treating him or herself to one or two a day, but actually depriving him or herself of 35 to 40 per day.

If you want to go in for the kill, when you have them down to zero, tell them don't worry if things get tough, just take a puff every once in a while. If you can get them to fall for this, taking one puff every third day, they will remain in withdrawal forever. Did I mention you really should despise this person to do this to them? It is probably the cruelest practical joke that you could ever pull on anyone. You will undercut their chance to quit, make them suffer immeasurably and likely they will at some point throw in the towel, return to smoking, have such fear of quitting because of what they went through cutting down, that they will continue to smoke until it kills them. Like I said, you better really despise this person.

Hopefully there is no one you despise that much to do this to them. I hope nobody despises themselves enough to do this to themselves. Quitting cold turkey may be hard but quitting by this withdrawal technique is virtually impossible. If you have a choice between hard and impossible, go for hard. You will have something to show at the end of a hard process, but nothing but misery at the end of an impossible approach. Quit cold and in 72 hours it eases up. Cut down and it will basically get progressively worse for weeks, months, or years if you let it.

I should mention, this is not a new technique. It has been around for decades. Talk to every long-term ex-smoker you know. Try to find one person who successfully used the cut down approach, gradually reducing to eventual zero over weeks or months. You will be hard pressed to find even one person who fits this bill. One other perspective that should help you see the flaw in the approach. Look at people here who had once quit for months or years and then relapsed. One day, after such a long time period, they take a drag and are smoking again. If one puff can do this after years or decades, guess what it will do after days or hours of being smoke free. It puts the smoker back to square one. All that any ex-smoker has to do to avoid relapse or chronic withdrawal is to - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!

[ZillahCowboy]

Ok, I'm not up for debate, since I still have the junk in my body from earlier, and am all ears for education and support. As stated, I am for real this time, so, what now? It's all been pitched, no need to lie about it.

Good. Now go to the intro link and learn how to post roll. You will be in the April '15 group. Posting roll in that group is your promise to us, and more importantly, to yourself that will not use nicotine in ANY form. No dip, no leaf, no cigs, no e-cigs, no patches, no nic gum. None of it. Once you post roll let's talk again. In the meantime, you will continue to get advice from quitters on this forum. Listen and read as much as possible.
ZillahCowboy.

[Drewdrew]

Ok, I'm not up for debate, since I still have the junk in my body from earlier, and am all ears for education and support. As stated, I am for real this time, so, what now? It's all been pitched, no need to lie about it.

[ZillahCowboy]

I have been dipping off and on for right at 15 years. I'd quit here and there, never more than a year. My wife was never a fan of it, so I comprimised with her, and wouldn't dip around her. I finally realized that I owe it to her and my kids to quit, and I have been researching different things lately, which is why I found this forum. I appreciate any ideas, but the plan seems to be a good one. I was urged by a successful quitter to pick a date and prepare by limiting the amount of dip I use, frequency, and also to see how the cravings feel. I am in day three of that, and as I sit here at 3:52pm, I have had 3 dips today, with the 4th not coming before 4:30 (I make a certain time laps between dips, and it is a mind game is all.). I typically have that knocked out before morning meeting at 7:00 am. With luck, on Monday or Tuesday I'll toss any dip I have left and go from there. I am not against fake dip, just figured I'll cross that path when I get there. The reason people don't quit, me included, is because we didn't want to. I want to this time. Dipped between 1/2 and 1 1/2 cans a day, anything from kayak to cope to grizzly.

Drew,
The advice you got from your "successful quitter friend" is bullshit. Here's the KTC advice: Flush every tin you have in the house down the toilet NOW. Then log back on here and learn how to quit like fuck. No one here is going to hold your hand while you try to wean off nicotine. It's not possible.
ZillahCowboy.

[Drewdrew]

I have been dipping off and on for right at 15 years. I'd quit here and there, never more than a year. My wife was never a fan of it, so I comprimised with her, and wouldn't dip around her. I finally realized that I owe it to her and my kids to quit, and I have been researching different things lately, which is why I found this forum. I appreciate any ideas, but the plan seems to be a good one. I was urged by a successful quitter to pick a date and prepare by limiting the amount of dip I use, frequency, and also to see how the cravings feel. I am in day three of that, and as I sit here at 3:52pm, I have had 3 dips today, with the 4th not coming before 4:30 (I make a certain time laps between dips, and it is a mind game is all.). I typically have that knocked out before morning meeting at 7:00 am. With luck, on Monday or Tuesday I'll toss any dip I have left and go from there. I am not against fake dip, just figured I'll cross that path when I get there. The reason people don't quit, me included, is because we didn't want to. I want to this time. Dipped between 1/2 and 1 1/2 cans a day, anything from kayak to cope to grizzly.