Posted this August 09 just now:
I was asked about the inconsistency between my quit date and the date I joined KTC. They don't line up.
I joined a live quit smoking group through a local hospital. My quit date was April 25th, 2007. I was the only chewer in the class and the only chewer that the instructor had had in the class in over ten years. We met once a week to talk about our experiences and we did lessons aimed at uncovering why we abused nicotine to start with and why we were quitting. It actually was very helpful to listen to others and reflect on how chew was controlling my life. .....
I will not chew tobacco today.
-Dave
Been curious about smoking quit groups, and never joined one. I always had the impression that quitting smokless is a different animal, but I never liked the smoke myself so I don't have an objective or real comparison. Did you find much similarities/differences in the coping stratagies, withdrawls, etcetera? I guess I am not really asking for a complete compare and contrast essay, but thought you might shed some light on my conseptions or misconseptions.
I quit smoking in 1975, I dont recall the withdrawels, cravings or what ever you want to call them being anywhere near as intense as smokeless. now let me clarify, I started smoking in 1967, I quit in 75, i stayed tobacco free till 1978, a friend offered a dip i took it and the rest is history. Retarded move on my part. Just let it be a lesson, you can never, ever let your guard down not after a 100 days, 1000 days or what ever.
Any way i have talked to a lot of smokers who have quit and have not experienced any thing like the chew, and thats what i recall also.
Looking back, all I remember is that I truly respected a couple of people for their determination, and I was disgusted by some people's inability to stay quit for two days straight. If I could do it over again, I would have walked out and come back only after communicating my disgust with the program. That probably wouldn't have helped though. The biggest difference that I recall is that smoking was a huge social thing for people where my chewing was solitary. I also think it is much more socially acceptable to seek help to quit smoking. There's fricking ads everywhere and everyone says quitting smoking is one of the hardest things a person can do. No one says shit about chewing. I was labeled as a non-smoker by my doctor for 10 straight years while I was chewing. I never lied to him. He asked me if I smoked and I said, "no".
What the fuck? That makes ZERO sense.
