Quit date - Friday 14 September, 2012; around 6:30 am MST I guess
I have a pretty rockin' fog going on right now. Trying to keep it together while also not gettin' my ass thrown out of the house, with all my stuff on fire in the front yard.
So, interestingly, I hadn't really planned to quit this weekend.Â
You know, in my head I was all 'I can do it later, when [X] or [Y] isn't going on...' or whatever bs. Or I just pushed it out of my mind...tweety bird whistlin' Or I would justify it...'I only go through a tin a week' (4-5 days more like). Â
Reality is: Been dipping Kodiac for ~11 yrs (stopped spittin' when I started working in my Lab), smoked Winstons for ~12 yrs before that, with the occasional sack of Redman in the fall (couldn't possibly split wood without it...whattadummass)
Anyhow, last week I finally caught a hellacious cold from my 16 month old daughter. Missed three days of work. I don't usually get sick (since I quit smokin'). After a couple days being sick, I noticed that I wasn't really jonesing hard for the bear all day, and I had had only a couple dips. Normally, during the workweek I have a constant sneaker-dip in (not sure if its a Ninja, definitely a sneaker). So, I figured, if I'm all fogged up from a wicked set of stuffed up sinuses, what's a little extra fog from no t'baccy ?
** gettin' a bit foggy **
Bottom line: Friday morning I stopped chewing tobacco. Been checking out this and QSorg site since then, reading a lot of good stuff.
** DISCLAIMER ** Have read a few posts about the full-on cold turkey vs. NRT including gum or lozenges, etc. I have been using loz's w/ my cough drops (still haven't cleared the gunk from my sinuses and bronchi yet) since Friday. Had 4 Friday, 5 Sat., 1 so far on Sun. So for some folks, I haven't really quit yet. But for me, I have and this is huge.Â
It is great to read about all you folks. To tell ya the truth, I've never really been one to be an active member in anything (unless we're talking tossin' darts at the bar, then I'm your man), but I know this is going to take my full force of will to keep quitting - day after day after day...
Okay. I think I'm either going to go for a run or take a quick nap. Gotta DO something.
Later,
Dirt
Sounds like we gotta get rid of that cold you have so you can dump those nicotene lozenges, and begin your Nicotene QUIT for good.
Yes as of now you may no longer be doing the tobacco, but you are still feeding your body the addictive ingredient and would just take a small incident and 'pow', back on it.
So get better, dump it all, then get into a quit group and really get started on your way to what would be the best decision of your life.
Nicotine delivery by cigarette ,by pouch, by tin, by lozenge. All the same, just different packaging. You can put a lipstick on a pig but it doesnt make her a super model, your still using, you just changed brands, instead of USTobacco your paying big pharm. Read this
(ryano34 @ Nov 4, 2009, 3:47 pm)
Very interesting article I found today.....
Nicotine Warning for Cold Turkey Quitters
Roughly 80-90% of all new quitters attempt to quit cold turkey (abrupt nicotine cessation). If you are one of them then you need to know that many highly respected websites contain advertisements, quitting instructions and articles created by the pharmaceutical industry for the purpose of getting you to purchase nicotine (which they have renamed medicine) and use it (which they have renamed therapy). Their super slick marketing is designed to make you quickly believe that you have very little chance of succeeding unless you rush-out and purchase nicotine weaning products such as the nicotine patch, nicotine gum or nicotine lozenge and immediately put nicotine back into your bloodstream.  They do not want you to believe in "you." They do not want you to reach for education, understanding, new skills and support, as honest tools that make dreams come true at rates that make those achieved by their weaning products laughable.
Sadly, very few sites are sharing useful, recent and honest NRT data with quitters. Those with a financial stake must keep secret the fact that a March 2003 NRT study review by paid pharmaceutical industry consultants combined and averaged all seven over-the-counter nicotine patch and gum studies and found that 93% of those who "believed" and "trusted" in the nicotine weaning message failed and relapsed to smoking nicotine within six months ( link to full text of March, 2003 study ). Nor will those receiving donations or profits for allowing nicotine to be marketed at their websites warn you that too many among the 7% who do quit smoking for six months have instead become permanent chemical captives to the very product they purchased to help them break nicotine's grip upon their mind. Nor will they tell you that if you have previously tried and failed while using nicotine weaning products that, according to two nicotine patch recycling studies, your odds of relapse during a second attempt may be as high as 100%.
But most importantly, these sites continue to refuse to caution the 80-90% of new quitters who arrive having quit cold turkey, that if they have remained 100% nicotine free for 72 hours that their blood is now 100% nicotine-clean, 90% of nicotine's metabolites have passed through their urine, and that for them chemical withdrawal has peaked in intensity and is now beginning to gradually subside. Any nicotine use at this point constitutes chemical relapse that will require them to repeat nicotine detox all over again. This is the "Law of Addiction."
But take heart if you are quitting cold turkey. According to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts Figures 2003 report, 91.2% of all successful long-term quitters are today quitting entirely on their own without using Zyban, Wellbutrin, hypnosis, acupuncture, magic herbs, and without toying with any gradual nicotine weaning products like the patch, gum, lozenge, spray, or inhaler.Â
You'd think that government researchers would be heavily engaged in studying "their" method of quitting and "their" secrets. You'd think that they'd be developing websites to service the cessation needs of the 80-90% of all new quitters who they know are today engaged in a cold turkey quitting experience. You'd think that their sites would have warnings to protect cold turkey quitters from pharmaceutical grade nicotine relapse. You'd think that government and major health non-profits would have lots of articles on how to take the mystery and cold out of quitting cold.
Sadly, it simply isn't happening. The pharmaceutical industry is making billions selling nicotine to nicotine addicts, their sphere of influence extends beyond your wildest imagination and they know that the only way to continue to increase market share and profits is by continuing their campaign to destroy the credibility of earth's most productive means of quitting - abrupt nicotine cessation.
John R. Polito, Nicotine Cessation Educator
