A thought crossed my mind while I was replying to another discussion. That is, can you really say you have quit when you are still taking nicotine substitutes? Isn't part of the difficulty of quitting exactly that, eliminating nicotine intake. Don't the patches just postpone the day when you will have to take the big jump and stop. I know there are many opinions regarding cold turkey and other aids but isn't holding on to the nicotine intake just prolonging the agony and making some other companies rich (the products are not cheap) just as we did with the tobacco companies.
Haven't we again been gullible to the marketing of products that we can do without. Tobacco companies sold us the image of Sexy Sophistication or Macho Marlboro Man, whatever suited your needs at the time. Now we are being encouraged to believe that the product that has gotten us to where we are, can somehow be less vile if injected into your system through another device. The idea that your quit will be less difficult with these products, or that poor you the addict could not possibly do anything without some help from your good friend the Nicodemon.
Both my last quit (10 months) and this one have been done cold turkey. I guess that I don't have to describe the difficulty of doing so to any of you. However, I do believe that because by now nicotine has been eliminated from my system I am further ahead in the quit that somebody who still has to worry about reducing nicotine levels. I don't wish to suggest in any way that either cold-turkey or any other way is better, or easier, it is what works that counts, but do we still have to make some other nicotine hawker rich in the process. If governments were really serious and nicotine substitutes or other products really helped wouldn't you think that they would simply given out for free?
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/6/2008
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 28
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 980
[B]Amount Saved:[/B] $364.00
[B]Life Gained:[/B]
[B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 20 [B]Mins:[/B] 33 [B]Seconds:[/B] 12
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Quit Meter
$410,589.00
Amount Saved
-
Quit Meter
Days: 8188
Hours: 11
Minutes: 53
Seconds: 34
Life Gained
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Quit Meter
45621
Smoke Free Days
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Quit Meter
547,452
Cigarettes Not Smoked