The Quit Smoking Report Ezine

The Quit Smoking Report 02/02/99

Published on the first and third Tuesday of each month

Brought to you by QuitSmoking.com
http://www.quitsmoking.com

In this issue:

<> Letter from the Editor
<> Featured Product: No Ifs, Ands or Butts Kopy Kit®
<> Article: "If I Quit, I'll Die!"
<> A Word From Our Sponsor
<> Smokers' Stories

You can read previous issues of The Quit Smoking Report on our
web site. Just visit: http://www.quitsmoking.com/ezine

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Hello again everyone!

We've been busy. Our latest web site is up and running at:
http://www.QuitSmokingChat.com

The name says it all. Chat with other smokers, online, in real-
time about quitting smoking. It's free and open to anyone with a
Java-enabled browser. Chat as long as you like, as often as you
like.

Shortly, we'll be setting some specific times for people to come
chat, to insure that you've got someone to chat with. Until
then, just drop in and see who's there. Best time to chat is
usually 8 PM EST.

+++

As a subscriber to The Quit Smoking Report, you get special
savings and discounts. Today, we had to raise the price on
Citrol spray (http://www.quitsmoking.com/citrol/index.htm) due
to a manufacturer price increase. However, as a subscriber you
can still purchase Citrol at the old price for the next two
weeks. Just visit this secret web page to order at the old
price: http://www.quitsmoking.com/citrol/special.htm

Be sure to use this page, or you'll pay the new higher price.

+++

We've got more great stuff on the horizon, so keep coming back
to http://www.quitsmoking.com for the latest information,
community and fun.

Remember, you can read previous issues of The Quit Smoking
Report on our web site. Just visit:
http://www.quitsmoking.com/ezine

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FEATURED PRODUCT: No Ifs, Ands or Butts Kopy Kit®
http://www.quitsmoking.com/kopykit/index.htm

Do you need quit smoking materials that you can copy and
distribute to your classroom, patients, smoking cessation group,
company employees or other individuals or groups?

The No Ifs, Ands or Butts Kopy Kit® is just what you're looking
for. Each Kopy Kit® includes 32 FULLY REPRODUCIBLE reports,
worksheets and posters that will help your intended audience to
quit smoking or to prevent smoking.

Each report is professionally written and illustrated, and is
suitable for any type of quit smoking program. When you purchase
the Kopy Kit® you are granted a license to make as many copies of
the reports as you want. Make a dozen copies or a million
copies--it's up to you.

Create your own quit smoking handbook for your employees and
help reduce lost work days and insurance costs. Provide your
students with information to help them overcome peer pressure to
smoke. Give these reports to each of your patients who smoke, to
help them quit. Or use these reports as a handbook for your
smoking cessation program.

How you use the Kopy Kit® is up to you! Again, it's fully
reproducible, for as many copies as you want. So for one low
price you get an unlimited supply of information!

You can even take portions of the text from these reports and
include them in newsletters, bulletins, reports, workbooks,
brochures, manuals, etc. Develop your own reports and
information with help from the No Ifs, Ands or Butts Kopy Kit®.

Get your copy of the No Ifs, Ands or Butts Kopy Kit® today!
http://www.quitsmoking.com/kopykit/index.htm

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ARTICLE: "If I Quit, I'll Die!"

Wow, this is an interesting place to be! Running this email
list, I get some VERY interesting emails--some good, some bad.
But it's always helpful and insightful.

What happens many times, every day, is that a family member or
friend will add to this email list the email address of a smoker
they hope will quit smoking. The smoker receives my first
"Welcome" email, and they either like it or hate it. They didn't
sign up for the list. They weren't expecting the email because
someone else signed them up, anonymously.

So, what invariably happens is that a small percentage of the
people who are added to the list everyday, are removed from the
list. Most people simply send a "remove" email. Occasionally,
someone sends a strongly worded "remove" email. Today, I
received a remove email in the latter category.

Actually, the person sent two separate emails. They provide
great insight into what many of you probably feel right now.

The first message reads "Remove me from this Horrible Listing, I
take pride in smoking okay, and If I quit I'll Die."

Do you take pride in your smoking? My guess is that if you
really examine it, you take pride not in smoking, but in making
your own decisions, and being your own person. Many people START
smoking to prove their independence and control over their own
lives. No one can tell you what to do, right? That's why the
decision to quit and the motivation to quit MUST come from
inside YOU, not someone else. If you are reading this message
you've probably made the decision that smoking stinks and that
getting help and advice from others is okay now. That's a huge
step toward quitting. Congratulations! Once you get past the
pride issue, quitting becomes a whole lot easier.

The last part of the emails says, "If I quit I'll Die." What an
ironic statement. Shouldn't it really be, "If I don't quit I'll
Die"? We all know what he means though: "I can't face the
thought of not having my friend, the cigarette. I need them to
relax. I need them to cope. I need them to fit in. I just need
them to live." That's the addiction talking. He's probably tried
to quit before and felt the withdrawal--mentally, physically and
emotionally. It can be painful, almost to the point that you DO
feel like you're going to die. But, rest assured you won't.

The next message reads "Remove me from this torture." I suppose
this one can be interpreted in a couple different ways. Perhaps
the guy just didn't like my writing. Ok, I can take the
constructive criticism. But the other interpretation is the one
I'd like to focus on. I think what he really meant was this:
"Every time you talk to me about quitting smoking it drives me
insane because I know I should quit. I've tried, believe me,
I've tried. I want to quit, but I like to smoke. I need my
cigarettes. I want to be my own person. I want to *smoke* on my
own terms and I want to *quit* on my own terms. Leave me alone
and just let me figure it out in my own way. I'm not ready to
quit right now."

Is that you? Does reading about this torture you? I've had other
people ask to be taken off this list because it made them think
about smoking too much, and made them want to smoke.

Quitting can be torture, but most anything worth doing does
involve some pain or discomfort. Some things worth doing require
LOTS of pain and discomfort.

I remember how painful football (American style) practice was
when I was in high school. I banged my head against a bunch of
other guys for two and a half hours each weekday afternoon, just
to get ready for a two hour game on Saturday. Now that was
torture! But it was worth it! Once the game started, I forgot
about all the hard work I put in the week before.

I bet all the women on this list who have had children can
relate (but magnified 1,000 times). You suffer for nine months,
feeling like you could explode any minute. You may even say that
you wish you never got pregnant because it's so miserable. But
when the big day comes and your baby is born you forget about
the pain and anguish you suffered. It was worth it!

Quitting is worth it! Remember, when you're feeling like you
could "die", that one day soon, all the pain and misery of
quitting will be forgotten, and you'll be a non-smoker for the
rest of your life!

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A Word From Our Sponsor:

This issue I'm plugging our new site QuitSmokingChat.com

When you're crawling up the walls wanting to smoke, log in to
http://www.QuitSmokingChat.com instead. Have live, real-time
conversations with other smokers who are quitting. Chatting is
FREE and is open to anyone with a Java-enabled web browser.
There's nothing like support from someone who's going through
the same thing you're going through. So, jump in and start
chatting your addiction away!

http://www.QuitSmokingChat.com

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SMOKERS' STORIES

If you can help these folks with your suggestions please send
them email.

Peter Ricci <PRICCI@best-people.co.uk> writes:
Subject: The final straw

Hi guys
I am a 36 year old father. Quite simply, my drive to quit was
driven by my youngest daughter (2 1/2 years old) developing an
extremely bad chest infection and cough. It has been diagnosed
as down to my and my wife's smoking. Whether it's just a callous
doctor creating a scenario, or whether it's the real cause is
irrelevant, why should my kids suffer for our stupidity and
weakness.

We quit last week, it's hard and it's hurting
but it's worth it
for them if nothing else.

+++

Joyce Livingston <JLivingston@Kronos.com> writes:

Hi Fred,
It was nice to receive your letter. I am working on my 7th week
of being SMOKE FREE!!! I quit smoking on 11/19/98 (American
Cancer Society's Great American Smoke Out) I have been smoking
for about 20 years. I started as a young girl. I have attempted
to quit several times over the past few years but to no avail. I
have attempted to quit once again because I have found out that
my 15 year old son is smoking. I was just a little younger than
him when I started and it breaks my heart to see him smoking. I
am determined to stop this time hoping my son will do the same.

This time around, I am using the new "Zyban" and it is helping
tremendously. I also had to cut down on my caffeine; my body
just couldn't handle it. I have 1 cup in the morning and that is
all my body will allow me. (I used to drink coffee all day long)
I also have noticed that my mind is going about this differently
this time. When I have a "craving", I realized I am not having a
craving at all, my body is just going through the change of not
smoking, of not having the 4000 chemicals it is used to getting
for the past 20 years. I knew this all the other times I tried
to quit, but I thought of them as "cravings" but I don't this
time. I did not plan this...it just dawned on me this time when
I first quit. Every other time I attempted to quit, and I got a
"craving" I called it a "craving" and gave into the "craving".
This time I think of it as my body is just adjusting and it will
go away...and it does!!! I also drink lots of ice water when I
get a "craving" and it does flush your system. Or sometimes I
have a mint, which seems to help a lot too.

I know this letter is a little long, but it is nice to say all
this to someone who obviously knows how hard it is to quit! I
look forward to being smoke free, one day at a time. (I am still
not in the clear; I still have a lot of work to do.)

Thanks for you time,
Joyce

+++

Connie Jones <conniej@hrhokl.com> writes:

Thank you for the nice memo sent regarding my signing up on the
quit smoking help list. I am really trying hard, COLD TURKEY,
the only way to go...I hope.

One thing that I have been told since I stopped has really stuck
with me and I would like to share that: God gave me the
knowledge, courage and strength to save a life, so I decided to
save my own. I quit smoking!!!!!!!

+++

<frank345@frontiernet.net> writes:

My quit smoking story is like a lot of peoples. I quit 5 years
ago and after gaining 30 lbs i pick cig's back up in 7 months of
non-smoking. Now 5 years later i quit again it is almost 4
months. i again have gained weight about 15 lbs. I know now that
after a year my metabolism will level off and the weight will
come off. I have started exercising and do feel much better off
the cig's. I smoked for 30 years and today i still at times miss
them. It is hard because i still live with a smoker. I keep
hoping that one day he will try. Sometimes i get angry with him
thinking how lucky he is he can smoke.

I am glad i quit and am optimistic this time that to stay off
you can't have just one or one drag.. You can't have any. I want
to love my grandchildren who aren't even here yet. I can do
this. Good luck everybody.

+++

Jo Ann Freeman <river@train.missouri.org> writes:
Subject: patches

I tried the nicotine patches prescribed by my dr. three years
ago. Unfortunately 4 days of the patches I had a heart attack.
The cardiologist who treated me ( I was 45 then) said that with
my mvp the patches should have had a warning that the patches
would cause heart attacks in people with any kind of heart
problem. Please warn others who are trying to quit smoking.
check with your DR first!!!

+++

Leonard M Mugadili <lmugad1@uic.edu> writes:

Am 37 years old and been smoking on for the last 15 years.
After unsuccessfully trying to quit smoking several times over
the years, i made up my mind to stop smoking in 1999. I took my
last smoke at 11.30 pm December 1998. What has kept me going is
the belief I can stop smoking.

I have also started going to the Gym, am finding out that a body
that is tired after work out has no desire for nicotine, I have
also stopped taking anything that will trigger craving and am
eating those foods that will reduce desire to smoke. I have
replaced coffee, alcohol and coke cola with juices and water,
Fried food and candy bars with fruits and vegetables.

The driving force that keep from going after my cup of coffee is
the fact that food that will trigger craving for nicotine also
happens to be bad food for your general health and the food and
habits such as exercise, that will normally reduce desire to
smoke, happens to be good for your health, and will help me keep
the weight I will gain from quitting, down.

====================

Where's your story? I'd sure like to share it with the other
subscribers to this email list. Mailto:fredk@quitsmoking.com

I hope to hear from you!

Next Issue: 02/16/99

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You can find additional helpful quit smoking tips and
information at http://www.quitsmoking.com/quitinfo.htm

While you're there, take a look at our products page at
http://www.quitsmoking.com/products.htm for some helpful
quit smoking tools.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Until next time, REMEMBER, NO PAIN, NO GAIN,

Fred Kelley

QuitSmoking.com
Phone: 770-346-9222
Fax: 770-475-5007
Web: http://www.quitsmoking.com
Email: mailto:fredk@quitsmoking.com

To have your email address REMOVED from our list
CLICK HERE TO REMOVE

To have your email address ADDED to our list
CLICK HERE TO ADD

© Copyright 1999 Fred H. Kelley
This email may be freely distributed and forwarded
as long as the entire email remains intact.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or professional therapist.
The information included in this email is my opinion and the
opinions of the people sending in their comments.
Fred Kelley and QuitSmoking.com make no warranties,
either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the
contents of The Quit Smoking Report.

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