My Best Friend Turned Out To Be My Worst Enemy

I started smoking at age 9 to be part of the crowd. i smoked for 22 years. A friend of mine offered me some nic gum one day and i decided to try and quit smoking. I had enough gum to last a couple days. When the gum was gone i said what am i going to do now. Let me think. Brainstorm! i will buy some chewing tobacco, eat some, get sick and wont want a cigarette. So i bought a daisy plug. well it did not make me sick and me and daisy got along just fine. I graduated to skoal pouches for newbies shortly there after started using skoal long cut. (Pouches became a joke). I use to buy cope to use when i was trying to cut back. i dont no how any body could use that shit. I couldnt even cut back with it i would save it for extream emergencys. As time goes by my wife and kids start geting on my back. When are you going to stop. So not wanting to stop the HELL BEGINS.

Tryed the patch,nic gum nic lozenges,(they were good mint flavored) welbutran,chantix and my favorate COLD TURKEY.Mined you most of the time these quits were half assed.FIRST COLD TURKEY lasted 80 something days.I almost completely lost my mind.Hot pepers,tea bags,gum,candy none of it shuggarless.The nic bitch had turned me inside out,litteraly thats the only way i can explain it.At this point every filling in my mouth feels like its going to explode,my toung and cheeks are all cut up from chewing gum and suckin on candy at the same.Anyway,i said to myself i can not go on like this for the rest of my life,(i acually thought it would be this way for the rest of my life)Went to the store bought some skoal,put a dip in,both ears got hot,and i was on my way.Im not going to bore anyone with the next cold turkey quit which lasted 80 some days again.It boiled down to the same thing,i cant go on like this for the rest of my life.i always thought it would not change.

This all went on in a 5 year period.I go to the Doctor he tells me if i dont stop tobaco i am going to have a stroke!Now i say to myself i wont have a stroke for at least a few years.The arogance.My mom was a smoker and developed enphaseema and had 2 strokes,i beleive the secondone killed her.So anyway i decide its time to quit.(I swore to myself twice before that i would never try and quit again).My 1st site i went to was a smokers site,why quit . com. While on the site i learned alot about what nic does to you.Now i stumble somehow onto K.T.C.,go to the chat room.Mind you now,ive already been off nic for 60 plus days. Whos on line,NMC and Mrogers.Started talking with these two gentlemen and for the first time in my life i realized that i wasn’t alone in this batle.If i hadnt goten that warm welcome i would not be here today.

NMC got me signed up and continued sticking by my side helping me every step of the way.Thanks Brent and Mrogers. Also kd4jet ,thanks Kenny for all your help and for keeping me laughing.Thanks to huntemup, GlenFTK, Skoal Monster, and all the members of May 09.Special thanks to Chewie and all the
e other geys who stayed this site and maintain it.And thanks to all HOF and all the newbies. Indeed each and every one of you. I am also planing on sticking around another 100 days.

With identification comes empathy and compasion. With knowledge comes power.
Mike alias BlueClaw (Kid calls me BearClaw) thanks Kid
Nicotine had me for 45 years.

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member blueclaw