The Quit Smoking Report Ezine

The Quit Smoking Report 09/07/99
Published on the first and third Tuesday of each month

Brought to you by The Quit Smoking Company
http://www.quitsmoking.com

In this issue:

<> Letter from the Editor
<> Article: The Children Are Our Smoke-Free Future
<> A Word From Our Sponsor
<> Smokers' Stories
<> Unsubscribe Success Story

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!

Saying goodbye to someone or something you love is one of the
most difficult things we as human beings have to do. A little
over a year ago, my family sold a home that had belonged to my
grandfather since the 1940s. It was a special place where we
could all go to relax and fish, and enjoy the Florida coast.
(You can see a picture of the house here:
http://fredk.home.mindspring.com/house/front.jpg )

I was fortunate to visit the home this past weekend and see the
progress the new owner has made on his renovation efforts.

Saying goodbye to smoking requires a great deal of courage as
you go through the emotions of letting go of a friend and a
comfort in your life. Unlike my visit to the home, however, if
you "re-visit" with a cigarette, you may find yourself smoking
just as you did before.

Be prepared to make a clean break from cigarettes. Prepare
yourself emotionally, because when you quit you may find
yourself sad or lonely. Find other happy and important things in
your life to replace your old friend.

+++

We've got many new quit smoking products on the horizon. They
should begin appearing on the web site within a few weeks. I'll
let you know more about them soon.

Also, look for more fun stuff to read and do on the web site.

+++

Be sure to get your FREE i-quit-smoking.com email address!
Hundreds of people have already signed up and are making their
statement every time they send and receive email. You can have
an email address in this format:

yourname@i-quit-smoking.com

It's fun and it's free, and it's a permanent address, so if you
change to a different Internet Service Provider, your email
address won't have to change too.

Get yours today at:
http://www.i-quit-smoking.com

+++

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

Fred Kelley
fredk@quitsmoking.com
The Quit Smoking Company

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ARTICLE: The Children Are Our Smoke-Free Future

As school gets back in full swing here in the U.S., it's time to
focus on kids and their use of tobacco. While *you* may already
be a smoker, there's plenty you can do to help keep your kids
from trying cigarettes. Most smokers start in their teenage
years, so early prevention is the key to giving children a
smoke-free life.

The following information comes from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).

Parents-Help Keep Your Kids Tobacco-Free

Know the Facts About Youth and Tobacco Use

** Kids who use tobacco may:

++ Cough and have asthma attacks more often and develop
respiratory problems leading to more sick days, more doctor
bills, and poorer athletic performance.
++ Be more likely to use alcohol and other drugs such as
cocaine and marijuana.
++ Become addicted to tobacco and find it extremely hard to
quit.

** Spit tobacco and cigars are not safe alternatives to
cigarettes; low-tar and additive-free cigarettes are not safe
either.
** Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in
the United States causing heart disease, cancers, and strokes.

Take a Stand at Home-Early and Often

** Despite the impact of movies, music, and TV, parents can be
the GREATEST INFLUENCE in their kids' lives.
** Talk directly to children about the risks of tobacco use; if
friends or relatives died from tobacco-related illnesses, let
your kids know.
** If you use tobacco, you can still make a difference. Your
best move, of course, is to try to quit. Meanwhile, don't use
tobacco in your children's presence, don't offer it to them, and
don't leave it where they can easily get it.
** Start the dialog about tobacco use at age 5 or 6 and continue
through their high school years. Many kids start using tobacco
by age 11, and many are addicted by age 14.
** Know if your kids' friends use tobacco. Talk about ways to
refuse tobacco.
** Discuss with kids the false glamorization of tobacco on
billboards, and other media, such as movies, TV, and magazines.

Make a Difference in Your Community

** Vote with your pocketbook. Support businesses that don't sell
tobacco to kids. Frequent restaurants and other places that are
tobacco-free.
** Be sure your schools and all school events (i.e. parties,
sporting events, etc.) are tobacco-free.
** Partner with your local tobacco prevention programs. Call
your local health department or your cancer, heart, or lung
association to learn how you can get involved.

Here's another quick fact sheet from the CDC that can help to
influence kids:

What You(th) Should Know About Tobacco

Tobacco and Athletic Performance

** Don't get trapped. Nicotine in cigarettes, cigars, and spit
tobacco is addictive.
** Nicotine narrows your blood vessels and puts added strain on
your heart.
** Smoking can wreck lungs and reduce oxygen available for
muscles used during sports.
** Smokers suffer shortness of breath (gasp!) almost 3 times
more often than nonsmokers.
** Smokers run slower and can't run as far, affecting overall
athletic performance.
** Cigars and spit tobacco are NOT safe alternatives.

Tobacco and Personal Appearance

** Yuck! Tobacco smoke can make hair and clothes stink.
Tobacco stains teeth and causes bad breath.
** Short-term use of spit tobacco can cause cracked lips, white
spots, sores, and bleeding in the mouth.
** Surgery to remove oral cancers caused by tobacco use can lead
to serious changes in the face. Sean Marcee, a high school
star athlete who used spit tobacco, died of oral cancer when
he was 19 years old.

SO . . .

** Know the truth. Despite all the tobacco use on TV and in
movies, music videos, billboards and magazines---most teens,
adults, and athletes DON'T use tobacco.
** Make friends, develop athletic skills, control weight, be
independent, be cool..... play sports.
** Don't waste (burn) money on tobacco. Spend it on CD's,
clothes, computer games, and movies.

Get involved: make your team, school, and home tobacco-free;
teach others; join community efforts to prevent tobacco use.

Parents, get involved with your children's lives! Help them to
avoid the mistake you made when you first starting smoking. Talk
openly and frankly about smoking and its effects. Share this
information with them and their friends so that your kids won't
have to subscribe to The Quit Smoking Report too!

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Get full details at our web site.
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SMOKERS' STORIES

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

Warren Wright <warrenk@datasync.com> writes:
Subject: smoking for 45 years

Thanks for your invite to tell my story.

Presently this is my 9th day of not smoking. During my 45 years
of smoking, I quit once for 8 months. The rest of my quits
lasted from 1 to 30 days. I have tried quitting at least a 100
times. I have tried cold turkey, acupuncture, hypnosis, gum, and
patches. I smoked at least a pack/day. Stress was my biggest
trigger.

After reading about the 70% success rates for patches plus
Zyban, I have decided to try it and that's what I have tried
this time around. I set my quit date for 2 weeks hence, started
on Zyban, then 2 weeks later started the patch. So far so good.
You know how expensive patches are. My local health dept. is
giving them out Free! So I got a 6 wk. supply.

I am now 62. My father died from COPD at age 65. He was a heavy
smoker. The crazy thing about all this is the fact that I am a
retired pathologist. I have performed autopsies on hundreds of
people who died from smoking related deaths. These deaths were
associated with much morbidity and were terrible to witness.
Still I kept smoking, thinking that that could not happen to me.
As the Surgeon General said recently, 'smoking has caused more
deaths and has been more costly than all the other major
addictions( alcohol, cocaine, etc.) combined.' Alcohol has to be
taken at above the suggested daily dose to kill you. However,
smoking at the suggested daily dose of 1 pack a day will kill
you.

Anyway, I know I am not out of the woods yet, but I have made up
my mind this time. I just know that I cannot maintain my good
health if I were to continue smoking.

Warren Wright

+++

Lori Schrader <schraderla@hotmail.com> writes:
Subject: Different Guilt

I read the feeling guilty story today and it made me realize
that I also have guilt but its different, I haven't had a cig
for 14 days now and I keep asking myself why did I quit?

I know all of the health reasons and I know I'm saving a ton of
money, but I REALLY ENJOYED smoking, I told my sister that I
quit and she asked me WHY?, Do you know I didn't have an answer
that even sounded convincing to me let alone anyone else. To be
honest I quit because the Man I'm dating doesn't smoke and I
thought maybe this relationship would have a better chance if
one more obstacle was removed. I ask myself every time I have a
craving Why don't you just go buy some? I never have an answer
but I continue to not smoke. I also feel that in the back of my
mind when this relationship ends I will be a smoker again. Like
others I have stopped before, I stopped for six months two years
ago and gained 46lbs in two months, I did loose half of that
weight before I started smoking again so I know that I can do
it. BUT, I still feel like I'm a smoker who is playing a
childish game by pretending that I don't smoke. How long do I
have to not smoke before I don't feel like this? Evidently it's
more than six months.

I do have a lot of support at work with my supervisor but that
is only for 8 hours a day and the toughest time is in the
evenings when I'm alone and watching myself eat when I'm not
hungry just to have something to do with my hands. I have
cleaned everything I can think of, I have filed about 3 years of
records and my children think I have gone completely crazy for
rearranging everything in the house. What do I do next? Help,
Keep me on track.

Lori A. Schrader
Send replies to schraderla@hotmail.com

+++

Vicky Murray <VICKY_MURRAY@HP-USA-om1.om.hp.com> writes:

Hi Fred,

August 7th was my 1 year birthday of being smoke free. Some
people may call it an anniversary, but to me it's a new
beginning, hence the term "birthday". From the very 1st day one
stop's smoking, the body begins healing. You feel better, you
breath better, you smell better, you can taste better, you can
smell better.....you just plain get better!! That's a great
feeling.

I send my very best of wishes to those who are trying to quit.
If I was asked what one single thing helped me the most....I
would have to say, Prayer! Not just by me, but by my family and
friends too. Ask your family members and friends to pray for you
too. I honestly never thought I would be able to quit smoking. I
was badly hooked. I used to hear people say "If I can do
it....anybody can do it" and would say to myself "they don't
know just how bad I am hooked". But you know...today I eat my
words, because I am convinced that "If I can quit, anybody can
quit too"!!!! AMEN

Hang in there and keep the faith!!

Vicky

+++

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UNSUBSCRIBE SUCCESS STORY

When a subscriber to this ezine has quit successfully and asks
to be taken off the list, I ask them to tell their success
story. Here is this issue's story:

Vicki Lidbetter <vicki_lidbetter@hotmail.com> writes:

Fred - Hi!

Wow - what a lovely surprise to find an email from you. Thank
You! :-)

My story - yes, I'd love to share it with you!

O.K. Go to a couple of weeks before Christmas last year. I was
smoking at least 30 a day - 40 or so if I was going to the pub
as well... I've 'only' been smoking ten years, and 'only' about
20 a day, and felt that I could quit if I wanted - "just not
right now"... Until two years ago, when my parents went on
holiday, and my father took us all by surprise by dropping dead
with a heart attack. I took it extremely badly. I went straight
up to 40 a day, and stayed there. I inhaled deeply to mask the
pain of grief. I sat for hours, staring at my cigarette, like it
was my friend - it doesn't understand death either, but it is a
reminder that I'm not dead yet - the closest I could feel to
being alive.

So, I was not on the verge of Quitting. I couldn't afford it,
and I couldn't go more than 45 mins in a no-smoking place
without getting really fidgety, and getting that craving feeling
similar to hunger. But I couldn't contemplate Quitting - no -
sorry - it wasn't about to happen! To be honest, I was terrified
of Quitting. I rarely thought about it - and when I did, it was
like a big black hole of nothing but pain!

But on the 15th Dec. I was going to have my wisdom teeth out
under general anesthetic. The letter said: No smoking for 12
hours in advance of surgery, or for 24 hours after. It could
just as easily have said: Patient must walk through a brick
wall. I had to confront my fear.

So, I treated myself as if I were ill. I gave myself two weeks
of being pampered like an invalid - It was GREAT!! I did nothing
but treat myself, at my mother's country cottage - a break from
the city, and away from my old smoking environment... and the
best part - there wasn't Any way I could get hold of cigarettes.
Her house was clean.

And to my surprise... I did it!! And it was nowhere near as
frightening as I had expected it to be. It was hard - it was a
major challenge, but it wasn't like I thought it would be. And,
you might find this hard to believe, but I actually started to
enjoy being Quit. I decided to treat myself with my Quit-money
for all the firsts - first week, first month... to spend all the
money that I would have wasted on the stupid drug on great
things for myself! :) Perfume, a lovely new bed, meals out, a
trip to Springs health resort, and the biggy - a holiday to
Montreal. It has been a whirlwind few months - the best thing I
have Ever done!

I can breath again! I'm FREE!! :) I can smell the flowers, and I
Love it! I had no idea how much of a hassle I was giving myself
- and I didn't realise, but with every cigarette I was punishing
myself for "not having the will power" or just for doing
something I didn't really want to be doing. I was carrying a
heavy weight.

Now I know that it's not about will power - if it was then
there's no way I'd have Quit - I'm soo week willed! No - I had
to recognise that it was serious. That Quitting Is a big thing,
and it should be treated like a big thing. Thinking it should be
easy made it impossible, and made me hate myself for being
unable to.

Now I know it's not only possible, but it is actually a
pleasure! I had great fun planning my tactics against the enemy!
I didn't talk with friends about it - either they smoke, in
which case I didn't want to become their worst nightmare! hehe -
or they didn't smoke, in which case they couldn't have
understood - not really. But I found so much support in groups
and resources on the net. I lived in the Quitnet at
www.quitnet.org from time to time, and I have made great friends
all over the world, who really understood the pros and cons of
the big Quit.

Well, I think I have talked too much. I just want to say a big
thanks to all the support, and for everyone Quitting, or
thinking about Quitting - All the very best! Eight months later
and I rarely think about smoking at all - let alone Me doing it.
You can do it!

Love, and best wishes,
Vicki. x x

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

Where's your story? I'd sure like to share it with the other
subscribers to this email list. Submit Your Smoker's Story

I hope to hear from you!

Next Issue: 09/21/99

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

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http://www.quitsmoking.com/products.htm for some helpful
quit smoking tools.

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

Until next time, SAY GOODBYE TO CIGARETTES AND DON'T LOOK BACK,

Fred Kelley

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

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© 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 The Quit Smoking Company make no warranties,
either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the
contents of The Quit Smoking Report.

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