My name is Ed and I am a nicotine addict. Nothing earth shattering there because with the possible exception of Joel, we all are. I just had my 70th
birthday and have been smoking since I was 16 years old. My math says that's 54 years. But, compared to one in here that was 80 when he quit,
that's not earth shattering either. What is earth shattering to me is the fact that I finally admitted I needed help and found it right here at this
site. Like most of you, I have tried many times and failed each time because there were some basics I just didn't understand or didn't want to
understand. Number one is the Laws of Addiction or is that just ONE Law of Addiction - - NTAP.
I have done my best to understand the various ways of cessation being touted and found the ONE method that I understood and could handle with out any serious
side effects - - - COLD TURKEY- - - and this is the only place it can be found..
These first 15 days have been somewhat calm for me. I recall only raising my voice to my wife once - that should be read - -yelled at my wife once. I
followed the drink acidic juices thing and it got me over the sugar lows. I have confronted "triggers" where I know I burned the smokes like crazy
and so far have NTAP. I don't know if I have experenced any craves, but a couple of times I seriously thought about a relapse, looked at my watch and
noticed it was waaay past time to eat. I was one of those smokers Joel described that could go from morning to evening without eating because I was
constantly getting my nicotine high to release the sugars and fats.
I confronted another trigger today and won. It seems that if my bike engine was running, I had a smoke going. I think I just read today, maybe last night,
about any activitiy lasting more that 20 minutes had smoking associated with it. Looking back, that is so true in my case.
I still rely on my NTAP post-its all over the place and my dear wife ask me each day what my quit counter says, so I am determined to make this quit last - -
one day at a time and one challenge at a time.
The support I have seen in here is awesome and I can tell you up front that I will use everything I have seen and experienced here to keep my quit going. I
kinda feel like I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm assuming that all newbie ex-smokers feel like I do.
Thanks for hearing me out.
Ed

