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 Message 18 of 24 in Discussion 
From: Joel  in response to Message 1Sent: 2/2/2006 9:05 PM

Hi Joel,

I just wanted to send you an email to say Thank You…I have attempted quitting many times over the last 21 years and have used every crutch known…even that little computer gimmick device.  I’m not sure but I bet these pharmaceutical companies have made as much money off me as the tobacco industry.  I have $300 worth of Nicotine patches sitting on top of my fridge because it seems like a waste to just throw them out. 

I’m 36 years old and have been smoking since I was 15.  When I was 21 I quit smoking cold turkey with almost no adverse effects.  One year later I started smoking again and didn’t try quitting again until I hit about 26.  By then I was a medical professional (an International Flight Medic as well as a Rescue specialist), so I was “educated�?on addictions and as such I knew all the proper methods of quitting.  Funny, my education was my downfall.  All these proven methods and yet something just didn’t feel right about them.  They kept saying, “the more times you quit, the more chances you have of success”…I can laugh now, but man did that ever bug me, it just didn’t make sense.

Finally two and a half years ago, my father after 40 years of smoking decided that that was enough and quit, no preparation, no patches, no lasers, no hypnosis, no gum, just threw his pack away and that was it�?too expensive was the only excuse he would give).  Well of course that’s it, that’s Daddy, he’s superman and can do those kind of things.  There’s no one I idolize more than my father and it was really ticking me off that he could do this and I couldn’t…but yet I did when I was 21, so what went wrong? 

Thanks to you, I now know what went wrong…”Never Take Another Puff.�?nbsp; Such a simple and powerful line to an ex-smoker.  I certainly can’t say that it was easy, and I’ve spoken to my Dad and other ex-smoker and they’ve all said that they still get cravings now and then, but I can say that the satisfaction of beating the control cigarettes had over me is better than…in terms that a smoker can understand…that first cigarette in the morning.

So thanks for taking the time to make that website, it gave me the understanding and support that I needed to beat this bad boy.

Best wishes,

John