Hello, my name is Jake and I am 22 years old.
So, here's the story.
It all started about a year and a half ago when I was first introduced to using nicotine through cigarettes and cigars, as a means to relieve stress in college. It was from a friend (as most of these circumstances tend to be). I don't blame him or anything though, as he was quite clear and gave warnings of what could happen (which it did). After doing a lot of experimenting with nicotine, I eventually settled with dip, and after more time went by, settled and stuck with Grizzly pouches. I have actually put "effort" into quitting 2 times now (first time got to 3 days, second time 9 days). I'm going to try for a third time, and hope I can get further this time.
A friend who once struggled with smoking had said he was able to "ween" himself off of it, taking in less at a time (smoke less of a cigarette each time), less frequently, and longer waiting between intervals. (It should be noted that this person did not have a history of addiction in his family. I believe the difference between him and I though is that my mother has been a smoker (even when I was in the womb), and addiction can play a role in genetics).
This logically made sense to me, because if it took time for your body to get used to the nicotine, it should take time to get used to living without it right? I mean, you didn't dip a whole can in a day or two, you built up to that.
However what's conflicting about that concept is that most of what I've read seems to still say cold turkey is best (which is what I tried the first two times). Has anyone had any success with the tapering method at all? Even though it logically makes more sense, I find it harder to do it that way. Even though the craves were worse with cold turkey, it seemed easier to manage because you're not re-fueling yourself with nicotine every so often.
Things that I have tried and used a lot were gum and sunflower seeds. Sometimes chewing paper or ice also. Never tried any of the fake stuff (but am considering it). I have taken and used a medication called "Effexor" for depression, but it turns out it also helps treat withdrawal symptoms as well (better on some days than others). That being said, there were some days (day 7 and day 9 were tough) that ended up feeling like day 1!
I've been reading a lot on this website, and after reading some success stories and things people have done, I thought it was time to put my fair share of experiences out there for people to learn from, and gain any advice I could from those who made it.
So after my introduction, some questions I have are:
- After only using nicotine for about 1.5 years, will there ever be a point in my life where the cravings will go 100% away?
- By quitting cold turkey, does that make me weaker in the case of a backslide? For example, let's call person A a person who quit cold turkey. Next, let's call person B someone who quit by tapering. A year has passed since both person A's and person B's quit date. Now let's say they both slip up, and use dip. So two questions here:
- Would person B have an easier time getting back on track, because of the much longer and disciplined withdrawal method (or vice versa)?
- Would person A have a hard time getting back on track, because of the inexperience of withdrawal and the rush of nicotine replenishment (or vice versa)?
I look forward to meeting a lot of wonderful and inspirational people on here!
Thanks for taking time to read this.
Hey Jake! Welcome aboard. I'll give answering your questions and concerns a shot. My view on tapering off nicotine is a very negative one for a few reasons:
1.) It leaves the door wide open to mess up. To me, it's the same as setting a "quit date". If you give the addict mind an inch, it WILL take a mile. Close the door completely. My approach to quitting nicotine is the same as it is for pulling off a bandaid. Do it all at once, let it suck for the short while it's gonna suck, and get on with life. And forget that nicotine replacement stuff. Nicotine is not a substance that needs replaced. It needs eliminated. These people going around saying they used the patch or nicotine gum to quit dipping are analogous to a person saying they used whiskey to quit wine. Just be done with it in all of its forms.
2.) I don't know what the downside of quitting dip cold turkey would be. I have never heard of anyone dying from nicotine withdrawal, but I have heard of millions of people dying from nicotine addiction. I'm not ruling out that maybe, MAYBE there is a very specialized medical reason why a person couldn't quit cold turkey, but I would suspect you'd already have to be very unhealthy for that to be the case. If there is a medical reason, I have personally not heard of it, nor do I know anyone whom a doctor has advised that quitting cold turkey is dangerous or incorrect. The only "reason" I've ever heard for someone not wanting to go cold turkey is because they feel it'd be too hard to do. So, while this article is talking about nicotine delivery by means of smoking, I think you would
enjoy this fellow's take on weening yourself off nicotine. His point, which I wholeheartedly believe, is that "weening yourself off of nicotine" is simply prolonging your withdrawal. The people over at Nicorette and Chantix want nothing more than for people to believe their products are required to quit. That's why we're bombarded with their ads from all angles. And if you think about their message, you should actually feel insulted. Their sales pitch is that you're too weak to do this yourself, so of course you need pills and patches.
As for craves and thoughts about dipping, I can't say if there will ever be a point in your life where those go away completely. I will tell you that my great uncle quit smoking 60 years ago and still thinks about it occasionally, or so he tells me. Not in the same intense, mind-fogging way a new quitter thinks about it, but more like a "Yeah, that's something I did" sort of way. I'm sure it's different for everyone. I can tell you that at 150 days in, I personally do not think of the physical act of putting chew in my mouth with any sort of frequency. Some guys do, though - we're all different. I get the occasional feeling that "something is missing" every so often, but I honestly don't think about dip itself much at all these days. And that is why I and other people at that point have to be even more vigilant now than ever and not grow complacent. Thus my continued involvement here! As people here say, I'm $5 and a gas station away from being back at day 1 if I get complacent. I am not cured, nor will I ever be, but thinking about dipping is something that gets less intense and less frequent with time.
Finally, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but my mindset doesn't really allow me to speculate who would have a harder time climbing back on the wagon if they caved. It is not my intention to find out. I honestly don't even consider things like that. All I can tell you is that I'm quit for today, and have quit for 149 days prior to today. And I have done that successfully because 24,000 people here hold me accountable, and I don't have the balls to dishonor my word to that many people.
Whew! That was a long one! Any way, I'm glad you've made your way here and have decided to quit!
Make sure to head to the November '15 group and post roll!
