Greetings to all. I wanted to introduce myself. I used to chew for the past 9-10 years about 3-4 cans a week. In the past year I noticed I was increasing my usage and was about 5-6 cans a week. I have 2 young children and an amazing wife. She has never nagged me for chewing, but I wanted to make the decision to stop this nasty habit. So on 12/27/2016 I took my very last chew on 7:45am and tossed all my cans into the trash. I have never attempted to quit before, for me it was just a decision I have made for myself. Nobody asked me to do this, it was my choice. And for that matter I'm sticking with it.
So Far here is my experience:
Before the quit I made the decision, and purchased 3 kinds of fake tobacco free imitation dips (Jakes, Bacoff, Smoke Mountain) all wintergreen flavors. I figured variety would be good to determine which I prefer. I read up on a few things, but this was a new chapter for me. I understand everybody withdrawals differently and so I had no idea what to expect other than it was not going to be easy and I had to have had a "made up" unwavering commitment to axe this and never go back.
Day 1 = the decision was made my last dip was at 7:45am on 12/27/2016. After about 3 hours I kept thinking about another dip over and over, but I resisted. Reached for the Jakes and just stuck to my guns. Felt good to have something in my lip. I tried to keep busy
Day 2 = this day was not fun, everything I did I had dip on my mind, the constant craving, and noticed my anger/temperament was very short fused. I am normally not angry but this was crazy. I started to get snappy and short with others. This was not a fun day at all, I had to focus on breathing deep and relaxing throughout the day.
Day 3 = started to get in the swing of things with the tobacco-free dip, it really helped with some of my physical feeling of not having anything in my mouth. This is when I started to notice I got spacy on and off. My mind was in the fog, unclear, but then I would snap back to clarity. The cravings were very strong at times, but I just put in a tobacco-free dip and focused on something else. Within 1-2 minutes the cravings subsided but then reappeared 10-15 minutes later.
Day 4 = Serious mind games, confused, and fog rolling in and out. Had a hard time sleeping this night on and off. I did not take any supplements just regular multi-vitamins. The cravings seem to still be there and got every more intense. The fog keeps me in a cloud.
Day 5 = I think I slept for a total of 2-3 hours this night. The fight continues, but I am winning this battle, not giving up. My cravings got worse, but I kept staying in control. I'm steering this ship!!! Just pure will-power to not give in! Keep my eye focused on my commitment.
Day 6 = This was pretty much the same as the prior day but I think I had the craziest most vivid dream of a Old man who had chewed tobacco for many years. He looked at me and reached in his pocket and pulled out a tobacco-free can of dip and held it into the air and said "this saved my life... keep using this to fight off any cravings". I woke up in a sweat at the moment of this and I could still see him vividly. It was like something, or somebody, or my own being trying to tell me something and to keep going and not give up. I had a sense like I need to always have one of these tobacco-free tins with me just "in-case" an urge consumes me. It is like a protective shield. The fog this day got more intense and worse, my body started to feel weak and lethargic. Just like pins and needles over my body and my back was aching like crazy. Not sure why just crazy.
Day 7 = This has been the worst day so far. I heard somewhere the expression of a "Snail trying to run a marathon in a jar of peanut butter." This is exactly how I felt on day 7. My mind was so foggy and disconnected, probably from lack of sleep and withdrawals put together. My body was more in a physical state of being uncomfortable than any other day, body aches, lower back aches, my entire body felt like it was disconnected and achy, my mind could barley focus, and I felt like trying to run a marathon inside of a jar of peanut butter that is 100 miles long. Yuk! I finally decided to try natural holistic Melatonin Sleep spray 10 mintues before bedtime. Finally after 30-40 minutes I fell asleep for about 2-3 hours and woke up. Then I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, read some articles, and decided ok time to get back to bed, so I took 1/2 dose of Melatonin spray at 3:45am and woke up at 7:10am.
Day 8 = I woke up and remembered I had ordered some L-Tryosine. I decided to try taking 1 tablet before breakfast, and it really seemed to help the morning fog, really I'm feeling the best today so far! I hope this continues to improve!
Thanks for welcoming me to this forum!
