Good day all. This past weekend, I thought I would give up my 20 year smokeless tobacco habit.Â
I first started chewing Skoal Straight when a friend gave me some to try on the school bus ride home when I was 15 years old.
For the past 20 years I switched between Copenhagen, Skoal and also Kodiak (which was my favorite for whatever reason).
I am 35 years old now, and thought that 20 years was enough. So last Saturday I quit.
I am doing OK with it for the most part. The worst part for me is the odd feelings I have.
I feel disconnected from reality almost, it's hard to explain the sensation, so I decided to post here to see if I can find others that understand what I am talking about.
I feel disconnected, dizzy, twitchy and edgy. I am dealing with this fairly well. I am using Nicotine gum to help take the edge off, but it seems very weak compared to a dip of Kodiak of course. I think if I can get past these strange feelings, I will be OK and can quit for good. How long does this feeling last?????
I used to go through a can of Kodiak about every week. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I used to pack a chew and keep it in for hours. If I wasn't eating or sleeping, I had a chew in my mouth. And the worst part of it for the past 5-7 years I did not spit, so I'm sure that was even worse for my health.
After watching an episode of "Deadliest Catch" I saw that one of the Captains of the show got a scare about his smokeless tobacco use. I decided that it was time for me to quit as well. That was one of the main reasons I think. I saw that and it kind of scared me.
I know that this post seems like a ramble, so I apologize. I cannot focus very well right now and that makes work difficult for me (I am a computer network engineer).
I feel pretty confident right now that I am going to be able to quit. I am just taking it one day at a time.Â
Thanks for reading my ramblings....
Squanto, congratulations on the quit -- except you haven't quit yet. What I learned very fast and hard when I came here about 2 months ago, was that NRT was just prolonging my addiction to nicotine. You need to quit cold turkey, get rid of that replacement shit.
Done. I dont think that the gum is doing anything anyway, except for the Cinnamon fresh breath, and Ill just use regular gum for that.
I still dont feel compelled to have a dip or anything. The only negative I have is this weird feeling of disconnection and slight dizzyness. I can totally deal with it, its more annoying than anything else.
Thanks FtheKodiak.
Not to alarm you, my brother, but it's doing a helluva lot more than u think. I came merilly along here, about 2 weeks into my quit, feeling fucking awesome, only doing maybe 1-3 pieces a day.
After getting my fucking ass handed to me about using it, I immediately went off it, only to experience about the 3-4 worst days of my fucking life. I almost instantaneously, or within a few hours, become violently ill. Fever, puking, was out of work for 2-3 days.
Now granted it's never been proven whether i was actually sick, or sick from the withdrawl, but i know it had something to do with it for sure, but i can also tell you, that for the next week or so ago, i was in the infamous "Quitting Fog" that you will hear about so often on this site.
Point was, didn't experience any of this in the 2 weeks or so that i was using the NRT. I didn't think it was doing anything for me either!!!!!
So, dude I am not trying to scare you, just let you know my experiences and explain again why it's a great decision to throw it away, but also to prepare you for HELL!!
Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glenn