Hi Everyone. My decision to quit might be a little unorthodox. I have been a can a day Kodiak Wintergreen Longcut dipper for 17 years. I started after having severe neck trauma, and wanting to get off my pain killers, a friend (in hindsight...) suggested dipping. After reading many introductions, I am in the same boat as many of you. Started out only during pain, then weekends, then when drinking, then sneaking out to get another can, and so on and so forth. Well, last Wednesday night, I was having a couple of beers, and I looked down at my empty can of Kodiak, and thought, what the hell am I doing? I am married with two kids, have a good job, a good life, and I am just going to throw it all in the garbage? I have quit a few times before, but never made it past 5 days, mostly because my reason for quitting wasn't sincere (life insurance exams, etc). Anyway, I feel stronger with this quit than ever before, I think because I am just fed up with it all. It has been really hard, and I know that there is more to come, but I am hoping that by sharing my experiences and reading yours, that we can all get through this together, and finally get this damn bear off my back. So, if anyone has any experience with just calling it quits, no planning, let me know how it went.
So, I am now on Day 26, and wanted to look back on my intro. I think it is time to add some info to it.
First of all, my original introduction was horseshit. I was definitely still in the fog, and for that reason, I want to document some of what I was feeling at that time.
Days 1-3- Headache, lack of sleep, cold sweats, irritability, fog, depression, severe craves
Days 3-14- Headache, fog, anxiety, tight chest, closed throat, sore throat, irritability, and believe it or not, some pride towards the end. On the toilet 5-6 times a day for a week!
Day 14-26- Some dull headaches, minor craves, irritability, joy. Yes, joy! We should all be proud of every day away from this crap.
I never REALLY tried to quit before this. I also thought I could do it by myself, as you can see by me quitting 8/24/17 but joining 8/29/17. I had been trolling the site and reading and utilizing some of the info, but I wasn't truly committed until I
joined this site. I had a lot of great quit brothers PM me early on offering help. I did not take that advice quick enough, and thought that I was already done with the quit, so I missed role one day due to laziness, and really didn't contribute much to this site or to my brothers reaching out to help me.
Then, there was around day 7. I had a really strong crave, and immediately thought I was going to cave. I got into a discussion via text with skinnydipper, and it really helped me out. He may not know it, but it did.
Also, Samrs and JeffW have kept me reminded of my promise everyday, and for that I am truly thankful. I hope to pay it back by reaching out to other in their time of need as well.
Anyway, anyone who thinks this is easy, it is not. I thought it would be, but if it was so easy, why are you here?
