I'm on Day 8 and I meant to start my introduction earlier. I was a dipper for over 25 years then actually stopped for about 4 months in 2010. I started again using Swedish snus and have been using that until I quit 8 days ago. Days 1 - 3 of my quit were pure hell. Insomnia, headaches, depression, constipation, craves. Suffered from some mild depression on day 2. St. John's wort really helps with that, BTW. By Day 4, the physical withdrawals were mostly gone.
Now I am dealing with the craves and they are intense. Day 7 was rough. Today seems a little better. I'm using seeds, gum, jerky, fake stuff, tic tacs, anything I can get my hands on lol. The triggers suck. I'm trying to keep up the exercise. Dear Lord, I hope this gets better soon.
"One day at a time" is my mantra right now. Screw tomorrow, I just got to get through today. Just got to get through today. Post roll and keep my promise.
Congrats and welcome sir Snot!
I'm interested in your story... I've never used snus, but I hear from a variety of (in my opinion ignorant) folks how much "safer" Swedish Snus is. Curious if you can talk to the different between your stoppage / withdrawal from dip in 2010 vs. this time?
Thanks and welcome... let me know how I can help!
chewie
Thank you, Chewie!
I stopped back in 2010 and it was very hard to do in the beginning. Took me a couple of tries but once I got a month in it was much easier. I stopped primarily for health reasons. So, when I heard about snus and the supposed safety of it I was intrigued. The research does seem to imply that snus is safer than cigarettes or American smokeless tobacco.
But there are two big caveats to consider (and that I chose to ignore at the time):
1. The research is minimal - very minimal - and, although all showed no increase in mouth or throat cancer, one study did show an increase in pancreatic cancer among snus users.
2. Most of the research was funded by the Swedish snus companies. ^o)
Well, that didn't stop me. So I started snussing. I immediately discovered a few things that made me realize how snus can be way more addictive and "dangerous" than American dip.
1. No need to spit. No spit cups, no spills, no gross smells. You can snus anywhere, anytime.
2. If you use the pouches (and most snus users do) then there is no mess at all. The tins come with a convenient lid for storing used pouches. I could pop out an old pouch and pop in a new one in seconds with no mess and no one around me really knowing what I was doing. Which leads to...
3. No one knows when you are snussing. The pouches are small and go in the upper lip so unless you smile real big no one will see it. There is no smell, no juice. I snussed at work and no one knew. I snussed at home and no one knew. I could snus and eat with no problem. This is what I mean by "dangerous." I was snussing way more often than I was dipping because I could get away with it.
So the addiction is stronger than when I was dipping. I'd dip maybe 6 or 7 pinches a day. I had a snus in my cheek almost all the time. So, quitting this time seems harder. The physical withdrawal symptoms seem about the same but the craves are way more intense now IMO. Thankfully, the Smokey Mountain pouches are very close to snus in size and taste and serve as good substitutes.
Bottom line is that snus is scary stuff but it lacks many of the "nastiness" of American dip. Maybe it is "healthier" than American dip. Doesn't matter because it still is nicotine and can still fuck you up. I had high blood pressure for years. In the past week my blood pressure is normal. Gee, I wonder why that is!
I fucking hate nicotine - all forms of it. It is evil, pure evil.
