Day 1... Finally here.

[peters6278]

AJ,

Welcome and quit hard these first few days. They can be a real bitch, so buckle in and reach out to folks here on the site to power through it. I have a 2 and (almost) 4 year old as well, so I can relate to your desire to quit for them. You have to quit for YOU though. Go ahead, be a selfish bastard about it, it will be far more effective. While it's true that a desire to be around for my daughter someday at her wedding is a reinforcer of my quit, what keeps me quit is personally wanting for ME to be around at her wedding. Hey, if I'm going to pay for it, I want to be there and enjoy myself.

[Shorthorn]

Welcome to the site AJ and congrats on your quit.

alot of good advice has been tossed around already man, read it, live it. Don't forget we are all here for the same reason. I don't care if you have been quit 10 min or 10 years, the nic bitch is lurking around every corner.. Stay vigilant, and use your support group (us). We all have each others backs.

[RaliPaul]

AJ - I'm on day 5 and I'm hurting in my quit with you. Sore teeth, neck ache, fuzziness, no motivation. I also visited KTC site for a while before signing up. I made it through my second morning commute without dip! I have 3 boys and a great wife - stop now before your boys know that you are stupid enough to use tobacco - that's one of my main motivators now. I QUIT with you today.

[Krusty]

AJ - Welcome to the community, brother/sisterhood, family -- whatever you want to call it. You've probably figured out that there's a multitude of backgrounds, ages, geographies, etc. here, and an incredible diversity of life experiences. And every single one of us is in some stage of a bare-knuckled fight against the exact same enemy. However the coming days go for you, never forget that, and capitalize on the knowledge  experience of those that are in the double and triple digit-days of their quits.

I'm not very far removed from my Day 1, but far enough to know that a lot of people experience very similar reactions at very similar times in their quits as they're expelling the poison from their systems. Whether it's physically, psychologically, or emotionally, there's a common thread in just about everyone's quit. I was given some well-timed advice by a few veterans when I got donkey kicked by the void created in the first few days of my quit: read the introductory posts of the guys who have racked up some serious days in their quits (and are likely to be the ones that have the clearest perspective). Every single one of them started where you are, and they don't forget what it was like. In fact, the memory / experience is probably seared on their brain as one of several reminders of why they never want to have another Day 1.

Congrats on stepping up and taking your life back, and I look forward to quitting alongside you in the May Quit Group. Stay strong, and PM me if you want to compare notes.

[Gernjer]

AJ,

Welcome back to the world. I'm on day 29, after 31 years and probably 10,000 cans of Copenhagen. In today's economy, that's about 50-thousand dollars I spent trying to catch face cancer. Well, 5 weeks ago, my lymph nodes became swollen and tender, the underside of my tongue ached. I was convinced I had neck/throat/tongue cancer, and I did it to myself. I have a 24 year wife, an 11 year daughter, and I'm a senior manager in a major corporation where nobody knew I dipped. Copenhagen isn't for rednecks and truck drivers. It's for addicts, and addicts come in all shapes, sizes, colors and genders.

I later learned that I had a muscular injury, not cancer. I had prayed for God to help me quit, and he gave me a neck injury that scared me straight. Man, when you really "believe" you are about to get your esophagus cut out, you see snuff for what it is. Once you reach that point, there is no turning back. You won't reach that point because your are quit now, like me. Here are a couple of tips.

Don't imagine a dip in your mouth. Stop running your tongue between your lower lip and gum-line. Don't give dip that power over you. Forget the drug-induced satisfaction it provided, and think only about the bad breath, bad teeth, reduced gumlines, social stigma, cost, danger and, not at all the least, how much productivity it sapped out of your life because when you had a fresh chew in, you were content to sit motionless without a care in the world as the countdown clock on your only life ticked steadily down.


Stay busy, stay focused on life. Remind yourself that the nicotine is out of your system after 3 days, after that it's all mind games and rewiring your brain to live without a fix. Come to this site and read the stories. If you are desperate, google "oral cancer" and spend an hour researching your addiction from the perspective of those who didn't quit soon enough, or those who didn't stay quit. Cancer doesn't play favorites. Just ask Farah Fawcett Majors or John Wayne.

It's not enough to say "you can do this". The truth is, you've already done it. Congratulations. Don't undo it, because then you have to endure the day 2 withdrawals all over again. Like I said, I'm on day 29. Day 2 was so bad I wanted to cut my head off to make it stop. I will never allow myself to relive that day. You're there, man. Good for you.

[Wt57]

Take al the advise you've been given an don't lose track of the goal (quitting today).

[Fed up]

Congrats man. I am 7 days off the dip and have been thru physical part and it was tough and I was short fused all week. ... There were several times where the thought entered my mind that a dip would make things better.. When that happened I got to my laptop ASAP and logged on here and expressed my frustrations or just read stuff. It works... It really works.

I am quitting with u today! Stay strong my brother.

[ParadigmDawg]

Quitting is really simple.

Read everything on here, post roll call each morning and don't dip. Wow....that sounds so easy, doesn't it?

If you read through the other intro's you may see some of my same words on them but they always hold true so I will just repeat them...

You are in for one nasty fight but you have the tools here to make it.

Go load yourself up with gum, mints, fake chew, seeds and beef jerky. Also get some member phone numbers right now, they will help you through the rough parts.

Next, exercise to exhaustion every single day and drink so much water that you feel like you may bust. Both of these will help.

Make sure your wife reads about what you are going through. 99% chance that you are going to be a short fussed dick for the next 3-4 weeks. Try not to take it out on her and the kids. Get on here and take it out on us, we will be fine.

I quit with you.

[Ginet]

Great decision to quit! Lots of good advice already given. Now that you are ready, and have taken the plunge you need to just worry about today. Read everything on KTC and get ready to fight for your freedom. It is going to suck bad for a while, but it is so worth it. Drink plenty of water, and get some fake dip seeds and such. Stay as close to KCT as you can, and get on live chat or look at cancer pics if you need some help keeping that poison out of your face. PM me if you need anything.

Hi AJ. Congrats on day one. I just posted roll with you. Tackle today. Minute by minute if you need to. You've got this! I'll cheer with you - Go Blues! and I quit with you!

[B-loMatt]

Great decision to quit! Lots of good advice already given. Now that you are ready, and have taken the plunge you need to just worry about today. Read everything on KTC and get ready to fight for your freedom. It is going to suck bad for a while, but it is so worth it. Drink plenty of water, and get some fake dip seeds and such. Stay as close to KCT as you can, and get on live chat or look at cancer pics if you need some help keeping that poison out of your face. PM me if you need anything.

[Steakbomb18]

Ive scoped out this site for almost a year now, but never was mentally ready to go quit. As I type that, I realize now that it was an excuse.

This is exactly how an addict thinks. An addict thinks that they can become a part-time dipper, an addict thinks they can go 1-2 more weeks then pull the plug. An addict has gone through the motions of quitting and thinking about quitting for many months. The addict's thoughts is never matched by their behavior.

As you go through this quit, you'll find that the reverse is true. You, the addict, will be removing the addiction, nicotine. Your behavior will now be that of the quitter, but the addict in you will EFF around with your thoughts and try to change that behavior. Nicotine is a difficult foe, and you will need to work hard to do everything in your power to prevent putting that worm dirt back in your mouth.

Give us your word, your promise that you will do this. Post roll every day. I in return will give you my word, my promise to do it with you and be there for you. That is KTC, that is our brother/sisterhood. PM me if you need digits or a lifeline. Stay quit brother.

[Erussell]

AJ first congrats on a wonderful decision, second this isn't a goal it's a plan! Third I will not be challenging you to say you can't but rather to say you can! If I can you can! Continue to read and learn all you can, knowledge is power and your about to need all the power you can get! Congrats!

[Winter Green]

Name is AJ, and today is the first day towards my goal of reclaiming my life. Ive scoped out this site for almost a year now, but never was mentally ready to go quit. As I type that, I realize now that it was an excuse. Not mentally ready? For me that was a pathetic excuse. I could throw it around and extend it for another week or two, but deep down I knew what I needed to do. I needed to make this plunge, make the decision, make myself quit. And here I am. Ready. Willing to learn, willing to hear other advice, willing to let others give me shit for my poor decisions.

Now to back up... I'm from the St. Louis (Go Blues!) and have been dipping since about 2004. I worked myself up to about a can a day habit and got to the point where I switched to pouches so I could sneak my fix at work.

I don't think anything specific happened where I realized I needed to quit, I just realized I needed to quit. I have two kids, 4 and 2, and recently have been thinking a lot about them and how I don't want to leave them due to my stupid habit. So maybe that was a reason?

Anyways, I hope to hear from people who can provide support. Maybe even those who can challenge me and say I can't do it. I'm ready for it.

AJ

Hey AJ,

Glad you finally came to your senses. You've been around here more than I have if what you say is true about how you stalked around here for so long. I'm truly excited for you to take your life back from this pathetic addiction.

I Quit with you today.

AJ, welcome and good job posting roll. Our word is our bond, im glad you quit brother, read read and read some more on this site, drink plenty of water and flush your system of that shit. Also, realize that you are an addict, you have an addiction, not a habit. A habit is picking your nose and sticking your buger under the desk. You are mentally and physically addicted to nicotine. And you have to be ready to quit for yourself, nobody else. That being said, im gona QLF(quit like fuck) ODAAT(one day at a time) with you brother. If you need anything pm me.

[hypothesaurus_rex]

Name is AJ, and today is the first day towards my goal of reclaiming my life. Ive scoped out this site for almost a year now, but never was mentally ready to go quit. As I type that, I realize now that it was an excuse. Not mentally ready? For me that was a pathetic excuse. I could throw it around and extend it for another week or two, but deep down I knew what I needed to do. I needed to make this plunge, make the decision, make myself quit. And here I am. Ready. Willing to learn, willing to hear other advice, willing to let others give me shit for my poor decisions.

Now to back up... I'm from the St. Louis (Go Blues!) and have been dipping since about 2004. I worked myself up to about a can a day habit and got to the point where I switched to pouches so I could sneak my fix at work.

I don't think anything specific happened where I realized I needed to quit, I just realized I needed to quit. I have two kids, 4 and 2, and recently have been thinking a lot about them and how I don't want to leave them due to my stupid habit. So maybe that was a reason?

Anyways, I hope to hear from people who can provide support. Maybe even those who can challenge me and say I can't do it. I'm ready for it.

AJ

Hey AJ,

Glad you finally came to your senses. You've been around here more than I have if what you say is true about how you stalked around here for so long. I'm truly excited for you to take your life back from this pathetic addiction.

I Quit with you today.

[AJ_Weapon]

Name is AJ, and today is the first day towards my goal of reclaiming my life. Ive scoped out this site for almost a year now, but never was mentally ready to go quit. As I type that, I realize now that it was an excuse. Not mentally ready? For me that was a pathetic excuse. I could throw it around and extend it for another week or two, but deep down I knew what I needed to do. I needed to make this plunge, make the decision, make myself quit. And here I am. Ready. Willing to learn, willing to hear other advice, willing to let others give me shit for my poor decisions.

Now to back up... I'm from the St. Louis (Go Blues!) and have been dipping since about 2004. I worked myself up to about a can a day habit and got to the point where I switched to pouches so I could sneak my fix at work.

I don't think anything specific happened where I realized I needed to quit, I just realized I needed to quit. I have two kids, 4 and 2, and recently have been thinking a lot about them and how I don't want to leave them due to my stupid habit. So maybe that was a reason?

Anyways, I hope to hear from people who can provide support. Maybe even those who can challenge me and say I can't do it. I'm ready for it.

AJ