One week ago, I woke up and decided I was going to see how long I could go without putting a dip in. I had not really planned this quit other than the though that is always in the back of your mind about how bad it is for you, how expensive it is, etc.
Just thought I would share some of my experiences during this first week. This will probably be a bit long winded so I don't blame you for skipping it :P
Days 1-2
I picked a hell of a week to stop dipping. I work in IT, so we have an on call rotation and get called when production systems have problems. So my dumb ass decides to quit with 4 days left in my rotation. Brilliant! And wouldn't you know it, on Sunday, I have a call to work on something that should have been a pretty quick 45 min-1 hour thing, but instead it turned into an 8 hour ordeal involving rollbacks and database restores. Needless to say, it was quite stressful and would have been damn easy to cave. Luckily, I had dumped the 3/4 of a can I had left over after I had made the commitment on this site Saturday afternoon. So no cave for me. I think if I had been going at it alone, a cave would have happened on day 2.
Days 3-4
The first 3 days were actually pretty easy for me. Sure, the craving was there and I felt a bit "off", but it didn't seem as bad as all the stuff I had been reading. Then Day four happened. Actually it started about 8pm on day 3. I just couldn't keep my eyes open so went to bed about 8:30pm and slept for 11 hours. That blew my mind because I'm usually a 6-7 hour sleeper even with no alarm clock. Woke up day four and felt like a tank was sitting on my chest. I was stuffed up, coughing, head hurt, sore throat and my body ached all over and felt like it was caving in on me. To top that all off, I was craving a dip like nobody's business. Thankfully I work from home, so my boss or other co-workers didn't have to see me sitting at my desk just staring into space. I finally realized what this fog thing everyone was talking about. I still think I have picked up a cold along with my quit because I still have a stuffy nose, sore throat and a cough. But I guess it could be all due to the nicotine withdrawals. Withdrawal symptoms like that make me glad I'm not addicted to heroin or alcohol where you can die if go cold turkey. Regardless, this felt pretty damn bad, but I think this was the worst of it and I made it through - thanks to this place. If was trying this out on my own, I would not be typing this to you today, but instead sitting here with a dip in my lip paying good money to kill myself.
Days 5-8
Cravings are always there for the most part. I curb them with coffee grounds, yerba mate tea leaves or gum. Seems to work. Now that chew is no longer in my life, I have realized how much I was using that crap. I notice every time I reach for my can just how often I was putting a fatty in my lip. I'm not sure when the checking for my can in my pocket before I leave, or checking for my can before I take a shower or checking for it any other time will stop being a habit. Probably a long time since I've been doing it for over 20 years. The good thing is thanks to awesome quitters on this site, I don't need that shit ever again.
Sure I want a chew, and the gnawing is pretty constant still, but even though it's only been a week, I already prefer the freedom of not worrying about how full my can is or worrying about if I'll be able to sneak a chew in during a social call or hiding my cans and spitters when folks come over that don't know I chew(ed). The craving sucks, but is just a reminder about how stupid I was to start that stuff and to keep using it for 22 years. This new found freedom from it is incredible. No longer am I a slave to the can!
Thanks to the people who started this site and would give a random stranger their phone number and actually care enough. Without this place, I certainly would not have made it 8 days and won't make it the next 8 without them either.
Thanks for letting me bend your ear. Now I'm off to the gunshow to hopefully find a good deal 'Remshot'
