Enough is enough

[Idaho Spuds]

So more about my week...

When I got back home, I took the cans I'd stashed in the hiding place in the car back out and put them inside the house. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out yet, but I at least put them somewhere where I couldn't get to them for at least four days over the holiday.

Couldn't tell from your note if you still have the tins stashed. Do you? If you're serious about quitting you should dump those damn things immediately, otherwise it's just another temptation. Hold a funeral if you have to, but get them out of the house and out of your life. My two cents.

^^^ yep.
What happens if your BP goes down and doc says it is all good. back to the cancer tins???

Join up, post roll, never go back or ...

[HorseLF]

So more about my week...

When I got back home, I took the cans I'd stashed in the hiding place in the car back out and put them inside the house. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out yet, but I at least put them somewhere where I couldn't get to them for at least four days over the holiday.

Couldn't tell from your note if you still have the tins stashed. Do you? If you're serious about quitting you should dump those damn things immediately, otherwise it's just another temptation. Hold a funeral if you have to, but get them out of the house and out of your life. My two cents.

[wildirish317]

Yeah, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, lots of things. Nicotine is not good for the blood, or any other part of your body. Ask your doctor about it.

[FISHFLORIDA]

So more about my week...

When I got back home, I took the cans I'd stashed in the hiding place in the car back out and put them inside the house. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out yet, but I at least put them somewhere where I couldn't get to them for at least four days over the holiday. And pretty much, that was that.

It's been pretty easy for me so far. No really noticeable physical symptoms, maybe because I used less than some others (but I did still chew daily). Or maybe I was just so freaked out about my blood pressure that I wasn't even paying attention to whatever else was going on in my body. Or could have been because I was surrounded by family, having tons of fun camping, swimming, and biking around. Probably a combo of all of those. But here I am seven days later and I'm pretty sure it's gonna stick.

I read a note from someone else who sounded like they had a similar experience - they basically just stopped chewing one day to see how long it would last, and then two years later it was still going. This may sound weird but in a messed up way I'm kinda envious of you guys who had really painful withdrawal symptoms. You *know* what that's like, and what it means that you're having them, and that you don't ever wanna go through that again. My biggest fear is that because it's felt pretty easy (so far) to quit, one day I'm likely to say "well, since it was so easy to quit, it can't really hurt that much to have some with my buddies this one time while we're watching the game." I need to remember that if it was really that easy, I would have quit years ago, and not when some machine told me I needed to worry about my heart exploding.

So if you've made it this far, just one question I have for y'all: has anyone else had experience with their blood pressure going up or down because of tobacco? Either short term or long term? I had my BP taken again today and if anything it was slightly higher than before the long weekend. So I'm like, WTF. If I stopped a week ago, and nic is supposed to be out of your body in 72 hours, then why is my BP going up instead of down?

I have a doc's appointment later today so I'll probably get some answers then. It's just some scary shit waiting until then.

Nori,
Glad to see you're made the decision to quit. I've only been quit for 10 days. I've had some symptoms but they really only lasted a few days. Its the "associations" that are tough.
Have you joined the August quit group yet? that's what this site is about. Quitting and staying quit through accountability.

[nori]

So more about my week...

When I got back home, I took the cans I'd stashed in the hiding place in the car back out and put them inside the house. I couldn't bring myself to throw them out yet, but I at least put them somewhere where I couldn't get to them for at least four days over the holiday. And pretty much, that was that.

It's been pretty easy for me so far. No really noticeable physical symptoms, maybe because I used less than some others (but I did still chew daily). Or maybe I was just so freaked out about my blood pressure that I wasn't even paying attention to whatever else was going on in my body. Or could have been because I was surrounded by family, having tons of fun camping, swimming, and biking around. Probably a combo of all of those. But here I am seven days later and I'm pretty sure it's gonna stick.

I read a note from someone else who sounded like they had a similar experience - they basically just stopped chewing one day to see how long it would last, and then two years later it was still going. This may sound weird but in a messed up way I'm kinda envious of you guys who had really painful withdrawal symptoms. You *know* what that's like, and what it means that you're having them, and that you don't ever wanna go through that again. My biggest fear is that because it's felt pretty easy (so far) to quit, one day I'm likely to say "well, since it was so easy to quit, it can't really hurt that much to have some with my buddies this one time while we're watching the game." I need to remember that if it was really that easy, I would have quit years ago, and not when some machine told me I needed to worry about my heart exploding.

So if you've made it this far, just one question I have for y'all: has anyone else had experience with their blood pressure going up or down because of tobacco? Either short term or long term? I had my BP taken again today and if anything it was slightly higher than before the long weekend. So I'm like, WTF. If I stopped a week ago, and nic is supposed to be out of your body in 72 hours, then why is my BP going up instead of down?

I have a doc's appointment later today so I'll probably get some answers then. It's just some scary shit waiting until then.

[nori]

I'm on Day 7 of my quit, been reading the forums for a few days but wasn't ready to post roll yet. I wanted to know for myself that I was really in this before I made the committment, and that it wasn't just "let's just wait and see what happens."

It's been a pretty shitty week in a lot of ways, but not for the reasons that most of you seem to have had. I smoked regularly but moderately for about 6 years, and then chewed moderately for about another 5-6 years after that. I was never a pack-a-day/can-a-day kinda guy. I usually either smoked or chewed three times a day and it never really got beyond that. I was definitely a ninja dipper, and not a very good one. My wife hated it, asked me to stop or if I couldn't stop to at least not lie to her about it, and I couldn't do either one. Made me feel like shit all the time. And I kept telling myself that I would quit one day, just not today. Maybe after the holidays are over, or after I get through this hard part at work...you all know the story.

So last week we were packing up for our Memorial Day trip. I left the house in the morning to run some errands and put in a plug of tobacco since I was away from the family. I was at a drug store buying batteries, and they had one of those blood pressure machines there. I've never had a problem with high blood pressure in the past, I eat pretty well, and although I'm slightly overweight I'm getting a lot more exercise these days. So I was pretty shocked when it came back saying that my blood pressure wasn't just high, it was very high. Like "call your doctor" high.

Not surprisingly, that freaked me the f*** out. It was like having cold water thrown in my face. And I just said then and there, "enough with this shit. If it's even remotely possible that tobacco is contributing to this, there's absolutely no way I'm doing it any more." I was getting ready to go camping with my kids for the weekend and I realized that if I didn't get this under control, I may never have another Memorial Day camping trip with them again.

I'll write more in a bit, but wanna make sure that this gets saved since I'm spending time writing it ;)