Alright, this is day 3 of my quit; my last dip was Friday morning at 7:30. I started chewing when I was 16 (12 years ago) and since I started this is the longest I've gone without chewing. Honestly I was addicted very strong; during busy times on the farm I'd go through 1.5 cans/day, and even during the slow times I still generally went through 1 can/day.
I first tried quitting in January of 2012, but I pussed out. Then last November I found the killthecan.com website and managed to cut back substantially, which was capped by a single 24 hour period without chewing. Slowly, however, my consumption increased, and by this last planting season I was back to my maximum chewing levels.
In April I got a sore on a gum that had given me on-again, off-again pain for years. Although it hadn't really gotten worse, it hadn't gotten better either, and last week I finally sucked it up and scheduled an appointment to see my dentist. He said he is pretty sure it's not malignant and that my gum has simply eroded away in one spot so the root of the tooth is slightly exposed; not altogether uncommon, but if it can't heal itself then they will need to do a skin graft.
Coming into that appointment (which was last Thursday) I had put strong controls over my chewing (not bringing to my office job, nor in my vehicle, etc., essentially just dipping at home). Then, after talking to my dentist, I realized that I don't need the stuff at all. I had a dip that night, one Friday morning, and none since.
I thought the weekend would be really tough. It had its moments, but although I thought about dipping a bit I really never felt strongly compelled to cave. I know that every quit is different, that my fog might come after 2 weeks or even 2 months, but I'm encouraged that I've been able to stop thus far and have been able to choke off any fleeting urges. And guess what: my mouth feels great!! Although I have my doubts that my gum will completely heal itself without some grafting, in general the interior of my mouth feels smooth, clean, and it doesn't have a bunch of rough, white areas.
So, that's my story. I'm having trouble figuring out how to join my quit group/post roll, so if anyone can provide the link I need to go to in order to join you in posting roll that would be great!