Monday, November 16, 2009

I quit quitting!

As I have mentioned a little earlier, for more than 15 years now I was a user of the Swedish snuff tobacco called "snus". Not only was I a user, I was a pretty heavy user and the volume of nicotine I put into my body was probably equivalent to that of a "one pack a day" smoker. I will in no way try to claim that this snus is good for the body, but since the nicotine is directly adsorbed into the bloodstream through the gums and not through inhaling smoke, it does have the benefit compared to smoking to not subject the body to the nasty by-products of smoking such as tar.

However, a health problem a few months ago, forced me to see the doctor and the verdict was pretty harsh. The doctor told me that to get rid of my problem, I needed to quit the nicotine since it had a very clearly proven connection to my problem. With some active encouragement from Mrs. Sunshine-Salaryman who saw an opening to get rid of a habit she dislikes, I did decide to kick the habit. I did take my time quitting, gradually cutting down on the dose week by week until, after around 3 months, I had completely kicked the habit. Probably due to the gradual reduction in nicotine I didn't really have any big difficulties in this.

I did not expect miracles, but I had read some stuff about people stating how their everyday health had been positively affected by quitting nicotine, in terms of having more energy, sleeping better and things like that, so I did have some expectations on feeling better. The original cause for quitting did heal but other physical effects were mostly of the negative nature; I felt like I had less energy, I was more sleepy and generally things were more boring without snus in my life. Ok, the original problem did heal completely with no risk of returning, that much I need to concede and I do save considerable amounts of money since importing the stuff started to cost quite a lot of money after the Japanese authorities realized that they should tax it… But even several months after quitting, when the nicotine dependence should be well out of the system, I did not really feel any different, just more tired and dull.

So, I made my decision, I quit quitting! I’m getting right back at it where I left off. Ok, the volume I am restarting the habit at is extremely small, but still.

7 comments:

Orchid64 said...

Hmm. Aren't you worried about cancer of the gums or other mouth cancer possibilities? I thought chewing carried those risks.

Still, your body, your choices. Enjoy.

Martin said...

Orchid64 - The Swedish board of health has claimed that there is no research that prooves any extra cancer risk.

However, there seems to be some strange new research that now proves the risk of cancer. But I don´t belive everything I read.

DrSnus said...

Congrats on quitting quitting! Not only have you quit quitting but you have quit being a quitter, too.

RMilner said...

I wish smoking was still good for you like it used to be in the 1950s.

Mr. Salaryman said...

Orchi64 and Martin - Yeah, the only connection to cancer that external research (i.e. not sponsored or related to any tobacco company) has found is a weak correlation to pancreatic cancer (?). Seriously, you probably have a higher risk of getting brain cancer if you use a mobile often...

DrSnus - Wow, a real doctor of snus and yeah, I'm not quitter, at least I quit being one!

RMilner - Yeah those old commercials were much nicer than the pictures nowadays and their disclaimers...

Mr. Salaryman said...

Orchi64 and Martin - Yeah, the only connection to cancer that external research (i.e. not sponsored or related to any tobacco company) has found is a weak correlation to pancreatic cancer (?). Seriously, you probably have a higher risk of getting brain cancer if you use a mobile often...

DrSnus - Wow, a real doctor of snus and yeah, I'm not quitter, at least I quit being one!

RMilner - Yeah those old commercials were much nicer than the pictures nowadays and their disclaimers...

Electric Monkey said...

We all know how bad nicotine is - do you rather be tired and dull or deathly ill!!

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