If Dipping Was Safe Would You Still Quit?
I ran across a great question the other day here in the comments and wanted to pass it along.
Question – If Dipping Was Safe Would You Still Quit?
If the FDA or some other Government said without a doubt dipping does not increase or cause your risk of mouth or throat cancer would you still quit?
Answer
I responded to the comment on the page but I wanted to elaborate a bit more here and possible get some other points of view.
While I won’t speak for anyone else, knowing how I personally felt when I quit and how much better I feel now my answer would absolutely be YES. I would still quit. Freedom is an amazing thing. (I mean… how else do you explain a website like this 😉 click here… but be warned, NSFW)
I’ve often said that quitting dip damn near killed me. And while I certainly was worried many, MANY times about cancer, the things that I was dealing with in my quit weren’t really cancer type things. Sure, I had the mouth sores that so many quitters experience but I also deal with sleep issues, acid reflux issues, cognitive issues, anxiety and a slew of others. Have you ever felt like your jaw was going to crawl off your face because I was tingling so bad? I did.
And I know this isn’t the point of the question but just because the “government” tells me something doesn’t mean I’m going to believe it. In fact… it might make me not believe it. But I digress.
So if I found out if dipping didn’t lead to cancer would I still quit? Hell yes.
The way our government works is pretty fucked. The same goes for the FDA. The FDA was pretty much paid off by lobbyists to pass aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that actually confuse your body into storing fat. Our government pretty much allows big tobacco and big pharma to operate with impunity because those industries rake in some of the biggest profits. It makes sense: tobacco use raises your blood pressure and causes hypertension. Okay, so you get prescribed pills to manage your blood pressure, all the while you’re likely still using the product that contributed to high blood pressure in the first place. I’m not saying that everything the FDA and the government does is bad. Let me put it this way: if such a proclamation were to occur, it would be the single most fucked up thing our government has ever done, and it would be met with applause from the common folk who so recklessly and irresponsibly consume tobacco products.
If chewing didn’t cause cancer, I’d give up whacking off and sex before I gave up chewing. Chew is the friend who is always up for anything. It keeps the weight off. It makes long car rides tolerable. It’s been there for me the second I wake up every morning and has ensured that I poop right before my shower each and every day. But…it does cause cancer and it will kill you, which is not something a great friend does most of the time.
That is an incredibly difficult question for me to answer. It really depends on when you had asked me it. If you had asked me before I had been quit for 945 days, I would have absolutely said, “Yes, I would dip if it were safe.”
My quit started because of a friend’s cancer scare and the fact I was sick of being a prisoner to my addiction. After quitting, there were so many things i didn’t realize about my habit. For one, I didn’t realize how moody the nicotine made me. I became a much calmer person afterwards and much less prone to outbursts. My blood pressure also went down.
I can easily say now that there’s NFW I’d go back to it even if it were “safe”.
That is a Great Answer and makes sense! Now when you say “cognitive issues, anxiety and a slew of others. Have you ever felt like your jaw was going to crawl off your face because I was tingling so bad? I did” Was that while you were trying to quit or while you were using dip regularly? Thanks,
Hey Ken – those symptoms were all after I quit.