You have seen it all over this website, and you are probably asking yourself, what is ‘the suck’? The suck is the quitting chewing tobacco withdrawal symptoms that you experience in the early stages of your chewing tobacco quit. We call it this, because well, it sucks. These symptoms include:
- Severe Nicotine Cravings
- Being Unable to Concentrate
- A ‘foggy’ head
- Issues with Anxiety
- Intense Irritability
- Stomach Problems
- Insomnia
- Bouts of Depression
- A feeling of Chest Tightness
These symptoms make up what we consider ‘the suck’. When you first quit chewing tobacco, they come on strong within the first day or two. They can last for up to two weeks, but usually become much more manageable and begin to ease after 7-10 days of quitting cold turkey. You will still feel some of these symptoms later on in your quit, but they will not be as strong as the initial first few days.
Before we can understand why quitters experience the suck, we must understand what nicotine does in our brains. When you throw in a dip or smoke a cigarette, the nicotine immediately enters the blood stream, making its way all throughout the body and brain. The nicotine stimulates glands in your body that release adrenaline, This adrenaline in turn raises both your heart rate and blood pressure, and gives you a rush. This flood of adrenaline also tells cells throughout your body to dump their glucose stores straight into your blood stream, giving you energy and killing your appetite. This is what you feel when you use chewing tobacco.
You have to realize that your brain and body are addicted to how nicotine alters your natural brain chemistry. Your body is withdrawing from this nicotine induced chemical rush, because it has grown accustomed to it and is now dependent. Your brain chemistry has been abnormal for however many years you have been using that poison. These quitting chewing tobacco withdrawal symptoms are your brain resetting itself back to a normal state.