ZYN Nicotine Withdrawal

[someguy]

I wanted to see if anyone had experience with quitting ZYN Nicotine Pouches. I would imagine the journey would be similar to quitting cigarettes, but who knows??

I am 27 and have chewed the 6mg pouches for 2 - 3 years and typically have 3 to 6 a day (18 to 36 mg of nicotine per day on average). It has been about a week since my last one. I never got into smoking and only occasionally chewed red man before these things came around... but after I was introduced to ZYNs, they made my desk job much more enjoyable and I just kept 'em coming!

The symptoms I've had along with some questions are:

   Brain fog (Extreme!) - This was the one i became most concerned with since I didn't associate the extreme fog with quitting these pouches. After reading up on many blogs, it sounds like this can be a pretty intense experience?

   Weakness - This one kind of ties into the brain fog feeling... but I have felt generally weak as well in my body. When it's at it's worst, it feels like my head is faint and my body is drained... but I can also be restless at the same time. I feel like I want to pass out but also run around?! Very weird. The faint feeling is nothing extreme, but it's the only way I can describe the sensation.

   Sleeping trouble - I have been getting to bed fine, but when I wake up in the morning, it is very difficult to fall back asleep and sometimes I feel like my heart is racing. I don't feel like I'm craving anything while laying there. Has anyone else experienced this anxiety/racing feeling after waking up?

   Loss of appetite - This one is different than the majority of things I've read. I have felt like my stomach is cramped up and I generally haven't had a great appetite. The best way I can describe the feelings I get in my gut include intense cramping and just a feeling of your stomach being generally unsettled. I haven't had issues with nausea or anything like that. Has anyone had this experience?

In addition to this, my wife and I are having our first kid and I believe that some of these symptoms could also be a result of increased stress and anxiety associated with that. 

Any answers, experiences, thoughts, solutions are much appreciated! 

Thanks!

[bobbedford]

It's shocking how these smoke/ vapeless nicotine products are being sold as harmless concentration enhancers.

My experience has been negative. Fortunately for me, after about a month of Zyn the symptoms in my body were so bad that I forced myself to quit to feel better. I was getting numb feet, and terrible eye soreness. In addition to bodily aches and terrible stomach cramps. It's easy to go from a few 3mh pouches a day to a can of 6mg without missing a breath.

This isn't some kind of miracle drug - it will cause damage to you. Just because it doesn't have the extreme negatives of smoked tobacco, doesn't mean it isn't hurting you.

The withdrawal isn't great, but far better than withdrawal from smoking. Albeit that I'm only a month in which I assume helps. While the craving is there, the massive improvement in how the rest of my body feels is more than enough motivation to stick at this - my feet are starting to feel normal again. 

[Barbscloud]

@bobbedford Welcome to the Ex.  Congrats on being nicotine free.

Reach out anytime you want to share your journey or need some support.

Barb

[jkeyps]

I'm at the two week mark and completely miserable. I've quit and relapsed probably 6-7 times by now and every time I start quitting again I remember the supreme relief I feel upon relapsing, like someone is unzipping my spine. This time I tapered the dose per pouch from 3mg, to 2mg, to 1.5mg, which is less than the amount of nicotine in more NRT gums I've seen. It's been easier but by no means has it been easy. 

It's disheartening to hear that cravings will last upwards of 6 months considering I'm less than 10% of the way to that point - the idea of having to suffer through the last two weeks 9 more times is a bummer. 

That being said, I'm also experiencing the brain fog and fatigue if that offers anyone any comfort. Oh, also my mood is atrocious and my depression is off the charts. Also I feel bloated constantly and definitely gained some weight, but that could be the holidays. 

Here's a new one I haven't heard mentioned: does anyone else's stupid ape brain try to convince them to have a little nicotine treat when they hit a milestone? It's like having a snake whisper in my ear all the time. "Nice, you got through that craving. You should reward yourself with a nice tin of On!". It's crazy.  

[Barbscloud]

@jkeyps Welcome to the Ex and congrats on your desire to quit.  Have you read material on the site?  It's important to understand nicotine addiction and have a plan in place with tools you'll use. how to cope with cravings and creating new associations replace your nicotine use.  This link has some great information.https://www.becomeanex.org/guides/?cid=footer_community_linktobex

Craving don't typically last that long.  They peak at 3 days and will wean as you approach 2 -4 weeks.  The psychological part of quitting can be more difficult.  It's about changing behaviors that have become habits associated with use of nicotine.  

The symptoms you describe are typical withdrawal symptoms.  They will pass but you will have to commit to quit using.  Have you thought about using nicotine replacement?  I'll share a post from Mayo about the pouches and let you decide.

Nicotine Pouch Products: More than just nicotine - EX Community

That's the addiction talking.  The reward "cigarette" is very common and can be the one the holds onto our memories of using.  Understanding nicotine, having a plan and utilize the support from fellow quitters has helped many of us addicts be successful  with out quits.

Reach out anytime we can help and join many of us on the Daily Pledge to stay on track one day at a time.

Stay busy and stay close.

Barb

[APOCALYPSEGAMER]

I have quit before however I started chewing again when a fellow veteran friend of mine bought a can of grizzly pouches and we'll I have been wanting to quit for some time now because I am a disabled veteran ex Army Ranger who is starting to go blind in my life right now and we'll I would love to be able to save the money the last time I quit though I had to stop at McDonald's all the time and I would get a soda and chew the straw for hours until it would hurt my jaw. Lol so this time around it needs happen seriously hopefully my wife doesn't stress me too much. But I want to do it cause I already have a enlarged heart grandmal seizures going blind profound hearing loss TBI and PTSD as well as I have had two pituitary brain tumors removed I also suffer from erectile dysfunction and we'll this is all from being overseas serving 13 years and deployed 8 times overseas as a US Army Ranger and we'll I would love to not sweat so much and hopefully live longer than my real dad who died when he was 35 years old I'm 38 so I bet him however my stepdad died recently he was 45 so I would like to beat him and get more older in life seriously I am hoping to live long enough to see what my mom stole in my entire inheritance from both my dad's seriously I'm trying to get help for this incident here in California and no luck yet. And we'll it's sad because my mother started stealing from my inheritance when I was deployed overseas and this is when I started this habit it helped me stay awake on the front gate. But I hope to see my father's will and Trust cause I want to know what she stole from me and furthermore what is sad is she was charged gross vehicular manslaughter for my father's death in August of 95 however it was reduced from a felony charge to a infraction charge and she didn't have to go to jail at all and the Sierra Courthouse destroyed the file pertaining to my father's death. However I have the case File summary because I was in the car accident that killed my father. So hopefully I can get justice seriously cause if you not it's like why did I survive being blown up overseas seriously so justice needs to exist but who knows anymore seriously so if you can help me with this situation here that would be greatly appreciated thank you. 

[Barbscloud]

@APOCALYPSEGAMER Welcome to the ex and congrats on your decision.  You've had a difficult life at such a young age. My heart goes out to you.

Read the links in the prior post to help get you started on your journey to become and ex.

Also join many of us on the Daily Pledge to stay on track one day at a time. Pick a quit date and join us!

Please consider creating your own post to introduce yourself to the community and receive support from fellow quitters.

Thanks for your service.

Barb

[YoungAtHeart]

 Welcome!!

WOW -  you are dealing with a LOT!  We can help get you off nicotine, but you will have to put in some effort.  You can start by doing the reading recommended in my response, "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Allen Carr.  It is available as an audiobook.

Although I saw your response I fear most in the community may not.  To remedy that, I recommend you write a blog to introduce yourself to the community (Home-top left; then center blue box-"Post a Journal/Blog").  You might include your nicotine use history, what delivery system you are using, why you want to quit, your quit date if you have set one, and anything else about yourself you care to share.  You will reach a wider audience this way.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Nancy

[rystarr64]

Is this something that works for Vaping?  I would like to discuss with my son to see if it would help him stop Vaping. 

[Barbscloud]

@rystarr64 You might find this helpful   The Ex is a part of the Truth Initiative.

https://truthinitiative.org/thisisquitting

Best wishes

Barb

[CommunityAdmin]

Hi @rystarr64! Have you tried our vaping group where there is more focused discussions on this topic?

Quiana, EX Team