Week one in Mountain Dew Rehab

I am a Mountain Dew ADDICT! Anyone that knows me well knows this fact. It's my thing! I have mtn dew jammie pants, t-shirt, drinking glasses, a collection of Americana bottles ( I think there is a picture of these on this blog!) um what else....oh a dew charm for my bracelet, Mtn dew lip gloss (can and bottle versions!!! Cool I know!!). Most of these have been gifts from those that know I am addicted and they all made me happy! As far as drinking the sweet goodness: I have one for Breakfast at work, one at lunch, one after work, one at dinner, one at bedtime, one when I am scrapbooking, one when I am watching a movie, one when Ron calls and says "do you want me to stop and get you one?", one when I am out to dinner, one when I am bored....and then I will probably have another one. One when one of my nice co-workers would leave one on my desk, one when I was having a bad day and had to raid a co-workers stash. There is even Dew supplied at family parties because Mom and Lu buy it for me! (Thanks by the way!) How did I get here? My mom didn't keep pop in the house when we were young. I didn't really start "drinking" until I lived in New York and we were constantly running to the "sev" (that is Cynthia talk for 7-11) for Dr Pepper super big gulps. I think like any addiction, it was slow and unintentional. I Got married, starting eating out more, ordered the dew, started buying the 12 packs of cans at the store to keep in the house, stocked up on those when they were on sale, then found the bottles at Sam's club for a great deal and would stock up on those and it got to the point when there was never a time when the house was without the dew. I have even been late to work because I had to stop and get one. Do you think I have a problem??? Not only have I gained weight, I also have a heart condition and was cautioned about 4 years ago to quit the caffeine.....which of course I didn't. I am like a smoker that knows he should quit because its bad for him, but doesn't because he likes it. (why did I assume all smokers are "he's"??) So I FINALLY somehow made the decision to quit. I really don't know how I have been able to do this after being so addicted, but I am! It has now been a WHOLE WEEK! I know that doesn't sound like much, but going for more then a couple hours without one used to be impossible, so this is BIG! BUT HOLY COW what a HEADACHE I have had!!!!!! I don't get headaches much (hum....I wonder why?) but this just about did me in. Day one wasn't too bad, but I woke up at 5am on day 2 with a killer headache! Like bad enough to make me sick to my stomach. I came to work that morning after taking some ibuprofen and sat in my car in the parking lot for 1/2 hour before I came in just in case I was going to throw up. I didn't luckily, but that day didn't go well. Day 3 I woke up at 6 with another headache and with some good advise from Jenny I went out and got some excederin. Ahhhhh.....relief. Okay so one dose has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, BUT at least I wasn't giving in to someone elses advice (ANGEL) about just going and getting a dew! Every day since then has been a little easier. I have only had to take the excederin once more. I can't imagine what it must be like to get over a much harder addiction like drugs, smoking, etc. Congrats to those that can! Ron is quitting with me. He is a fan of Pepsi. It's too bad that now the Pepsi Co sales at the Clinton Walmart are going to drop. Oh well. So now I drink Water........I miss the BURN of the carbonation and the yummyness and the short stints of energy, but most of all I am sad that I won't get to make this Christmas Tree this year: JK!!!