Chapstick Addiction: being kicked

I'm not totally convinced, but I think I may be in the clear. It has been almost 3 weeks now, but it is possible that my lips have finally balanced out, or at least come close to it. Yesterday was the first day in these 3 weeks where I wasn't fixated on chapstick throughout my waking hours. In fact, at some point in the evening, I finally noticed that my lips weren't bothering me. I can see light at the end of the tunnel; and what an unpleasant tunnel it was. Three weeks of dry, cracked, chapped, pained lips.

I haven't used lip balm the entire time, however, I have used vitamin E and flaxseed oil intermittently, but tried to keep that to once or twice a day. I'm trying to quell an addiction here, folks: I can't let myself get hooked on something else. It is hard to explain my level of addiction.

Here are a few examples of the mania:

• I kept chapstick in handy spots in almost every room of the house.
• Every coat or jacket with pockets contain lip balm of some sort.
• If I had a pocket, it was there.
• If I didn't, I kept it in my bra strap.
• All bags were equipped with at least one form of chapstick.

It was sick. SICK, I tell you!

In all this time, I hadn't done a google search on this; but look: Lip Balm Anonymous. The main page was updated as of August 2007, but many of the other pages haven't been updated since 98, 99, or 00. Nonetheless, wow! With how much information he has on this page, I doubt that it is a joke. Addi[c]tionally, the author says that many people can attest to days or weeks or discomfort and/or pain after quitting their addiction. I can attest to that, as you well know. After that, there are pages upon pages of people discussing their addiction to lip balms.

My [former] weapons of choice:

• Chapstick - the plain, pink kind.
• Burt's Bees - in a tin or a tube, I didn't care!
• MyChelle Mineral Lip Tints - I may use this again once I have things under control, just to add color when I'm out and about.

I will say that my lips aren't totally normal yet. They are smoother and less irritated and not driving me crazy every minute of the day, but not completely normal. I'm hoping, a little more realistically now, that everything will be balanced within a week from now: like, all signs of lip balm cravings gone forever; with smooth & healthy lips to boot. I think this is a very real possibility.

That would make it one month to kick the habit. The tenacity!