Yep, vaping is the bomb when it comes to giving up cigarettes.
Unfortunately for those making the switch, nicotine is not all of the alkaloids in tobacco. We call them WTAs or whole tobacco alkaloids of which nicotine makes up about 90%. The other 10% are other alkaloids (anabasine, anatabine, nornicotine, harman and norharman) which aren't replaced by nicotine alone. Meh, it's only 10% ;- )
Vaping also doesn't have the other chemicals like ammonia that make nicotine work faster, so the dopamine levels don't rise so fast, so it's not as addictive.
Beyond nicotine and the hand to mouth habit (which shouldn't be trivialised) different people have different levels of addiction to WTA alkaloids and dopamine.
Feelings of cravings even while vaping, and even while overdosing on nicotine, are probably due to the fact that the other alkaloids are missing from the vape. Feelings of depression, loss, or something missing are *possibly* due to the brain having to adjust to lower dopamine levels.
I have had all of the above. Yep, I'm the worst case scenario.
Years ago, after my father had died from his second smoking related heart attack at the age of 56, I tried to give up smoking. The newly available patches and gum were ineffective and I finished up on Zoloft, a prescription anti depressant. Eventually I started smoking again because I was sick of the roller coaster ride the anti-depressants had me on.
Fast forward nearly 20 years, and vaping is more effective because while it does not contain WTAs (unle$$ you $ource them your$elf) It delivers the nicotine fast enough and in large enough amounts to counteract most of the affects of stopping smoking. Add to this that it's maintaining the hand to mouth habit and is a constant source of distraction, it's really quite effective.
No wonder we get addicted to vapemail - it's just another source of brain chemicals as we anticipate and finally open the packages full of new toys. I hazard a guess that being able to walk into a store and buy whatever we want may not be so useful to people making the switch to vaping. The excitement of opening the package with the new shinies is worth a carton of fags, easy. I can even get a buzz out of browsing Fasttech, and planning the next purchase, regardless of whether the bank account is ready for it yet.
I think you will relate to this? It seems to be a common phenomenon, our shiny addiction.
So yeah, it comes as no surprise to me that nicotine on it's own is not the bad boy people like to paint it as. If the scientific evidence for the usefulness of nicotine grows (dementia, Alzheimers, epilepsy, Tourettes, blood vessel growth etc) I have to wonder if I should actually cut it out altogether.
Unfortunately for those making the switch, nicotine is not all of the alkaloids in tobacco. We call them WTAs or whole tobacco alkaloids of which nicotine makes up about 90%. The other 10% are other alkaloids (anabasine, anatabine, nornicotine, harman and norharman) which aren't replaced by nicotine alone. Meh, it's only 10% ;- )
Vaping also doesn't have the other chemicals like ammonia that make nicotine work faster, so the dopamine levels don't rise so fast, so it's not as addictive.
Beyond nicotine and the hand to mouth habit (which shouldn't be trivialised) different people have different levels of addiction to WTA alkaloids and dopamine.
Feelings of cravings even while vaping, and even while overdosing on nicotine, are probably due to the fact that the other alkaloids are missing from the vape. Feelings of depression, loss, or something missing are *possibly* due to the brain having to adjust to lower dopamine levels.
I have had all of the above. Yep, I'm the worst case scenario.
Years ago, after my father had died from his second smoking related heart attack at the age of 56, I tried to give up smoking. The newly available patches and gum were ineffective and I finished up on Zoloft, a prescription anti depressant. Eventually I started smoking again because I was sick of the roller coaster ride the anti-depressants had me on.
Fast forward nearly 20 years, and vaping is more effective because while it does not contain WTAs (unle$$ you $ource them your$elf) It delivers the nicotine fast enough and in large enough amounts to counteract most of the affects of stopping smoking. Add to this that it's maintaining the hand to mouth habit and is a constant source of distraction, it's really quite effective.
No wonder we get addicted to vapemail - it's just another source of brain chemicals as we anticipate and finally open the packages full of new toys. I hazard a guess that being able to walk into a store and buy whatever we want may not be so useful to people making the switch to vaping. The excitement of opening the package with the new shinies is worth a carton of fags, easy. I can even get a buzz out of browsing Fasttech, and planning the next purchase, regardless of whether the bank account is ready for it yet.
I think you will relate to this? It seems to be a common phenomenon, our shiny addiction.
So yeah, it comes as no surprise to me that nicotine on it's own is not the bad boy people like to paint it as. If the scientific evidence for the usefulness of nicotine grows (dementia, Alzheimers, epilepsy, Tourettes, blood vessel growth etc) I have to wonder if I should actually cut it out altogether.
