Well, here I am. Day 12 of being smoke free after 31 years of smoking...approximately a PAD for most of those years, though I did manage to cut down to roughly half a pack daily these last few years.
The first time I tried to quit smoking, my doctor wrote a script for tranquilizer's to try and help me get past the first week successfully, in combination with the newly available nicotine gum called Nicorette. I couldn't tolerate the gum. It tasted awful. There wasn't various flavours available to choose from back then like there is today...and personally, I don't believe adding cinnamon or mint has a chance to make this stuff any more palatable. I haven't bothered to tried the gum again. My doctor said to just chew it a few times to get some nicotine and keep it in a small dish ready for the next "nic fit." Instead, I smoked a cigarette while giving the bit of chewed up gum the evil eye.
Next was the patch. It worked so long as I remembered I was wearing one. There were times when I forgot (for me forgetting was possible. I was a full time working mother and when things got hectic, I grabbed anything resembling a cigarette). After hearing of people dying from doing exactly what I was doing, I had to make the sacrifice and quit cold turkey. It was hard to see the money I wasted on the patches as I threw them in the garbage.
More years go by. I know my health isn't what it could be because of my smoking. Frequent bouts of bronchitis followed later by a constant wheeze that got worse when I went to bed. I thought to myself that the start of what was to kill me was beginning to make itself known...and I was scared. Scared because I had tried and failed to save myself. Scared because I felt that cigarettes were in control of me and my health. Scared because I am so weak in the face of a pack of cigarettes, even with those ugly images on them. Scared because I didn't want to leave my kids and husband yet. Scared because I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I would smoke while pulling an oxygen tank...or worse yet, smoke after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
I've watched and envied friends who have been successful in giving up cigarettes. I've watched some fail, only to try again and be successful. I will always be their cheerleader. I'm so proud of them for doing something I can't...but I wish I could join them.
It was then that my 29 year-old son (also a smoker, unfortunately. I blame myself) came home with a new product. The Nicorette Inhaler. The premise was a little more promising than the gum or patch. But again, it failed. I failed. Again.
Then one day, my neighbour called me over to his house. He wanted to show me something his wife picked up for him at our local Mall. It was an electronic cigarette. He said, "Go on, give it a try." I did. Like I would have with a real cigarette. Nothing. He told me to draw on it harder and longer. So I did as I'm thinking to myself, this. is. so. not. smoking. This is what attempting to self inflict a hernia must feel like. In any case, I blew out a little vapor as I listened to his explanations on how to recharge the battery, etc... He was excited. I knew his doctor had been telling him to quit smoking for some time. I encouraged him and wished him luck and told him I didn't think it was for me, but thanks for thinking of me.
As I walked home, my thoughts were on this device. It wasn't something that I could shake off. I decided that I would Google some information and see what I could find...then life got in the way.
You see, I also have a young daughter. She's eight, going on sixteen...or eight, going on two. It all depends on the day and while she's fun most of the time, she demands all of your attention. 8-o In any case, it wasn't until the start of summer vacation that I decided to get online and do some research on these electronic cigarettes.
My research skills suck.
I researched a whole, um, I don't know...three hours, maybe? Watched a couple of You Tube videos...I was mostly hemming and hawing over which ecig to buy. I landed on a site that rated ecigs (can't remember which site it was now) and bought the one they listed as #1 ecig!
I'm lucky that the Apollo Extreme is a pretty good kit. Since I started using the Apollo Extreme, I haven't had one analog. Not one! Even I cannot believe it. It wasn't that hard. I still had my share of withdrawal symptoms and that sense of something missing, but because I could pick something up that resembled smoking so closely, it really took the edge off. It was more than just being bearable. It was accomplishable. I can quit smoking! I have quit smoking! Who'da thunk it?
I'm even more lucky in that I improved on my research skills and have spent the last two weeks researching more thoroughly here on ECF. I thank every single member in this forum for asking the questions I have had that are already answered. For trying the devices before me, so I can make a more informed decision and save a few bucks. For tasting the various flavours ahead of me, so I don't throw up a little in my mouth first.
For fighting the fight on trying to keep this from being banned. For saving my life.
I breathe without a wheeze, now. My husband said to me yesterday that I sounded horrible when I slept. He said the last two nights, my breathing was so quiet, he wouldn't have even known I was there. I can laugh without the fear of a coughing jag that made me pee my pants a little.
My husband and son said the skin on my face looks better. I look better. I feel better. I have energy again. 
What would I do without this forum! It's remarkable how much I've learned and am still learning. Thank you from the bottom of my big fat heart to all that make ECF what it is!
Vape On!
The first time I tried to quit smoking, my doctor wrote a script for tranquilizer's to try and help me get past the first week successfully, in combination with the newly available nicotine gum called Nicorette. I couldn't tolerate the gum. It tasted awful. There wasn't various flavours available to choose from back then like there is today...and personally, I don't believe adding cinnamon or mint has a chance to make this stuff any more palatable. I haven't bothered to tried the gum again. My doctor said to just chew it a few times to get some nicotine and keep it in a small dish ready for the next "nic fit." Instead, I smoked a cigarette while giving the bit of chewed up gum the evil eye.
Next was the patch. It worked so long as I remembered I was wearing one. There were times when I forgot (for me forgetting was possible. I was a full time working mother and when things got hectic, I grabbed anything resembling a cigarette). After hearing of people dying from doing exactly what I was doing, I had to make the sacrifice and quit cold turkey. It was hard to see the money I wasted on the patches as I threw them in the garbage.
More years go by. I know my health isn't what it could be because of my smoking. Frequent bouts of bronchitis followed later by a constant wheeze that got worse when I went to bed. I thought to myself that the start of what was to kill me was beginning to make itself known...and I was scared. Scared because I had tried and failed to save myself. Scared because I felt that cigarettes were in control of me and my health. Scared because I am so weak in the face of a pack of cigarettes, even with those ugly images on them. Scared because I didn't want to leave my kids and husband yet. Scared because I knew, in my heart of hearts, that I would smoke while pulling an oxygen tank...or worse yet, smoke after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
I've watched and envied friends who have been successful in giving up cigarettes. I've watched some fail, only to try again and be successful. I will always be their cheerleader. I'm so proud of them for doing something I can't...but I wish I could join them.
It was then that my 29 year-old son (also a smoker, unfortunately. I blame myself) came home with a new product. The Nicorette Inhaler. The premise was a little more promising than the gum or patch. But again, it failed. I failed. Again.
Then one day, my neighbour called me over to his house. He wanted to show me something his wife picked up for him at our local Mall. It was an electronic cigarette. He said, "Go on, give it a try." I did. Like I would have with a real cigarette. Nothing. He told me to draw on it harder and longer. So I did as I'm thinking to myself, this. is. so. not. smoking. This is what attempting to self inflict a hernia must feel like. In any case, I blew out a little vapor as I listened to his explanations on how to recharge the battery, etc... He was excited. I knew his doctor had been telling him to quit smoking for some time. I encouraged him and wished him luck and told him I didn't think it was for me, but thanks for thinking of me.
As I walked home, my thoughts were on this device. It wasn't something that I could shake off. I decided that I would Google some information and see what I could find...then life got in the way.
You see, I also have a young daughter. She's eight, going on sixteen...or eight, going on two. It all depends on the day and while she's fun most of the time, she demands all of your attention. 8-o In any case, it wasn't until the start of summer vacation that I decided to get online and do some research on these electronic cigarettes.
My research skills suck.
I researched a whole, um, I don't know...three hours, maybe? Watched a couple of You Tube videos...I was mostly hemming and hawing over which ecig to buy. I landed on a site that rated ecigs (can't remember which site it was now) and bought the one they listed as #1 ecig!
I'm lucky that the Apollo Extreme is a pretty good kit. Since I started using the Apollo Extreme, I haven't had one analog. Not one! Even I cannot believe it. It wasn't that hard. I still had my share of withdrawal symptoms and that sense of something missing, but because I could pick something up that resembled smoking so closely, it really took the edge off. It was more than just being bearable. It was accomplishable. I can quit smoking! I have quit smoking! Who'da thunk it?I'm even more lucky in that I improved on my research skills and have spent the last two weeks researching more thoroughly here on ECF. I thank every single member in this forum for asking the questions I have had that are already answered. For trying the devices before me, so I can make a more informed decision and save a few bucks. For tasting the various flavours ahead of me, so I don't throw up a little in my mouth first.
For fighting the fight on trying to keep this from being banned. For saving my life. I breathe without a wheeze, now. My husband said to me yesterday that I sounded horrible when I slept. He said the last two nights, my breathing was so quiet, he wouldn't have even known I was there. I can laugh without the fear of a coughing jag that made me pee my pants a little.
My husband and son said the skin on my face looks better. I look better. I feel better. I have energy again. What would I do without this forum! It's remarkable how much I've learned and am still learning. Thank you from the bottom of my big fat heart to all that make ECF what it is!
Vape On!
