How many mistakes do I have to make before I do better?

[bluebelle]

I know exactly what you are talking about Wicked Wench.

Still catch myself thinking at times there are few things in life I enjoy and still get to do.

I do so much for everyone, especially my troubled youngest daughter, and never much for myself.

I should not be in the position I am in at this stage of my life, should be able to live my life for myself now. This is not how I imagined it would be when I was this age, thought at this time of my life I could be living my life again for me after raising two children alone,but that is not how it is.

And now I can't even smoke, and yes, sitting down and taking a break from the stress with a cigarette is one of the most enjoyable times one can have.

However, I can take my breaks with my PV too. Smoking is not going to make anything better or solve any of my problems.

And who knows, I may actually live long enough now to may be have that life for myself someday.

 

[markfm]

Once the other chemicals are flushed out of your system, adjusting nic downward, at least if done in gentle steps, results in only a couple days of slight edginess.

The initial switch off cigs can easily be several weeks of hassle. People vape a lot, including higher mg, to get through the initial switch. Some will stay higher nic, others will drop, with higher just for craving points, either is a win

Over time things do get better, urges less frequent.

WTA, or snus, are valid options for people who need the MAOI. If things are not getting noticeably easier within a couple weeks, not getting over the hump, they are definitely worth giving a try.

Good luck, and don't forget to keep drinking lots of water

 

[bluebelle]

Hi Markfm!

Not even thinking of going downwards on my nicotine intake, may never be able to do that. I have realized the last few weeks. I may be a nicotine addict for the rest of my life.

Still a struggle at times, but I think that is the other chemicals in cigarettes calling out to me, whatever they may be (scary thought not even sure what you are addicted to), not the nicotine.

Those times are fewer and farther between, but frustratingly still there and strong when they come.

I am on the fence still about WTA. I mean I have made it this far, would be a step backwards in a way.

 

[MissEmma]

bluebelle, I just started reading this thread. I first want to say congratulations!!! You are doing great. Since I read the thead in one sitting, I noticed you "sound" less stressed than you did when you began. I wanted to tell you to stop beating yourself up if you have an analog. I understand you want to stop, but we've had this addiction for a long time and it won't stop overnight.
I LOVED smoking...loved it. I was actually a little angry when I had a smoke after vaping for about a month. It tasted soooo horrible that I would never be able to enjoy it again. I had lost the one thing that was a constant in my life for over 30 years!!! It sounds odd, I know, but I was almost disappointed that they were now so awful. It was a very long love/hate relationship that would never be the same.
I believe that every cig you DON"T smoke, is a success. I didn't even start vaping to stop smoking...I just wanted to cut back. I have a couple of friends who began the same way. They still do both, but vape much more than the other. And that is wonderful!!
Good luck to you...don't try so hard, don't focus on what you are doing "wrong", but what success you've had so far!

 

[bluebelle]

Hi Miss Emma!

I know what you mean. It sounds strange, but cigarettes were my best friend, my worst enemy too, but my best friend.

If smoking was an art form, I'd have been the DaVinci of smoking.

I think on some level I will always miss it, but recognizing that and trying to deal with it is a step forward in the right direction.

 

[NGIB]

Read this thread this morning and I'm wishing you success. I smoked roughly 2 PAD for over 30 years and I made the switch to vaping on the day my kit arrived. It's been 3 1/2 weeks since I smaoked an analog and they smell absolutely disgusting to me. I'm around smokers all day and I have had zero desire to light up. Two of my kids smoked and I have got them both on the vaping bandwagon. My son & I were swapping juices and supplies last night as we were each low on certain things. I can tell you that having some 36mg juice is the ticket. I did a lot of reading and I discovered that many folks fail because they use a low nicotine juice from the start. I generally use something between 24-36 all day long and I've become more comfortable with 24mg lately.

Finding flavors that keep me interested and focused has helped a bunch as well. I switch up during the day between fruit, tobacco, and menthol as the mood strikes me. My kids are still doing 1-2 analogs a day but they are staying focused and it's been less than 2 weeks for them. All in all, I'm happier, feel better, and know I made the right decision even though I've spent way to much $$$ getting into this new hobby...

 

[bluebelle]

I know the feeling. I switch up constantly to keep myself vaping and interested. Funny how I never switched cigarettes brands except to try and find cheaper ones that were reasonably okay (good luck with that in New York).

I remember back in the day, I said if cigarettes ever go up to a dollar a pack I will quit. Got to laugh at that one...I do. The thousands of dollars I spent on them since them is staggering over the years.

I am struggling to keep costs down right now too, it is difficult when you are starting out vaping. I keep telling myself it is an investment in the future I am making.

 

[bluebelle]

I wish I could get my daughter interested in vaping again.

When I first started out on my last attempt a couple of years ago, I bought us both Blu kits. She and I both really tried at first. While I graduated to a better kit from reading and joining here, she lost interest quickly and has never wanted to try to date again even when I have offered to buy her an Ego like mine and have journeyed on this second attempt at being free.

I refuse to become what I hate, and that is the anti-smoking nazis, I will tell you what to do, you have no free will ...... that I so much hated when I smoked, but I really wish she could learn from my mistakes. But, I guess that is the lament of every parent. Don't you wish they would listen?

And I admit, it would be so much easier on me to live in a smoke free environment, but I don't want to be selfish.

It is so cool that you are an inspiration to your kids.

Kudos to them, and to you. Keep fighting the good fight.

 

[kingcobra]

I never had the intention of quitting smoking, ever, and as strange as it may sound, the money spent or the health consequences of smoking didn't bother me too much. I'm in great health anyway and while it's certainly a plus not to get extorted by the government here to pay over $13 for a pack of cigarettes, I can afford it. They say smoking reduces your life expectancy but I've figured that the $500 a month I spend on supplements at least puts me ahead of the curve, and I've never really been that concerned about quantity of life, although quality does matter to me.

So when I say quality I don't mean being in better physical shape or any other such objective factors, I mean feeling better subjectively. So when I started vaping over a year ago this certainly did add to my experience, where I would both vape and smoke, and smoke less for it, but the big thing was that the vaping both improved my mood and the quality of the "buzz" I got. Actually you might say that for me it's all about the quality of the buzz

So I've been thinking all this time that kicking the cigarettes and just vaping should be the ultimate buzz, I would smoke which wasn't that great, then I would vape and feel great, the problem though was that after a few hours away from smoking I would need another one.

So once I did figure out that the 30 mg of nic wasn't enough, and moved to 36 mg, that did the trick. You still need some resolve to go with it, but my belief is that if you are trying to switch and you aren't vaping 36 mg, and you are having trouble, then you definitely need to try 36 mg.

So as the days went on, I read things about how there are other components of smoking that vaping doesn't provide, and that's exactly how I felt, that something substantial was missing. I didn't go back to the analogs though, and from my experiences so far I never will, and I reasoned that while vaping alone may not be the full answer, vaping and smoking definitely is not. I have had way too much experience with that to know that kicking the smokes definitely the way to go, and I would have to look to add something else that doesn't involve inhaling smoke.

So I checked out getting some WTA juice, there are two sites that sell it, one doesn't have a shipping option to Canada and the other is down. I even went around to tobacco shops looking for snus, can't buy it here, you can order it through the mail but I'm really not sure I even want to do that.

What I ended up doing is getting some tobacco flavored juice, I never liked it as it doesn't taste anywhere near as good as the dessert juices I've been vaping all this time, and in fact I tried several tobacco flavors and really didn't like them. However I read somewhere that there may be a trace of some of these other substances in the tobacco flavoring and decided to give that a try.

I'm happy to say that this has helped, although I am sure that putting more time between me and that last cigarette has as well. I'm doing better now and in fact I think that may be the answer for me. It's day 11 now smoke free and the second day I'm vaping tobacco and I seem to have turned the corner. I do not want to be craving or even wanting something else, definitely not a cigarette and not even smokeless tobacco, not even WTA if I can help it only because it's so hard to get, because I want to say that vaping now makes me feel way better than I ever have in my life, and this may indeed come to pass on my current regimen.

One of the most interesting things I've found through all this is that higher voltage dries out the juice more, which not only kills the flavor somewhat, the drier vape dries out your lungs as well. I was vaping in the car and by accident my Darwin got turned down to 5.7 watts, way lower than I have ever tried. It ended up being a great vape, and then I noticed how less dry it was and my lungs are dry anyway, so vaping at this wattage has made a HUGE difference for me.

The expectation is that every day will get better, it's been hard to find out good info about how long it takes before your body adjusts to this fully, I hear a month or more from some people, that seems crazy but now that I think of it, if I have another 20 days or more of getting better and better, that's certainly nothing to be afraid of

 

[AndyM]

The best tactic is to NOT make it a "Quit Smoking Forever" kind of big deal. We've been with smokes for so many years it's a part of who we are. By saying "I'm going to quit forever", you would just raise a whole lot of anxiety and worry. Feeling guilt if you slip up is a part of it.

When I started, I just tried to see how many days of only vaping I could get...turned out to be a couple days before I had an analog. Set the counter back, then the next analog was after a week. After that, I just had an analog every Sunday for the next couple weeks. Now it's been two weeks since the last one, and if this works, I'll promise myself an analog every month.

But if I slip up and have 2 or 3 in the next month, no problem, I've stil avoided 99% of what I would have smoked.

Don't feel guilty if you slip up.