Addictions are usually qualified as something that makes your life unmanageable. So by that standard, Nope. :?)
Are you "addicted" to e-cigarettes?
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Why do you reckon that is? Smoking does seem to be treated differently to all other addictions. I've heard of some types of behavioral support systems that were supposed to be helpful when used in parallel with patches and so forth. I once saw a work based quit smoking initiative that included group mutual encouragement meetings. But most addictions seem to be treated mainly by different types of behavioral support and I've never heard of that approach being used with smoking. Maybe it is and I've just never come across it though.
To be labeled an addict either legally or medically one has to be using something that causes quantifiable harm to the user and orWell, its the Forum software striking again with URL length limits in links
Try this link, go to Section III and look at items 8 and 10.
Hmm.. you're not willing to accept the medically accepted definitions of the terms in favor of what you learned through AA / 12-Step-based programs? What would you consider a definitive source or sources then? Or should we go best out of five?
harm to people associated with that user. Harm such as psychological disorders,other mental and physical deterioration,disruption
of work,family and social life. vaping does not meet this criteria. Smoking barely does but for the fact of the long term physical
ailments it either causes or aggravates. Current science indicates second hand exposure might slightly elevate risks to non-
users and,it's a big might.
Are we to consider anything an addiction merely because it is addicting? Shall we label marathon runners addicts as it is
well known most do it for that runner's high? Yes let's do,we'll make some room under the bridge for them.
If we are going to label something an addiction we should be sure it's addiction in the classical sense of causing quantifiable
and observable harm. It's not what happens when you try to quit that's important. It's what it does while you're doing it.
Even if vaping was 100% addictive it is not an addiction in the classical sense because it does not cause the harm if any
that other things can and do cause. It's not about definitions found on the internet. It's about what harm is actually
occurring and if it's worth criminalizing and treating.
Regards
Mike
The bones of the matter is that addiction (the word) has gotten the bad rep because we see an addict as this poor soul who will do ANYTHING to get their next fix. They will cheat, lie, steal, wreck home lives... Etc...
As users of nicotine, we do not fall into that unsavory category. Granted, as a smoker, we could be a bear to live with until we got our next cig. We did Not do any of the unsavory behaviors.
I prefer to think, at this point in my life, I'm addicted to the habit rather than the nic. I still cannot figure out how to JUST SIT AND DO......well NOTHING!
I can work a puzzle for hours and not think about having a vape. As soon as my mind and hands are disengaged from the puzzle, my hands are saying 'what now?'
As a smoker, I would take several 'smoke breaks' during that same time period.
Whether you all want to call it an addiction or not, it is still a habit.
As users of nicotine, we do not fall into that unsavory category. Granted, as a smoker, we could be a bear to live with until we got our next cig. We did Not do any of the unsavory behaviors.
I prefer to think, at this point in my life, I'm addicted to the habit rather than the nic. I still cannot figure out how to JUST SIT AND DO......well NOTHING!
I can work a puzzle for hours and not think about having a vape. As soon as my mind and hands are disengaged from the puzzle, my hands are saying 'what now?'
As a smoker, I would take several 'smoke breaks' during that same time period.
Whether you all want to call it an addiction or not, it is still a habit.
I really can't speak for the experience of others; I know that some sort of support group is usually stressed as being very valuable for smoking cessation as it is for drugs/alcohol, and certainly ECF as my support group has been of IMMENSE benefit. I've heard of Smokers Anonymous, SmokeEnders, and probably other groups, but I think their success rate is probably not much better than pharma NRT -- because it's only one part of the picture.
But just speaking for myself.... I somehow managed to go without drinking one day at a time -- if I just don't drink TODAY, then I'm successful, and all those days add up to, eventually, long-term sobriety, where the real personality changes enter the picture. But for smoking, it would have needed to be "5 minutes at a time"... it was simply too much a part of my every-waking-minute to respond to "one day at a time." I think the fact that there are quite a few different "active" ingredients also plays a role, whereas with alcohol, it's just one ingredient. Also, even if one is not drinking alcohol, one can still DRINK... something. I found ice-cold V8 juice in a can a marvelous substitute, just because it wasn't sweet -- as beer isn't sweet. Until there was vaping, there really was no substitute for smoking -- chewing gum does not give the same feedback as inhaling/exhaling, even if one is capable of chewing gum -- I'm not, thx to dental problems, and I never liked gum that much even when I COULD chew it. This is the behavioral aspect of smoking, which *I* believe is actually the strongest part of the addiction -- vaping is a whole new ballgame, in that it allows us to substitute something fairly benign for something terribly toxic, yet the sensation remains very similar -- drinking V8 juice didn't give me a buzz, but it did provide me something to drink that wasn't sweet, so it made a great substitute -- for ME.
I've dealt with several different addictions, and my experience is that they're all different -- I never required a separate 12-step group for the "white powder," just a firm determination that I wasn't going to use it anymore -- the fact that I got pregnant a few months after quitting also helped a great deal to cement that determination, and I've never felt the slightest desire to use it again, since that time. Alcohol was harder, because unlike the drug use, I drank every single day; it was a big important part of my life, and that kind of use was destroying my liver -- and since it was my 2nd time around with AA, I also knew very well that the every-day abuse of alcohol was inevitable for me, if I drank at all -- I'm an alcoholic, there is no point denying it, and I had finally reached my "bottom" where I knew absolutely that that was true; I had zero control. For me it was truly, quit or die horribly. But I still needed AA to make it possible to get thru the early years.
Andria
The only way that's likely to happen is if someone locks me in a padded room.
Heck, I find a two hour flight on an airplane insufferable w/o a piece of nic gum, and on an 8 hour transatlantic flight, I'll go through a half a dozen of them and STILL grab a couple of stealth puffs when I'm in the lav.
So am I "addicted" to vaping? Yes I am. But so what? It beats being addicted to smoking, 'cause there's basically no harm in it.
FWIW, I'm addicted to coffee too, but nobody seems look down on caffeine addicts.
The only way that's likely to happen is if someone locks me in a padded room.
Heck, I find a two hour flight on an airplane insufferable w/o a piece of nic gum, and on an 8 hour transatlantic flight, I'll go through a half a dozen of them and STILL grab a couple of stealth puffs when I'm in the lav.
So am I "addicted" to vaping? Yes I am. But so what? It beats being addicted to smoking, 'cause there's basically no harm in it.
FWIW, I'm addicted to coffee too, but nobody seems look down on caffeine addicts.
Exactly this, which is why I don't give a rat's patootie if I'm addicted to vaping -- it beats smoking, in every possible way, and it keeps me from feeling "deprived." I would also find it VERY difficult to get thru an hour or more without a vape, though I suspect it would be somewhat easier than getting thru the same period without a cigarette, when I smoked -- most I could ever manage with smoking was about 30 minutes, maybe 45 if i was REALLY busy and mentally occupied with something that distracted me.
That was the only thing I really hated about the HBO show "True Blood" -- no commercials, so getting thru that whole hour without a cigarette was dang near impossible -- I'd always have to run out for a very fast 4-5 puffs, halfway thru it, and hope I didn't miss anything important! Later when we started watching Penny Dreadful on Showtime (also no commercials!) it was so nice to be able to just sit there and vape.
Andria
The only place I ever had to go outside to smoke was the large company I worked for between 1983 to 1993, and then it was only for the last ~4 years I was there. The horribly overweight CEO quit smoking in the late 80s and decided everyone who worked there should be as miserable as he was. Not smoke in my own house? Pffft! (Yes, I understand you did that in deference to an asthmatic child -- but neither of mine were).That was the only thing I really hated about the HBO show "True Blood" -- no commercials, so getting thru that whole hour without a cigarette was dang near impossible -- I'd always have to run out for a very fast 4-5 puffs, halfway thru it, and hope I didn't miss anything important! Later when we started watching Penny Dreadful on Showtime (also no commercials!) it was so nice to be able to just sit there and vape.
For me, it was movie theaters. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand how often I've seen a movie in a theater since they banned smoking.
Actually he had bronchitis, so the need for outdoor-only smoking was a lot more subtle; nothing as dramatic as an asthma-attack, just a lot of missed school. But even after he grew up and left home, I decided to keep it outdoors for 2 reasons -- my husband is a non-smoker, and I didn't want to subject him to having to live in an ashtray, since he'd gotten used to not, and also, I'd gotten used to it myself, having a non-ashtray-smelling home, and really liked it; it was always a thought in the back of my mind that one day I *might* quit smoking, and not having the smell of it in my home and furniture would be a good thing, if that did in fact occur -- which now it has, and yes I'm THRILLED that I don't have that stink in my home; worst I had to deal with was the smell in the truck, and that cleared within a couple months -- and some of my clothes that I'd worn when smoking and then hung back up -- I started noticing a faint reek in my closet, and quickly got those suspect garments laundered!
But yeah, movie theaters.... When they started not even letting you smoke in the lobby, I stopped going, period. I watched quite a few movies thru the small window in the door into the theater, while hanging out there smoking, or even just making a quick potty break and grabbing a few puffs in the john. Once that was no longer possible, then movies became strictly a stay-at-home event for me. The only exception I've made to that rule was when my son wanted to see the last Harry Potter movie in IMAX -- he bought the tickets, and he was a smoker himself at the time, so I gave in, and the two of us were outside getting our last few puffs before going in -- then practically sprinting for the exit afterward, to satisfy the jones.
(and indeed, I'm very happy that he has by now quit smoking, with his bronchitis! He had about as much business smoking, with that, as I did, with asthma!)Andria
I didn't "HAVE" to. I just wanted to. I don't even usually do that.
My point was that I found out that I won't completely lose ground if I have a cigarette, that I CAN just stop without having to panic. That made me not even need ONE around.
I don't honestly know. I havent read the replies but I'm sure the majority of them are people mad that you even suggested nicotine can be addictive. I like vaping, I feel like I want to do it. I go without vaping from time to time, maybe a day or so, and I seem to vape less and less regularly as time goes on, drinking bouts aside. But I like getting new flavors, I like blowing clouds, its fun, and I don't smell like cigarette butts anymore, so I'm sticking with it. I definitely wouldn't start smoking again if I couldnt vape, but if I had to quit vaping because the costs shoot up after regulation or something, it wouldn't send me into an existential crisis or anything, I'd just stop.
Agreed and sorry if I phrased it a bit rough.
For those few occasions I go out I generally don't bother bringing me vape with me if in company of smokers.
Vaping has a way of alienating people, especially drunk, and when I'm out havin fun don't care about savin the world.
Granted the headache is bad the next day.
Lol, you're cute. It's actually narcissists and sociopaths that never question their behavior. Introspection can actually be quite healthy for a person. But thanks for calling me an addict, anyway.
I wana quit vaping too, but theres too many smokers around me, if i stop, i might go back the dark side
Good on ya! I'm 61 and that's pretty much my story too, and if people want to call me an addict or other nasty things they are just haters I can do without. I'm not hurting anyone with my vaping, so what's their problem? They just need something and someone to hate? I think that's it.
You didn't phrase it too roughly and it was a good question.Agreed and sorry if I phrased it a bit rough.
For those few occasions I go out I generally don't bother bringing me vape with me if in company of smokers.
Vaping has a way of alienating people, especially drunk, and when I'm out havin fun don't care about savin the world.
Granted the headache is bad the next day.
soo... if we have more than 1000 posts here on ECF.. are we addicted to ECF??
Im only up to 15,365 posts....
Im only up to 15,365 posts....
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