Emotional withdrawal?

[wonderland]

Hi everyone,

I thought the first day without a smoke would be the hardest, but it wasn't bad at all. Today was tough though! I'm really enjoying vaping and I don't want a cigarette, but I'm clearly going through some sort of emotional withdrawal (you know, irritable, cries easily, disagreeable!). I guess I thought since I'd still be getting my nicotine that this wouldn't be much of an issue, but not so much. I'm vaping 18 mg right now but I think I need a 24. Just wondering if many of you went through an emotional withdrawal from cigarettes, at what point it happened and if there was anything you did to get you through or if maybe you just rode it out. Maybe I just need a few "light at the end of the tunnel" stories, because I'm truly happy that I'm not smoking and I never thought I'd hear myself say that.

 

[gthompson]

It's hard at first. Don't let anyone try to tell you differently. More nicotine will almost certainly help. It gets better pretty quickly for most people. Hang in there.

 

[kiwivap]

Hi wonderland. Your body is adjusting to not having 600 chemicals pumped into it - and that will affect your emotions. Plus there is the goodbye factor - I did feel a bit emotional about losing my cigs for the first few days. If you think you need 24 mg then get some and try it. Vape as much as you need to - just make sure to drink lots of water because vaping causes some dehydration. I smoked 40-50 a day so there was a letting go that had to happen. I love vaping and it didn't take too long to get over leaving the cigs behind.

 

[X P3 Flight Engineer]

It's not emotional, it's nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Get some 24mg and vape until satisfied. It is hard to regulate the amount of nicotine you get from vaping, at first. You are doing Great!

Relax, Enjoy!

 

[YoureFired]

Within a few days without tobacco, I experienced a sudden bout of depression for no good reason. It lasted about half a day.

I started at 18mg juice and it just didn't seem like it was doing anything for me. I really noticed an improvement when I went up to 24mg. I've since weened myself to 12mg, which seems fine. Now I'm just enjoying the warm vapor and hobby of it all.

 

[HardWired]

During the first 2 weeks of vaping I was having a couple 2 or 3 cigs a day still just because A) I thought I *might* not be getting enough nicotine through vaping and B) I was giving up my best friend of 33 years and a lot of the behaviors that go along with it. Once I realized I was getting enough nicotine through vaping it then was all psychological on whether I wanted to give them up. But even after only those first 2 weeks of going from my normal 30-35 cigs a day down to just a few I could already feel the physical changes/benefits happening and I new there was no turning back and analogs were soon going to be a permanent thing of the past.

I remember by the end of week 3 I had completely stopped analogs and knew I was on my way to a better me. I never thought I could quit because the smell of a cig would lead me to want to have one, but now the smell completely repulses me. I could never go back. I can't believe I did it for so long. And it was a flavor thing too. By the end of week three and mixing vaping and analogs the whole time, I started to come to the opinion that vaping tasted a whole lot better while doing it, as well as not having crap breath and stinky fingers afterward. It became the better, slam dunk choice for me and I haven't looked back. I just past 7 months smoke free and don't mind saying I'm proud as hell of myself.

If you still feel jonsey after vaping you may not be getting enough nicotine. I actually started at 24mg and moved up to 36mg to really kick the jones. So maybe increase your nicotine level and most importantly don't beat yourself up. You not failing, you're on the road to change. You'll be fine. It doesn't have to happen *today*. Some may think my method is crazy but imo there's no reason why you would have to set a hard date to stop one and start the other. Try tapering like I did. Hell I was tickled pink I went from 30-35 analogs a day to 2 or 3. I never once thought I was failing. That was huge success in my eyes, for me. Those last little baby steps to stop analogs completely were no problem. As I was lighting those 2 or 3 I kept thinking "why am I even having this, I'm not jonesing and they don't even taste as good as vaping. At that point, I was done.

 

[rondasherrill]

Within a few days without tobacco, I experienced a sudden bout of depression for no good reason. It lasted about half a day.

I started at 18mg juice and it just didn't seem like it was doing anything for me. I really noticed an improvement when I went up to 24mg. I've since weened myself to 12mg, which seems fine. Now I'm just enjoying the warm vapor and hobby of it all.

I experienced the same bout of depression, but mine lasted a few days... Well, long story short hear I am a year and a half later and I haven't felt this good since before I started smoking. Trust me on this, get the 24mg, vape on, drink plenty of water... before you know it you will feel like a new person.

 

[j3000]

Put it this way I quit drinking no problem, I quit drugs a little problem but not to bad, Okay it was hell but that is another story but quit smoking is in my opionion the hardest thing I ever tried to give up.. I gives me panic attacks thinking about it..

 

[joshiesmommy]

I had one analog a day for the first three days I was vaping, and I dedicated that one allowable one at night while out walking the dog. Honestly, there were a few situational events that made me a little antsy, but they were short lived and by that third night the analogs tasted so nasty I havent had much more than a fleeting thought since. It will have been a month for me come monday night. Cant say if it bothered me much emotionally because within a 3 days of giving up the analogs, there were some pretty stressful things going on with our son and his special ed services.

 

[PTPA]

Days 3 and 4 were hands down the worst for me. I won't say the others after that were easy, as some were much better than others - but for me personally, days 3 and 4 were hell, and after that they were not as bad.

Look, here's the thing: it's Saturday night on a holiday weekend, and the e-cig forum currently has 863 members online with 134 people viewing the New Members Forum. There are tons of people hanging around this forum, some here to tell their own success stories, some needing help to continue their success stories, and all ready willing and able to lend help to those that need it.

My own success story (though I'm nic fitting a bit right now, probably my 4th worst craving since I quit smoking) is that a friend decided to quit smoking (without e-cigs!) many months ago. This lead him to convince another friend to run a half marathon this coming January, and that friend had to quit smoking (with the help of e-cigs) as a part of the training routine. Faced with seeing my two closest friends (and smoking enablers) quit, an upcoming tobacco-free policy at work (while on company property), and an increasing pressure from my wife to quit, I asked my friend to order a disposable for me. Since I took my first hit on that disposable, I haven't smoked a cigarette. It's been tough - brutally tough at times - but I've gotten through it with some chain vaping and with the help of folks on this forum.

I recently placed an order for a basic no-frills starter kit (88mm 510 battery, USB charger, 2 cartos), and plan to give it to my brother-in-law to see if it works for him, and am about two weeks away from getting a co-worker to dump the tobacco and pick up the e-cigs.

So think about that for just a second: one person decides to quit on a whim, which leads to at least 4 others quitting.

So when times are tough for me, I take the advice in rondasherrill's signature block and focus on paying it forward - that if I can just get through this one teensy craving, well then somewhere down the line, many many folks will decide to quit smoking because of the chain reaction that I did not start, but I am doing my best to continue. That seems like a pretty decent trade to me.

 

[grandmato5]

Congrats on your smoke free days Everyone is different so there is no one answer for all but most people will experience some withdrawal symptoms for at least a week and often will have some pop up out of the blue for several weeks after quitting. BUT it does get less and less as time goes by and its all worth it in the end. The best way to get through them is to vape vape vape until they have passed. It may be helpful to get some 24 mg juice to help you through those moments. If you wish and it works for you, you can use 24 for those difficult moments and 18 mg other times of your day. Remember to drink LOTS of water and remind yourself how great you feel for giving up smoking

My two year anniversary of being smoke free is on Tuesday and I still find it hard to beleive its been that long but I've loved every moment of being smoke free and those occasional difficult moments in the beginning were all worth it to get to this point of knowing I will never smoke another cigarette

 

[The Ocelot]

I didn't plan to quit smoking. I loved to smoke and enjoyed every single cigarette I had from the time I was 13 years old. It was on a curious whim that I thought I'd try an e-cig. I didn't know anyone who used them, in fact, when I mentioned to a friend I was going to try it, she tried to dissuade me; she couldn't come up with a reason though, only that she had "read something somewhere..."

Anyway, I tried an icky one from Green Smoke, but it approximated the smoking experience enough that I knew with some will power I could quit. That lasted about 5 days, during which I found out about vaping. Bye Green Smoke, hello eGo! I sent the Green Smoke kit back, but I have since gotten a couple of Green Smart Living cigs from the liquor store - they're basically the same...pretty ghastly. Long story long, I keep my Green Smoke Living in my arsenal, because when I'm really craving I vape that. It has the nicotine I need, plus tastes just awful enough to remind me why I don't smoke. Good luck! Everyone has been where you are and everyone is here for you now!

 

[wonderland]

thank you everyone for your support and input. it means a great deal to me. when i picked up a Green Smart Living e-cig at the smoke shop the other day, it was not with the intention of quitting (i loved to smoke). but after trying it i had the crazy thought, "oh God, I could actually quit smoking this way," and ran out the next day and bought an eGo-T which i'm loving. i guess i'm just surprised: i expected to really crave a cigarette, but i'm not (except in a romanticized, nostalgic way perhaps). my eGo is working well enough that i don't want to smoke, but i'm experiencing the emotional withdrawal. it's sort of a cognitive dissonance i suppose and i know i'll make it through it. thank you for letting me worry it out loud and supporting me through it. i have never seen an internet forum before with such an awesome group of people.

 

[dirquist]

Ya, it is a very friendly bunch here. I think it is because we are all fighting for the same cause, to help each other quit smoking by any means necessary and we can all relate with what you are going through. You can do it. You will miss cigs for a while, and you will even have days where you just want that cig instead. What I did was just look at my ego as a tool to help fight those urges away. I know what you mean about romanticizing it. Its easy to do. But in the end you will be so glad you fought it. Dont give up and do whatever you need to do to keep off of those nasty things. That 24mg nic should definitely help. Keep up the good fight!

 

[Yves]

Hi Wonderland Congrats on your switch to vaping.

Like others have said before me everyone is different, I gave up smoking by accident when I bought an e cig to use where I couldn't smoke. Then like you I realized that this could be the end of tobacco smoking for me.... I also had a few sad days. I lost a good friend when I stopped smoking tobacco. I would go to smoke when I was down or lonely or needing stress relief so many reasons to go to my best friend tobacco, it had been there for me for 43 years. Now I am smoke free I no longer remember that friend tobacco in the same way. Now it is a distant memory of times past and a future of better health, wealth and acceptance.

The feelings will pass with time and a lot quicker than you would think, you have so many new friends here to talk too

 

[Z_Ghost]

wonderland

I had to give up smoking tobacco and got stated on E cigs last Wednesday .
First 3 days were easy, it helped that my boss at work is Cool with me vaping in the office.
Today has been a little hard and I did have 1 analog this morning with my coffee and might end up having one before I go to bed.
I know that given a little time I will not need analogs at all, I'm not going to give up on the vapor.
Keep at it, it's so much better for you.

 

[jespeak]

. I guess I thought since I'd still be getting my nicotine that this wouldn't be much of an issue, but not so much. I'm vaping 18 mg right now but I think I need a 24. Just wondering if many of you went through an emotional withdrawal from cigarettes, at what point it happened and if there was anything you did to get you through or if maybe you just rode it out. Maybe I just need a few "light at the end of the tunnel" stories, because I'm truly happy that I'm not smoking and I never thought I'd hear myself say that.[/QUOTE]

Welcome Wonderland!
You probably have heard it already - I was in the same boat! I had thought the nicotine I was getting would prevent any other withdrawal (physical and emotional) stuff to happen. I was wrong, and all I can say is "this too shall pass". Just hang in there and keep in touch with everyone here - it has helped me to get through the rough patches.

Cheers and Happy Vaping!

 

[denali_41]

i had to go up to 24mg to finally give up those dam stinky things.i had no emotional withdraw at all !!!

only thing i felt was complete,pure total freedom.felt that for more then month

 

[Fiamma]

Welcome to ECF wonderland I see you're in Riverside, LA Vapers meets the third Saturday of every month in Glendora, some distance for you but about half the distance for you than for me. They meet inside at Clubhouse 66, 1200 East Route 66, Glendora, CA 91740. This is a restaurant and bar. Meetings start at 1pm and go to 5pm or whenever you want to leave. Good support group, always new things to see and try.

I'm out north of Palm Springs in the high desert. You might want to try a couple of their meets to be with other vapers and see how they get along and cope I have to be down in LA for the week of the 9th so I'm going to go to the meet on the way home that Sat, Sept 15. No meets out my way and I've never seen another vaper up here.

I quit smoking because I got mad about the cost. I loved to smoke, smoked for 55 yrs, no outward signs of damage except getting a bit of shortness of breath. I had tried to quit a few times with NRT's (no pills) and failed in a week each time. Even hypnosis didn't help. Each time I went back to smoking cigarettes I smoked more than before I tried to quit. In January 2011 I got mad about how much of my fixed income was going up in smoke and started researching e cigs. I got my first gear and juice in Feb 2011 and have not had a cigarette since that day. I just vaped through the bad days and made myself think about the cost of tobacco taxes, got mad all over again and kept vaping until things sorted out again, and that worked for me. I have since learned that having a cig or two when you really need one is ok. I didn't know any better at the time, so I just upped my nic level for the duration and vaped through it.

I started feeling better, physically, in a very short time. First thing I noticed was my sinuses clearing up. Next thing I noticed was how badly my house, car and clothing smelled. I spent a fair amount of time cleaning carpet, drapes, washing everything washable in the house and spaced out cleaning of things that couldn't be washed as I could afford to get it done. I saved enough the first year after gear and juice additions to get a new couch and recliner (could NOT get the smell out of the upholstered older ones) and that helped a lot. I had to clean all the windows and mirrors, still need to wash the walls and paint but I'm afraid to get up high on a ladder and have been saving up to get enough together to get someone in to do that. That is going to take a good while, but someday soon, I hope A big side benefit is not having to clean glass, mirrors or the TV screen very often cause they don't accumulate sticky yellow residue as they did from the smoke filled house. My cat is also much happier

I never felt emotionally attached to my smoking habit, per se, but I suppose that figures in. I just never thought about smoking in those terms until reading your post. Looking back I see lighting up was a delaying bit to put off a bad conversation or a phone call I didn't really want to take, doing something I didn't like to do, etc. I am also ADHD and a lot of it was self medication to help with the issues that condition combination presents. My meds were caffeine and nicotine, self dosed.

I'm now vaping at 4mg nic and I do not plan to become nic free. I've been reading too much research lately that suggests that some nicotine in the body is a good thing. I don't eat many things that do contain it naturally.

Vaping works very well for me, but everyone has their own pace and their own needs to fill. We each must find our own way

Sorry for the wall of text

 

[The Ocelot]

More e-juice or reupholster the couch... decisions, decisions