Help, I really want an analog

[lidowho]

So last Tuesday night I accidentally threw out my last pack of cigs. After tilting the recycle bin towards my car's headlights and digging thru the bin, it occurred to me that this was the act of a true addict. Or someone who was really cheap. Or both....

It was night and I decided to see if I could make it thru the night without an analog. A 2 pack a day smoker for 35 years, I made it thru the night. I decided to see if I could do the next day without an analog and I did. I've been without a real analog since then! I've been thinking throughout these days that it's been pretty easy.

But then I woke up this morning and I really really want a cigarette. I mean REALLY want a cigarette. I can't seem to shake it today. This is not a fleeting thought, it's a whole body got to have it right now want a cigarette feeling.

The thought of starting all over again makes me crazy. I feel so much better. Aside from having trouble sleeping, everything else is great. I'm perfectly happy vaping. I've been vaping 20-24mg all day and I up it to 36 when I think I need it like first thing in the am and sometimes late at night. But the last few days I hadn't needed to do that. I was doing great at the lower levels and was even thinking that I might be able to move it down soon and do away with the 36 all together. I did the 36 today but it doesn't seem to help.

I don't hack up a lung every morning. I don't go thru a 1/2 a box of kleenex in the morning. I'm not coughing all day. In general I feel better and haven't had the urge for a analog except for a thought here and there that goes away easily. But today......

I can't let myself slip only because I don't want to have to start over. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just 1 cig, but in order to get 1 I have to buy a pack. If I have a pack, the little demons in my brain say it's ok to have 2, and then why not 3 and then I'm back where I started.

This hit me out of the blue. I didn't expect it after a week. I feel like crying and hitting somebody. My body is shaking, which really surprises me because I thought that was a nicotine issue. The vaping takes care of the ritual part of the habit and the nicotine takes care of the drug part, but what takes care of this thing that's happening today? Is it my mind? Or is it my body missing the chemicals?

I have to go to the bank this afternoon and I don't want to pick up cigs on the way back.

Didn't have a plan for this....sigh.....

Did I say that I'm accountant and it's tax season on top of it all?

 

[ctourtelot]

There are many PV users on this forum who still have a cigarette or two now and then. Many have said that the cravings get worse when they tell themselves they can not, under any circumstances, ever touch another tobacco cigarette. That stress alone would be enough to cause more cravings.

I'm not saying to go out and buy a pack. Do what you can to avoid it, but don't be miserable. If you absolutely can't stop yourself, then have a smoke and go back to vaping. You might find that trying that cigarette makes you sick and you won't want another one. As time goes by that need will eventually go away, but stressing out about it is only going to make it worse.

It's not so much about the cigarettes you smoke as it is about the ones you avoid.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Hang in there man. you are almost past the hardest part. You do not say what type of PV you are using but maybe you would benefit from a LR atty. They pump out way more vapor and TH and with the high nic your are using that may just be what you need to round out the equation. Best of luck

 

[lo thatch]

Don't beat yourself up over this. You can do it. I had one...just one....cigarette before bed for a week.
I still continued to vape and still had the urge on occasion. After five weeks I still have an urge when I smell others smoking..but I am hanging on tight. I still have a few packs sitting around and know that they are always there. But I am sure that I will not need them. If you have to have a cigarette you can still get back to vaping. I bet lots of people on this forum have had to cut down at a slower rate and have still been successful. P.S. Don't hit anybody!

 

[GAC]

Stay strong, just keep reminding yourself of all the friends and family that love you and want you to have a long healthy analog free life.

Hope this helps and good luck

 

[Rosa]

It's going to be ok.

Here's what I would do:

• Buy a pack of smokes and smoke one, then every consecutive time that I want a smoke PROMISE that you can have one IF you can't quench that urge with vaping. Vape for 10-15 minutes and if you still want one then have it. EVEN if it means that you are vaping 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off, so be it, do it every time without fail.

• If you are still having this issue after the first pack, look into getting some swedish snus to supplement all the other chemicals that you are getting from tobacco cigarettes. Snus will provide you with the MAOI's that you are missing from smoking and that may be just the ticket.

My experience was that addiction to cigarettes is a disease and e-cigs are the cure. Just because you are taking the medicine doesn't mean the disease is gone, it takes time for the medicine to work. The more you vape and the more often you vape the less you'll want to have a cigarette. Some people do both for a while and there's nothing wrong with that, eventually vaping will win out over cigarettes (assuming you have a good e-cig and good e-liquids) even without you trying to make it happen - just like taking medicine.

For me, having a pack of cigarettes at my disposal was critical to my success in switching to vaping. It forced me to choose to vape -- not forcing me to vape because I didn't have a choice, but forcing me to choose it over the cigarettes. Also, it was a comfort to me knowing that I COULD smoke if I needed to, and just taking it one hour at a time, vaping away the urge to smoke, that's what worked for me.

But, take away my cigs and tell me I can never smoke again and I'd be running to 7-11 so fast your head would be spinning.

My way wouldn't work for everyone, you'll know if it's something that would work for you. If not, just try the snus, that'll give you all the "other stuff" that makes cigs so addictive.

Good luck!!

 

[DuncanDisordely]

hang in there, everyone has their own level of addiction regardless of amount smoked or time etc, its all based on chemical reactions in the body.

The main beneficial thing nicotine does is release dopamines so eat chocolate and watch a funny film or just try to have a good laugh, play with the kids, walk the dog, do something you really really enjoy, make love to your partner! Anything to avoid more cancer into your body if you can physically avoid it then do so.

I wish you the best of luck as im sure all on here do, think of us fellow vapers wishing you on.

Love to all!

Duncan

 

[timato]

I had the same issue. No matter what I needed a cig in the morn. Finaly the taste itself was sickening to me, might be cuz the pack was almost a month old, but I vaped and smoke for 2 months before I quit completely. A higher voltage device really helped me simulate the analogs and relieved those cravings.

 

[Valsacar]

You can also try getting a higher level nic for the hard times/days. I generally use 18mg, but I do have some 24mg around (but don't really use it anymore).

Don't be afraid to try analogs, I tried one after fully switching and found them completely disgusting. Anytime I got an urge, I remembered that taste and grabbed my ego. A friend of mine uses both a PV (ego) and analogs, but he cut from 3PAD to a PAD so he's happy and maybe one day he'll cut all the way down (if he could remember to recharge batteries...).

 

[lidowho]

Thanks all for the encouragement! I don't mind smoking a few cigs a day. That was the original plan, vape all day and smoke 3-5 cigs a day. My fear is that if I buy a pack I'll have trouble stopping short of smoking the whole thing.

Liv2Ski, I'm using an 801 but almost exclusively with the usb passthrough. I just got a high voltage atty but I didn't think I was supposed to use it on the usb, only the battery. It doesn't seem to work with the battery and I'm afraid to use it on the usb in case it fries it. I tested it and it does with with the usb. I have a back up usb but still don't want to take the chance until I learn more. What I'm using gets good vape and I seem to be ok with that, but am willing to try anything to make it better. I chose the 801 because I saw that the usb could be used with an ac adapter. And the price was right (after starting out with Greensmoke, which was just not working for me as I've seen is the same for many others). Maybe they all can work with the adapter? But I since I started with Greensmoke, and they said you can't, which meant schlepping a computer everywhere, I wanted to use something that was documented as being ok to use with the adapter.

I am now leaving the safety of my home and going to the bank. We'll see what happens.

 

[MattZuke]

So last Tuesday night I accidentally threw out my last pack of cigs.
....
I can't let myself slip only because I don't want to have to start over. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just 1 cig, but in order to get 1 I have to buy a pack.
...
Is it my mind? Or is it my body missing the chemicals?
....

Didn't have a plan for this....sigh.....

It's not your mind. There is a quality to flaming fags that don't exist in electronic ones. There isn't a ton of research on this.

Neuropsychopharmacology - Acetaldehyde Enhances Acquisition of Nicotine Self-Administration in Adolescent Rats

You don't have to buy a pack. You "could" buy a single. Those single cigs with the american flag on them are vile and rank, even by smoker's standards. I went though countless singles some years back the last time I tried to quit. The little cigars are less vile. Don't get fooled into thinking American Spirits are better, they contain over 30% freebase nicotine and are the worst offenders on this front. And it's pretty much a case where you'll pick one up, start smoking it, then think "what the hell am I doing?".

Buy one, don't buy one, it's up to you, but what ever you do, clear your head and make up a plan. Such a plan should include addressing your diet to boost your immune system. I went EmerganC. Also increase water consumption as PVs tend to be more dehydrating than nicotine. You might opt for a latté rather than a flaming ..., since caffeine is a close cousin to nicotine. Or hell, when you feel like your going insane, follow the link I posted to Nature, it will show you're not nuts, and while you're researching why you're not nuts you're hopefully not smoking.

And remember
Phase 1 of quitting - Stop buying them
Phase 2 of quitting - Stop smoking them damn it

 

[thatsmeinthecorner]

I happen to have a different story from any I read here. I 've smoked 1 1/2' packs a day since I was 17. My doctor put me on wellbutrin since I was not responding well to Effexor. I also happened to read an NY Times an article that said that employers weren't hiring smokers any more. That was ok, but the 300 comments following the article reiteerated time after tie how bad we smokers stank. I ordered my JoYe Ego that day. 2 weeks cigarette free- I never thought that was possible. You might ask your Dr. or a script of Wellbutrin while you are getting through the initial period.

 

[Scooter70]

I would say up the nicotine for those tough times,but you already have a pretty high juice for that...Just let things take their course,and I'm willing to bet you will find analogs disgusting as time goes by.Everyone is different,and it's not a race to quit.Think of how many you haven't smoked ,that's what counts..I have an emergency pack my self and there is one missing from it.No big deal if you feel you have to have one,as you can go right back to vaping and realize that it's way better than analogs.

 

[Pneathery]

I tried to quit too many times to count. Since 1994 I've been trying, this time I did the normal stuff, went to the doc got a script for welbutrin, started taking it, set a quit date, and quit!
One or two days later I was ready to do ANYTHING for a smoke, or kill anything/anybody, and I remembered my wife had bought one of these things from her yoga teacher about six months earlier, it was o ly really used once, she and I used it on a road tripnwhere we couldn't smoke in the car we were in. Well I started using it, and couldn't believe how well it worked! I didn't want to smoke. The batteries on the Joye 510 are poo though, one of the batteries lasted for 15 minutes, and the other for a half an hour, I eventually need up with a Joye Ego clone 6-10 hours without a recharge, oh yeah!
When I quit, I was smoking between 3-5 packs a day, every day. To tell you the truth, there were ALOT more 5 a day then therenwere 3. When I started vaping, wow did I start, I CHAIN VAPE. My first order was for 16MG, it actually made me feel sick, and I wanted to smoke soo bad, my wife saw that it was working for me, so she wanted to try too, but thought that she would need something stronger, so I ordered her 24MG, that was on week one for me. I started chain vaping that, and all of my symptoms went away, most of my cravings did as well, but it didn't work for my wife. (she only smoked between 12-18 cigarettes a day) so I ordered her some 36MG, and that, and a Joye Ego-Tank system did it for her. (all of the hastle of always having to fill the carts, all of the leaks, the upkeep of the polyfill......she was about to go back to the simplicity of place smoke in mouth, light smoke, enjoy, so I gave her the vaping version of that, well both of us that) I started supplementing my vaping with 36 like you do as well, ALOT of times I don't realize that I even need it. I'll just say to myself, hey why don't you go grab your old 510Mega and VAPE that for a bit (I keep several PV's around, fully assembled with 36MG in them, so all I have to do is grab that one and start vaping) and I always feel like someone picked up a thousand pound weight off of my shoulders. I try to VAPE it sometimes when I don't even think I need it, but I defiantly VAPE it when I do feel like I need it.
You have given us ALOT of information, and I'm so sorry that you are going through this hard time, I'm so glad that you are supplementing with 36 as well way to go! My only question is how much do you VAPE? Are you getting enough of that 24? Are you getting enough of the 36? I've read on here that the average person vapes 3ml, that's about where my wife is, she vapes 3ml@36, I VAPE between 9-12ML@24, and prop ably 2ML@36, i did some signature calculator that I found that when I entered everything I to it, it actually said that I had reduced my nic intake by 67% at that amount. I entered my wife's info, and it said she had upped her intake by 34%, everyone is different. Maybe it might help to up EVERYTHING, up all of your VAPE input, it couldn't hurt, and it might get rid of those cravings. I'll post the link to that sig that calculates those numbers, maybe you're not getting enou nicotine. Ive read on here that vaping vs smoking doesn't deliver the nicotine as well.
Well good luck, and I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

 

[Pneathery]

Here it is, click on the e-liquid tab, it will figure out your nicotine level now compared to when you were smoking, hopefully it's as simple as that!

e-sig: e-cigarette signature generator - Heracleum

 

[ctourtelot]

And remember
Phase 1 of quitting - Stop buying them
Phase 2 of quitting - Stop smoking them damn it

Phase 3 of quitting - Stop smoking everyone else's

 

[lidowho]

OK, I'm back. I did buy a pack of cigs, but as I was driving there (can you say road rage?), I was thinking about all of your posts. The fact is I never intended to stop completely during tax season. That's just insane. The more stressed I get the less I think logically and I totally forgot the original game plan. So thank you all for the support!

I started all of this because I threw away that pack. It wasn't my intention to go cold turkey. I think that it was so easy to do this last week I forgot what I wanted to do. So I'm going back to Plan A. It's very possible I'll be able to stop completely even before tax season ends, but stop putting the pressure on myself in the meantime. I'm going to write out the plan this time and post it where I can see it so I don't even have to think about it.

MattZuke, thanks for the article. Really interesting!

Rosa, you are so right, having them on hand and vaping is the way to go for me. And the original intention.

thatsmeinthecorner, I might try that. I forgot about that added option.

Scooter70, I'm adding "calm down bro" to my printed game plan.

Thanks again so much everyone. I've been reading all of the posts on the site for weeks and it's been a great motivator!

 

[lidowho]

Thanks Pneathery, I think you are right, I probably wasn't ready to go without the 36mg yet. I chain vape the 24mg and pepper in the 36mg every now and then. I'm super glued to my office chair these days and so I pretty much never stop. I was ok with that because I knew it's new and I'm changing over from chain smoking. I figure that somewhere down the line I might not have to do that. But if I do, I'll most likely be able to lower the nicotine level. Or not, I don't even care about that because I'm in a situation where I can vape all day. But I think I'll go back to doing the 36 more frequently again and wait a little before I get fancy with it.

I haven't been able to figure out how much eliquid I'm using a day yet. I've been trying different strengths and flavors. Doing the mad scientist thing. But I have an order in to DIY and want to mix up some specifically to monitor. I'll give the link a try and see if that helps figure things out. Thanks!

 

[silkakc]

Lido,

Welcome to ECF!

My newest best friend is the 5 volt passthrough and wall plug I got from MadVapes. It FEELS like a cigarette to me the way it hits my throat and how much vapor it produces. I only have to puff it about 2 seconds to get a satisfying hit from it. And it's a warmer vapor- like a cigarette is because it's a 5 volt instead of 3 like most Ecigs are.

The Passthrough and 2amp AC adapter were only $25 together. Try that and see if a higher voltage gives you more satisfaction.

One more thing, I had to vape three times as much as I smoked at first to get no withdrawal/anxiety. If you are vaping as much as you smoked, try to increase it greatly and see if that helps too. I keep a bottle of higher strength stuff in my purse for when it's a 911 emergency and the wave of panic is rising in my chest ( Hubby smokes and they're in the house). Maybe try getting some 48 mg for just those occasions since you vape 36mg. My 911 juice is 24mg cus I vape 16 normally. I've only had to use that 911 juice about 6 times the first couple months and none the next 3 months But it's there if I need it!


Lori

 

[grandmato5]

Reading your post reminded me of myself about 6 weeks into vaping. No extra stress that day, nothing out of the ordinary and suddenly this HUGE massage urge to have a cigarette struck. I'd not had a cigarette in almost 6 weeks at that point but boy did I WANT one bad. I was lucky in that I can vape at work and it was almost time to go home. I got home as fast as I could almost never letting my PV out of my mouth and filled up my cart with higher then normal nic and chain vaped for almost two hours before the urge left. I didn't give in to the urge but it was REALLY hard not to and I can certainly understand anyone that would. Yes, I had the thought of wanting a cigarette after that day but never again did I experience another urge like that one. For me, I think it was my body's last ditch effort to convince me to give it some of those chemicals in cigarettes that we don't get in vaping.

There is nothing wrong with having a cigarette once in a while if you need to do that. Always remember all the cigs you haven't had and don't concentrate on the few you may have if you really need them. As long as you don't give in to the desire often and save having a cig for only those times you REALLY feel you need one you'll be fine and down the road you'll find youself completely smoke free. Good Luck!