Hi, My Name Is ilk.

[ilk80]

My mother passed at age 56 from lung cancer (2yr battle), I was 20.
My father passed at age 60 from many things (decade battle), I was 27.

I watched my mother battle cancer for two years with all the normal bazillions of meds and chemo treatments. I watched my father in the hospital for months on end, ending only with getting a lung transplant when he was 44 (emphysema, pneumonia, sirrhosis of the liver). For some stupid reason I picked that year to start smoking, back in 92, its now 2010, far too long.

As much as I have smoked and for as long as I have smoked I am amazed within the past two weeks (almost 2 full weeks) how much I have cut down, besides random things coming back (taste/smell/less sinus issues). For the first week'ish it was 4-6 analogs a day, compared to before which is more than I am willing to admit here right now but it was too many. Neither of my kids met their grandparents and I do not want to go down the same road. I have two kids of my own now and I plan to be a spoiling rotten gramie machine one day.

For the past two days I have had 1 analog, hopefully soon enough it will be 0. I would prefer to be free of them before I hit 30, I have 11 days to count down but would rather it be sooner than later. The wait has been far too long.

Hi, My Name Is ilk and I am currently 1 analog and all vape for the day. Hope to update this soon enough and change that one to none.

 

[keyzygirl]

Welcome,and your doing great!

 

[Nilius]

Welcome. 1 a day is awesome, 0 will come very soon

 

[splunge2112]

CONGRATS!!! i watched both my parents die of cancer my father when i was 15 and my mother when i was 19 and still i smoked like a frieght train for 25 years. i havent had an analog since the day i got my first e-cig. i tried to smoke the rest a couple days later to get rid of them but i could no longer stand the smell or taste, and gave them to a friend. he gave his away a few days later when he started vaping and now all for heavy smokers in my house now vape full time

 

[ricardofmf]

welcome and hope that you will be zero analogs

 

[ilk80]

I think at the most crazed time of my life I was almost up to 2.5-3/pks a day, and that is just insane to think about now. I love the PT and have been using it now for almost 2 days, when I vape w/PT its on the right side of the kb (I wish the cord were a little longer since I can not move my tower around) and on batt its on the left (sitting on my phone cords). So far so good, counting the time till 0 and its gonna be a ton of celebrating coming along with it.

 

[5cardstud]

I lost my dad and my sister to the big C and my other sister has it. I'm happy to hear your doing good. Best of luck.

 

[lightinup]

Sorry to hear about your parents. Very glad to hear about your decision to quit smoking! Congrats on heading down the road to a much healthier choice! Continue please to update us with your progress! Happy Vaping!

 

[ilk80]

Thanks for the luck all, right now I am loving me some Rasberry.

 

[rosesense]

Welcome and congrats on the nice job so far. Sorry for your losses as well as 5cardstud.

 

[ilk80]

A week out on my end date (or before) and even though I have cut down a great deal on the analogs, I am wondering if there is a rough time for this whole coughing up nasties. It is nasty bad (worse than being sick with morning/noon/night sickness when pregnant). Anyone?

 

[WhatAClumsyGirl]

Welcome !

I coughed up alot of gunk when i first started vaping, had a bad sore throat...its pretty normal i think.

Read the stickys on the forums here and check out the health section of this site. Lots of good information to be found here.

Sorry to hear about your parents. Lost my father to Lung Cancer 20 years ago...Lost my mother a few years ago to alzheimers...i totally can relate to your loss.

You are doing great..and you are doing something Great for yourself. Keep up the good work and please don't hesitate to ask anyone here anything. Myself included.

You can private message any of us at any time and someone will help you when needed.

Good luck and Enjoy the Vape.

Be Proud of yourself....WE are very proud of you !!

 

[ilk80]

I am not too fond of the gunk (its worse than being sick when pregnant), but its a step in the right direction. I have 5 days and counting and I will be done after today (already made myself a little goal). The welcomes here have been great, its a little hard to navigate such a large forum (with a ton of new lingo to remember) but I am slowly getting the hang of it.

 

[Katattack]

From what I've heard of people who quit smokes cold-turkey, cut back or switch to vaping the hacking up gunk is going to happen. I don't think there's any other way for your body to get that junk out of your lungs.

 

[pianoguy]

Welcome, ilk! Getting rid of that junk is a good thing, unpleasant as it may be. Spend some time in the Health section to see what kind of side effects are common.

So sorry for your loss. Smoking certainly isn't a rational habit - both my parents and my father-in-law died of smoking-related cancer, but I continued to smoke in spite of it. I was convinced that cigarettes were going to be my eternal albatross until I stumbled on to e-cigs. Best of luck on your journey!

 

[Kurt]

Welcome, ilk! And congrats on beginning your transition. Be patient with yourself. Even if you stay at this level, you are way better off than before. Take it as it comes.

The coughing and hacking up junk can be a couple weeks or so. But other things than smoke junk can cause this, such as a sensitivity to PG or a particular flavor. If it doesn't go away, or you find your mouth is getting irritated and/or raw, it is probably PG. I am estimating that this PG issue is present with 10-20% of vapers, but I've not done the stats.

 

[ilk80]

The only thing I have noticed so far (and I have tried a good handful or more flavors) is the random almost "cotten mouth" feeling, but I hear thats normal so I am not too worried. The gunk deal also seems like my sinuses are freaking out but in a good way. Its just nasty and makes me think of how long I have been tied into smokes (such a long time thinking about it now coming up on 30 and having smoked for just short of 18 years). And if you get around to the stats anytime, let me know I would love to read thorugh some. I have random issues with certain things but so far no vape issues that I am aware of.

I had my last analog about 5-6hrs, there is snow on the ground and I am not planning to venture out just for a new pack. I just need to refill some cart's tonight and take it one day at a time. Lets hope before Tuesday rolls around I do not drive my spouse too nutty in the process.

 

[Remie]

Hi ilk!

Congrats! It sounds like you are doing great! It's a process... and you're doing it!

I'm sorry for your losses. I lost my dad five years ago to primary pulmonary fibrosis. Watching him die wasn't enough to make me quit.

I spent a week in the hospital last year with acute bronchitis, (they had been already watching 2 lung nodules) and got my initial COPD diagnosis ... that wasn't enough to make me quit.

It's the most irrational thing, smoking... I prioritized and defended smoking. I thought I was hopeless because I've tried everything and nothing kept me from smoking.

I am one of the lucky ones. Shocked, but very lucky. I didn't expect to quit. I would have been happy to cut down.... I had no expectations.

I was able to quit the first full day with my e-cig. Amazing. I have absolutely no desire to smoke! I have felt the "bad urge" to light up - extreme stress always triggers me, but I am able to vape right through the urges.

Feel proud of yourself... the symptoms will pass. Keep hydrated. A lot of the symptoms occur when quitting smoking with or without vaping.
I had a sore throat and very sensitive mouth tissue for the first week, but not acute enough to make me stop vaping. I didn't even attribute it to vaping because it's happened in the past when I've tried to quit.

Refilling carts is part of the fun of this whole thing, to me I like fiddling and fussing with the carts and trying out new filler materials, etc.

I even have a new nightly routine of putting my batteries on the chargers, putting my used carts in a container and setting up new ones for me to fill the next day.

You'll get into a comfortable routine in no time

And - I won't be running up to the gas station in the freezing cold, wearing my flannel PJ pants and boots - handing over $32.00 for smokes that won't get me through the next 4 days

Good Luck!!!


Remie

 

[ilk80]

You were lucky at just 32 bucks, its a little more right now from what I hear. So far today I am doing fine. Since I work from home I keep my case near more, left side is Redbull right now, right side is RY4, anytime there is an empy (since I keep it open) they go in the top lid part. I do have some issues with batteries but thats only due to having 1 charger. In about 6hrs it will be a full 24hrs since my last and I am doing okay with that.

 

[Drummel]

You're almost there! You can do it for sure! We're all with ya if you need anyone, don't forget that!