My husband thinks I'm being stupid

[Strawberry72]

I am a former smoker and when I smoked I LOVED smoking. I enjoyed the entire experience. The smell of the tobacco, the way the cigarette felt between my lips, the way the smoke tasted in my mouth, and the way it felt as I inhaled. At times it could be almost an erotic experience for me. But even though it brought me so much pleasure, I quit. I quit because I loved my husband (my boyfriend at the time) and I could see how sad it made him every time I lit up a cigarette. Then shortly after I quit, I became pregnant, and not wanting my baby to be exposed to my smoke I stayed smoke free. I am proud to say I have gone 16 years without a cigarette. It hasn't been easy at all though. There are times (especially when I'm under a lot of stress) that it is a daily battle to continue to say no to cigarettes. I WANT them! I WANT to smoke! I didn't want to quit. I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do. I still feel like I made the right choice. I don't regret it, but right now my cigarette cravings have got to the point that I came very close one day to buying a pack. I don't want to do that, I really don't. My father did that. He went for years and years without smoking then one day he finally gave in and now he is smoking close to a pack a day. My cousin recently told me about e-cigarettes. I was so excited at the thought of being able to smoke again. Because, the whole reason I quit was for the health and safety of the people I love. With the e-cigarette that's not an issue. My husband thinks I'm being stupid though. Am I alone? Are there any other people who have been smoke free but started using e-cigarettes?

 

[316lvm]

I was smoke free once - 31 years ago. But never been smoke free and then wanting an e-cig.

All I can say, is that you need to do what you need to do. Cigs vs. e-cigs. The choice seems pretty obvious to me.

I don't know what relationship you have with your husband, but if you sat down with him and explained how you felt and how strong the need is to smoke and that you need his support right now. Would he rather you smoke behind his back or vape? Does he really want to see you suffer mental anguish over trying not to smoke? Does he know how much of a struggle it's been these past 16 years not to smoke?

Keep us posted on how you are doing. Wishing you the best of success.

 

[nightwalker83]

Before i got my e-cig, i was on and off smoking cigs for a while, i was lucky enough to get a KR808D-1 as my first kit, which is the simplest 2-piece and inexpensive. You just have to find the right places to get the good stuff online for cheap.

You're not alone, my wife thinks anything to do with smoking or vaping is ......ed, but who cares right ? e-cigs dont smell of anything or destroy your health like regular cigs.

 

[thewomenfolk]

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Strawberry72, you should get the world's biggest award for making the greatest sacrifice for your loved ones. And I mean that. I can't believe you stuck it out for 16 years and I fully understand your love of smoking. If your husband is a non-smoker, he'll never understand your desire to vape.

I can't tell you that vaping is 100% good for people, but it's at least 100% better than smoking tobacco. Who would have ever thought that we could simulate smoking but not be smoking?

Since you've shown such unbelievable control for 16 years I'd think you could also control your vaping, simply not going overboard but keeping it all in balance. Unfortunately I don't think your husband can ever understand any part of this at all. Just like we don't understand why he doesn't want to vape. lol

Good luck to you. I don't think you're any more stupid than all the rest of us here who want to preserve our health and don't want to keep smoking. So good luck to you, and again, you deserve lots of kuddos!

-----

 

[Darmeen]

IF you do take up e-cigs, there should be no reason to use any e-juice that has nicotine in it...your body is long past the nic addiction phase, and it would be silly to get roped back into that addiction when you don't need to.

That is just my $.015

If it were me, I wouldn't do it, simply because the less stuff you put into your body, the better off you will be, but if you feel you NEED the habit, stay away from the nic dosed liquid.

 

[Synthesis]

I quit smoking for a month before I starting vaping. Each day it was getting harder to say no to cigarettes. Not wanting to go back to smoking, I bought a e-cig. It's made it easier to stay smoke-free, but there are still certain times when I want a "real" cigarette.

Your best bet is to talk honestly with your husband, but if he never smoked he might not understand. If you need an example pick a habit that he does daily, and tell him to stop doing it for a week. I'll bet at the end of the week he'll understand a little better. I'd choose something so habitual that he'd have to think about it constantly to change that habit, ex: what foot he puts his shoe on first, dropping keys in the same spot... something like that. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[laurel099]

IF you do take up e-cigs, there should be no reason to use any e-juice that has nicotine in it...your body is long past the nic addiction phase, and it would be silly to get roped back into that addiction when you don't need to.

That is just my $.015

If it were me, I wouldn't do it, simply because the less stuff you put into your body, the better off you will be, but if you feel you NEED the habit, stay away from the nic dosed liquid.

I'd second that!! Good luck but yeah... I'd try not to get hooked on nic since you already beat that

 

[jj2]

I have a friend who quit, she saw my PV, and is thinking about doing the same thing---been well over a year since she had an analog. I asked her, if vaping didn't live up to expectations, would she be able to stay smoke free.
So I ask you, could you?

 

[Strawberry72]

Wow! It's so nice to hear from people who actually understand the desire to smoke! I don't want to end up like my father and start smoking real cigs again the way he did, and I know that's exactly what's going to happen if I don't do something. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but it will happen. So I feel like the choice for me has come down to cigs vs e-cigs. I did have a long talk with my husband about it and he has reluctantly agreed to not give me a hard time about it. He's not happy at all about my decision, but agrees he would rather see me doing this than pick up smoking again. So I ordered a vapor king with no nicotine. I'm hoping just the act of smoking will be enough to take care of my need without actually having to have the nicotine. *fingers crossed*

 

[jj2]

Fingers, toes, and anything thing else I can cross.

 

[Synthesis]

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[tonyboy]

DON'T do it, but if you must, try o nic first. Good luck with whatever you choose.
Happy Holidays

 

[jruss91]

IF you do take up e-cigs, there should be no reason to use any e-juice that has nicotine in it...your body is long past the nic addiction phase, and it would be silly to get roped back into that addiction when you don't need to.

That is just my $.015

If it were me, I wouldn't do it, simply because the less stuff you put into your body, the better off you will be, but if you feel you NEED the habit, stay away from the nic dosed liquid.

I quit smoking for a month before I starting vaping. Each day it was getting harder to say no to cigarettes. Not wanting to go back to smoking, I bought a e-cig. It's made it easier to stay smoke-free, but there are still certain times when I want a "real" cigarette.

Your best bet is to talk honestly with your husband, but if he never smoked he might not understand. If you need an example pick a habit that he does daily, and tell him to stop doing it for a week. I'll bet at the end of the week he'll understand a little better. I'd choose something so habitual that he'd have to think about it constantly to change that habit, ex: what foot he puts his shoe on first, dropping keys in the same spot... something like that. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Agreed 100% to both of these posts.

 

[NanoVapor]

Interesting post Strawberry.

Your descriptions are definetly that of an addictive personality. The true hallmark of an addictive personality is addiction to behaviors, not chemicals. The chemicals dopaminergic actions are merely a secondary re-enforcer of the behavior. It is actually the physical behavioral process that is what you become addicted to, its believed that the reason you become addicted to it is because of the increased dopamine neurotransmission that your brain receives when it engages in that physical activity (dopaminergic activity which was promoted by the chemical-element).


When you feel the smoke go through your throat and lungs, when you feel your hand move up and then pull away from your mouth, the reason these "feel good" to you is because the brain has rewired itself into believing these behaviors are what it wants, the REASON it rewired itself to want these behaviors is because when you first performed these behaviors (when you used to smoke) the CHEMICAL element of the nicotine (and other agents in tobacco) directly influenced your dopamine system (increased dopamine concentrations within the synaptic cleft). In response to this increased dopamine, your brain re-prioritized this behavioral activity to a higher level of desire and associated reward from that desire. Its believed that the brain LITERALLY rewires itself, as in, the neurons in your brain move their synapse to form new pathways with eachother that create a stronger association with the behavior.

Research has shown even after removing the chemical signal that caused increased dopamine that made your brain desire performing these behaviors in the first place, the brains neurons have literally rewired themselves into believing this behavior provides a reward. Even in the absence of the chemical re-enforcer, simply performing these behavioral processes provides a similar level of satisfaction.

I was an opiate addict for 3 years, my method of abuse was snorting a certain opiate pre-dissolved into a liquid solution. The only way I was able to quit, was by switching myself to snorting just pure water. Still to this day, when I have a "craving", I just have to snort a small puddle of water and it goes away, yet I get this incredible satisfaction in doing so despite there being no exogenous chemical re-enforcer present.


I guess what im getting at here, is that you can still achieve satisfaction by performing the behavioral element, even in the absence of the chemical re-enforcer that is the entire reason your brain was trained to enjoy the behavior in the first place. If re-enforcing that behavioral compulsion brings you relief from lifes daily stresses and anxieties, then it would be far more beneficial than negative now wouldnt it? Something to think about.


Best of luck to you on whatever decision you ultimately make.

 

[pianoguy]

Best of luck - I hope it satisfies what you're looking for. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who has never smoked, but your case is different, and hopefully it will keep you from ever picking up a cigarette. Glad to see you went with the 0mg cartos - a lot of folks have weaned themselves down to 0 and enjoy it. Let us know how it goes, and stop by the Vapor4Life forum here, too.

 

[rfun6]

I had quit for a while. But I enjoy the act of smoking. So I got a ecig and have been happy ever since. I love it.

 

[Brewster 59]

This is a very interesting post and I would like to hear how this turns out for you. On one hand I think after 16 years of no smoke I would say ride it out and dont smoke at all on the other hand anything is better then smoking cigs. Like I said give us an update on how this plays out for you. Also before I found ecigs I went to a smoking cess class and it is not uncommon for people to quit smoking for periods of time and go back to it in fact everyone in that class had quit smoking for at least 6 months before going back to it.

 

[Strawberry72]

Thanks so much for your encouragement everyone. I'll be sure to up date after I know for sure if this is going to help me. It's so difficult for me sometimes, even if it just helps a little, it would be worth it.

NanoVapor- You actually made me feel better about myself. It's a relief to know that there is actually a legitimate reason why I feel the way I do. I read what you posted to DH and he instantly stopped being annoyed with me for wanting to do this. Now the whole idea makes a lot more since to him. Thank you so much for the information!

 

[Drozd]

Wow! It's so nice to hear from people who actually understand the desire to smoke! I don't want to end up like my father and start smoking real cigs again the way he did, and I know that's exactly what's going to happen if I don't do something. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but it will happen. So I feel like the choice for me has come down to cigs vs e-cigs. I did have a long talk with my husband about it and he has reluctantly agreed to not give me a hard time about it. He's not happy at all about my decision, but agrees he would rather see me doing this than pick up smoking again. So I ordered a vapor king with no nicotine. I'm hoping just the act of smoking will be enough to take care of my need without actually having to have the nicotine. *fingers crossed*

And you know what even if it isn't I wouldn't at all feel bad about going with a low strength nicotine either..
It's not the part that is bad for you in fact it's proving in some cases to be quite the opposite. they're finding that nicotine can help in preventing the onset of alzheimers, some effects of parkinsons, help level out add and adhd, and help calm those with depression and other mental disorders..and it's naturally occuring in lots of foods..it's all that other rap ina cigarette that'll get you
Just have to be careful with liquid nicotine around kids..

 

[VictoryNotVengence]

NanoVapor ,
what an awsome post. But I just think of when I was little and learned how to swim and got water up my nose. I hate that feeling. And having to have that feeling all the time would be really strange like "ack I got water up my nose, oh no's"

OP,
I would add like 4-6mg of nic, nic is good and will give you that calming effect in stressful situations like an analog does.