Need ex- smokers Veterans advice on 3 issues.

[KENNY V]

Transition I need help and advice

In past 10 days I cut my analog 70% and been holding ground since. This past week revived my kit and started vaping .Had a rough first night- first day vaping experience. Think I went too fast ( still not sure ) so next 2 days I cut all my Juice in half. Finally came to the realization and I understand that I am wuz/ IS going through withdraw. didn't think tho but now I believe.

Ok ..However I am trying to replace my past smoking sessions with vapping and phase out the analog all together. Need a game plan .Now even considering I have cut my juice so I can vape more. Why is it after 5-12 hits I feel crappy, often little worse than if I didn vape at all. Sometimes headache sometimes oozy, sometimes foggy and of course all the time not satisfied yet? Well Thats another story .



I hope someone understand the scenario here. I was a pack a day smoker , ten days ago cut my analog smoking down 70% ( 6-8 day) tried the e cig didnt work...... so DID NOT use it but 2-3 tries a day.

Last few days I been trying vaping, I like it I keep trying but im feeling funky after each try .. I want to like it , I love the concept the flavors are a blast but I don't feel good.

Is it the nicotine even if I cut it ? What is happening is I try to vape ? I am confused because im not sure if its the nigotine if its too much or not enough or something else ?????
What gets me the oozy funky feeling has to be the vaping cuz that wears off?????

comments welcome

 

[Berylanna]

Quitting smoking is still quitting smoking. Vaping doesn't change that, it just gives you ways to temporarily comfort yourself.

The discomfort and agony come from 2 places:

1. The MOST agony comes from thinking about whether or not to smoke now. When I had a pregnancy complication years ago and the doctor told me 1 single drag could kill my baby, I had ZERO agony, ZERO obsession with smoking. I did have problems with lack of nicotine and comfort and mental clarity and all the other reasons I actually NEED nicotine, but it was NOTHING like the pain of deciding whether or not to smoke -- since the answer was a total no-brainer.

2. The rest of the side-effects of quitting smoking are the same whether or not you are vaping, except vaping can be dehydrating as well, so if you get support quitting smoking and ADD drink lots of water, that is your switching-to-vaping support.

There is an "infozone" on this forum for new vapers, I strongly suggest you read it:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/infozone/

 

[Hulamoon]

Kenny, what nicotine strength are you using? 12 mg? 18? 24?. Also what is the PG/VG ratio of the juice? For example is it 80/20 PG/VG?

 

[Factor52]

Consult your doctor

 

[markfm]

You might have a sensitivity to PG, or VG, or a particular flavoring. PG and VG are the "bases" used in eliquids, the stuff the flavorings and nicotine are contained in.

Some people don't do well with high % of PG, some don't do well with high % VG, some don't do well with particular flavorings.

Typical would be using a 24 mg/ml strength eliquid (that's the nicotine content), if you used to smoke full strength cigarettes, or an 18 mg/ml if you smoked lights. Some people will go up or down a level (a full strength smoker might use 18, or sometimes need 30 or 36, especially for craving points, a lights smoke may sometimes need either a 12 mg/ml or a 24 mg/ml).

Cutting 24 mg/ml eliquid, say in 1/2 to 12 mg/ml, would make things really frustrating if you actually need the 24 mg/ml, you just can't get the right amount of nicotine in. There are other chemicals in actual cigarettes, so you are detoxing from more than just nicotine (which the eliquids do supply, though slightly slower acting than cigarettes). My first PV the eliquid strength was too low -- I could not quite stop, it wasn't quite enough, but I could tell it had possibilities for me; a change in gear, some higher strength eliquid, and I ended up quitting over about a week (too cheap to toss that last pack out, but they lasted a full week )

Late at night is the one time to maybe cut down the nicotine strength a little, though be ready to need some higher strength eliquid in the morning; that's just typical, but I and many others have had that kind of start to vaping.

Drink lots of water -- vaping tends to dry people out a lot, even taking a sip of water before and after each puff can be helpful. Over time you'll get used to it, but even now (after a few years), I'll get hoarse if I forget to drink enough water.

How to inhale can be a bit different with vaping. In can be easier to start with just inhaling PV vapor into the mouth, then finish the inhale separately into the lungs (without the PV on during the last part).

Good luck -- wanting to stop is huge. I just looked at ecigs as a way to cut down the smoking a bit, didn't plan to stop, was amazed at how well they worked when I put in the initial effort, learned the "tricks" of using them.

 

[lulu836]

You must stop trying to equate smoking to vaping. I (we) cannot tell you how to vape 'cause most everyone does it differently. Instead of trying to do what someone tells you to do, try to develop you own way of vaping. I (we) cannot diagnose the reasons for your headaches. I (we) cannot tell you if you will ever get the desired out-of-control feeling you seem to desire so much. I stopped smoking overnight after 53 years of 2pad. My mind was SET on vaping. I did not have a strong desire to stop smoking - I had an overwhelming desire to vape. I have most of the health problems that go along with years of cigarettes: chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure, very poor circulation and heart problems. None of that is going to improve because I vape. The damage is done and I did it all to myself so the blame goes straight to me. BUT I feel better about me and I may live a few more years because I vape. I never looked for an excuse to smoke cigarettes again. I never watched the clock in anticipation of when I could smoke. Cigarettes were just absolutely out of the question.

 

[KENNY V]

I get it I get it I got something ( I think) dont mind me but yesterday was the hardest INTENSE ist day ever . Besides the first day/ night that I tried an e cic that suked big time too.


dont know where to start nor do I think I can explain in words but im sure yall went through something similar …... Day 11 cut annolog. Learned another big lesson . I think I made a big mistake from the beginning. Cut myself way too fast toooo quick . A 30 year Pack a day smoker cut myself from day ONE down 70% . Dint realize till it hit me hard....
I have to be honest I DONT remember this week at all its been a blur , I dont know how I even made it home last night .. I am dead serions and some of u folk may thing im Nutz but I experienced something pretty intense for only being a smoker

anyways .i was in a fog ALL day then to top it off I THINK I dint get enough nicotine , or its been a few days of not enough ???? could not focus concentrate, and went into a state of confusion for a long time.. that I didnt rem rem anything that day...... . Wholly smokes never experienced anything like that in my life............. .. its was bad ..man intense hope I never go though that typer of day again

see what hap was I tried to cut myself even more and did not have an anolog till early after noon ….i think

was it too late ?
Ill take some observations opinions cuz im still loss for understanding why Day 11 hit me more than day 8-9 or 10 ?
what hapenened?

well its was then when I realized think i knew what was happening .
So I must confess it was then I had an annolog well minutes after I didnt even know where I was ..i can go on... and ure gona think im nutz so ill stop.... . but it was then after discovering something still not sure cuz I almost sort of blacked out …

but from One analog ??? whats going on now?
I can use some help adjutsing my meds so if yall can help id appreciate what ya suggest as I continue to make the transition

Good news is I finally learned how much I needed the nicotine and what was happening Better news how to vape correctly . Yes I had a great night and for first time was able to enjoy vaping take hits and get some satiation from it . Even what I think is correct inhale. Now I need to learn how much/ how often and how much nicotine I should have in each vaping session

thank u so much all of u guys . You have no idea what help you have been.
I just realized that I went through am going though some major withdrawals and had not a clue what was going on... Yesterday it hit me like truck .

Anyways I have no support at home and u guys have been my saving grace

sincerely
Kenny v

 

[markfm]

Keep plugging away, it gets better after initially getting rid of the other chemicals from smoking.

 

[Clearo-Mizer]

your inability to inhale the vape could be your current devise we still dont know what your using, for me i tried a cheap "ecig" and forund it harsh and weak...the problem is its not producing a thorough vape of the juice ,, with a good setup the vape is way less harsh than regular cigs...and with my Kanger T3 i hardly even feel it but it produces a cloud of vape half the fun is getting your rig dialed in to what suits you.. I would recommend a eGo twist so you can dial up your voltage to run better quality clearomisers...like a Vivi Nova

from my experience (limited as it is)..the harshness comes from dry cartridges or dry coils..and cheap ecigs are notorious for that.

 

[lfdm]

Seems like you're on your way. I've been reading this thread that I just found and some of your story sounded a bit like my own.

I'm one month off cigs, but I did it differently than most here. I'm only going to recommend that you think about it if you stumble on your current path.

I too tried the over the counter ecigs in order to cut down on regular cigs. It worked -- but didn't. I didn't like the taste, it didn't quite satisfy me. But I could tell from that experiment with njoys that it might just work. I've been a serial quitter for 5 or more years. A 1 PAD smoker, and I found the patch as my most effective method of "quitting". Only problem was that I could never quite stay quit. A month, three, six and I'd be back at some perceived crisis.

I jumped in and bought a great pv, the provari, and tons of samples from all over the place. I bought a lot of tabacco-ey stuff, thinking I wanted something close to my camel lights. Bought a few sweet items, coffee flavors. Once here, I threw half a patch on (21mg cut in half)and quit analogs cold turkey and puffed away at the 12/18 mg samples whenever I felt the need for a cig.

It worked fantastic. No rage (my wife asks for a couple days warning before I quit), very little desire for a cig. I found I didn't like any of the tobacco flavors, but sweet coffees did the trick for me. I had some small probs learning. How to draw and drag a little. I was never a super deep inhaler of cigs, so maybe that came a bit easier. Dry mouth from over vaping. A headache when I tried to vape like I was smoking -- you know five minutes away from whatever. Now I just take a puff or three whenever. I thought I might have the PG intolerance for a bit, but now I'm pretty sure I don't.

I gradually cut my patches down. Half, third, third for two days, quarter, quarter for two days. Off completely and vaping away without an issue. Now my biggest worry is keeping ahead of the curve as far as ordering supplies so I don't run out, and getting a good back up PV or two. Regular cigs smoked by my co-workers are starting to kill me though, they smell soooo bad.

 

[Clearo-Mizer]

on a side note here is some info i found.

When you burn nicotine it decreases the nicotine's potency so tobacco companies enhance the cigs with a bunch of solvent chemicals including ammonia to make it more effective, this is what happens...burnt nicotine bonds with the ammonia molecule and it in turn bonds to a carbon and is breathed into your lungs and sticks..the ammoniated nicotine is rapidly absorbed by your lung tissue leaving the carbon and other chemicals there to reak havoc on your lungs...remember this studies have proven that in its self nicotine is as harmless as caffine..

So when you vape you are getting nicotine in its pure un-burnt state and it is absorbed by not only your lungs but your mouth and throat as well AND it takes a little longer to absorb and be used by your body. this is where vaping and smoking really differ..vaping will never give you the BANG of nicotine that smoking used to because its different. But if you give it a chance vaping can be the best thing you ever did for your self.

 

[Clearo-Mizer]

Seems like you're on your way. I've been reading this thread that I just found and some of your story sounded a bit like my own.

I'm one month off cigs, but I did it differently than most here. I'm only going to recommend that you think about it if you stumble on your current path.

I too tried the over the counter ecigs in order to cut down on regular cigs. It worked -- but didn't. I didn't like the taste, it didn't quite satisfy me. But I could tell from that experiment with njoys that it might just work. I've been a serial quitter for 5 or more years. A 1 PAD smoker, and I found the patch as my most effective method of "quitting". Only problem was that I could never quite stay quit. A month, three, six and I'd be back at some perceived crisis.

I jumped in and bought a great pv, the provari, and tons of samples from all over the place. I bought a lot of tabacco-ey stuff, thinking I wanted something close to my camel lights. Bought a few sweet items, coffee flavors. Once here, I threw half a patch on (21mg cut in half)and quit analogs cold turkey and puffed away at the 12/18 mg samples whenever I felt the need for a cig.

It worked fantastic. No rage (my wife asks for a couple days warning before I quit), very little desire for a cig. I found I didn't like any of the tobacco flavors, but sweet coffees did the trick for me. I had some small probs learning. How to draw and drag a little. I was never a super deep inhaler of cigs, so maybe that came a bit easier. Dry mouth from over vaping. A headache when I tried to vape like I was smoking -- you know five minutes away from whatever. Now I just take a puff or three whenever. I thought I might have the PG intolerance for a bit, but now I'm pretty sure I don't.

I gradually cut my patches down. Half, third, third for two days, quarter, quarter for two days. Off completely and vaping away without an issue. Now my biggest worry is keeping ahead of the curve as far as ordering supplies so I don't run out, and getting a good back up PV or two. Regular cigs smoked by my co-workers are starting to kill me though, they smell soooo bad.

great post

 

[Berylanna]

I'm a little concerned because from your questions it sounds like you have not tried patches or gum or both before trying to vape.

Most of us have tried those multiple times, and also cold turkey, so we already know the difference in feeling between withdrawal vs. too much gum vs too little (since it is slow-absorbing through the mouth tissues like vaping it is a good training ground!)

So if you are "getting it" now, go for it.

Otherwise, not everybody is cut out to vape. Maybe gum will work for you, and if so your life would be simpler than a vaper's life. If not, you would then be a much-more-sophisticated wanna-be ex-smoker, and could take on something more advanced.

I'm also concerned about your referring to "meds." If you need meds you need a doctor. My doctors know I am vaping, they are thrilled. (except for the gastroenterologist) And the Dr. who orders my Prozac NEEDS to know everything else I am taking in, including vitamins, glucosamine, coffee, everything! (The doctor whose husband is treating my Mom for dementia said she'd probably have to PRESCRIBE nicotine for me soon if I were not vaping, since Mom's dementia is the same as her mother's, and I look just like Mom.)

Even the doctor who's been hounding me to try Chantix is glad I'm vaping. I plan to let her know about the 200+ successful suicides and 18-some homicides attributed to Chantix. Given that birth control pills make me weepy and super-depressed there is no WAY I'm going to take a chance on THAT drug!

 

[Faylool]

Kenny. Could you call Ethan at Vapelicious (not vapeAlicious) or email him? Put an urgent next to the email if you email so hell maybe get to it sooner. Calling works around 6 ish EST. he has a base available other than PG or VG. If you decide to try it report back here. I wanna know if you like it. I'm 98% sure it is Ethan at Vapeliciouse I read this information so ask him first or read his slightly Eric web site and find it there first. That headache stuff just is not the nic so quick like that. It really has to be the base or flavorings.

 

[Crash Moses]

I suspect part of the problem is the extra chemicals in a regular cigarette. I rolled my own cigs for years (using pipe tobacco..2 PAD) before I started vaping and whenever I would bum a brand-name cig off a friend I would get a heckuva rush (almost like my first time smoking). May be why quitting smoking and vaping full time was a bit easier for me. Hang in there and you'll eventually detox.

 

[PickyJuicer]

It's good to hear that things are getting a little better for you.

I had a huge hard time trying to quit. I ended up "quitting" 10 years ago, but closet smoking. Why? Because the anxiety attacks were brutal. Foggy head, pounding head, heart racing, confusion, etc. I had no idea what it really was, but now I realize it wasn't a typical "nic" fit. The only thing that would make it go away was having a regular cigarette.

I started vaping around 2 years ago, just so I didn't "closet" smoke so much. I didn't feel bad doing it, my husband knew it relaxed me. He was trying vaping too (first try didn't work for him) so I would just snag some of his stuff. I was still having anxiety attacks at this point.

The anxiety attacks didn't stop until I quit smoking completely. One day I just walked away from it. I had already been down to only a few a day, so I said "enough is enough." Funny thing is... anxiety attacks stopped! Thats when I realized I wasn't having nicotine fits. I was going through withdrawls from all the other addictive chemicals in regular cigarettes. Thankfully though I had weaned myself down to maybe 3 regulars a day so when I did finally give it all up, I was pretty much golden. I had already gotten past the worst of the cigarette addiction so moving over to 100% vaping was a very easy transition. I'm pushing that 5 month marker now.

I found a bottle of 24mg juice... Vaped all of it too. It lasted me close to a week. When I was done with that, I went to a 12mg juice. No shakes/jitters and no anxiety. Just like that. I could probably, very easily, drop to zero nic (but I enjoy the TH from the nicotine too much to do that right now) without any issue. Am I addicted to nicotine? Probably no more than I am to caffeine. Not ready to test that theory yet. I do enjoy the hell out of vaping though, much more so than I did smoking. I LOVED smoking, but hated the smell, the taste, the stinging eyes if the smoke got you just the right way... There is nothing I hate about vaping.

 

[KENNY V]

I suspect part of the problem is the extra chemicals in a regular cigarette. I rolled my own cigs for years (using pipe tobacco..2 PAD) before I started vaping and whenever I would bum a brand-name cig off a friend I would get a heckuva rush (almost like my first time smoking). May be why quitting smoking and vaping full time was a bit easier for me. Hang in there and you'll eventually detox.

Yup detox alright Gots to be

Got allot to say but not the time to do so ( im @ work ) much better today … Like any recovering addict would say ONE day at a time.....

still all in all , today im out of sorts headache / edgy / hungry not hungry and about a half a dozen other indescribable symptoms but NOTHING like last night man... I was flying almost crasssshed


take me tooooo long to explain my background but I will say I know my body well and I dont care what drug you put in your body. My body if it aint natural it DONT belong there . Now the getting rid of it is the complicated part sometimes. So I dont know what NEW symptom vaping delivery ( trying to manage the nicotine levels) may bring , but once im off the smokes all together I will be able to differentiate a little better tho.....;-)

so im Ok fur now … Dont need a doc (8 years away from the white coats) Never sick , if so I know the right stuff to recover 2-5 days tops … Outside of the dang analogs Im more healthy than I was 30 years ago.... Long story save for another day.... Again I dont need a doc my body will tell me what it needs as I listen to it . Right now all I need is to get rid of the poison so I can move on . Enough is enough … ball and chain for 30 years Now I got U guys to help figure some things out and get through this stage.
Detox suks....
every few hours ( Ok hour and a half) I get a BIG urge Then I vape feel somewhat different not great but I wait then something kicks in but all the other feelings DONT go away . Sorry cant explain i have wird feeling in the head ears ect...... ALL DAY and ahalf a dozen other things On top of it it . Sort of feels like when you fast …( the first day) Best way to explain . when it getsd TOOOOOOOOOOOOO much i have a smoke . that my protocol right now....

The only thing I know is when you fast after the third day all those feelings GO AWAY and you are not hungry anymore nor have anxiety.. wonder how long this detox is gona take else im not gonna fair to well if it continues.
Thanks guys and Thanks for listening. Hopefully I may help some of you folks too

Kenny v

 

[Bullette the Cowdog]

@ Kenny
Is there a support forum?

Yes. You are here. We are here. Here it is.

ECF folks rock big time!!!

 

[markfm]

For some people, they miss the MAOI or other things found in cigarettes. Some use what is called snus, others use what is called WTA eliquid.

No idea if this applies to you, or if it is simple sensitivity to something in the eliquid you have, or ...

 

[Bullette the Cowdog]

Drink water. I will repeat that. Drink TONS of water.

Good luck to you KennyV.

Bullette says woof!