Omg withdrawals!!!

[EKat]

Hey there, had some questions about mg cuz I'm cutting myself down a bit from 18 and because I have sooo many 18 mg bottles I'm just trying to vape less. This is where my withdrawal kicks in . Jeez I can't believe the way I'm feeling sometimes. I was at grocery store and got all hot and thought I was gonna pass out and then driving home I had to pull over 3 TIMES because of dizziness, and anxiety, and then I thought I don't wanna get in wreck blah blah blah so my panic mode set in and all I wanted to do was get home without a wreck first. I'm told this is nicotine withdrawal and maybe I'm doing it too fast...not smoking as much from chain vaping before! Can anyone relate? I just want to ease off and get down to 12 eventually and maybe 6 but not sure about that yet lol. I popped a piece of nicotine 4 mgs in my mouth on the plane the other day and it got me thinking is this only 4 mgs and I'm doing 18 wow!!!thats a lot !! So are the mgs in the gum comparable to the mgs of our e juice? Yikes

 

[RJPAVLAS]

man, thats a good question. i was smoking a pack of cigs a day and when i switched over to e-cigs i went with 6ml of nicotine. So i bumped it up to 12ml and then slowly back down to 6ml. now im feeling good

 

[Shaybabe.15]

Scary times indeed, I'm glad you got home okay!
I've never had a nicotine withdrawal other than from cigarettes. Although, when my boyfriend has one of my MODs for the day, I find myself doing almost anything to get home and take a puff.
I'm not much of an expert with nicotine gum-the average piece of nicotine gum has about 2-3mg(By FDA standards)-, but I can say that you'd probably be better off with slowly weening yourself down in mg's. The Start at your highest, but don't take big jumps or else you'll find yourself vaping more and more of the lower mg. That way you still get your buzz as your body slowly knocks down it's craving for it. I'm guessing your overall goal is to quit nicotine in general?
It is crazy when you make the realization. I don't think it's as easy to spot because when you do vape, the high hits you a lot slower than nicotine bum or cigarettes. I've always been on 25mg and I treat myself to 36mg when I'm able to..My boyfriend tried cutting down with me and we took a leap from 24mg to 4mg in a week..we nearly died haha. I give you props though!

 

[WillyZee]

the gum and vaping are totally different ... both will affect you differently.

I tried the gum and tossed it after chewing only 4 pieces ... I figured I might as well chew cigarette butts instead.

vaping has kept me smoke free for 45 days ... went from 18 to 12 in the first week.

Keep at it and try to stay positive, you will prevail.

 

[nova_did_it]

Perhaps you get a bottle of 12 mg and mix it with 18 so that you step down in smaller increments. I totally understand the anxiety and withdrawls! It was a doozy for me in the first few weeks of quitting. I'm trying to drop my nicotine intake as well from 18 to 12. I find mixing 18 and 12 seems to be an easier way for me to drop my nicotine.

 

[Criticalmass]

No, they are not comparable. The nicotine gum not only gets into your system faster, the entire dose makes it into your bloodstream. With vaping only about 1/3rd of the nicotine ever makes it into your system. Some is lost on the exhale. As your lungs heal from the years of smoking they may be able to soak up more of the nicotine eventually. So the amount of nicotine you can actually take into your system will almost always be different from someone else due to the nature of the way it is being delivered.

 

[cmdebrecht]

I am not sure about gum vs. vaping but your symptoms kind of remind me of nic overdose. Nicotine is a stimulant so if you get too much (I've done it a few times) you can get jittery, shaky, sweaty, dizzy, and feel really sick. Those symptoms can in turn cause anxiety which just makes everything worse.

Wait a sec...you said you have been cutting down. Hmmmm.

When did you start vaping?

 

[Stosh]

Vaping, smoking, gum and patches are all measuring the nicotine differently. Comparing their nicotine numbers is like trying to figure how many quarts there are in a square foot, or ounces in and inch, does not compute...

Find a level your body feel comfortable with, may take a bit of experimentation and vape that. Nicotine isn't the bad guy in smoking the smoke is, if you feel better using some nicotine, just do it.

 

[Enoch777]

Might be worth looking into some DIY so you can get a 14, 15, or 16mg at first. I started vaping at 12mg and quickly dropped to 8mg. Over a period of a month or two I dropped again to 6mg and am more than happy where I'm at. I feel no urge to drop lower, but I did taper down from 12mg to 6mg over a period of 2-3 months.

One thing that helped was sticking with the chosen nic level and using it, but if I felt like it wasn't working I'd go back to 8mg for a session or two. Sometimes I still do. Always good to keep a higher level around just in case.

Stay hydrated, stay positive, and best luck!!

 

[Evi|grin]

My best advice is reduce slowly and stay hydrated because that is what works best for me. I tried some 12mg after using mostly 18mg and no its not as satisfying and when im very stressed i can REALLY tell the difference.

My "panic attacks" feel just like what you are describing and they are not fun. They are actually very scary and hard to deal with since i refuse to take meds for it.

I have found something that seems to help ME with lower nic juices. Lower nic juice to ME is better in a carto than a clearo. I filled one up the other day and it caught me a little off guard. I had been using it in a iClear30 just as a nice mild vape. Im not really sure if it helped the "nic delivery" but it sure feels like it did. I know the throat hit improved.

I see quite a few atty drippers that are happy with even less nic so maybe it is a potential option for using less nic more comfortably.

BTW i hated the gum when i smoked. I got zero satisfaction from 4mg gum and very little stress relief. Plus i did not care for the taste. It might work for me now since ive been smoke free for a while.

 

[Technohydra]

Nic funkyness can be an ........ Best thing to do, grab a dripper bottle with removeable top and a bottle of your nic level and the next one down. Using a syringe, measure out 90% of the amount that will go in the dripper bottle of your current strength and 10% of the lower strength, which on the jump from 18 to 12 mg will result in a shift of around 1.6 mg, resulting in a 16.32mg mixture (remember to shake all bottles well before mixing to allow for even nic distribution). Vape this mixute until you feel comfortable with it, then mix an 80/20 solution, and so on. Keep shifting it down until you get to around a 20/80 mix, and then make the 12mg your solo. Vape that for a week or two to get solid on it, and then start over with the mixing, this time with 12 and 6 mg.

If you find the transition is too fast for you, you can by a 30 of 18 and a 15 of both 18 and 12, which when mixed will give you a 30ml bottle of 15 mg juice, and you can statrt cutting with that instead without losing flavor. Then use the mixed 15 mg solution and cut with 12, etc. Repeat until you are nic free or at the desired level, but gradual shifts are the only way to go if you react badly to the shift in nic levels.

 

[Technohydra]

Also, keep in mind that there will be some side effect of lowering the nic, and they will come at odd times. The transition from 18-12 may not be too bad for you, but go down that next 1mg step, and you get hit with it...just remember, it's basically not real, it is a sensation, which means it is mainly in your head, and that means it is yours and you can control it. The body should obey the mind, not the other way around. Keep fighting for what you want.

 

[Moedog]

Ok, so I'm assuming that the OP must be planning on quitting vaping at some point. Otherwise why is she fixated on reducing the nic? As someone else noted, nicotine is not really the terrible thing about smoking. I've kept my nic level high because that is what I enjoy and I have no intentions of quitting vaping.

 

[Evi|grin]

My other first two lowering transitions were not bad but going from the 16-18mg range down to 12mg was quite noticeable. Mixing lower with higher is helping too. That was the first thing i tried because it makes sense. ATM im just setting reasonable "goals" for myself and the final target is zero nic. Im not in a big hurry to get to zero but i would like to be in the sub 12mg range within another month. I think once i reach 6mg i will likely stay there for quite a while simply because i still like some nic and i really enjoy vaping.

You got to get men on base before you can hit a grand slam.

 

[Myrany]

Ok, so I'm assuming that the OP must be planning on quitting vaping at some point. Otherwise why is she fixated on reducing the nic? As someone else noted, nicotine is not really the terrible thing about smoking. I've kept my nic level high because that is what I enjoy and I have no intentions of quitting vaping.

False premise here in that there are people (I am one) who want off nic but have no intention of stopping vaping. Why? Because I do not trust the FDA to not make Nic very difficult to get in the future. Everything else in juice they cannot touch. The Nic is the choke point.

I did not have nearly the problems the OP is having stepping down. I started vaping at 12 mg and am down to 0-1 mg now. Because I DIY I can do it one MG at a time so that helped alot. My biggest problems so far have been bouts of depression that require a higher nic level 6mg for a day to solve.

 

[Stosh]

Ok, so I'm assuming that the OP must be planning on quitting vaping at some point. Otherwise why is she fixated on reducing the nic? As someone else noted, nicotine is not really the terrible thing about smoking. I've kept my nic level high because that is what I enjoy and I have no intentions of quitting vaping.

Reducing the nic sounds a lot like the gum and patch systems of quitting I tried so many times. The more, the faster the nic was reduced the quicker I was back smoking. For some 0 nic may be possible, for some of us the nic is necessary.

 

[cags]

I slowly went from 18 nic to 6 nic. why? because i like to chain vape. as someone around the forum says..... if I'm awake, I'm vaping

and since i believe some nic is actually good for you, I will always vape with nic

 

[EKat]

Thanks everybody for your responses, I appreciate it. No, I am not planning on quitting vaping or nic totally...I just want to lower nic level to around 6 if possible because I'm a chain vaporer and 18 chained all day is too much and causes me anxiety and it's bad for my blood pressure . I had no idea that simply cutting my vaping in half would cause such crappy ,dizzying results! Now I want to make sure I have enough in my system to avoid those things but then I m back where I started. So hopefully just lowering the amount of time I vape gradually will work...cuz I have like 40+ bottles of 18 mgs. And don't want to throw em out. I just gotta find what that is....not so easy to avoid nic withdrawals!!!

 

[EKat]

I slowly went from 18 nic to 6 nic. why? because i like to chain vape. as someone around the forum says..... if I'm awake, I'm vaping

and since i believe some nic is actually good for you, I will always vape with nic

How did you do it?

 

[YKruss]

EKat,

I started with 36 mg over 4 and a half years ago and I am at 12 mg.

How? It was not my intention but that's what my body told me, can't explain it but being a chain-vaper I fill like overdosing on higher levels so gradually went down to 12 mg.

Take it slowly, you have more than enough time.