Planning my Quit smoking strategy, need help with ecig

[Randyrtx]

My best advice would be skip the Chantix, and use an e-cig only to quit smoking. If you do a little research and ask advice here, you should have no trouble at all making a quick and easy transition. And, if you're like most, you'll actually prefer vaping to smoking in a very short time.

 

[Higbe33]

Kim - It might be harder for you to quit because you are being forced to and maybe not wanting to quit. I smoked for 45 years with some of that being 3 packs a day when drinking beer and playing online games. After learning how to make the e-cig work properly, I still finished the 4 smokes I had left in the pack because I'm cheap, but haven't smoked since.

Vapor Junction has the 1100 mAH Riva on sale and another 15% off with (June only) coupon code "summerheat". That's a good start that is not large, but large enough battery for low voltage atomizers or cartomizers, which is something you will want to try later. Good luck.

Hig

 

[36tinybells]

Kim, once you start you are going to wonder what was making you wait! Get some tasty sounding juices with your kit too. Don't get much tobacco flavor.

 

[pokey1028]

I quite pretty much cold turkey four weeks ago by switching to a Riva 510 (using a drip tip). My wife still smokes and honestly I am not tempted at all. Good Luck

 

[Old_Trekee]

Kim, I wouldn't waste your money on the Chantix or any other NRT. I've known alot of people that have tried everything under the sun except ecigs and have not quit. If they did, it was only for a short time and they were miserable. I personally had been smoking for 46 years and the last 10-15 of them was a pack and a half to 2 packs a day. More on a bad day. I finished my last pack on New Year's eve and started vaping on January 1st this year. Haven't had an analog since. Start with a medium to high nicotine and cut back as time goes on. I've been vaping 0 nicotine for the last 4 months and don't miss it all. By the way, my vote is for an Ego or Ego look-a-like. Got mine in March and it's been great. Getting ready to build my first mod now, but I like tinkering with electronics and I'd like to try variable voltage, so I'm building an EverCool.

Good luck and welcome to ECF.

 

[Nicko]

Please don't try Chantix. If you get a decent e-cig, you 100% will have no reason to use that horrible medication.

 

[BlueDragon9000]

Hi Rosa. Do you have more details on the relapse rates you quote? Time periods, where published, how studied, etc.?

Thanks!

 

[MagnusEunson]

You've got some excellent input above.. you might want to hit the Switching sub-forum too (Switching) for some other recent stories, options, and some familiar faces. -Magnus

 

[Religion]

BlueDragon9000, what was your personal experience with all of the NRTs?

 

[mlinky]

Kim, all good advice that you have gotten here. My suggestion is to keep your quit date, but go ahead and give the Riva/eGo a try with some Boge 2ohm cartomizers and some 18-24mg juice. Just try to get the hang of it. Unlike patches, you can vape and smoke at the same time because you control when you vape and get nicotine.

You may find that you can replace many of your cigarettes with a pv. If that happens, and you want to be nicotine-free, it is much easier to quit nicotine alone, than nicotine +4000 other potentially addictive ingredients in cigarette smoke.

Good luck!

 

[BlueDragon9000]

BlueDragon9000, what was your personal experience with all of the NRTs?

In what ways are you asking?

In general, I found them incredibly helpful once I learned about getting the correct dose and some other related information. The physician I worked with actually checks patient nicotine and cotinine levels prior to the quit date, uses a formula to calculate the number of patches to use, and then a couple of days after the quit date checks the levels again to ensure that full replacement dose is being achieved. In addition to patches, one also uses other NRTs on an ad-lib basis. And then, very gradually (many months), a taper is done.

 

[Religion]

Interesting. Did you use all of them at once? Like, you had a patch on while you were vaping and chewing nicorette?

 

[WVvet]

I am into my 3d week as a "vaper" and like my new EGO much better than my first cig looking unit. So that's the place to start.
Also, wanted to throw my two cents in about the other stop smoking methods. Tried the patches, gum and lozenges, as well as a brief stint with the anti-depressant (not CHANTIX - the first one forget what it was called) Made me horribly depressed, would cry at the drop of the hat. Decided I would rather smoke myself to death than to feel like that! Most successful was the lozenges. Quit for five months with that but never could cut down past the 15 or so a day (expensive and not very tasty). If you are determined to get off nicotine, I think the patches along with zero nic juice would be your best bet.
Personnaly I am just going to vape and very slowly reduce the nic content.

 

[ThreePutt]

Good luck with your planning, Blue. And great suggestions by all. WV, thank you for your service. As a vet, I know how prevalent smoking was in the office and in the barracks (well before the outside designated smoking areas).

The wife and I have worked on stopping the analogs. She was doing Wellbutrin (which may be the AD you were thinking of). I took one, as it was supposed to be a wonder drug that'd stop you from smoking. I didn't like the effects, and won't go that route.

The kind folks here at ECF have provided guidance, and I'm now happily vaping away on my new eGo-T. Still have half a pack of analogs for emergencies, but I'm starting to think that craving might be mental, as I should be getting enough nic in my PV.

Good luck to all that are putting the analogs away for good! A little plan of action and reduction will go a long way!

 

[swedishfish]

Chandix didn't do anything for me except to make me feel sick to my stomach. It certainly didn't help me quit smoking. I kept waiting for the 'don't want to smoke' part to kick in and it never did. It was expensive too! I also tried the Welbutrin, and the patches and the gum. Spent a small fortune on failed attempts.

Picked up my $29.99 Ego and that's all she wrote!

 

[Rosa]

Hi Rosa. Do you have more details on the relapse rates you quote? Time periods, where published, how studied, etc.?

Thanks!

You know, I used to know where to find all this info but it's been a while since I had to look for it. I did find this one:

Smoking cessation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"A study found that 93 percent of over-the-counter NRT users relapse and return to smoking within six months."

 

[Rosa]

and for e-cigs:

http://www.casaa.org/files/CASAA-Ecig-TriFold-Brochure.pdf
"The success rate for complete replacement of smoking ranges from 63% to 79% according to two published surveys."

 

[DC2]

You know, I used to know where to find all this info but it's been a while since I had to look for it.

Check this one out...

Yes, it is from a meta-analysis. Moore D, Aveyard P, Connock M, Wang D, Fry-Smith A, Barton P. Effectiveness and safety of nicotine replacement therapy assisted reduction to stop smoking: systematic review and meta-analysis. Effectiveness and safety of nicotine replacement therapy assisted reduction to stop smoking: systematic review and meta-analysis -- Moore et al. 338 -- bmj.com

Just to be specific, the success rates Moore found were 7% after 6 months, 5% at one year, dropping to 2% at 20 months.

The caveat here on those numbers is that they are for when the products are used as directed, to wean down and be off nicotine 12 weeks after starting treatment.

It has been found that using the products longer results in better success rates. There are some former smokers who use the products long-term to prevent relapse (i.e. as a permanent smokong replacement), and I'd bet that among those folks the success rates are nearly as high as for e-cigarettes.

The point seems to be that when nictoine "treatment" ends, relapse begins shortly thereafter for the overwhelming majority of those treated.

 

[mostlyclassics]

Me too, I was just going to try it and then I could come back here and reveal the "truth" about e-cigs --- but they worked!

Me three! I was so sure that e-cigs wouldn't work that I made my trek to the county immediately north to buy my next two weeks' worth of cigarettes on the day I expected my e-Go starter kit to arrive from Liberty Flights. Picked up my Liberty Flights shipment from the post office on the way back home. I honestly thought e-cigs were just ineffective toys.

That was in late February. I still have about half of those cigarettes. I figger I invested in them so I'm going to smoke them . . . eventually. I went from three packs per day to about one per week almost instantly.

OP might want to try e-cigs first, without patches or anything else. E-cigs, by themselves, might do the trick. They did for me.

Get some tasty sounding juices with your kit too. Don't get much tobacco flavor.

Excellent advice, since the "tobacco" flavors don't taste at all like burning cigarette tobacco. Or at least I haven't found one that does. That's not to say they aren't good. Many are quite enjoyable. I enjoy those for what they are: nice, complex flavors that aren't at all like burning tobacco.

 

[Boodle]

This scares the life out of me. No idea. Wow.

Be very, very careful with the Chantix. It does suppress your urge to smoke, but it comes with a nasty set of side effects. I took it for awhile and it did nix the urge to smoke. But the side-effects were hell.

I've never been depressed or suicidal, but it had an effect on me I never want to experience again. It worked great for a month, then I hated it. It caused wild dreams, which I enjoyed, and then it just made me miserable.

When Chantix first came out it quickly became the most prescribed smoking cessation drug. Six months later it's sales fell in half. Doctors refused to prescribe it. If it goes wrong, the side effects are just too strong. This is an interesting read (a 2008 article). I would never recommend anyone taking Chantix, even my worst enemy.

Better to get some vaping stuff, experiment with it. Then, on your target date, just don't smoke and give your vaping experiments a serious try. You'll be happy you did.

If you do go the Chantix route, please have a family member or a close friend keep a watch on you. You might not know that you are getting psychotic.

Pfizer (the maker) should have their license to sell in the US pulled for what they have done with this drug. Read up on how they have under-reported on the fatal effects it has had.

If you do choose to take it, I wish you good luck.