Quit Vaping?

[Turnip]

As much as I will be forever grateful that I have the eCigs, it would be nice to be free of needing them -but the reality is I still do.
Had I not found them though, my lungs now would be a total shipwreck. How many lives have eCigs saved I sometimes wonder, must be many.

 

[Tracker II]

I vape 0mg and am at the point now where I only vape with my morning coffee or when I'm at the computer. When I'm out of the house, whether it is for an hour or a week, the thought of vaping or smoking never even occurs to me (pretty amazing for a 25 year smoker!). Only going through about 1/2 ml per day now, I sometimes wonder if I should just junk it altogether. But the fact is, I enjoy my brief periods of vaping and have no guilt about it (like I did smoking).

 

[dlsw]

I vape 0mg and am at the point now where I only vape with my morning coffee or when I'm at the computer. When I'm out of the house, whether it is for an hour or a week, the thought of vaping or smoking never even occurs to me (pretty amazing for a 25 year smoker!). Only going through about 1/2 ml per day now, I sometimes wonder if I should just junk it altogether. But the fact is, I enjoy my brief periods of vaping and have no guilt about it (like I did smoking).

That is so fantastic!! I would love to get to a point to not be dependent on anything, but for now, I am dependent on nicotine delivered by vaping. I quit smoking once before for 4 years and actually would dream about smoking. (I haven't dreamt about smoking since I started vaping) Only smokers and former smokers understand the powerful addiction that smoking creates.

 

[thatsmeinthecorner]

I still use 24mg., but have found it can often be late afternoon before I think to vape. Love it while driving, often find myself with a death grip on the device, but the inclination to use it is less and less. Oh, BTW, Joye ego user.

 

[Malduk]

I really hope I'll never quit vaping. I'm enjoying this thing. I never considered it a step down from smoking, I consider it as taking the pleasure to the next level. Those health stuff is just a cherry on the top.

 

[nansc]

My doctor keeps an elastic band around his wrist that he snaps everytime he wants a cigarette.He says it's so addicting because the nic and the other drugs get into your system so fast.I guess for some people the cravings never go away.

 

[iKN0WaGH0ST]

That is so fantastic!! I would love to get to a point to not be dependent on anything, but for now, I am dependent on nicotine delivered by vaping. I quit smoking once before for 4 years and actually would dream about smoking. (I haven't dreamt about smoking since I started vaping) Only smokers and former smokers understand the powerful addiction that smoking creates.

I quit smoking for a week before I turned to vaping. I had severe insomnia, sleepless for nights in a row. When I did actually fall into a sleep, I also dreamed about smoking. Funny thing is that I felt as if I had cheated because I actually woke up with the satisfaction that I had smoked. All this went away when I picked up vaping. Thank god.

 

[Turnip]

A big struggle for some - i knew someone who gave up cold turkey but often woke in the night after dreaming he was smoking-(in a cold sweat because he thought he'd started again.)
Other people can just walk away and not miss cigarettes at all. Interesting how different everyone is with addictions,

 

[RichieRich]

Okay, so it's been a month since I have logged in here. Thanks for all the feedback! I am still working on my December supply of e-liquid. I just noticed I forgot my e-cig at home all day (it's 5:15ish pm now). It has nothing to do with not wanting to vape. It just had solved my issue of not needing to puff on something as much. I am scared that one day I will cave in and buy a pack of smokes. I still get that urge. Alas, I pull out my PV and take a puff. So, I dont know if i will ever completely quit vaping...

 

[bobalex]

... I still get that urge. Alas, I pull out my PV and take a puff. So, I dont know if i will ever completely quit vaping...

Well ... as far as your health goes ... you've already accomplished 99.999% of the work:

"Professor Carl Philips of the University of Alberta School of Public Health, where much of his research focuses on tobacco harm reduction, said in an interview, "The health benefits of switching [from smoking tobacco cigarettes] are almost exactly the same as the health benefits of quitting, and this applies to electronic cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and pharmaceutical nicotine. If a smoker can manage to switch from smoking to one of those other products the benefits are approximately the same as quitting - they lower their cancer risk, they lower their cardiovascular disease risk, they get rid of acute symptoms of lung and airway problems, a risk that comes from smoking for pulmonary diseases and so forth. Switching is so close as good as quitting that from a health point of view there is no point in worrying about the difference."

I was sooooooooo happy to be able to finally quit smoking. And I found the pli (isn't that the plural of plus?) of vaping were amazing. Taste! Aroma! Cigarettes never tasted as good as the many flavors of e-liquid available.

So keep your PV handy when temptation rears its ugly head and relax.

Life is too short to minimize fun.

 

[JoltinJoe]

When I took the LSAT a few years ago, I was nervous as hell and had been chain smoking leading up to the test. Coincidentally, the second passage in the Reading Comprehension section was about a study in which people who use nicotine have better memory retention than those that do not. Now in law school, I have managed to quit smoking, opting instead to use my PV. I managed to step my nicotine down from 24mg juice to 8-11mg juice in only a month and still have not have not had a craving for a cig, which is impressive since I use my PV with the other smokers in between classes (I'm a creature of habit). That being said, I still have one more year of law school and that passage from the LSAT still seems to haunt me. It is the reason that I haven't gone down to 0mg nicotine juice yet. Perhaps when I pass the bar exam I won't be as worried about losing my ability for memory retention, but until then I imagine I will try to hover in the 4-8mg range. As an aside, I have no idea if the study used for the LSAT question is accurate, but I figure I shouldn't chance it.

 

[RichieRich]

Coincidentally, the second passage in the Reading Comprehension section was about a study in which people who use nicotine have better memory retention than those that do not.

I think nicotine is similar to caffeine, correct? It's a stimulant that increases your awareness. Therefore, I am all for nicotine in moderation, but at the same time I do not want to be reliant on it to function throughout the day. I doubt quitting nicotine will decrease your memory retention.

 

[shmeer]

In my opinion, living a 100% healthy life kind of defeats the purpose of living at all. Vaping instead of smoking is a healthier choice, but not vaping and smoking would be even better. Yes you could live a life without ever indulging: no smoking, drinking, exercising every day, eating absurdly healthy.. but why not have the best of both worlds? Just because you eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy a nice greasy burger once in a while. Whats the point of living unhappy so you can live to be 100, you're going to die one day.

I quit smoking and started vaping, I exercise on a regular basis, and eat a healthy diet, but that doesn't mean I don't indulge once in a while. Vaping is my vice, I enjoy the act of smoking, and have chose a healthier alternative.

 

[JoltinJoe]

I think nicotine is similar to caffeine, correct? It's a stimulant that increases your awareness. Therefore, I am all for nicotine in moderation, but at the same time I do not want to be reliant on it to function throughout the day. I doubt quitting nicotine will decrease your memory retention.

That is a very real possibility. Nicotine (and caffeine for that matter) can bring me out of a funk and help me get work done, while actually understanding and focusing on what I am doing. I imagine that the stimulant qualities of nicotine are a prime reason why. I just don't remember the particulars of the study quoted in the LSAT question since it was years ago and the test was too long to remember significant details about it.

 

[Baldr]

In my opinion, living a 100% healthy life kind of defeats the purpose of living at all.

I'm thrilled with my results after I started vaping. From 3 packs a day, and feeling like I was addicted for life, to six months of not smoking. And I've cut the nicotine level down to less than half of what I started at.

If I vape the rest of my life, I'm fine with that. I'm so much better off than when I was smoking, I certainly can't complain.

But I'd like to be able to stop vaping. You seem to be assuming that the only reason to quit would be health benefits, and I disagree with that. I'm obviously saving a lot of money compared to smoking 3 packs a day, but I'd save even more if I quit vaping, so there's that. The most important thing is that, at least for now, I'm still addicted to nicotine, and the "it's time to vape" habit just took over the "it's time to smoke" habit.

I'd very much like to be able to not vape and not go through withdrawal. If I leave the house and forget my PV, it would be nice if I didn't need to go back and get it. If I'm someplace where I can't openly vape for 8 hours straight, it would be nice to not have to sneak vapes in the bathroom. Essentially, I'd like to not be addicted.

So far, slowly cutting down the nic level on my juice has worked well. As long as that continues, I'll drop the nic until I get to 0mg, and then I'll see how I do if I just set the PV aside and don't vape.

The health aspects of vaping don't worry me at all, and wouldn't influence me to quit. Those were a major motivator to get off the cigs. But it would be very nice to get rid of the addiction.

 

[RichieRich]

2 days without vaping. I didn't do it purposely. I just have forgotten my PV at home 2 days in a row, and when at home I just simply did not take any puffs.

 

[Trilly]

I'll admit, I tried unsuccessfully many times to quit the stinky sticks and all it did was make the habit worse, discoving vaping was like finding paradice. I wasn't moody or tearing my hair out and the transition was easy. Yes, ultimately I would like to quit vaping but I don't feel the pressure to do so, I have lowered my nic level but keep some higher nic on hand for those bad moments when, ordinarilly I would (excuse the phrase) kill for a cigarette but knowing I am in control and have the tools I need to get through this is security and now, even when I know in the past I would be going mad to smoke I don't, just knowing the higher nic is there is enough. In the last 3 months I have only once indulged in the higher nic and that was following a car accident, that was after declining the offer of a stinky stick too so I was immensely proud of myself.
I don't set goals on this, if I feel one month to lower the nic level again I can but I also know that if I need it I can go back up and it won't harm me anyway near as much as lighting up would.
There is also the comfort of the 'hand-to-mouth' motion, silly to some but very real so even if I do go down to zero nic I would probably continue to vape for, who cares how long, simply because I enjoy it and the motion is comforting.
There isn't a right or wrong way in all this, I'm happy I am no-longer killing myself and will be here for my son, vaping isn't making his conditions any worse and his specialists are delighted.

 

[AndyM]

How many lives have eCigs saved I sometimes wonder, must be many.

I don't know about eCigs in general, but this forum alone has 82,107 members. Assume each member smoked a half-pack a day, we're looking at 82,107 X 1/2 X 365 = 15 million packs not smoked this year. Statistics say each pack of cigarettes reduces life expectancy by 2 hours, so this forum membership alone has gained 30 million hours of life in the last 12 months.

30 million hours of extra life is like 342 people living 10 years longer....i.e. back to normal life expectancy...per year.

So this forum pretty much saves one life per day, just from the members, plus hopefully others from non-members who just read.