Quitting nic, and vaping. My plan.

[Automaton]

Yeah, here's the problem: You're not me. You don't understand what factored into why I decided to take a longer route. So... kindly stop assuming you know anything at all about my situation.

No, I started by smoking 3 packs a day right out the gate. That's not exactly typical either, is it. I used cigs medicinally. Once again, you have no idea why I started smoking, and you obviously don't understand my considerations in quitting. You sound really ignorant assuming.

You're talking about things that work for YOU, not for ME. Do you not understand that? Do you not get that not everyone is like you? What you've described sounds infinitely more stressful to me than what I described. Even just thinking about it makes the monkey on my back panic. Because you're not me.

I've quit many habits in my life too, believe it or not. You don't know a damn thing about me. Man am I sick of people pulling age-ism on me.

You're suggesting to me that there should never be a time when enough is just enough. Sorry. I won't live like that.

Here's the thing, man. If you were my best friend and wanted to say that, I'd be less irritated (except you wouldn't, because if you were my best friend you would realize I'm doing this the right way for me). At least you'd have some sort of working knowledge of me to base that on.

But you don't know anything about my personal addiction, my personality, my story, or my reasons for why I smoked. You know nothing.

People quit in a dozen different ways. Even just with e-cigs. Some stop first day, others take weeks or months to taper off, some go back and forth. Some can have an analog now and again and not go back, and others can't.

You telling me I'm "doing it wrong" is just as baseless as you telling someone trying to quit they're "doing it wrong." What the hell do you know?

I'm sorry I'm irritated, this is just a really messed up place for you to be claiming superior knowledge.

P.S. If I remove the fact that I'm an addict, there is nothing I enjoy about vaping. In fact if I think too hard about it while I do it, I'm just as sick and tired of vaping as I was as smoking.

I enjoy it because I'm a junkie. Not because I actually find it enjoyable.

Mistress Nomad...

I understand why you want to quit, and it makes complete sense. I actually would never try to talk you out of it... My post was to suggest that there may actually be a more rapid and lower stress path to that goal. I'm not 21, I'm 53... My brain is wired, but I am absolutely certain I could get to zero nic in less than two months if I wanted to, and once at zero I could make the physical aspects (hand to mouth, etc.) of the addiction go away pretty easilly.

You didn't start smoking by saying... "I'll have ONE today... and one each day for a week... then I'll move up to two... with any luck I should be at a pack a day in a year..." Sounds silly doesn't it?

The reverse of the addiction should resemble a more chaotic breaking up of the patterns than a schedule. I know you worked hard on your plan, and if you follow it through, I wish you success... I'm just saying that if your intent is to quit, then do it with as little stress, and as organically as possible. I admire your strength and desire to quit. I'm just trying to help you get there if it's what you would like to do.

You have a huge support group here on the forums who are all on your side and I think I speak for all of them when I say, we all want what is best for you... and what is best for you is up to you to decide.

Again... I'm 53... and I have quit MANY bad habits in my life... (many many many many) and this is just my 2 cents regarding what has worked for me in other areas... If I personally was planning on quitting vaping any time soon, I would get it done in a few months... I'm pretty happy being analog free for the moment, and I love vaping.

 

[Zen~]

Wow, I never expected that reaction... I'm truly sorry if I offended you in any way, it sure wasn't my intention.

I was trying to be helpful.

I wish you every success.

 

[Automaton]

Wow, I never expected that reaction... I'm truly sorry if I offended you in any way, it sure wasn't my intention.

I was trying to be helpful.

I wish you every success.

I'm sorry. This whole thing isn't as simple for me as "I made a mistake when I was younger and dumber," like it is for a lot of people.

I never wanted to smoke. I never enjoyed smoking. I hated that I did smoke. And I hate that I vape. I try not to think about it while I do it, for that reason. I don't enjoy vaping either, if I take out the addict factor. I don't enjoy any of it, I never have, and it upsets me that I still do it, and that I know that I will have to take my time getting off it, because of the reason I started in the first place.

I wish I could put it down now, give away all my gear and be done. But I can't. Not unless I want to end up back where I started when I began smoking in the first place. If I felt speeding the process up were viable, trust me, I would have done it already. I would have already quit vaping by now if I felt I could.

I've been trying to quit since a year after I started, and the fact that I had to go this far and pick up a whole new habit just to get rid of the cigs is really discouraging to me. The reason I got caught up in this in the first place is even more discouraging to me.

Being told to do what I've tried and failed to do countless times just in the past couple years (and yes, I've already tried it with vaping too) really flies in the face of how hard I've tried.

You, of course, have no way of knowing that. But that's the point. You don't know what I've already tried, and failed at.

 

[DeepDrag]

In addition to decreasing the nic level, gradually increase the time between vaping.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Mistress - Best of luck on the journey you have set forth on. I wish you success.

 

[Automaton]

Thank you. I'm sorry I came off so strong on this.

I think I really have a different mindset about my smoking and vaping than a lot of people do. It's something I don't like to think about too much, because it makes me feel terrible.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Thank you. I'm sorry I came off so strong on this.

I think I really have a different mindset about my smoking and vaping than a lot of people do. It's something I don't like to think about too much, because it makes me feel terrible.

Yes but hopefully you feel better now. At 45 I don't worry about my addictions much anymore, I sort of embrace them. Hell I would sell my house for a lift ticket. After years of fighting over this with my wife she now buys me a season pass every year for my birthday! Hang in there, keep posting and providing help to others out there just starting their journey into vaping. Guess you could look at it that way too. You vids and posts have helped countless others quit smoking and if you didn't ever start you would have never been here As my mom likes to say "all things for a reason". Again best of luck on the journey!

 

[Automaton]

Yes but hopefully you feel better now. At 45 I don't worry about my addictions much anymore, I sort of embrace them. Hell I would sell my house for a lift ticket. After years of fighting over this with my wife she now buys me a season pass every year for my birthday! Hang in there, keep posting and providing help to others out there just starting their journey into vaping. Guess you could look at it that way too. You vids and posts have helped countless others quit smoking and if you didn't ever start you would have never been here As my mom likes to say "all things for a reason". Again best of luck on the journey!

What's really ironic is that everything that's good about my life right now is directly or indirectly tied to me being a smoker/vaper. Everything from my personal life to my professional life. It's truly bizarre.

But the addiction itself, and why and how it began, is something I still resent. Hopefully, when I reach 45, it will either be behind me or I'll have been able to accept that it never will be. But at 21, I don't, and can't. The negative emotions and memories it carries I am just unable to reconcile at this point in my life. I'm still angry that it happened, and frustrated that I haven't been able to beat it entirely.

Thank you, and I guess if nothing else it's nice to know I'm helping other people get away from cigs to whatever extent that want to/are able to. But if I really look at the over-all effect that that unfortunate U-turn in my life has lead to, it's clear to me there's a lot more positive than negative.

It's just the damn principal of the thing. And I'm still trying to figure out a way to be at peace with that.

 

[Vaping4Sanity]

Best of luck Mistress. I too would like to be addiction free, and one day I will. For now I need to get off analogs completely, then move on from there.

 

[div]

This is a really good plan MN and I'm not laughing at you either or anyone else. I certainly can understand how you feel about this. I have QHit and it really makes a difference and is helping me out in the mornings when I just need a hit, you know? Today is 14 days with no analogs and honest to goodness, it was an easier transition for me than I hoped for. Now it's time to lower my nic, was at 12mg (but still smoking, but less) and went to 18-24mg when I totally stopped smoking. I go zero at night with water/razzle from FSUSA. Do I like vaping? Ummm, heck yeah, hard not to when you have so many enjoyable flavors. You made a good timetable, and that is something I need to do, so a great idea, thank you.

So... I have been off ciggies since July 3rd. Since then, I have only had one cigarette, about 2 months ago. And I'm feeling pretty confident that I don't have real cravings anymore.

I am not totally married to the idea of quitting nic. I really, really want to. But I have come to realize that, for me, nicotine is a form of self-medication that really does help me function.

All the same, I want to see if I can re-learn to function without it. So I have put together a plan to get me to 0-nic in a year (don't laugh!), and off of vaping full time by New Year's of 2012.

I thought I would post up my little plan, for others who may be interested. Especially those of you who, like me, find that nic is a way of self-medicating, and hope to quit.

For those of you wondering, Qhit is something recently released by FlavourArt, that supposedly increases throat hit. I'm going to test it out, and if it works, I will use it in my juice once I get down to 8mg to replace the lacking throat hit.

I'm taking it really slow. I like vaping. Nic helps me. So don't make fun of me!

November 1st, 2010
14mg

January 1st, 2011
11mg

March 1st, 2011
8mg (add Qhit)

May 1st, 2011
6mg (add Qhit)

July 1st, 2011
4mg (add Qhit)

September 1st, 2011
0mg (add Qhit)

October 1st, 2011
0mg (½ Qhit)

November 1st, 2011
0mg, reduce vaping frequency

January 1st, 2012
Little to no vaping

I haven't entirely worked out how I'm going to regulate how much I vape. Ideas?

Also, I plan to *always* keep a bottle of 18mg juice and at least 2 functioning batteries and 2 functioning atties around at all times, to prevent me from relapsing. It's easier to go to the gas station and buy cigs than it is to order a PV and wait 3 days for it to arrive, so I don't want to get caught off guard.

If I find that I cannot function as well as I do now without nic, I will simply abort the plan and continue to vape at the lowest effective nic dose. I'd rather vape than smoke, and I would also rather use nic to medicate myself than take the scary drugs that Big Pharma is pushing.

Anyway, that's my little plan. Hopefully someone finds it interesting of helpful.