Quitting Nicotine Altogether?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I've seen several skirt, or allude to, the issue, but I don't see any thread that directly deals with the question/goal of halting nicotine use altogether--or not.

After switching over to vaping, I did an enormous amount of research, predicated upon the fact that, several years ago I read research findings that showed a huge reduction in the incidence of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases in smoking populations. Subsequent research has uncovered more health benefits associated with nicotine use; yet I see no credible findings of physiological harm therefrom.

My mother passed away a little more than a year ago and, prior to her demise, she was a long time Parkinson's sufferer. Since I assisted in her long-term care for quite some time, I got a first-hand look at the debilitating effect this scourge had upon her. It is, at least for me, a very disturbing malady. Looking at the matter deeper, I know that I am genetically predisposed to the affliction, and have considered long and hard what I might do to mitigate the possibility of becoming symptomatic; and nicotine is a large part of the picture, along with caffeine.

Since cancer is also prevalent in my family line (though heart attacks are conspicuously absent from both sides of my parental lines), giving up smoking was an obvious action to take in improving the quality of my life; however, I always debated the loss of theoretical protection by abstaining from the nicotine intake provided by smoking.

Now I have what amounts to a reasonably safe method of ingesting nicotine--and deriving the benefits thereof--and have absolutely no intention of lowering my nicotine intake (currently vaping 3.2% and 3.6% juice pretty-much all day-long). I've made what I consider to be a well-informed decision, based upon credible research, for what I believe to be very good reasons, and plan on sticking with it. I view nicotine consumption as no better and no worse than caffeine consumption.

I'm wondering how many of you are planning on NOT reducing your level of nicotine intake, and I'm interested in hearing why you've made that choice. I'm not being nosy, and have no criticisms of anyone's choices in this matter (whether you plan on sticking with nic, or plan on dumping it completely)--I'm just curious.

Call it the mental itch that needs to be scratched. :laugh:
 

WomanOfHeart

Vaping Master
ECF Veteran
Sep 19, 2010
5,430
1,253
60
Colorado
At this point, I have absolutely no plans for cutting down my nic levels. Yes, I said levels. I vape 18 and 24mg, although I've started coming back down to 18mg more often. I don't plan on going below that anytime soon. Maybe in the future I might. I had no plans for quitting smoking, but that's what happened when I started vaping. I've only had one cigarette in the last year, smoked it under an extremely stressful situation and it was nasty as hell!
 

Iffy

Vaping Master
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Feb 3, 2011
9,626
79,411
Florida Suncoast
Being 64 and having smoked 2 PaD for 45 years, the only reason I'd lower my nic level (presently 18mg) is to lower DIY co$t. Whatever damage I've done to myself by smoking will probably not be reversed to any discernible degree by vaping. But, at least my quality of life has noticeably improved.

For those much younger than I, I see a great advantage in, not only 'bakky secession, but also nicotine reduction.

BTW, excellent topic!
thumbsup.gif
 

hairball

ECF Guru
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Sep 17, 2010
13,110
7,459
Other Places
Sorry for your loss Allan.GH. Hugs to you hon.

As for quitting nic, I doubt I ever will. I've lowered mine 2 times but only because my body told me too. I can happily chainvape 18mg all day long if I choose...which is generally the case. If and when the time comes, I will lower it but don't plan on giving it up completely...I'll just slowup on the vaping instead.
 

CorTed

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Oct 4, 2011
93
44
SoCal
Being 64 and having smoked 2 PaD for 45 years, the only reason I'd lower my nic level (presently 18mg) is to lower DIY co$t. Whatever damage I've done to myself by smoking will probably not be reversed to any discernible degree by vaping. But, at least my quality of life has noticeably improved.

For those much younger than I, I see a great advantage in, not only 'bakky secession, but also nicotine reduction.

BTW, excellent topic!
thumbsup.gif

Iffy, what is the advantage of the nicotine reduction you are describing?
 

Iffy

Vaping Master
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Feb 3, 2011
9,626
79,411
Florida Suncoast
Iffy, what is the advantage of the nicotine reduction you are describing?

Other than the benefits that Allan.GH highlighted, why would anyone want to inhale and absorb nicotine by choice if they are not addicted? Digesting food with nicotine is a different 'ball game'.
 
Why would anyone want to inhale and absorb nicotine by choice if they are not addicted?
Welllll................having vaped un-flavored 3.6% PG, I have to say that nicotine *does* have a flavor that I like, and can pick-up on underneath the flavorings put into juices. If it was gone, I would not find the whole performance of vaping somewhat lacking. I also like very bitter coffee as well; however, everyone is different--YMMV.

The world would be an insanely boring place if we were all the same, wouldn't it?

Sorry for your loss Allan.GH. Hugs to you hon.
Thanks HB.
 

madjack

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Aug 17, 2011
2,394
1,027
71
Central Louisiana
I didn't start vaping to quite the nic, I started vaping to reduce the costs of funkarettes and to get away from the health effects of inhaling a bonfire of leaves, paper and added chemicals...like Allan, I did the research and studied the benefits of nicotine...along with the downside(not much worth mentioning there)...at present, I vape 4-5ml/16mg/day and have no intent to get any lower or lesser...I LIKE IT and intend to be around a long time, enjoying my vape and the benefits of nicotine...........
madjack:2cool:
 

erich

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jul 31, 2011
1,118
725
Atlanta, GA
It's a common practice of defamation campaigns to associate an ingredient with some other product that sounds hazardous. None is a better example in this context than when people list the chemicals in cigarettes. "It contains arsenic, found in rat poison!" or "Carbon monoxide, found in car exhaust!" Well, yes, yes it does. And arsenic is a well known poison when administered in significant doses. However, what effect does a small dose of arsenic, such as that generally consumed by a smoker? Improved digestion. And how about carbon monoxide? Also found in... air. Health effects of inhaling non-lethal doses of it? Well... none. You do it every day.

Similarly, nicotine is maligned as being used as insecticide. It is a neurotoxin, and yes, in sufficient doses, it is poisonous. In smaller amounts, some studies have shown improvements in cognition for Alzheimer's patients. So, what are these quantities?

I'm by no means the expert here so feel free to enlighten me, but seeing this claim repeatedly made me curious, so I did a bit of digging. The answer is a little more difficult to find than the plethora of articles summarizing the results and describing the benefits without listing quanties. Here are a few of the daily doses administered in studies that I could find (I picked the max for any with more than one dose):

10mg
Four-week nicotine skin patch trea... [Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1999] - PubMed - NCBI

0.5 μg/kg/min for 60 min. - for a 150lb. person (.5g/1000000) * 68kg * 60min = ~2mg
SpringerLink - Psychopharmacology, Volume 95, Number 2

2mg
Acute Nicotine Administration in Alzheimer

0.09 mg/kg - for a 150lb. person 0.09 * 68kg = ~6mg
Effects of Galantamine, a Nicotinic Allosteric Potentiating Ligand, on Nicotine-Induced Catecholamine Release in Hippocampus and Nucleus Accumbens of Rats

There must be some amount at which the rate of return of benefits begins to diminish. There is quite a bit of variance between the dosages in these studies, but all are relatively meager compared to what seem to be normal vaping habits based on my admittedly anecdotal observation of comments on ECF. Also, I am actually a bit curious about the rate of absorption of nicotine from vapor (or smoke, for that matter). My uneducated guess is that visible exhaled vapor contains a large amount of unabsorbed nicotine, and thus your actual intake would be significantly lower than that contained by the sum of the liquid used.
 

morgan69

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Sep 3, 2011
192
24
35
South Africa
Welllll................having vaped un-flavored 3.6% PG, I have to say that nicotine *does* have a flavor that I like, and can pick-up on underneath the flavorings put into juices.

I have to agree with you on that one i often vape 36mg Nic Un-Flavored and it has a very noticeble flavor.
Also have no plans on lowering my Nic in take,was considering it at first but,i have given up so much addictive things i am just not willing to give up my last one.lol
 

CES

optimistic cynic
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jan 25, 2010
22,181
61,133
Birmingham, Al
I had no intention of cutting down on nicotine...my body has had other ideas, so I've slowly gone from 24 mg to 12 or less. It's not been a bad thing, it's just that my tolerance decreased and what used to be just right is now too strong. So, if my body decides i don't need nicotine then I'll eventually go to 0 nic. At this rate it'll be another couple of years. The hand to mouth is as strong as ever though- i don't go anywhere without my PV, or "forget" to vape.
 

wdave

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jun 11, 2009
1,491
115
Cincinnati, OH
I've seen several skirt, or allude to, the issue, but I don't see any thread that directly deals with the question/goal of halting nicotine use altogether--or not.

After switching over to vaping, I did an enormous amount of research, predicated upon the fact that, several years ago I read research findings that showed a huge reduction in the incidence of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases in smoking populations. Subsequent research has uncovered more health benefits associated with nicotine use; yet I see no credible findings of physiological harm therefrom.

My mother passed away a little more than a year ago and, prior to her demise, she was a long time Parkinson's sufferer. Since I assisted in her long-term care for quite some time, I got a first-hand look at the debilitating effect this scourge had upon her. It is, at least for me, a very disturbing malady. Looking at the matter deeper, I know that I am genetically predisposed to the affliction, and have considered long and hard what I might do to mitigate the possibility of becoming symptomatic; and nicotine is a large part of the picture, along with caffeine.

Since cancer is also prevalent in my family line (though heart attacks are conspicuously absent from both sides of my parental lines), giving up smoking was an obvious action to take in improving the quality of my life; however, I always debated the loss of theoretical protection by abstaining from the nicotine intake provided by smoking.

Now I have what amounts to a reasonably safe method of ingesting nicotine--and deriving the benefits thereof--and have absolutely no intention of lowering my nicotine intake (currently vaping 3.2% and 3.6% juice pretty-much all day-long). I've made what I consider to be a well-informed decision, based upon credible research, for what I believe to be very good reasons, and plan on sticking with it. I view nicotine consumption as no better and no worse than caffeine consumption.

I'm wondering how many of you are planning on NOT reducing your level of nicotine intake, and I'm interested in hearing why you've made that choice. I'm not being nosy, and have no criticisms of anyone's choices in this matter (whether you plan on sticking with nic, or plan on dumping it completely)--I'm just curious.

Call it the mental itch that needs to be scratched. :laugh:

Chain vaping all day long huh? Seeing as you may be getting six times more PG/VG than you need, you should do some research on the health effects of PG/VG.
 
Not really chain vaping, per se, but I do take some frequent toots at the PV when I'm driving. Otherwise, I hit it every 20 minutes or so, at a guess, and often go longer between; but have the PV with me pretty-much all day long.

Observed health effects of PG/VG are increased blood cholesterol levels, but my serum cholesterol is 40 points below median normal, so I'm not worried on that count. There are no negative bronchial implications observed so far. PG has been observed to have potential anti-viral effects (New Zealand/Ruyan study).
 

wdave

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jun 11, 2009
1,491
115
Cincinnati, OH
Not really chain vaping, per se, but I do take some frequent toots at the PV when I'm driving. Otherwise, I hit it every 20 minutes or so, at a guess, and often go longer between; but have the PV with me pretty-much all day long.

Observed health effects of PG/VG are increased blood cholesterol levels, but my serum cholesterol is 40 points below median normal, so I'm not worried on that count. There are no negative bronchial implications observed so far. PG has been observed to have potential anti-viral effects (New Zealand/Ruyan study).

I'm very impressed. Please stay at the forum and continue being so helpful.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread