I have spent a good deal of time on a thread for those people who either can't or don't want to completely quit smoking. Most of us here smoked for decades--some have major health issues because of it, some of us just know it's healthier not to smoke. We found vaping to be a great alternative. But why some of us go back to smoking, or others just can't completely quit? Different specific reasons, but what we've discovered is that most of us have some sort of health issue that smoking actually helps, or vaping aggravates. Believe it or not.
I myself started vaping at the end of March, and I could have a banner that says "I have been smoke free for....", but I don't think it would be completely honest. I used to smoke a pack a day (for 30 years), and the amount of time I've smoked since I started vaping amounts to about a month (and less than 2 packs). During my "slip-up" times I only averaged 5 a day.
I quit completely the first day I vaped and stayed that way for a month. I thought I was done! Then a setback of allergies to juice, and major stress. That lasted about two weeks. I bought some WTA liquid (a life-saver!), started taking antihistimines, quit smoking completely again and made it almost 2 months.
Then I developed a serious medical condition requiring medication. This condition is very commonly triggered by quitting smoking. Not only that, but it's believed that one of the alkaloids in tobacco is responsible for inhibiting the progression of the disease. So my histamine and internal inflammation was going crazy, and the only way to truly feel better was to smoke. This was my longest relapse, lasting about a month. I still vaped, but still smoked too because my body truly did need it. Or at least I did if I wanted to keep my sanity and to keep from blowing up like a balloon.
Now that I'm well on my way to being properly treated, I have once again quit smoking and have been smoke free for almost 6 weeks. I still have the inflammation issue (on occasion my mouth and sinuses will burn terribly when I vape), and instead of smoking when it gets bad, I use Swedish Snus. I don't expect that I will be needing to use that much once I am optimally medicated, but who knows?
There ARE actually good things in cigarettes. There are chemicals in tobacco that "medicate" a whole host of illnesses without some of the side effects (and costs) of pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately, it's the smoke that will kill you.
My point is that for me, and for those that I've been hanging out with on that other thread, these kinds of issues are what make us look to smoking for relief. Problems that surfaced as a result of quitting. Some as a result of vaping (allergies and whatnot). I know that in my case when the swelling gets bad but I'm still needing my fix, I definitely think that a cigarette would be better than vaping. So far it hasn't gotten that bad this time around, but after two attempts I'm not making any promises to myself that this is it.
