Hi all. Long time lurker here, first time poster.
I am a 51 yo female, smoked for 35 years up until 8 months ago when I discovered ecigs. My smoking career began in the 1970s with 20x 16mg cigarettes a day and, due to numerous attempts to "cut back", ended with 40x 8mg cigarettes a day. Same amount of nicotine, twice the carbon monoxide. Brilliant.
I have tried just about all that Western pharmaceuticals have to offer. The chewing gum and lozenges were useless, and the patches gave me rashes and muscular pain. The Nicorette Inhalator was a bit more helpful and I sucked on it all day long til my lips disappeared but there was no fulfilling sensation in my lungs or throat and I just kept craving smokes until I caved in.
About 10 years ago I took the bull by the horns and gave up cold turkey. I rang the Quit Line here in Australia and a lovely young chap jollied me along on the phone by reading various platitudes to me whilst trying to sound spontaneous and sincere. He even posted out same platitudes in hard copy and a nice heart-shaped squeegy-ball to play with when I got cravings. I was grateful and clung to my squeegy-ball for dear life, until it lost its novelty value about a week later and I gave it to the neighbour's dog. From then on I just grit my teeth and fought white-knuckled all the way to 12 months smoke-free. Apart from being unpleasant to be around due to mood swings and general crankiness, I gained 10kgs in that time. My self-esteem was at an all time low and I was becoming depressed and reclusive. It was one of the worst years of my life. In the end all it took was one stressful day at work to send me back to the smokes, but I had already been telling myself I'd rather be a smoker than keep putting on weight. (Interestingly during that year I continued to enjoy the smell of other people's cigarettes. I would always duck outside with my coffee to be near the smokers during work breaks, and sometimes even closely follow a stranger down the street if they were smoking, just to get a good old whiff.)
And so I resumed smoking. For the last 10 years I have had 1-2 bouts of bronchitis per year, each lasting 4-8 weeks. In the final 3-4 years I was getting frequent headaches and started taking small daily doses of Aspirin as I figured I was in line for a stroke and needed to keep my blood thin. I also had frequent heart palpitations. My lungs and throat were constantly sore in the last couple of years and my gums were just beginning to recede. I began to hassle myself about giving up again, but I knew there was nothing at the Chemist that could help me and I knew I couldn't go through another year like the first one. The more I stressed out and harrassed myself about it the more I smoked. It was really awful.
Then about 2 years ago I decided to ask my Dr. for help. She congratulated me heartily as she pulled out her prescription pad and cheerfully ordered me some Champix (aka Chantix). After about a week on that drug I was driving in to the city, and suddenly realised I wanted to drive myself into oncoming traffic. I hadn't been feeling sad or anything, just out of the blue my mind went black and I wanted to die. It really scared me and I stopped taking the drug immediately. The good Doc said there was nothing else she could give me to help, and so I continued to smoke.
Then in April last year I learned about ecigs on the internet. Had they been available here in Australia I would have tried them sooner, but this is a cloistered nanny state as you probably know. Fortunately it is not illegal to import nicotine and I ordered some ecigs with disposable carts from Zerocig which arrived in about 2 days. As I was screwing on the carto for my first test drag I was hoping it would be better than the Nicorette inhalator. Boy was I in for a surprise. The first lung full made me cough. Being a heavy smoker I was impressed by that. Nothing namby pamby about it. It tasted a bit strange but nice enough...tobacco, vanilla, caramel maybe. I figured I could get used to it. I took a second drag and really enjoyed it. It was quite satisfying in the lungs, just like a real cigarette, had a genuine throat hit and blew out a nice little plume of what looked like real smoke. Now that's a toy for a smoker! I remember a big smile breaking out all over me and I knew in that moment, on so may levels, I never needed to smoke another cigarette.
That was May Day 2012 and I haven't looked back. Sure there were cravings for nasties in the beginning but the last craving was four months ago, and I am having a blast as this evolves into an adventure, a hobby, and an awakening of the senses. I moved on to 510s, egos, stardusts, tanks, DCTs, DIY nic juice and have just recently moved on to bigger mods and rebuildable atomisers. (Making a SS mesh wick turned out to be a learning curve for both me and the piece of mesh
, but we got there in the end). My taste buds are awakening big time and calling to me to try ever more exotic juices. My smokers cough has completely disappeared and the last time I experienced cold symptoms they were out of my system in a couple of days. That hasn't happened for years. Always I got bronchitis. My weight has remained stable, my gums appear to be back to normal and my mouth looks healthy. I like smiling again. My headaches have disappeared and the palpitations are becoming less and less frequent. Oh, and I now find the smell of cigarette smoke to be utterly appalling. Did I really smell that bad?
I guess what I most want to say is thanks to the online community both on the forums and on youtube for all the information and inspiration you share. I have learned everything I know about ecigs from you folks and I believe you have saved me from an early trip to the grave. The various health "authorities" around the world seem determined to keep us bound to tobacco and/or pharmacy products that don't work. But corporate inspired misinformation cannot compete with truth-sayers on the internet and for that I am so grateful. I absolutely love vaping and all the fun and health benefits it brings without the dreaded nicotine cravings. May millions more discover this for themselves. As long as the online community keeps going strong I know they will.
I am a 51 yo female, smoked for 35 years up until 8 months ago when I discovered ecigs. My smoking career began in the 1970s with 20x 16mg cigarettes a day and, due to numerous attempts to "cut back", ended with 40x 8mg cigarettes a day. Same amount of nicotine, twice the carbon monoxide. Brilliant.
I have tried just about all that Western pharmaceuticals have to offer. The chewing gum and lozenges were useless, and the patches gave me rashes and muscular pain. The Nicorette Inhalator was a bit more helpful and I sucked on it all day long til my lips disappeared but there was no fulfilling sensation in my lungs or throat and I just kept craving smokes until I caved in.
About 10 years ago I took the bull by the horns and gave up cold turkey. I rang the Quit Line here in Australia and a lovely young chap jollied me along on the phone by reading various platitudes to me whilst trying to sound spontaneous and sincere. He even posted out same platitudes in hard copy and a nice heart-shaped squeegy-ball to play with when I got cravings. I was grateful and clung to my squeegy-ball for dear life, until it lost its novelty value about a week later and I gave it to the neighbour's dog. From then on I just grit my teeth and fought white-knuckled all the way to 12 months smoke-free. Apart from being unpleasant to be around due to mood swings and general crankiness, I gained 10kgs in that time. My self-esteem was at an all time low and I was becoming depressed and reclusive. It was one of the worst years of my life. In the end all it took was one stressful day at work to send me back to the smokes, but I had already been telling myself I'd rather be a smoker than keep putting on weight. (Interestingly during that year I continued to enjoy the smell of other people's cigarettes. I would always duck outside with my coffee to be near the smokers during work breaks, and sometimes even closely follow a stranger down the street if they were smoking, just to get a good old whiff.)
And so I resumed smoking. For the last 10 years I have had 1-2 bouts of bronchitis per year, each lasting 4-8 weeks. In the final 3-4 years I was getting frequent headaches and started taking small daily doses of Aspirin as I figured I was in line for a stroke and needed to keep my blood thin. I also had frequent heart palpitations. My lungs and throat were constantly sore in the last couple of years and my gums were just beginning to recede. I began to hassle myself about giving up again, but I knew there was nothing at the Chemist that could help me and I knew I couldn't go through another year like the first one. The more I stressed out and harrassed myself about it the more I smoked. It was really awful.
Then about 2 years ago I decided to ask my Dr. for help. She congratulated me heartily as she pulled out her prescription pad and cheerfully ordered me some Champix (aka Chantix). After about a week on that drug I was driving in to the city, and suddenly realised I wanted to drive myself into oncoming traffic. I hadn't been feeling sad or anything, just out of the blue my mind went black and I wanted to die. It really scared me and I stopped taking the drug immediately. The good Doc said there was nothing else she could give me to help, and so I continued to smoke.
Then in April last year I learned about ecigs on the internet. Had they been available here in Australia I would have tried them sooner, but this is a cloistered nanny state as you probably know. Fortunately it is not illegal to import nicotine and I ordered some ecigs with disposable carts from Zerocig which arrived in about 2 days. As I was screwing on the carto for my first test drag I was hoping it would be better than the Nicorette inhalator. Boy was I in for a surprise. The first lung full made me cough. Being a heavy smoker I was impressed by that. Nothing namby pamby about it. It tasted a bit strange but nice enough...tobacco, vanilla, caramel maybe. I figured I could get used to it. I took a second drag and really enjoyed it. It was quite satisfying in the lungs, just like a real cigarette, had a genuine throat hit and blew out a nice little plume of what looked like real smoke. Now that's a toy for a smoker! I remember a big smile breaking out all over me and I knew in that moment, on so may levels, I never needed to smoke another cigarette.
That was May Day 2012 and I haven't looked back. Sure there were cravings for nasties in the beginning but the last craving was four months ago, and I am having a blast as this evolves into an adventure, a hobby, and an awakening of the senses. I moved on to 510s, egos, stardusts, tanks, DCTs, DIY nic juice and have just recently moved on to bigger mods and rebuildable atomisers. (Making a SS mesh wick turned out to be a learning curve for both me and the piece of mesh
, but we got there in the end). My taste buds are awakening big time and calling to me to try ever more exotic juices. My smokers cough has completely disappeared and the last time I experienced cold symptoms they were out of my system in a couple of days. That hasn't happened for years. Always I got bronchitis. My weight has remained stable, my gums appear to be back to normal and my mouth looks healthy. I like smiling again. My headaches have disappeared and the palpitations are becoming less and less frequent. Oh, and I now find the smell of cigarette smoke to be utterly appalling. Did I really smell that bad? I guess what I most want to say is thanks to the online community both on the forums and on youtube for all the information and inspiration you share. I have learned everything I know about ecigs from you folks and I believe you have saved me from an early trip to the grave. The various health "authorities" around the world seem determined to keep us bound to tobacco and/or pharmacy products that don't work. But corporate inspired misinformation cannot compete with truth-sayers on the internet and for that I am so grateful. I absolutely love vaping and all the fun and health benefits it brings without the dreaded nicotine cravings. May millions more discover this for themselves. As long as the online community keeps going strong I know they will.
