Something new happened to me today

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elfstone

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So today I first entered a room full of (analog) smoke since I've been exclusively vaping (25 days). There was a thick, stinky fog in the air as a lot of people were puffing away in a relatively confided space. I was a little nervous about it, thinking I will instantly crave a cig, and I already prepared myself to deal with an eventual slip (what's one cigarette? I'll just return to full time vaping tomorrow).

What happened was very unexpected. In all my years of smoking, I never would have thought it to be possible. Within a fairly short time, I became nauseated, my heart rate accelerated, I felt a little dizzy and my eyes kept running like crazy. WTF?! I've always loved the smell of smoke, or at least, it never really bothered me. I wasn't one of those smokers who say they like smoking but they hate the smoke. I was one to always think non-smokers exagerate or fake their coughing or disgust at the whiff of a cigarette (they probably do in, most cases, but that's another story). So this was new to me. And to a point, I'm begining to understand non-smoker's reactions - if smoke has the potential to make them so sick, on the one hand, and they do not know any better about vaping on the other hand, I feel it's okay they are, at least initially, intolerant to vaping.

What happened, though? I've been vaping a lot, and I even hit the 'toxic level' a couple of times when getting carried away with tasting liquids so I know I've been getting nicotine. It is obvious to me that all the reactions my body had were to the other components of the cigarette smoke, not to nicotine. This made me think about what I thought I knew about smoking. Here is a quote from a smoking cessation website, but this type of information is everywhere:

[...]nicotine is a very powerful drug. In fact, it is one of the most toxic of all drugs, comparable to cyanide. Take enough nicotine and it can kill you. But the amount of nicotine in a single cigarette is only 8 to 9 milligrams on average.
[...]
When people first take up smoking, these physiological changes seem extremely unpleasant. Beginning smokers usually experience nausea, dizziness, headache, stomach upset, coughing and other uncomfortable symptoms. But people who continue to smoke soon develop a tolerance to these symptoms, until they become unnoticeable.

The small dose of nicotine delivered by several puffs on a cigarette may make people feel ill the first few times they try smoking. But after they’ve been smoking for a week or so (repeated “self-administration” of nicotine), several puffs and even an entire cigarette no longer have that effect. Now they’ll feel ill only if they smoke several cigarettes one after another (a larger dose).

What if they got this one wrong? What if it's all the other crap in the cigarettes that makes you feel so ill? I went out of the room and, while still feeling sick, I started vaping. Not because I needed to, but in order to figure out if I had overdosed on nicotine, or it was something else. Sure enough, even while vaping, I started feeling better. My heart rate went down. So what if the surgeon general got this one wrong too:
  • Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.
  • Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction.
  • The pharmacological and behavioral processes that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as ...... and ........

Hmm... food for thought. Two conclusions for me: I'll be less intolerant to intolerant non-smokers and I'll be less skeptical about vaping as a truly safer alternative to smoking.

Sorry if my musings are not appropriate for this part of the forum, I haven't ventured out of the sandbox yet :)

[the "........" above are names of strong illicit drugs that are apparently forbidden here]
 
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Slim Batz

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Jan 16, 2012
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Nicotine has very few, if any, redeeming qualities ... but I think anyone informed will agree it is not the whole equation in smoking addiction, nor is it the deadly toxic drug that many would have you believe ... its a stimulant, and yes it is addictive ... sounds a lot like caffeine when you say it like that :) . That said, HC and the FDA seem quite OK with letting the average Joe walk into any pharmacy and buy as much as they like ... in patch, gum, lozenge etc. form.... boxloads if they want.
 

Butters78

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Jan 24, 2012
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I think that nicotine does help with some ailments like Crohn's Disease and ADD/ADHD. It is also being studied extensively right now to see if it can help people with Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimers. I think they'll find that it does have redeeming qualities - just not when you smoke it.

Yes this is true. The Chron's part. I quit smoking back a couple years ago and was hospitalized with it. It's either that or ulcerative colitis. My inurance ran out before I got the official diagnosis.
 

NeoLythic

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I've only been vaping for about a month and recently had a similar experience at a club. Ivdidntvwant to cause a ruckus whipping out my e-cig inside so I stepped out into the smoking area and was inundated with second hand smoke. It only took a few minutes to start feelings sick to my stomach, dizzy, light headed. I migrated to to the parking lot and vaped away and felt better within minutes. Amazing how quickly Tue changes happened!

So you're not alone. :)
 

dragonriot

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Feb 1, 2012
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Even when I was a regular smoker, the smell and thickness of second hand smoke in bars would get me sick unless I smoked too. So when I was quit for a while, and went out to the bar before the statewide ban in Wisconsin, I would get totally sick to my stomach as soon as I walked in, but if I took even just one drag of a cigarette, I'd feel fine the rest of the night. Now, I still get sick when I'm around a ton of smoke, but I'm getting my friends to start vaping instead. Just have to go on a box building kick, and make sure I have enough vapes for all of them. haha.
 
I had a similar reaction to smoke when I first started vaping, but mine was to my own analog cigarette. I had no intention of quitting smoking, but figured if the e-cig could cut me down a bit, why not...I received my Ego Tank from china on a Friday afternoon. I tried it out in the evening...I wasn't impressed, but it wasn't too bad. Saturday, I vaped away and smoked 8 of my analogs. I figured if I can go form 40 analogs to 8 this thing has worked!
Sunday I had my first analog at about noon. I felt ill, but blamed the e-cig not my analog. After dinner I lit my second cigarette of the day, that was my favorite cigarette.... after a nice meal with a coffee.
What I didn't expect was the physical reaction I had after 2 puffs.....similar to 'elfstone', my heart started racing, I felt sick to my stomach and my lungs were hurting so bad it was difficult to breath. I put out my cigarette, never to smoke again.

That was 107 days ago!
Still Vaping Strong :)

Vince
 
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