No, according to the tests it was small but they're going to do a full cardiac work up coming up to see what damage was done.
And yes, lifestyle changes are coming... some
Still smoking support and chat thread
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And yes, lifestyle changes are coming... some
Hi, and welcome to the thread. What an insightful post. It made me look over my 46 year history of smoking and the how and why I quit using ecigs. I am currently totally smoke free since 7/12/13. There is still a pack of cigarettes put away somewhere in this house. I probably won't find them until I move someday. But that one pack was what eased my mind when my cravings got real bad. I would vape and consciously make the decision to NOT have that cigarette. That worked for me. I have read on ECF that lots of people can not have them around at all.
You also made me realize that I truly wanted to quit smoking for years. I did quit for 6 months once; then went back to smoking my 2 packs a day after having just a couple of cigarettes before a big surgery. I smoked for 3 more years hating myself most of the time for starting back up. So there was a sturdy seed planted in my brain before I discovered ecigs. My mind had been made up for several years to stop smoking but I puffed away for years. I just could not put them down. There was always a reason to light one up.
The thing is: there will always be a reason to light one up. And it does not take much to fall prey to that reason. That is where I had to build myself a box you put those reasons in and shut the lid tight and grit my teeth and vape through it. Keep my hands and mind busy for however long it takes.
I have had the most horrible last year and the end is not in sight yet. Pipeburst upstairs a year ago, almost a full year replacing kitchen and living room (construction) with lots of redo its required. Need major neck and back surgery (got neck done this Jan), sister dies day of my surgery from major heart attack and now - 3 weeks later husband finds best friend dead in his home. I am doing all the probate type stuff. My point is that I have not had a cigarette or a craving for one through this whole process. But if someone took my Provari from me - I would probably either do them serious bodily injury or buy a carton of cigarettes.
That long use of tobacco seems to cause us to think of them first in a moment of need. Sort of like what an alcoholic must go through. I had to find what worked for me. Everyone of us finds our own recipe of what works and what is acceptable for them.
This is a great thread to talk about what you have gone through before and what you are going through now with your vaping and smoking. We specialize in pep talks, listening, sharing our experiences and an occasional kick in the pants. Stick around and please post again.
We can talk gear and anything vaping, too. Glad you found us.
sharir
AnthonyB, this is my 2nd attempt everyone falls at one point, motivation aka my youngest daughter, is who drove me the 2nd time around.
my bad this is my 2nd attempt quiting analog cig but my 3rd attempt on ecig's, wife and teenage kids can drive a man crazy
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Great post. Thanks for the time and effort.
Sorry to hear about what sounds like a very difficult year. It's amazing that you didn't cave to smoking. During those difficult times it is very easy to let the addictive brain rationale kick in with such justifications to smoke like 'what difference does it make if I smoke now or not, I will just quit when things get better'.
I think you hit the nail on the head in saying there is never a good time to quit. We always invent a reason to put it off. It's never a good time to quit because there is always something going on, a new rationale as to why we should put quitting off.
In fact, it is always a good time to quit. It makes us feel like we are doing something constructive, gives us a boost of self esteem and allows our bodies to function optimally during times of stress and physical ailment.
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Got that right. I've suffered a lot with low self-esteem my entire life, but quitting smoking, not just once but TWICE last year, has done more for my self-esteem and state of mind than 2 years of Effexor did. Hasn't hurt the rest of my health nor my budget either.
Andria
I am...Um... Alive, I think?
And yeah, we're now warming up, too. Instead of having a yard full of snow I have giant mud puddles. Fun fun! At least tomorrow it's not SUPPOSED to rain, so maybe they wont become bigger, at least.
kittyn, the snow has melted from my yard also resulting in mud puddles everywhere and soft mud to steal your shoes (or entice a child to jump innto when we are late leaving for an appointment). since all the ice has melted my mail is being delivered again. got a new mail lady at some ponu in the last year, i think it was in the fall/winter area. new lady is not as consistant in her time of being here. and claimed my driveway a hazard most of the winter due to ice in my driveway (4x4 suv, we dont get stuck..) but steps and a pathway were shoveled and clear of ice. new lady refused to deliver mail until it was all melted. last mail carrier left me a sledge hammer to borrow with a note saying to use it on the ice near bottom step or she would use it on me (a joke, as i know her well since i went to school with her son), and only kept my mail from me when i was on vacation.
child has his checkup yesterday. everything looks great. see the doctor again in 6 months for another checkup. saw one of his nurses that was with him at all hospital stays (she was Neonatal ICU when he was born, and in the process of changing to Pediatric ICU/Cardiac wing when he had his surgery, and she stayed in the picu cardiac wing until just before his last surgery, where she moved to being a nurse at his cardiologists office while pregnant and studying to be a cardiologist/surgeon (isnt sure which she wants yet, same criteria school wise so far). she was happy to see him at the checkup. child immediently remembered her, and asked what her name was. spent the entire ride home repeating her name lol.
child has his checkup yesterday. everything looks great. see the doctor again in 6 months for another checkup. saw one of his nurses that was with him at all hospital stays (she was Neonatal ICU when he was born, and in the process of changing to Pediatric ICU/Cardiac wing when he had his surgery, and she stayed in the picu cardiac wing until just before his last surgery, where she moved to being a nurse at his cardiologists office while pregnant and studying to be a cardiologist/surgeon (isnt sure which she wants yet, same criteria school wise so far). she was happy to see him at the checkup. child immediently remembered her, and asked what her name was. spent the entire ride home repeating her name lol.
On day 1 the hurdle I toppled over was that moment of the day I usually cherish a cigarette. It is after I get off my train, go home, take a shower and have a couple of cigarettes with espresso coffee.
I live in a granny flat on a property my dad owns and he is a smoker. I had gone all day yesterday without a cigarette and up until I got home from work my campaign against smoking was on auto pilot. So it came as an unexpected shock when this craving washed over me and I asked my father for a couple of cigarettes to drink with my espresso. I wasn't too hard on myself. On day 1 I went 24 hours without a cigarette and only had the two.
On day 2 having not smoked all day again, I had a similar craving at precisely the same time and once again asked my father for a cigarette. This time he didn't have any. He had a doctors appointment and the doctor must have scared him not to smoke so he didn't even have any for himself.
This was a blessing for me because I Vaped for the rest of the night and any initial craving I had for a cigarette disappeared. It reminded me of a much used adage around quit smoking literature when I first quit years ago. It says 'the cravings will go away whether you smoke or not' .
For the first time in over 18 months I went an entire day without a cigarette.
This is my third morning now since I quit and I barely had a craving. WTA and some wonderful five pawns and Ethervape juices have more than compensated. Ethervapes Gold Leaf tastes better than any cigarette I could smoke!
As a final point, the link between coffee and cigarettes and the cause of cravings can not be underestimated. Coffee is an undisputed heavyweight craving generator of cigarettes.
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I live in a granny flat on a property my dad owns and he is a smoker. I had gone all day yesterday without a cigarette and up until I got home from work my campaign against smoking was on auto pilot. So it came as an unexpected shock when this craving washed over me and I asked my father for a couple of cigarettes to drink with my espresso. I wasn't too hard on myself. On day 1 I went 24 hours without a cigarette and only had the two.
On day 2 having not smoked all day again, I had a similar craving at precisely the same time and once again asked my father for a cigarette. This time he didn't have any. He had a doctors appointment and the doctor must have scared him not to smoke so he didn't even have any for himself.
This was a blessing for me because I Vaped for the rest of the night and any initial craving I had for a cigarette disappeared. It reminded me of a much used adage around quit smoking literature when I first quit years ago. It says 'the cravings will go away whether you smoke or not' .
For the first time in over 18 months I went an entire day without a cigarette.
This is my third morning now since I quit and I barely had a craving. WTA and some wonderful five pawns and Ethervape juices have more than compensated. Ethervapes Gold Leaf tastes better than any cigarette I could smoke!
As a final point, the link between coffee and cigarettes and the cause of cravings can not be underestimated. Coffee is an undisputed heavyweight craving generator of cigarettes.
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Excellent! You're right though, about the WTA; I couldn't have managed my 2nd quit, after my appendectomy, without it. I've reduced it monthly since the start of the year, it's down to 7% of my ejuice now, and no cravings; I just vape as usual, and everything is fine.
Hang in there, and realize that old habits die once new ones are made that replace them. I think I've heard it takes 3 wks for a habit to be fully formed, and as it happens, that can be a rough time for quitting cigarettes too, but the WTA should get you thru it easily.
Andria
I mentioned a couple days ago being great at ordering/buying things and being foiled, yeah?
To add to my lack of luck on all things involving consumerism lately...
A fasttech order was held up for over a week waiting on a drip tip. I finally just pulled said drip tip from the order, and surprise, surprise, it shipped the next day.
Apple updated the iOS in my iPhone4, resulting in it randomly shutting off, lagging like mad etc. Replaced my phone with an Samsung, and now my mobile data isn't working, so have to figure that out.
And my washer broke in the middle of a rinse cycle.
I give up. If it has buttons, knobs, switches, etc, or any kind of monetary value, KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME! I am risking my laptops life to write this, the way my luck with 'things' is going lately.
Cue dramatic sigh and pouting.
On a more thread topic related note: Is the chance of WTA being helpful worth its cost? I am ridiculously picky/touchy about flavorings so would have to go with unflavored to be 'safe', and as the only regularly available unflavored is WholeCigs 30ml bottle, I am super paranoid I will order it and find it useless/pointless/etc and have a rather large expensive bottle of WTA as a paperweight.
Normally I would not be to concerned, Voodoo could try it, or could hand it to a friend, etc, but Voodoo is just not smoking and doing fine so I wouldnt want him adding stuff BACK in that he doesnt need, and both people I know locally with an interest in vaping are much the same now. (Highly frustratng, btw. I started this crap way back when and while I have fallen off the wagon, as it were, a LOT, seeing people with much less time in doing SO much better? UGH! I kinda wish someone else I 'knew' was being a miserable failure too. Not seriously of course, its awesome they are doing so well, but yeah. HMPH! IT'S NOT FAIR!)
To add to my lack of luck on all things involving consumerism lately...
A fasttech order was held up for over a week waiting on a drip tip. I finally just pulled said drip tip from the order, and surprise, surprise, it shipped the next day.
Apple updated the iOS in my iPhone4, resulting in it randomly shutting off, lagging like mad etc. Replaced my phone with an Samsung, and now my mobile data isn't working, so have to figure that out.
And my washer broke in the middle of a rinse cycle.
I give up. If it has buttons, knobs, switches, etc, or any kind of monetary value, KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME! I am risking my laptops life to write this, the way my luck with 'things' is going lately.
Cue dramatic sigh and pouting.
On a more thread topic related note: Is the chance of WTA being helpful worth its cost? I am ridiculously picky/touchy about flavorings so would have to go with unflavored to be 'safe', and as the only regularly available unflavored is WholeCigs 30ml bottle, I am super paranoid I will order it and find it useless/pointless/etc and have a rather large expensive bottle of WTA as a paperweight.
Normally I would not be to concerned, Voodoo could try it, or could hand it to a friend, etc, but Voodoo is just not smoking and doing fine so I wouldnt want him adding stuff BACK in that he doesnt need, and both people I know locally with an interest in vaping are much the same now. (Highly frustratng, btw. I started this crap way back when and while I have fallen off the wagon, as it were, a LOT, seeing people with much less time in doing SO much better? UGH! I kinda wish someone else I 'knew' was being a miserable failure too. Not seriously of course, its awesome they are doing so well, but yeah. HMPH! IT'S NOT FAIR!)
If you are having cravings, then it's definitely worth it to have some on-hand, but I would suggest just getting a 15ml until you know if it helps you. Some of us, it's a miracle, some, not so much. But if it comes to vaping some WTA or going back to cigarettes, for me, it was well worth it and continues to be. The wholecig WTA is very good, but they can sometimes take a while just to ship it -- my only complaint with them at all. There's no smell, or just a very faint one similar to plain nicotine, so that's probably what it tastes like. I buy the 24mg, so I don't have to add much to get a decent amount of it, and it doesn't wreck the taste of my recipes.
I've had days like that, where it just seems like I shouldn't have gotten out of bed. Days where I drop every single thing I touch.
Andria
If you are having cravings, then it's definitely worth it to have some on-hand, but I would suggest just getting a 15ml until you know if it helps you. Some of us, it's a miracle, some, not so much. But if it comes to vaping some WTA or going back to cigarettes, for me, it was well worth it and continues to be. The wholecig WTA is very good, but they can sometimes take a while just to ship it -- my only complaint with them at all. There's no smell, or just a very faint one similar to plain nicotine, so that's probably what it tastes like. I buy the 24mg, so I don't have to add much to get a decent amount of it, and it doesn't wreck the taste of my recipes.
I've had days like that, where it just seems like I shouldn't have gotten out of bed. Days where I drop every single thing I touch.
Andria
Is there an unflavored 15ml I'm overlooking somewhere? I have been on this website off and on for a week debating and if theres a smaller bottle in front of my face I am going to feel like an idiot
Ah. Yes, there is. GREAT! I'm blind.
In all fairness to me the 30ml is labelled as unflavored, the 15ml just says WholeCig WTA eliquid xD
In all fairness to me the 30ml is labelled as unflavored, the 15ml just says WholeCig WTA eliquid xD
If you are having cravings, then it's definitely worth it to have some on-hand, but I would suggest just getting a 15ml until you know if it helps you. Some of us, it's a miracle, some, not so much. But if it comes to vaping some WTA or going back to cigarettes, for me, it was well worth it and continues to be. The wholecig WTA is very good, but they can sometimes take a while just to ship it -- my only complaint with them at all. There's no smell, or just a very faint one similar to plain nicotine, so that's probably what it tastes like. I buy the 24mg, so I don't have to add much to get a decent amount of it, and it doesn't wreck the taste of my recipes.
I've had days like that, where it just seems like I shouldn't have gotten out of bed. Days where I drop every single thing I touch.
Andria
At last check, Aromaejuice have what they call a 'very special ' unflavored WTA. It is 100% WTA and 24 mg. it is expensive at $30 a bottle of 15 ml (it's been a few months since I visited the site so the liquid may not be currently available or the price may have dropped).
While the price may seem almost ridiculous, closer enquiry shows that it might actually be worth it. With the juice being 100% WTA it is strong and even mixing it at 10% with other juices will transform their nicotine profile.
A couple of puffs surely would ease cravings. It's working for me. I added 10% WTA of the special liquid to some of my non WTA juices and I find it is effective. It's very calming and satisfying.
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It's a ridiculous price. WTA is 90%-95% nicotine, so 24mg is 21.6-22.8mg nicotine, and 1.2-2.4mg of everything else. I'm not knocking Aroma, because they're the ones who first made WTA and for that I thank them sincerely, but the WTA from wholecig costs a good bit less ($19.95/15ml), and it's also 24mg. And 90%-95% of it is also nicotine, and it's also clear, unflavored, and 100% VG.
Andria
Actually, most WTA liquids out there are not 95% WTA. WTA encompasses the full spectrum of alkaloids in the nicotine profile. Vendors who sell WTA, whether in flavorless form or with flavours mix WTA with normal nicotine so that the WTA component is a fraction (perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of 30-40%) of the overall nicotine.
I know it's a bit confusing. In WTA liquid you have 95% nicotine and 5% alkaloids but generally, the end product you get is a liquid with a mixture of WTA liquid and normal nicotine. The expensive WTA Aromaejuice sells is 100% WTA so it is a kind of concentrate that can mixed with normal nicotine liquids to give that extra boost of those other alkaloids that we often crave as ex smokers.
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Sounds exactly like the product that wholecig sells. It's not "flavored ejuice" at all; it's WTA. Some of their WTA products have some light flavoring added, "kiss of sweet" and "tobacco", but they're actually WTA, not ejuice -- of the mg shown, 95% is nicotine, 5% is WTA. Mothersmilk unflavored WTA is the same, but it's much smokier, and not clear; it's very dark yellow.
Andria
I am not sure about the Wholecig product. I've tried both and like them equally, except the special WTA.
Extracting WTA (defined as the full spectrum of nicotine and alkaloids in the nicotine profile) is a time consuming process. I would be surprised if Wholecigs WTA is 100% at the price it retails for. As expensive as it all sounds, the extraction process and laboratory requirements to make WTA explains why it is priced the way it is.
Being unflavored is not a determinant of the WTA component. It just means the flavor hasn't been added yet. Given the price and the way the Wholecig unflavored feels I would guess it is not 100% WTA extract and is WTA mixed with normal nicotine, but if anyone knows better id love to hear it.
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Excluding the fact that WholeCig is the only place that regularly HAS unflavored available, the reason they were mentioned by name in my original post bringing up WTA is because they are also the only vendor I have seen state, multiple times, that they do no and will not use WTA+nic, but purely rely on WTA as it's extracted. Is mentioned here on ECF in their vendor thread. in fact, as well as the first two questions on their websites F.A.Q. page
Ok here's my understanding of wta.
Nicotine is extracted by the most economical method. In the process the wta (which is also nicotine) is left behind. Wta extractions use a different (more expensive) process of extracting the whole nicotine profile found in tobacco - which includes the alkaloids. It is then diluted with vg to bring it down to acceptable mg levels. Wta as far as I know is 95% nicotine 5% alkaloids. If you buy regular nicotine and add wta to it you are actually diluting the % of wta to mg nicotine. You may still have 18mg nicotine but now it's maybe 1% alkaloids.
I've asked Mr Mann to pop in and explain it better as I'm not an expert, just a user.
Nicotine is extracted by the most economical method. In the process the wta (which is also nicotine) is left behind. Wta extractions use a different (more expensive) process of extracting the whole nicotine profile found in tobacco - which includes the alkaloids. It is then diluted with vg to bring it down to acceptable mg levels. Wta as far as I know is 95% nicotine 5% alkaloids. If you buy regular nicotine and add wta to it you are actually diluting the % of wta to mg nicotine. You may still have 18mg nicotine but now it's maybe 1% alkaloids.
I've asked Mr Mann to pop in and explain it better as I'm not an expert, just a user.
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