The Last Three Analogues

[wood duck]

Hi all, I guess Im here to share my troubles and get some advice.

I've been vaping now for around 5 months but Im having trouble cutting out the final three analogues a day I've been smoking, let me explain.

When I first started vaping I quit smoking completely for the first four or five days and it was great at first, But after around the third day I became extremely depressed and worried. At first I thought I was just having a bad day but it just got worse and worse. So on advice from a friend I started smoking again, five a day, and within 36 hours I was back to my normal happy self.

So I thought I know what I will do, I will gradually cut out those last five cigs and lessen the anxiety of quitting in one go. Idea wise it seemed a good one but it led me to a bad discovery.

It seems that whatever else is in smoke aside from nicotine, I am dependent on it for my mental health. It is not that I hang for a smoke, In fact I have grown to dislike the flavour, It feels more like taking my medicine and at less than three a day I start to lose it after around a day and a half.

So here I am prolonging the agony of quitting hovering at just over two smokes a day, Making life hell for my wife , colleagues , friends and feeling like an idiot. And Im vaping on 36 and 30 mgs so it cant be a lack of nicotine.

I can see that now I will have to go through with the last three all at once and try to remain in a good frame of mind. I'll set a date and stick to it but, Has anyone else had this same problem and gone through completely quit ? How long until you felt "normal" again.

I still think vaping is a darn fine way to quit smoking, at least I now know its not just the nicotine or the hand to mouth I am addicted to.

 

[Kurt]

Well, with vaping only, there are ways of changing things that might do a better job, like increasing voltage or lowering atty resistance to get higher wattage (heat). I know many people that say "until I started vaping at 5 V", or whatever, I couldn't quit. But I'm going to assume you know that there are other PVs/cartos/attys/juices/etc out there, but your gut is saying nic is not enough. You might like this thread:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/nicotine/44958-so-we-getting-we-not-nicotine.html

Fact: there are many here that cannot quite 100% quit the real ones. The current theory is that nicotine is not the only thing that some people crave with analogs, which also have other alkaloids (mono-amine oxidase inhibitors). So a lot of people, me included, use swedish snus (Get Snus at GetSnus.com. The US based online snus store), either replacing vaping entirely or in addition to vaping. I do both. Snus does a very good job of killing cravings, often better than vaping.

This all said, the smoking habit is extremely complicated, and a different thing for everyone. Some start vaping and quit entirely the first day. Some never quit entirely, but most likely reduce smoking dramatically. Vaping nic is not a magic bullet! Chances are if you have been vaping for 5 months and are consistently down to 3 analogs, you are doing a lot better than other methods you have tried in the past. Snus might kick it over the edge. It might not, but its worth a try, and snus is very cheap, really. And it is so GOOOOOOOD!

I will be the last person to say that there is something wrong with you that you cannot 100% quit. Vaping is not meant to be a cessation method, its an alternative to reduce smoking in an enjoyable way, nothing more. Many people need more than just nicotine, and if 36 mg is not doing it, you are likely one of these people. Don't beat yourself up. Be good to yourself and be patient. If you need an analog, have one. You are way better off, it sounds, compared to before you entered this crazy world of vaping. Get some snus, see how that does. There are also tobacco dissolvables, like Stonewalls and Ariva, which some like a lot (too sweetened for me, in general).

Smokeless tobacco Find out what's under some people's lip!

The main point is anyone that tells you vaping should definitely make you quit simply has no idea of the depth, complexity and variability of the smoking habit. Some do quit. Many don't. There are other options, and also very pleasant. It's a process, and there is no one magic formula.