Trouble making the full transition

[brekehan]

I don't see an appropriate forum here, so I am gonna try this one.

I want to quit smoking!
I've been toying with ecigs for a year now. I introduced them to my brother whom was completely able to quit and then step down nic levels in his ecig for more than a year and a half. However, I cannot seem to do it myself.

I've become increasingly worried that smoking has done some damage already. I have tingling sensations in my chest, get short of breath, felt veins or arteries opening and closing in my throat, etc. I went to a heart doctor and got monitored for 3 days, and he swears my heart is healthy as an ox. My lungs.... well strangely, no doctor seems interested in checking them out. In fact, they all tell me getting screened for cancer is a waste of time!? I have anxiety disorder, so they chalk it up to that. Maybe so. Anyway, I guess that's all off the topic. Get to know me crap.

My problem is that every weekend I say, OK, lets give this another shot. I use my ecig as much as possible and can actually go 4-5 hours without a normal cigarette. But, inevitably, the craving just gets to be too much. I break down and have a normal cigarette. They say cravings are suppose to last 3 minutes or less, but I've timed mine, it is more like an hour and a half on average with a 5 minutes break where my brain goes "cigarette, cigarette, cigarette", so much that I cannot concentrate on anything. That is when I break down. Perhaps I am OCD as well as having an anxiety disorder...maybe I'm a hypochondriac! Who knows. But I think that one sane thing we can agree on is that I need to stop smoking.

I've been doing it a pack a day and started when I was 12. I am 36 now. I've read more and more stories of people like me smoking until they die at around 38-39...and the death does not look pretty at all. Have you seen whyquit.com? It scares the piss out of me. I tried cold turkey again last night. Lasted 12 hours before I was literally banging my head on the wall and praying for God to kill me. I can't do cold turkey. I've got to give the ecig a serious effort.

I've heard a lot of people make a gradual switch to ecigs and still smoke analog, but less and less. This seems the only possibility to me, short of being chained up on an island for months, which I am seriously considering. When I do that though, my lungs feel terrible, full of gunk. Mixing the two doesn't seem good at all. Do you guys experience this?

Do you guys experience any of what I have described?

 

[Kable]

For some reason, the transition happened instantly for me, without me even expecting it to work. I was lucky in that regard. I can definitely relate to anxiety and OCD issues, though. Sometimes I refer to myself as a walking anxiety disorder.

Some info might help people to help you. What kind of setup are you using? Are you using prefilled cartos? What juice vendors have you tried? What nic level are you using?

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

I found that in trying to quit a habit, iron-jawed willpower is counter-effective. Your brain ends up obsessing over the very thing you are trying to stop.

The key is to relax, if neccessary dont even limit yourself to just e-cigs. Im serious. Let yourself have the option of smoking while still persisting with the use of ecigs. Get some delicious, strong, rich flavor like vanilla and coffee or any flavor you find very pleasant for your ecig.

Give yourself credit for just wanting to quit smoking and putting in the effort. Every cigarette you smoke less than usual is a victory. If you smoke 15 a day instead of a pack a day, thats a big step.

The lung irritation, i think, is actually from your lung trying to detox itself. I have had hacking cough fits as my lung tries to get rid of the smoke residues.

To use an overused phrase: keep calm, and vape on. You have a community of thousands and thousands here to help with every step.

Edit: also, i do meditation and it really helps, i would imagine with the anxiety as well.

 

[Beccca]

For those with incredible cravings there is WTA juice. It has some of the ingredients that smokes have but not cancerous ones. This juice might help you vape through those horrible cravings. Also in the cigarettes are mild antidepressants MAOI inhibitors which make you feel better and may be the reason its so hard to quit knowing your anxiety issues. Give the WTA juice a try its worth your while if you want to totally quit smoking. I have used this juice and it is good.

 

[Caridwen]

What type of PV are you using and what nicotine strength?

 

[nosaint]

What nic level are you using?

In my experiance, that's the key. Smoking menthol lights at less than a pad, 18 was too strong. So 12 mg was a bit tough but doable. Others report that they need to go up to 24 or 36 or higher mg. One thing, the first 2-3 days I vaped, I did it constantly. There was no "cig break" it was like a pacifier in my mouth. That eased off as I got used to a lower level of nic in my system. If you're trying to vape as often as you smoked, try vapeing more for a few days to a week until you get used to it. If you wait until the cravings are intense, you'll lose, in my experiance.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Snus chewing tobacco also helps the craving for analogs, as it gives you some chemicals that are in analogs, not nicotine but still addictive and can create a craving.

 

[calikimm]

You don't say what devices you've tried or what milligram nicotine you were using. I smoked 42 yrs & am a very addictive person. I tried hard for the last 3 yrs of my smoking to quit. I tried patches, gum, lozenges, acupuncture, ect. nothing worked I always went back to smoking. Then I heard about the ecig, I tried a cheap free brand off the internet,....didn't work, not enough vapor. I then bought one at a kiosk that was much better & used it for a few weeks then bought an ego kit. I was able to switch right over from analogs to the ecig & haven't looked back since. However, I started at 36mg nicotine. After about 9 months I dropped to 24mg. You have to be sure & start at a high nic & with a good device if your going to succeed. That's just my experience.

 

[brekehan]

I've been through all manner of batteries, atomizers, cartridges, fluxomizers.

Tried K808 with prefills, and then fill it yourselfs - Threw it out.
Upgraded to a Ego battery - Good idea. Kept them.
Went through different atomizers - Kept the normal ohm ego atomizers
Went through fluxomizers - Great...for about 4 hours. Tried DIY maintenance, no luck. Threw them out.
Went through various tanks - Decided upon type A

So, now I use EGO 1200ma or 2600ma giant batteries with normal ohm EGO type A atomizers and refillable tanks.

Juices I like that I've still got a supply of over the last year are: the Backwoods Brew cherry tobacco and Tasty Vapor's Vanilla, Blueberry Cheesecake, or German Chocolate Cake. The latter juices are too think though and ruin atmomizers. The former juices work the best so far.

All my juices are 24mg as far as I know.

 

[Caridwen]

I really never intended to quit smoking. Never thought it was possible and lost all interest in trying.

I'd say don't put pressure on yourself. Vape and if you feel like having a cig, have one. I eventually got down to three a day, then to one. Then, ta da- none!

It helped me to not have my fav. brand of cigs- I had some nasty RYO. And high enough nicotine strength that prevented cravings.

 

[John Alexander]

I've had the same desires for analogs, so I just remind myself that every time I vape instead of smoke it's a step in the right direction and I've avoided cancer-causing elements from entering my body. So even if you vape for the most part but slip back to analogs every now and then it's better than smoking exclusively. At least that's how I look at it.

 

[John Alexander]

33 smoke-free days for me, btw. That was my number when I played baseball in high school. Good karma. I play golf now and want to keep my body in as good shape as possible hoping there's a hole-in-one in my future.

 

[Dj tank]

For some reason, the transition happened instantly for me, without me even expecting it to work. I was lucky in that regard. I can definitely relate to anxiety and OCD issues, though. Sometimes I refer to myself as a walking anxiety disorder.

Some info might help people to help you. What kind of setup are you using? Are you using prefilled cartos? What juice vendors have you tried? What nic level are you using?

Same here... But oddly no anxiety, and I surely thought there would be. I expected to transition over gradually but the moment I fired up my PV I never smoked a reg cig since. I didn't start off with basic ecigs though so not sure if that is sometimes an issue with new vapers. I got a provari right from the start...but I'm sure any advanced pv would do over a smaller traditional looking ecig. The better battery gives a more realistic hit like a real cig does - at least for me it does.

I couldn't go back to analogs unless RJR started making them Hawaiian sunrise flavor

Btw...I'm 41 and smoked a pack to a pack and a half a day. I started smoking when I was 11. My lungs...just after 22 days feel great!

 

[Lessifer]

Give yourself credit for trying! Everyone's switch to vaping seems to be different, and it's important to remember that EVERY cigarette you don't have is a victory in itself. Perhaps you're not using a strong enough nic level for you, this is highly subjective also. I'm still pretty new but I've found that for me 24mg juice is good, any more and I start feeling nauseous, less and I'm either chain vaping or craving bad. I intended to smoke and vape for a while until I could quit fully, but after a couple days I didn't want the smokes any more; my wife on the other hand continues to do both though she seems to smoke less and less every day. Keep at it and good luck!

 

[HeliCloud]

Man I feel for you brekehan. I have been trying to quit for about 3 years now and it was so tuff for me as well. The ecig has been the best thing for me so far though. Yesterday was 2 weeks clean without a real smoke. The smell now repulses me and I am so happy

What worked for me was 24mg liquid (a flavor you really like took me awhile to find one) and I pretty much chain vaped for the first few days. Now I am down to 18mg juice in the day and around dinner time I switch to 6mg because I still like to toot a lot but to much nic hurts my sleep. Just keep trying and try not to get discouraged. As kang.nguyen stated if you can eliminate any analogs during the day you are succeeding IMO.

Good luck, wish you well

 

[Caridwen]

Things you could try-

Variable voltage- higher voltage, warmer vape- more TH. Someone here can probably recommend a device if your up for buying more gear. If not, maybe try some low resistance cartomizers on your ego battery like 1.7 cartomizers.

When I started vaping there weren't many inexpensive vv devices like there are now. I got a cheapo 5v box mod when I really needed a killer vape. Now there are options.

Until you make the transition, get some higher nicotine liquid. You may not even need it that long. I got some 30mg and used that from time to time. A friend got 36 mg. and used that for two weeks until they made the transition.

Try some WTA or snus.

 

[Yraen]

I know what you're going through. I was a 1 1/2 pad smoker for 30 years until last week. I have previously tried everything except the drugs to quit and nothing worked, not even my first try at an e-cig about 3 years ago. I've had all of the symptoms you've had in the past and no doctors could find anything wrong. I even had a little over a month that traveling at any speed over 25mph made me so nauseous that I would have to have the driver stop the car for a few minutes (couldn't drive myself to work that entire time). Tons of tests later, nothing wrong, might be anxiety or even migraine headaches (I get a headache like once every two years, and not a migraine).

My first try with an e-cig was a huge failure. The taste was nasty, no flavors tasted good, sore throat, etc. This time though looks like success for me. I found a couple of flavors I really like, found my mg dosage for nicotine that doesn't leave me with any cravings and haven't missed cigarettes yet. Well, that's not completely true. After dinner or at certain spots on the road I find myself patting my shirt pocket for my pack before I remember to pick up my e-cig.

Stay strong and keep trying. You will succeed eventually.

 

[Caridwen]

Man I feel for you brekehan. I have been trying to quit for about 3 years now and it was so tuff for me as well. The ecig has been the best thing for me so far though. Yesterday was 2 weeks clean without a real smoke. The smell now repulses me and I am so happy

What worked for me was 24mg liquid (a flavor you really like took me awhile to find one) and I pretty much chain vaped for the first few days. Now I am down to 18mg juice in the day and around dinner time I switch to 6mg because I still like to toot a lot but to much nic hurts my sleep. Just keep trying and try not to get discouraged. As kang.nguyen stated if you can eliminate any analogs during the day you are succeeding IMO.

Good luck, wish you well

Congrats on two weeks!

 

[brekehan]

Thank you all for your support. It is very good to know I am not alone. I will keep trying. One thing I am figuring out is that there is just entirely too much pressure and build up. I've got to try to go about everyday life with the ecig and not throw in the towel every time I break.

I will definitely check out this WTA that was mentioned.

 

[Caridwen]

You definitely aren't alone. Here's some info on WTA. If you're interested, someone here can tell you where you can purchase.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...n/230570-wta-e-liquid-issues.html#post4322166