I actually feel better already (even though it hasn't been that long since I cut back). I dropped 50% in the first couple of days but it's been a little longer to completely lose the desire. I'm one of those people who enjoyed smoking & never really wanted to quit despite the undeniable negatives but the latter eventually led me to try vaping as a better alternative.
I'm still coughing (though I think less than before at this point) and I haven't noticed much change in my taste (though I really don't eat much - not even every day - no disorder, I just replace eating with drinking coffee all day, for the most part, so I'm not hungry that often), except I have noticed over the past few days that I think my strawberry pie e-liquid has some sort of "cool shot" (not necessarily menthol but close) on the inhale (though that could be that it's finally steeped now that it's almost gone - LOL). I haven't really noticed much increase in my sense of smell either - except for cigarette smoke, which is more noticeable and more unpleasant than before. Probably the biggest difference for me (besides saving money despite buying ecig stuff) is that I do feel like I can breathe easier and that's been great.
My mother smoked all her life despite having a couple different kinds of cancer (not lung), COPD and some sort of nodule in her lung (she confided in me that she was too scared to get it checked out further) and heart issues in her later years. The doctors told her that if she didn't quit smoking, she only had about 2 yrs to live (and it turns out they were right). She tried all the "conventional" ways of quitting smoking but nothing worked for her and her spouse doesn't even smoke (or let her smoke in the house), so that challenge wasn't there for her (whereas my husband smoked as much as I did even after 3 heart attacks - but has cut down to about 1.5 PPD over the past few weeks - I tried to get him into vaping but it's not for him, though he claims he'll quit for good once I do). Mom claimed that she quit smoking during her last year, but we caught her sneaking cigarettes on many occasions (covering it up to her husband by using cough drops like candy). She still denied it. I told her it was okay to relapse on occasion and she didn't have to try to hide it so then she admitted she'd relapsed on occasion but still denied that she hadn't quit (despite the fact that we confronted her with a receipt from the local gas station just a day before her last hospitalization for not one but three packs of her (unusual) brand of cigarettes).
Long story short (ok, it may be too late for that, LOL), she died last year of complications that began in her lungs (maybe from the "nodule" or maybe just too damaged overall) after her coronary (heart) bypass surgery. I told her I had a really bad feeling about the surgery before she went in for it and begged her not to do it (put it off, research a little more, get a second opinion, try just modified living on the meds longer as the original cardiologist recommended) but she insisted that she wanted to be "fixed" and didn't listen to me. Still, it wasn't actually her heart that failed - the surgery was a success. The same day she came home from the hospital, she suddenly couldn't breathe (my guess is that she was smoking again and her already damaged lungs plus now recovering heart couldn't bear the burden, but who knows for sure - we chose not to autopsy) and they rushed her back to the hospital but it was too late. They lost her once in the EVAC helicopter and were able to bring her back but she was never conscious again and within a day or two, her organs began failing, one at a time. You know it's really bad when you initially arrive at the hospital only to be immediately redirected from the nursing station on the unit where your loved one is to be pulled aside in another room to talk to both the doctor and the hospital chaplain first. Just as an aside, my father died 2 yrs previously, for similar reasons (pneumonia complicated by multiple factors, including COPD, which then led to multiple organ failure - all starting in the lungs and he was a smoker).
I haven't been diagnosed with COPD yet (I'm 43) but I smoked a lot more than she did and based on family medical history, I fear (for good reason) that both COPD and/or lung cancer diagnoses are surely in my not too distant future if I continue smoking. My husband's had 3 heart attacks (which the doctor says were 100% smoking related) and has been diagnosed with COPD. In addition to the burden either or both of our health decline and/or eventual deaths would cause on each other and our 21 yr old daughter, we also have a 6 yr old son and a 2 yr old daughter, who are much too young to lose their parents. I'm really happy this is working - more than words can say - and I couldn't do it without the ECF family. I love you guys!
Good job on cutting back the smokes
How are you feeling?
