Moving to vaping from smoking

[Oh Haha]

My wife and I quit cigs cold 12 years ago when we were trying to get pregnant. About 2 years ago my wife started using e cigs. I use one now as well. Hers is a tank style that sounds like bacon frying when being drawn on. I use the ones that look like cigs but are quiet. I don't need it but when I feel like it I can have a puff. without offending anyone.

Unlike some that use these I don't take it with me everywhere. It's more like a cigar for me.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Used to be Camel unfiltered in school then at least a pack a day of Marlboro Reds for 30+ years.

Tried every smoking cessation program known to man.

4 years vaping and it's the only thing that has kept me off tobacco.

I admire people who can do cold turkey but everyones chemistry is different and for some of us cold turkey is not the answer.

Most of us have been self medicating for years without knowing what we were medicating for.

Simply put, we need Nicotine to function "normally".

Smoking and ADHD: What's the connection?

Nicotine effects on adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. - PubMed - NCBI

Transdermal Nicotine in Adult ADHD With Depression and Anxiety

This is me. Thank you for posting it.

Aside from a 6 month lapse this year, I've been using Nicorettes for over 3 years. People really close to me know when I've run out. I don't get cranky or agitated... I get wiry and unfocused and can't keep a train of thought for more than a few minutes. My synapses fire like cheap Chinese firecrackers ( I think that's a Peter Egan line)

I try to take a day or two off from nicotine now and then... especially if I need to think more loosely or creatively. It's actually pretty interesting to feel my mind start to gradually shift into a different mode. ADHD is not a bad thing, necessarily, I view it as a difference more than a deficit. But it absolutely affects how I absorb (or create) information and ideas.

[ckelly78z]

I see some of my freinds who have adictive personalities get hooked on everything that is bad for them, and then have a hell of a time quitting. It makes me think that they have a weak mind and need some crutch to get through life. Somehow, i've tried it all and never felt the need to keep partaking. I don't know what that says about me compared to my freinds, just maybe that my will is stronger ?

[creaturecat]

disgusting habit. just like the one it replaces.
cannot quit? c'mon? that is a totally ridiculous self-serving notion.

[mrbeverlyhills]

There certainly are some inflexible opinions on the subject and from such uninformed sources too.

I have "quit" many times, cold turkey several times and for several years, then it was either cigars or a weak moment that led back to the habit.

Methadone for smack-are you serious? One scholar here tried to quote Oscar Wilde saying; better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

I merely thought to share what for me was a useful cessation tool, in the hopes that some others might benefit. If you feel it is a disgusting habit-don't take it up.

[notfarnow]

man, some really simplistic, narrow-minded perspectives.

"I don't have this problem, so it must not be a real problem"

[Oh Haha]

I have family members that cannot quit cigs. I suggested vaping but they have no interest in even trying. Like others stated, everyone is different.

I treat the e cig more like a cigar, to be enjoyed when I'm in the mood NOT because I can't function without it.

[nostatic]

I think one point of contention is that vaping is a "cessation" tool. If by cessation you mean not smoking a cigarette that comes out of a pack, then substituting vaping is cessation. If you instead mean "not smoking" then imho it isn't cessation. You're still sucking on something to ingest nicotine and other vaporized molecules.

Semantics perhaps, and vaping certainly is typically less offensive to others than cigarettes (a colleague vapes at work).

But the comment that smokers "can't quit" is ridiculous. An individual can chose to quit or not to quit. For a small minority they may in fact be medicating an imbalance, but there are likely other medications (or meditations) that could have the same effect. Pick your poison...

[Gogar]

I think vaping is great,

because cigarettes and their associated horrible smells and mess are about a 10/10 of gross to me,

And vaping is about a 6. So vape away!!

[stealthn]

Come on guys get real! It's what works for each person; I just got 3 years off cigs this month due to vaping. I tried cold turkey, some meds, patches, gum always came back to smoking, smoked for 30 years.
Now I vape, and it's kept me off the arsenic sticks; and yes it's a bad habit too, but it's a LOT better than smoking, not just for me but those around me.

[mrbeverlyhills]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Come on guys get real! It's what works for each person; I just got 3 years off cigs this month due to vaping. I tried cold turkey, some meds, patches, gum always came back to smoking, smoked for 30 years.
Now I vape, and it's kept me off the arsenic sticks; and yes it's a bad habit too, but it's a LOT better than smoking, not just for me but those around me.

Right on, well said.

[Seahawk]

I smoked for years, on and off, on and off.

I know the drill when it comes to quitting smoking, anyone who has smoked knows the drill.

We all also know that delaying the enviable reckoning, while perhaps "better" than smoking, hasn't solved the problem.

It was apparent to me that I had to quit, so I did. It has been four plus years. Quitting was hard but an imperative. If vapping helps, great. But the day will come when ridding all nicotine is best.

I could smoke again, btw, I know it. That is the hardest part: I liked it.

[dheinz]

Does anyone think that cigarettes have more nicotine today than say 20 or 30 years ago?

[stomachmonkey]

Nicotine is a naturally occurring pesticide in the nightshade family which means it is found in varying amounts in some of the vegetables that we eat, tomato's, peppers, eggplant and others.

While no one claims its not unhealthy it has also never been classified as a carcinogen.

I have tried everything to quit smoking for good and was never successful. I've lasted from days to years. I lasted 3 years once and it was miserable.

I started vaping with the intention of using it to quit. I gradually reduced the concentration of nicotine in my vaping juice. I had gotten all the way down the lowest level that you could buy. After a month or so at that level I felt "off" and it was affecting my ability to focus on work.

I went back up a level and immediately felt "like myself" again.

Thats when I started digging around looking up research on Nicotine and ADD in adults.

We take all kinds of meds that have undesirable, sometimes fatal, side effects to deal with physical and psychological issues and I see little difference in using nicotine vs Adderall /Focalin / Ritalin / Concerta ? Straterra / Intuniv / Wellbutrin etc...

I've come to the conclusion that I will most likely be a Nicotine user for the rest of my life in one form or another and you know what, I'm not happy about it but I accept it because the alternative is just not an option for me.

In short, while I'm happy (and admittedly envious) that some people can quit cold turkey this notion that those of us who have tried, over and over again, but can't are pussies or somehow lesser men is bull**** and I invite you to take your self righteous superiority complex and shove it.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Danimal16

Neither. But you are entitled to your uninformed opinion.

My opinion is anything but uninformed.

I posted 3 links supporting my position and can post plenty more if you like.

Where are the articles posted in medical journals supporting your position?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

man, some really simplistic, narrow-minded perspectives.

"I don't have this problem, so it must not be a real problem"

And that's it in a nutshell.

[mrbeverlyhills]

Stomachmonkey, OMG, right on the money, well put.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I started vaping with the intention of using it to quit. I gradually reduced the concentration of nicotine in my vaping juice. I had gotten all the way down the lowest level that you could buy. After a month or so at that level I felt "off" and it was affecting my ability to focus on work.

I went back up a level and immediately felt "like myself" again.

Thats when I started digging around looking up research on Nicotine and ADD in adults.

We take all kinds of meds that have undesirable, sometimes fatal, side effects to deal with physical and psychological issues and I see little difference in using nicotine vs Adderall /Focalin / Ritalin / Concerta ? Straterra / Intuniv / Wellbutrin etc...

I've come to the conclusion that I will most likely be a Nicotine user for the rest of my life in one form or another and you know what, I'm not happy about it but I accept it because the alternative is just not an option for me.

Man, can I ever relate to this. I can, and have quit. The withdrawal is not a big deal for me, it's rough but I get over it pretty fast.

What I don't get over is a my attention span and chaos in my head. Sometimes it's awesome and it can be a really great thing for me, but when I have long tasks that require focus, concentration and organization, I am useless. Funny, but useless.

I have come to embrace my ADD. (I don't have the noticeable hyperactivity... that's likely why I was never diagnosed until I was an adult) It's who I am and it serves me really well in many aspects of my life, now that I understand it. I bet 75% of the people reading this roll their eyes when people talk about ADHD/ADD, and consider it an excuse or a crutch. I know, because a lot of my own family and friends have reacted that way.

Nicotine allows me to cool the fires a bit when I need to tone down and fit my thoughts into a more lucid, structured format. I can go without it, but you wouldn't want to be sitting beside me in an office. Actually you might, unless you wanted to get get stuff done. Wouldn't want to be my boss waiting for me to get something done on deadline though, that's for sure.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

In short, while I'm happy (and admittedly envious) that some people can quit cold turkey this notion that those of us who have tried, over and over again, but can't are pussies or somehow lesser men is bull**** and I invite you to take your self righteous superiority complex and shove it.

No self-righteous in my post - just adding my personal experiences. I was merely replying to the direct assertion in post 7 that smokers can't quit. Many can and have.

Everyone has some set of vices. There is no "perfect" way to live, and if something works for you, then it works for you. I've known high-functioning alcoholics for whom alcohol worked for a long time. Until it didn't.

There are a lot of things in life that are bad for you. Statistically speaking, my riding a motorcycle is probably "worse" for my health than smoking. That said, I know that smoking negatively affects other aspects of my life while a moto accident is pretty much an either/or thing.

I was able to quit smoking cold turkey as was my dad. Are we more manly? Nope - we just made a choice and for whatever reason were able to make it stick. I have an addictive personality but have been lucky enough to stop some pretty bad habits. Part of it is biology, part is psychology.

Just don't rationalize that vaping is the same as quitting. It isn't. It arguably is the lesser of two evils, but it still is a habit that controls you. That isn't the end of the world either. As I said, pick your poison. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

[stomachmonkey]

That was an "if the shoe fits....." response from me so if it doesn't.....

FWIW, to say everyone can quit cold turkey is the same as saying no one can.

There's a reason the smoking cessation industry does $1 billion + in annual revenue.

Hint, it's not from all those cold turkey quitters.