Nicotine
Ok, so here’s the thing. On its own, nicotine isn’t really all that bad. Actually, there are a few benefits to using it:
- Appetite suppression
- Cognitive enhancement
- Neuroprotective
So why would anyone want to give it up?
Why?
I fell and bruised my ribs around 3 weeks ago. When reading about how to speed up the healing process I stumbled across an interesting sentence:
I don’t know whether this is just to spook people into quitting, but I figured it could be a good time to rid myself of the habit - Even though I don’t consider myself a ’Smoker’, I am aware that I am consuming nicotine and this has effects on many systems within the body.
Also, when I really thought about it, I used Nicotine as a crutch that helped me to not deal with things that needed to be handled. It kind of went a little like this:
Situation -> Panic/Distress -> Vape -> Feel momentarily better and delay resolving the situation.
The problem is that instead of resolving the situation, I’d just delay it again and again.. Not wise.
Stop smoking today, Start vaping!.
Here in the UK, the Government is pushing the message that vaping is 95% safer than smoking. That’s great for all those who are deeply hooked on cigarettes. Cigarettes are expensive, carcinogenic, smell bad… The list goes on. As a result, the smoking cessation services here all recommend switching to vaping as this is a quick win. After all it’s 95% safer, right?
If the other option is you continue to smoke, then sure, vaping is a better way for you to receive your fix. I can’t help but feel like there’s an important step being missed here. When do these people quit?
Even more importantly, HOW DO YOU QUIT VAPING?!
Breakfast flavoured addiction
While moving to vape may reduce the negative health outcomes (95%) of the issues with negative health outcomes, for me actually what remained was the potential for negative mental health outcomes. Nicotine allowed me to feel at peace with things that I should not have felt peaceful about.
The only problem is, with vaping, the nicotine delivery system is very different... It no longer smells bad or stains fingers or wallpaper.
It tastes nice, like lemon sherbet or lucky charms cereal or pretty much anything else you like.
This is how I became more addicted than I ever was before.
The most I ever smoked was 10-20 cigarettes a day, and the 20 was pretty rare. With a vape, I gradually became accustomed to the equivalent of 60 cigarettes a day on a nicotine basis.
Quitting is hard
Anyone who has attempted to give up smoking, successfully or unsuccessfully understands the challenges that come along with it. Here are a few of the highlights from the past 2 weeks:
- Headaches.
- Insomnia
- Caffeine sensitivity
- Mood swings
It’s been a wild ride so far, here are some of the stats from my quitting encouragement app:
Interestingly, I’ve avoided more than 2 lethal doses worth of nicotine for a person of my size! That’s reassuring.
Conclusion
Do what you like, it’s your body. I wanted to give up so i’m giving it my best shot and if you want to quit, you can do it too. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Did you ever quit smoking/vaping? I could really do with the encouragement, let me know what you found useful in kicking the habit.
Header image: Here
I quit smoking, but never vaped. I make the assumption that 25 years from now, the effects of vaping will be bad on those who think it is 95% better.
My body is a temple - that likes cheap gin.
And --- I am glad to see a post from you.
Really hope you are doing well mate.
This is me so much Im gonna share it with my gf rn
Haha, absolutely.
Pour yourself a cheap gin and look at this:
(P.s Doing much better than before!)
Good on you for quitting.
Health benefits aside, I consider the mental win of giving up an addiction a very big win. Same goes for giving up the number one drug of choice in the world—caffeine. What you write about the drug leading to delaying actually fixing problems is spot on.
Anyway, good luck to you!
Thanks dbooster, it certainly feels like an accomplishment although the only prizes so far have been the withdrawal effects :D
Oh wow, did you manage to give up caffeine successfully?
Nicotine is a terrible addiction, and I know too many people who are dependent on it, good on you for quitting and I wish more people I know would too.
They've banned nicotine vaping here in Australia. Our cigarette excise is through the roof, and we can't easily get bootleg (untaxed) ciggies here, as we're an island.
It doesn't kill taxpayers anyway. Kills pensioners. Knocks you off the spreadsheet just as you're jumping from the 'asset' column to the 'liability' column.
Oh really? I swear I've seen friends living in Aus vaping on their insta-stories. Is this a new thing?
Prescription only from October. - https://www.tga.gov.au/blogs/tga-topics/nicotine-e-cigarettes-laws-are-changing -
Wow, not sure how to feel about that. Thanks for sharing the info!
Bliss is just a few more rules away.
Vaping is a good tool for quit smoking and I can tell you it works pretty well.
What you have to do is to reduce your nicotine income with the time... There is nothing bad to vape with less than 3% of nicotine.
Cheers
Fucking quitters are everywhere these days.
I power Downey Jr'd my vape for the last time bro.
I tried so hard to find those keys.
I have been vaping for 2 years after I have a newborn as well .. believed that it will be much better than having cig smell all over the house ... trying hard to quite vaping now too !
It's an improvement for sure. If you're serious about quitting the vape then I believe you can do it!
Every time I experienced a withdrawal symptom or a craving, I considered this to be more evidence that I should quit. I hope it goes well for you.
My brother also quit vaping recently, which surprised me really, seeing as I figured it's pretty much harmless (so far as far as we know) then again I'd always assumed it was nicotine free too or at least he wasn't adding nicotine anyways.
One less habit and one less thing to spend money on and damn vaping can be a really money drain xD
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Yes i agree with you,by the way im vaporista 😅🙌
I like the app!
Good progress, keep it up man!
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kudos to you because I am currently in this boat too. I quit once before when I was pregnant obviously so I guess it wasnt on my own will. This time I realized if I don't regardless of if I reap any of those awful outcomes of years of smoking, itll still have better outcomes by not doing this. Its a marathon not a sprint. Dont be hard on yourself take it day by day. Every day is a little achievement. Good luck <3
Ooo congrats.
One thing people in media like to do is use types of numbers to skew perception. E.g., using 95%. Many people get the feeling that this means 95x better, or something of the sort. This is without thinking consciously, of course. It really just means 'less than twice'.
I'm thankful that I can with confidence go without almost anything outside of necessity without a problem these days. Tried and testing no phone or internet for a month, it was great.
But other things like coffee, cigs etc - things that alter your brain - just tend to make me feel uncomfortable so I couldn't get addicted even if I wanted to. It's like when you stop drinking cola for 6 months, you realise its actually pretty gross and ridiculous that you would even put it in your body to begin with. People successful on Keto seem to say similar things about bready, sweet things.
Keep it up though! 加油！
So wait, you don't drink coffee or cola?
Let me get over these withdrawals before I start looking for other things to cut out haha. I do find it interesting how we manage to convince ourselves that these things are ok but I feel like that's a story for another day.
谢谢你的到来
People get addictive so quickly but Quiting is not easy task .Your determination and well focused mind brought you to that level where quiting becomes easy choice.
I never encourage people for quiting any addiction but only i tell them that if you want then you can .Nothing is impossible when you keep progressing to right direction.
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STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
i vape 3 y ago . and i`m verry good :)