Giving up Vaping journey

seaniedakid

I am writing this, hopefully as an aid for someone who would like to give up vaping and the crazy journey I went on to get to that place.

From the beginning, I will say I have absolute zero will power and an addictive personality. Not great characteristics for a smoker/vaper trying to give up🙄. I began smoking 25 years ago, went on the vape 10 years ago to get off the cigs and attempted last year to get off the vape. The whole journey for quitting the vape took me 8 months😬.

Back in May 2023, I decided to attempt to give up the vape. I knew from previous attempts and my previously mentioned willpower that I needed to try something differently. Patches, gum, cold turkey never worked for me. I just couldn't get the required hit from NRT products to satisfy my cravings. I decided to try a smoking cessation drug. I inquired about Champix with my GP but it was not on the market anymore. My GP recommended Zyban for me even though it didnt quite have the success rate of Champix. The idea is to vape/smoke for a week while taking the tablets and then after a week pick a date to give up the vape/ Cig. Zyban is meant to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms to aid giving up the nicotine. After 3 days of taking Zyban and still vaping, my mood had gotten very low. I had no energy and was moping around the place with no motivation to do anything. i had terrible brain fog. I had to stop taking Zyban.

A few weeks went by but I wasn't giving up. A friend told me about the government's smoking cessation program. I rang them up but their free NRT products were only for people giving up Cigarettes. I rang back pretending I wanted to give up smoking and they put me on a program of combination therapy of nicotine patches and an inhaler. The advice was to try whatever NRT to get off the cigarettes (vape). After a couple days, even though I had stopped vaping, cravings and withdrawal symptoms were terrible, nicotine patches were causing rashes and itchiness. Inhaler was for me useless as it was like inhaling fresh air.

After a week, next step, i tried a combination of gum and inhaler. Was a bit better but it wasnt satisfying my nicotine craving. Next up about 2 weeks later, was the quick mist spray. This was a game changer. This finally was giving me relief. 2 sprays into the side of the mouth and relief in about 30 seconds. Due to the quick mist, I was finally not missing the vape. I was delighted with myself after a few weeks I was reaching for the quick mist. Vape was forgotten. But that was the problem, I had just swapped addictions but I didn't know it at the time.

The advice from my smoking cessation advisor was again use whatever nicotine replacement products to keep off the cig/vape but I was practically drinking the quick mist spray along with using the gum. I was actually beginning to believe I would never get off the nicotine. This was the 4 month stage. I had no urge towards a vape, but man, i still needed nicotine. I started doing the Maths regarding the amount of nicotine in the bottle of e liquid. I had been using the 12mg strength and the 30ml bottle was lasting between 2- 3 days. I reckoned I had been vaping the nicotine equivalent of 60-80 cigs a day. 10 years previously I smoked max 20 a day unless out drinking, which would then be more. I now believed that the vape had me far more addicted to nicotine than the cigs ever did and I was trying to manage cravings from a far higher place than Cigarettes. Now, I am well aware that cigs are far more harmful than the vape but at the time I wished I never went from cigs to vape.

So another couple months on the spray, trying to cut back on how much I was using, I realised I am addicted. I need to get off the spray. The spray was too fast acting. I went on the lozenges next and slowly tried to ween myself off the nicotine. This gradually worked but the longest I could go between my nicotine fix was 2 maybe 3 hours. The cravings and withdrawal symptoms were too much. I needed a new plan....

Zyban... that smoking cessation tablet I mentioned at the beginning. I thought, maybe I am putting less nicotine into my system now than I was 6 months ago so maybe the side effects of low mood and low motivation might be less. Plus if I am aware that I might get down when I was on the tablet, I might be able to manage it better. I decided to give Zyban another go. After a few days, I started feeling down again, but not to the same level as previously. I was able to manage it, I'd consciously get out of the house, exercise, meet a friend when the mood went low. After a week, my mood started getting better and I started to notice I didn't have the same urge for the lozenges. On day 10 of Zyban, I stopped all nicotine.

From research, I learned that first 3- 5 days have the worse physical cravings when giving up nicotine. It's around day 3 all nicotine is out of your system. Days 10-14 is the next wave of withdrawal symptoms, when all traces of Cotinine, a by product of nicotine leaves your system. Research says after 2 weeks, it gets easier. Personally, I didn't get a craving or a withdrawal symptom till about day 10 off the nicotine and that was still manageable. I am currently day 35 nicotine free and I stopped taking Zyban at day 18 of being nicotine free. I have only had small manageable cravings since finishing Zyban, which are more thoughts than cravings really. I have no physical urge for nicotine and fingers crossed I will never vape/smoke/ take nicotine again. Everyone is different and each individual should do whatever is required to get off the vape but I hope this helps someone🙏

SmallgirlBigcity

Hi there, thanks for sharing your journey. I smoked cigarettes from the age of 14 until 31. It took years of trying but I eventually gave up smoking about a year before I got pregnant. With the pregnancy and breastfeeding for two years afterwards, I was off cigarettes for about 4-5 years. Then stupidly, I started smoking cigarettes when I was drinking alcohol and believed I could just smoke them when out with friends. But I found myself craving a cigarette the next day after a night out.

So I thought, I'll try vaping when I'm drinking instead of smoking. Of course, I'd have the vape the next day in my bag and it quickly progressed to me vaping every day. That was about 3 years ago and I'm terrible hooked on the vapes. Today is my first day trying to give them up. I have a nicotine patch on and it felt great this morning but the steady stream of nicotine has now worn off and it's only lunch time. I wonder if I should put another patch on to get me through the rest of the day.

Best of luck with your journey and thanks for sharing!

seaniedakid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123133308#Comment_123133308

Hey Smallgirl, well done you for deciding to quit the vapes. Combination therapy was suggested to me when I was trying to give up the vape, but its about finding whats right for you. I would say stick with the patch for the slow release of nicotine and then choose one of the other products (gum, spray, inhaler, lozenge) to use with the patches for a quicker release, when a nicotine "hit" is required. Also make sure you have selected the correct strength patch for your requirements. As i said in my post, the amount of nicotine I was taking from the vape was far more than I realised.

The very best of luck…

zv2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123133308#Comment_123133308

The most helpful piece of info. I got about giving up smoking/vaping is that cravings only last for very short bursts of time. Once you get through a craving you're ok for another few hours. Once I understood that I saw I only had to get through a few hard bits each day and that made it psychologically easier. I'm well clear of all that addiction now and feeling much healthier. Best of luck with your efforts to give them up.