Vaping

[Lewis005]

Hello Friends, new to all this but just had an angiogram 05/08/22 found two narrowing of the artery don't know where exactly, told I will need a stent and a stress test. was smoking 10 cigs a day and I quit last Saturday but I have been using a vape device to help with cravings, can anyone advise me regarding vaping? as I said this is all new to me. but already I'm grateful to be able to read an converse with others regarding these matters. thank you all, reading many of these chats has helped me not to dwell so much. speak to you soon.

[Palpman]

I'm not sure what advice you are asking about vaping but I'll give my 2c worth.

Start with 6mg nic and lower it slowly. You will soon get used to 0mg.

The 0mg nic I think is only available from Amazon.

I vape 0mg nic unflavoured and I buy it in 1liter bottles and lasts me a year.

[Lewis005 in reply to Palpman]

Thanks Palpman, I'll take that on board

[Letsallhope1 in reply to Lewis005]

Hello :-)I agree with LowerField, don’t replace an unhealthy habit with another (vaping).

Sadly I know teens who are addicted to vaping and I think the long term consequences are still unknown for vape smokers.

10 cigs a day is not a bad place to start.

I was as silly as you are 20 years ago: used to smoke around 10 a day and then the blow came: needed urgent open heart surgery!

I stopped cold turkey (possibly helped by the fear and the trauma I was facing) and never went back to it.

I know we are all different but try to really focus on the benefits of non smoking: more disposable cash available, smelling nice and having squeaky clean lungs and arteries 😉

Good luck!

[Hidden]

I suggest you try to stop smoking without any assistance from things such as patches, vaping and e-fags. You are just shifting your dependency from one thing to another. Either try to give up immediately (as you have already done), or just slowly reduce your smoking habit over a week or two down to nothing. If you can't do that try the NHS free stop smoking service

nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoki...

From being a heavy smoker I stopped 'cold turkey' years ago. I saved the money I would have spent on cigs and bought stuff I could see, mostly a record collection some of which I still have. I have never looked back, and never had any desire to restart. I did try a few puffs on a cig about 10 years after I quit, and found it really really unpleasant .

But when you are tempted to try cigs again even for a short time just remember that smoking is

- a cause of lung, throat, mouth, tongue and oesophagus cancers

- bad for your respiratory system (COPD is a seriously debilitating disease usually only caused by smoking)

- bad for your heart

- makes you smell of smoke

- is viewed by many as being anti social

- and if you are a heavy smoker is stupidly expensive

I really wish you well.

[Lewis005 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Lowerfield, I know everything you say is correct, thank you for the link to nhsquitsmoking.

[Hidden]

Hello

Everyone will have different opinions on this but whatever way you have to go to stop smoking as long as you get that end result it has to be the path that suits you the best to get you there

Some can go cold turkey , some can use the patches etc some use vaping till they slowly cut down the nicotine strength and then stop vaping but as long as you stop that is the main thing

I have asked my Doctor , Consultant and Surgeon about vaping in the past and they all say the same as far as they are concerned it is far better than smoking even though others may not agree which is fine

You don't seem like you were a heavy smoker at 10 a day so hopefully the way you go about stopping will not take you to long and after you have you will not look back

Good luck x

[Lewis005 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you BeKind28, very encouraging, perhaps the next post will to say that even the vape has gone. until then I will try not to feel guilty

[Hidden in reply to Lewis005]

Hello

Don't feel guilty at all that will not help matters you have made a start and that is the main thing just build on that and you will do it x

[gilreid1]

Lewis. Firstly well done for recognising you need to stop smoking. I stopped after forty years and used a vape to help me. I never smoked cigarettes but small cigars so got vape with Cuban flavour but zero nicotine I think that helps and after three months gave vape up. Good luck and be positive about stopping don’t over think it. Just stop

[Lewis005 in reply to gilreid1]

Thanks gilreid1. Palpman gave similar advice, so that will be my aim

[gilreid1]

Good man. All the very best 🤞and bye the way it’s not easy. I stopped before my heart problems but it made recovery easier.

[Chappychap]

I quit smoking fifteen years ago, but then became addicted to nicotine lozenges. My doctor at the time was positive about the trade-off.

However, medical research moves on, as do our lives. I had a bypass nearly four years ago and discovered that even though from a cancer perspective nicotine substitute products, like vaping or patches, are far better for us than cigarettes, the same can't be said from a heart disease perspective.

For cancer the problem isn't really the nicotine, it's the tar and all the other chemicals.

For heart disease nicotine is every bit as bad as all the other junk. Nicotine quickly gets in the blood stream where it irritates the lining of the arteries (the endethelium), this in turn is a direct cause of the plaque that results in angina, heart attacks and strokes.

Bottom line, if you're serious about reducing your heart attack and stroke risk, then by all means use vaping as an interim route to quitting. But don't kid yourself, vaping and all the other nicotine substitute products are a problem, and sooner rather than later you'll have to wean yourself off nicotine completely.

It's not easy, but it can be done. The way I look at is that each day of healthy, active life is the sweetest blessing imaginable, if those extra days on this earth requires a few tough choices then so be it, I choose life!

Good luck!

[Lewis005 in reply to Chappychap]

wow! well said Chappychap, very positive, very encouraging. Thank you👍

[Becksagogo]

If I could have a conversation with my 17 year old self it would be to say Don't smoke that cigarette. I got hooked, 20 a day, for 44 years.The result? COPD and asthma. Heart problems. The inability to walk mor than 50 yards without a break. Hiding indoors in this weather because I can't breathe if I fo outside.

I went cold turkey because I was taken into hospital in an emergency not having time to collect my purse or fags.

If vaping can help you to quit then use it in the way others suggest.

Good Luck

[Lewis005 in reply to Becksagogo]

Thank you Becksagogo, sorry to hear about your condition, but it's obvious that you know exactly what you are talking about. I do wish you all the very best and thank you again for your advice.👍

[dave152248]

Hi, I'm 58 and stopped smoking 40 fags a day at the age of 50 due to getting hit with AF and really bad breathlessness. Being such a big smoker since the age of 16 I couldn't just stop so I switched to vaping. 8 years on I'm still vaping as it helps me with stress and I feel fine. I've had a few chest X rays over the last 8 years just to check to see if vaping has done any damage. To date my chest is clear and once I stopped smoking i'm no longer breathless, I work out 5 days a week which I couldn't do while smoking. I did have my first ablation done in feb this year due to AF getting more regular. I've only had 1 AF attack in June since my ablation. Good luck

[Hidden]

Hi Lewis, my ha was last April I stopped smoking straight away cold turkey , my husband still smoked so the fags were sitting in the kitchen I walked past them every day and I was fine , I kinda put myself on a higher level ( fifthy habit disgusting) yano the kind . Fast forward 5 months and I lit up again . I smoke again now and as much as I hate it I love it . I don’t drink don’t go out to pubs or have any other vices so I smoke . I have tons of vapes , the older type that you get the flavoured oils for , the newer types that kids are all addicted too , the newest kid on the block one is lost Mary and a different shape , lovely bright colours fabulous fabulous flavours, I have them all . None and I mean none and nothing is like a fag . I have cut down too about 5/8 a day and I’m ok with that, so maybe for you like myself , you will try the vaping and flavours types and be frustrated. I also think the nicotine levels on the disposable ones is sky high . Anyway ,,, maybe try and cut down on smoking slowly and not going cold turkey like I did cus you might end up saying fuck it and lighting up again . So slowly slowly and take your time stopping , it’s a race not a sprint.

[Qualipop]

After my Heart Attack I got help from eh NHS Stop Smoking clinic at my GP surgery. They provide patches, gums, etc for free. The nurse I saw did suggest vaping to me because she said anything was better than cigarettes. However I tried and couldn't find one I liked so I stuck with patches. Vaping may be a help but only short t erm. Not enough is known about the effects to use it long term and as someone said you are just swapping one habit for another. I know it's far from easy.

[Hidden]

I was a very heavy smoker for 12 years, around 40 cigs a day at my worst, and tried to stop using every method under the sun over about 6 of them. The longest I managed was 7 months using champix (oral tablets from the nhs smoking cessation service) in 2008, but generally speaking, I was a very unpleasant person to be around when trying to quit, and would start a fight with anyone for the excuse to have a cigarette. In 2015, out of total desperation to stop, I bought a vape, and haven’t had a cigarette since then. I started with high strength nicotine and slowly weaned down over time to 0mg, before also giving up the vape completely in 2017. I still have it in the drawer as a safety mechanism (it’s the device kind where you add liquid, so won’t expire) so that on the off-chance that I ever get so desperate it comes down to that or a smoke, I’ll pick that instead. I regret ever starting smoking, it’s the one life regret I have, and never want to go back to it, but the reality is I do still get the occasional, gut-punch craving for a cigarette even having been off them for 7 years. My mother stopped 30 years ago, and says the same thing. For some people, it is the hardest thing they will ever have to do, and I found it impossible to stop and stay stopped cold turkey or with other forms of nicotine replacement. Vaping still has some risk associated with it, but it is now recognised as a smoking cessation route as long as people eventually also put down the vape. If the choice is vape or go back to smoking, then I would personally consider it a no-brainer.

[Lewis005 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Charlie_G firstly congrats on quitting, and thanks for the advice regarding vaping. it is my intention to only use it as a cessation tool so hopefully, like you it will be sitting in the back of a cupboard sooner rather than later.

[Palpman]

Most smokers are not successful in quiting nicotine. Most vapors are successful in quiting nicotine.

[Lewis005 in reply to Palpman]

Thanks Palpman, I'll hold on to that one 👍