So I know cold turkey won't work, always fails quickly. The nicotine gum just tastes horrible. I had a decent 3 week attempt with patches, but made the mistake to quit early and ended up back on the cigarettes. When I tried the patches again, found that my reaction to them was severe (my arm literally burning up within 60s of putting them, I was clawing it off) so can't try them again.
I have decided to purchase an e-cigarette, since one big problem with coming off the patches was missing the habit of going for a cigarette. However I do worry that I tend to just sit and puff away with it, so I tend to get fidgety ( when I first tried the patches I started on the strongest which I didn't need since I smoked less and it had the same effect) making me think that really I'm taking in more nicotine than usual.
I was wondering if anyone had any tips with trying to quit with e-cigarettes? One idea that I did have was to purchase some nicotine free cartridges for it, so I could puff away on those while using the nicotine ones for the occasional puff or two with the aim to cut out nicotine completely and eventually the e-cigarette as well?
Sorry for the rant, trying to explain what I've tried and what my next attempt is. I'm 21 years old, been smoking since I was around 12 (way to curious of a child). I haven't fully stopped yet, more of a reduction while trying e-cigarettes. But plan to move fully onto the e-cigarettes by the weekend. I'm really looking for hints and tips from people who have made it through similar situations my dad managed no problem to stop ( this was before I was born though) where as I've also seen the other side of people constantly trying and failing, like me.
Thanks
Written by
Samzyzg
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Hi Samzyzg Welcome to the site. I am afraid I cant help you with the e cig as I used the inhalator, which was similar.
I think going on to that and getting nicotine free cartridges sounds a good idea. There are plenty of members on here who have and are using the e.cig with success. I am sure you will be hearing from them soon.
Hey there Samz welcome to the 'gang' I have been off the cigs for 5 months now and gave up using a SkyCig.I know there's LOADS of Ecigs out there but I just liked the one I bought. I started on the highest strength of Nicotine Cartridges they did (18mg) and went down to 12mg after about 4 weeks or so, I gave it another 4 weeks and went down to 6mg (That hurt the most!!) and after another 4 weeks I got my nicotine free ones. I used my Ecig fairly constantly in the first 2 weeks I just felt I needed to and as everyone on here says at least you're not getting the chemicals in real cigs.To be honest it was the easiest quit I've ever had and I felt like you that I'd tried a LOT of times using patches, inhilators, gum, lozenges, NOTHING worked for me (I had the same reaction to the patches that you did) but this time was just different and I know now that despite the odd craving I'm through the worst and won't go back. Google Ecigs and choose what you think will suit you best, I know that Pinkiezoom (one of the others on this site) is using and Ecig so I'm sure you'll get LOADS of advice. GOOD LUCK and keep in touch.
p.s. I think that to start with Nic free cartridges is being a bit ambitious, I guess it depends on how many cigs you're smoking at the moment. It's best to use your Ecig (with Nicotine Cartridges) just as you would a real cig, so maybe use it for a few minutes and then put it away until you think you REALLY need it again.H
I did purchase a kit from v2 cigs, I get what you mean by the nicotine free ones. I tend to smoke about 10 a day usually ( I can go through worse or better times though), I've tried the e-cig to get used to what it's like (using the 6mg strength & 12mg). The problem is using and monitoring it like I would do my cigarette packet, I tended to strive not to go over 10 a day so would easily count and work from there. But when I was using the e-cig last night I'll essentially sit and puff away on it without realising, hence I was thinking having the mixture of strengths around would help me control my intake of nicotine. So for example say every hour I can have so many puffs from the nicotine filled cartridge, then in between those times I can use the nicotine free ones as I wish.
Any thoughts on if it could be a way to go around it?
Work out how many mg of nic in your usual brand and how many per cartridge that is what I have done and you will be surprised that you probably not taking as much as you think. X
I think you need to tackle this in 2 ways, especially as like me it sounds like you have tried and not made it a few times. 1st part....get smoke free...2nd part....get nicotine free, its less overwhelming
My first intention was to get SMOKE free, i was a 20+ smoker a day for 20+ years, and I had tried and not managed it a few times. So to get SMOKE free I bought an Ecig, mine is the type that take the liquid, doesnt look like a ciggie, it looks like a shisha pipe kinda, i have tried the ones that look like ciggies and failed with them. However the results should be the same. So i bought my ecig and was also smoking, like you I joined the site while cutting down, my stop date was feb 1st.....but due to the ecig i was down to only smoking a couple of real ones a day :), so to prepare for my quit date i thought i would just try one day and see if i could get through it with just the puffer, and i never went back to real fags!!!! so my quit date was a week earlier than i expected.....no one was more surprised than me lol!
It sounds to me like you are trying to run before you can walk, if you are using ecig and real cig and also thinking of cutting down the nic levels, as you have explained cold turkey doesnt work for you, but cutting out nic is just that!
I would suggest you get smoke free first, so you are still getting you nicotine from the ecig and stick with that for a few weeks, and then when you buy your next refills just drop the level of nic to the next one down, no need to make this more torturous than it has to be and just slowly cut back the nic like that. I think cutting out all together may make you turn to the real things again!. Being smoke free is amazing and i have shocked myself at how easy it has been although don't get me wrong i still crave from time to time grrrrrrr!!!
Once you are happy that you wont go back to the real smokes then try dropping from low nic to flavoured or 0% nic, i think this will give you the best chance of being a nonsmoker, but we are all different, and EMJAY will be along shortly to give you some really good advice.
I am using the slowly slowly catchy monkey approach as i know if i rush i will fail, and just being smoke free makes me feel so much better, i am not planning on dropping my nic levels until probably the middle of march, mainly because i have 2 bottles of liquid to get through, and i use my puffer so much less than i thought i would. one refill is 10 cigarettes worth of nicotine, and it is lasting me 3-4 days!! so i am getting less nicotine than my 20 a day habit was giving me.
If you dont get on with the ecig you have, try a liquid one as it is more like a real cig. It will be interesting to stay in touch as we are both giving up with the same method.
There is a lovely lady on here called Helen ( yellowsnowdrop ) who has now got off her Ecig, so I am sure she will pop by as she is the one who has advised and helped me, amongst others, but she gets how hard it is etc.
Good luck, welcome to the group, and stay in touch
Fair do's, well usually I only smoke 0.6mg cigs, so with 10 a day should be 6mg (correct in thinking that?). Meaning my next one down is actually 0 mg.
It may be that the way the nicotine is being absorbed is what is effecting me more than the levels of nicotine. Well today I've only had 1 real cig, so definitely doing good at the start, just need to avoid buying another packet once I'm done.
My quit took months but I was successful--cut down one cigarette per day per week--that is week 1 smoke only 20(orwhatever is your norm) per day--next week 19 for a week--keep working yourself down-Comfortable and not frightening--Fear drives you backwards--I actually got down to one a day--and Id light it and take a few drags and but it--and relight it again--wasn't no big deal cuz by then I was used to little nicotine--I got a E-cig at very end--only used if panic set in--I still have it--used a few times-Don't exchange one mode of nicotine transmission for another--They are dangerous and you haven't beat addiction if you use them regularly--One week at a time--Its slow but painless--Hope this helps--I did it and I smoked 53 years--Hugs,Mmet
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