Nicotine Addiction

My dad smoked. He picked up the habit in the Army. When the price rose to $0.40/pack, he quit. Just cold turkey quit. Something about your relationship to nicotine has to change. You can find it and make it happen.

Try and go a day without nicotine and then go and beast yourself. If it's at the gym, no dicking around between reps. Really beast yourself. Then after a day of recovery and vaping, go and do it again, beast yourself as hard as you can. If you notice that you are rougher and suffering a bit more, that's not your body telling you it's sore after the first workout, that's your body telling you to ditch that crappy drug. That was the psychological lock in the bottom I needed. Worked for me, give it a go. What to lose?

Have you tried tapering the level down? I personally quit cold turkey, it didn't align with the type of life and person I wanted to be but I also had to quit drinking alcohol too, because I had no restraint (from nicotine) if I had a couple of drinks. My personality is all or nothing, I just had to tell myself I'm never doing it again and it made it easier for me because it was a black and white decision, after the first few weeks of no nicotine it was so much easier to convince myself that it wouldn't make sense to smoke since I had made it so far! It's now been over three years. Good luck!!

Go cold turkey. It's the only way to do it. Using nicotine gum, band aids or vaping will only stretch out the time it takes you to quit.

deensamwin wrote: »

So......I've really truly changed my life around for the better with eating and staying fit but still one thing remains and it's holding me back. I managed to quit smoking cigarettes a couple years back, but I still vape with a nicotine level of 6 mg. I've tried everything. I feel like this is the last hurdle to a completely fit and healthy lifestyle. Does anybody out there have a secret remedy? Lol

I smoked for 20 years, tried to quit and failed countless times.

Finally cracked it just over a year ago, this is what made the difference:
https://www.nicorette.co.uk/products/quick-mist?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=[nicotine%20spray]&utm_campaign=go-gb-eng-ps-nicorette-gp-exa-quickmist&gclid=CL3GkrrA39ACFWa37QodDuMGoQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

I live in the UK and so was given it free by an NHS scheme, I have later realised this was fortunate as they are really expensive!

Anyway, what I found was the problem is two fold. Genuine Nicotine addiction, and the habits surrounding that.

For example, I used to smoke at the same times every single day (on the way to work, mid morning, lunch..). I came to realise that probably half of those cigarettes werent even genuinely "wanted" but were consumed through habit.

The spray did a very good job of quelling the genuine cravings, which then enabled me to break those habits.

Once the habit was gone, and I hadnt done the mindless hand-to-mouth thing for a month or so, it was surprisingly easy to just stop using the spray.

Given that you vape I suggest you havent changed anything about your smoking habit, aside from using a device instead of a cigarette.

I quite at the beginning of last September and havent touched a cigarette since, and it really hasnt been difficult to maintain.

Perhaps some gum/spray/some sort of nicotine substitute would help you like it helped me?

I need to quit too!! Cold turkey is best but not for all. I think the hardest part is breaking down the association Incorporated in daily rituals. Analyze an average day and recognize when you mentally crave nicotine...with morning coffee, driving in the car, after a meal, after a drink? Start with one thing & remove the smoking element . Slowly chip away 1 thing at a time until you are finally free! Slip ups may happen but don't quit quitting!
It helps to replace a bad habit with a good habit so consider the alternatives. Also do the math & realize how much $$$ you'll save!

i vaped for over 5 years, around 6 and 3 for the last two. then for the last 6 months i vaped 0. then one day i woke up and just had no desire to vape anymore.


don't give up, you can do it.

samhennings wrote: »

comptonelizabeth wrote: »

I quit smoking cold turkey 15 years ago then,stupidly,started vaping 2 years ago. For some reason I find it much more addictive than cigarettes and harder to stop. I guess like the above suggestions, try reducing the nicotine levels gradually or switch to an alternative nicotine replacement therapy product and reduce that way.

I never tried vaping, but one thing always bothered me with it.

With a cigarette it is a fintie thing, isnt it? It has a beginning and an end. It might take 10 minutes but thats it.

You can vape literally all day! Never could get my head around that difference.

Exactly and this is why I'm finding it much harder to quit than cigarettes.

Nicotine is a mental block. If you get past that, physical side effects/withdrawals are almost nonexistent (I had a mild headache for 3 days). Allen Carr's book the Easy Way to Stop Smoking de-brainwashed me past the mental block and I quit after reading it several years ago after being a 15 year pack a day smoker. Same thing for a friend of mine (who gave me the book). It's on amazon. Bet $10 you'll ever spend. Good luck- I hope you do this nice thing for yourself!

whattheJKD wrote: »

Nicotine is a mental block. If you get past that, physical side effects/withdrawals are almost nonexistent (I had a mild headache for 3 days). Allen Carr's book the Easy Way to Stop Smoking de-brainwashed me past the mental block and I quit after reading it several years ago after being a 15 year pack a day smoker. Same thing for a friend of mine (who gave me the book). It's on amazon. Bet $10 you'll ever spend. Good luck- I hope you do this nice thing for yourself!

Not everyone has the same level of addiction, some have a bit more than some little ole mild headache...could have dealt with that easily enough with ibuprofen and caffiene.

Chantix, Nicotine Gum, Patches, none of it worked for me until I found e-cigs. The moment I started using them I cut way down and within a week I realized I hadn't smoked a cigarette in days. Two weeks later I gave away the rest of a carton of cigarettes because I no longer needed them. That was the best feeling in the world. For those of you who were smokers (or are) you know that feeling you get when you're about to run out of cigarettes or have run out. Even if you just had one it'll be in the back of your mind that you're out and you'll want one. With e-cigs I forgot all about cigarettes pretty quickly. I vaped for years afterward and my lungs healed along the way. By the time I started to cut down my nicotine levels in my e-cigs to quit it felt like I never smoked at all. I no longer got those horrible colds in the winter/flu months, and my lungs felt great. I also could do things like take the stairs if an elevator was broken without getting out of breath. It's part of the reason I decided to start losing weight because I knew my lungs could handle the exercise. I have no doubt that e-cigs saved my life. I smoked 2 packs of Kool's a day for 22 years. Dropped that habit in a week with e-cigs.

In my opinion, it's the reason big tobacco wants it pulled from the market, because they can't control it, and it's losing them their customers. Soon big tobacco will be the only ones for the most part that can afford to go through the FDA hoops to keep the products on the market so they'll have the market cornered again. They'll then up the nicotine levels and start adding MAOI's and other chemicals to make them more addictive. My suggestion is if you have tried to quit using other methods and failed, you may want to try e-cigs now, because that option is going to be taken away soon. There's still time to use e-cigs to quit smoking and then taper down so that when they are pulled off the market you won't have to go back to smoking cigarettes. But that time is running out fast. I'm very glad I quit using them, it gave me my life back.

deensamwin wrote: »

So......I've really truly changed my life around for the better with eating and staying fit but still one thing remains and it's holding me back. I managed to quit smoking cigarettes a couple years back, but I still vape with a nicotine level of 6 mg. I've tried everything. I feel like this is the last hurdle to a completely fit and healthy lifestyle. Does anybody out there have a secret remedy? Lol

I don't know where you live, but in the US many hospitals have free stop smoking programs. If there is one in your area, you could go and just adapt it to your problem.

I quit cigarettes many years ago, but knew I would start again and went to a 6-week class for support. They trained me to think like a non-smoker. It was one of the best things I've ever done for myself. I was also able to finally quit because I faced the fact that I was an addict and needed outside help. Some people can quit on their own but I benefited from a program. It's been over 20 years now.