Day 1 of quitting Juul cold turkey

[AllieAllerson]

I have been smoking at least a pod a day since a year ago. I lost a good friend to suicide and as silly as it sounds, vaping at work and at home where no one would know, was really helpful. That little rush of nicotine gave me comfort nothing else did. Now that it has been almost one year and after reading several horror stories I see about the Juul I decided to stop. I wanted to ask if anyone else who has attempted to quit this thing cold turkey has experienced chest pain or pain around the lungs? At first I felt a tightness in my throat but now that it has been about 19 hours since I took my last puff I feel I can't get a deep breath in due to tightness and pain. I am hoping this is all in my head and it's some form of my anxiety but I am also worried I have done serious damage to my lungs and need to go to the ER. Any advice would be appreciated. 

[AllieAllerson]

Thank you so much Barb. It is so encouraging to read the responses from you all. I am going to do what was suggested and throw the nicotine sticks under some water and into the trash NOW!!! It is way too much of a temptation to even have them in the house. 

[marciem]

AllieAllerson‌ ... I'm so sorry you stepped on to that slippery slope (the one labeled "just one"... then "just one more").

As noted, you did give your lungs 5 days of freedom, and your body five days away from nicotine.  

The best advice you have gotten is to immediately drown those left-over ugly sticks and get right back to your quit.  You won't go through as hard a withdrawal if you start right now, your body and mind are more used to going without the fixes and juuls/cigarettes so don't get back to the old habit.

Make your plan for the next time you have a crap day at work, or at home, or on the drive to or from work or home, or just a general crap day for no reason.  Or an extremely good day, sometimes that can be a trigger.  There will be those days, nonsmokers have them to.  You need a plan to cope with it differently than you have in the past.  There are all kinds of great tips and tricks here for getting beyond the crave.

Also realize that you did plan this relapse.  You stopped at your "usual" convenience store, so you knew ahead of time what you were going to do... even if it was 10 seconds before.  (probably on your way out the door from your crappy day at work is my guess)  When a plan starts formulating in your mind, come here and let us help you.  It can be tough and your addict-brain will stay "but I don't WANT to be talked out of it"... been there done that, and typing here and waiting for responses really helps even when you don't want it to.   .

[AllieAllerson]

Thank you next time I will come on here and talk it through. And you are so right...around the middle of the day I started thinking about going to the store to get the cigarettes and it was almost the only thing that got me through the day...Now that it's the weekend and I have two days off I am going to start over and the first step of that is throwing out the temptation. 

[PrimeNumberJD]

While you may have nicotine in your system, and you are changing your start day, you aren't starting over; you are only continuing on the journey you set out to complete. I believe you said you like hiking in the Smokey's. When you go hiking, do toy always continually ascend up, or does your path wonder, perhaps temporarily going out of your way, even back tracking, so you can continue on an easier path? 

You never left the journey, you've just stepped back to find an easier path. The new path in this instance would include a new tool to avoid the slippery slope you were on!

So happy to see you are still here and still in the fight! 

[Kimchristensen1]

Have some sticks of nicotine gum ready to go when you are compelled to go back vaping. Nicotine gum and deep breathing are great ways to avoid smoking/vaping.

[PrimeNumberJD]

AllieAllerson‌ you haven't lost yet, but you are on a slippery slope! If you intend to stay quit, run those cigarettes under water and throw them away!

You are going to have some withdrawls like you did in the first several days, but they won't be nearly as strong! If you keep them around because "insert irrational, logical argument your brain will give you here" then you will smoke them all.

1. Identify the triggers that led you to where you are.

2. Identify the mechanisms that you had in place and whether they need modification or you need new mechanisms.

3. Get right back on the nicotine freedom wagon.

I am assuming you do want to quit still other wise you wouldn't be here. Don't beat yourself up and add undue stress, most of us have failed multiple times. That is not meant to be a cop out to continually "fail" but to illuminate most quits are not perfected on the first try! 

You will do this if you desire to continue! We are here fighting with you, you are not alone!

[AllieAllerson]

Thank you thank you thank you! I definitely want to quit and beat this monster.

[JACKIE1-25-15]

AllieAllerson‌ You can start over. Never Give up, Get back on track and Never Give in.  You can do this.  One day at a time.

[AllieAllerson]

Thank you I love this!!!!!  

[Giulia]

Some reading material for you:  DID YOU PLAN YOUR RELAPSE?‌  and THE EX ONE PUFF FILES‌  I would suggest just checking out the blogs in Relapse Prevention‌ when you can't get your mind off the elephant in the corner and are in automatic craving mode.  Oh and one more:  REPLAY THE RELAPSE‌  The sooner you're back on the wagon, the better.  Each puff you take keeps the nicotine receptors alive and screaming.