e-cig?

[k-tague]

I would like to know the thoughts of people here on electronic cigarettes. I bought one 18 days ago and have been cig free since. Back ground was over a pack a day for over 40 years. Never was able to quit for more than a few hours. Yesterday I lost my e-cig and started going crazy and had to go buy a new one, rather than go back to real cigs. My thought is to order lower nicotine level of "juice" each order and be nicotine free in a few months. Then be able to put them down. Has any one else tried these with any success?

[debbie53]

I guess I don't get the point of the E cigarette. How is this suppose to work, if you've decided to quit smoking?
I used the patches and that worked beautifully for me, however, I contribute my success to quitting to first and foremost having decided to do so and following through with that decision and this site! Education is key here. Whyquit.com is a bountiful in its information. Once you learn all there is about this addiction, it makes fighting it that much easier. Being here at EX is an excellent step also. We're all here to help you get through the quit process. Trust me when I say, that DECIDING to quit smoking is truly the most difficult part of the quit! Have you done the EX plan? I strongly urge you to do it. It works, I swear it!
I wish you great success and I hope you will let me know if I can help.
Debbie

[carlie]

These weren't around when I quit, and I'm glad. After being quit for 7 months now, and having a clearer head, I do NOT recommend these things !!!!
I quit to be nicotine-free...I am an addict !!! NOT "cigarette-free", but NICOTINE - FREE !!!! Someone pointed out the other day that what you are getting for your "fix" in these e-cigs is black #40 insecticide !!! There are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes.....I don't want any of them in MY body !!!

You figure you will be "nicotine-free" in a few months......I quit smoking July 1st last year; I used the nicorette gum.....I cut down on the gum each and every day...and was totally nicotine-free within 2 weeks.........WEEKS, not MONTHS !!!!
If I can do it, anyone can do it - you just have to want to be clean...really clean !!!!

[k-tague]

Thanks for your response. I'm glad the gum worked for you in such a short amount of time but according to my doctor I cannot chew the nicorette gum or any type of nicotine gum. I can however, use this device to get over my habit. I have researched nicotine habits and realize it is still apart of the big picture and am hoping for responses that help me to get off the device in an amount of time that will be successful for me. Otherwise, I won't be successful longterm. If nothing else, over time I will reduce the nicotine down to 0 even if I have to maintain the physical habit. Again thanks for your response it was soooo positive, supportive and helpfull.

[k-tague]

update: Still have not had a real cig since 1-22-09. Am now almost off the e-cig. Can go till afternoon without using it and am on the lowest nicotine content. It sure makes it easy to quit the real things. I was never able to quit for more than a few hours. I never cared about the real cigs even from the first day. If the electranic cigs sere not so much fun in public I would have already given them up. It is so much fun watching the "goody two shoes" going balistic when they see someone smoking in there enviroment. I trully beleive that this is the answer for people that can't quit any other way or keep going back. At this point I will never go back to smoking and would have never been able to quit without this device!

[danielle28]

Well, I guess I'm happy to see that you are off of cigarettes, but I at the same time, it almost sickens me that you are so excited about upsetting people in public. I don't get why that is so much fun.
Did you feel that way when you were smoking real cigarettes? Were you one of those smokers who would blow smoke at the people walking by, just to see what they would do or say? Wow!! Just WOW!!

[shana3]

It sounds like you're addressing the problems with cigarettes around lowering the nicotine and chemicals you are getting, but how will you overcome the aspects of having something in your hand or mouth to occupy you? I find the habit is harder than the nicotine for me. I'm afraid that might be a pitfall so as long as you've anticipated that and have a plan, I wish you luck and glad you found something that works for you.

[k-tague]

Another update. Nine weeds and still no cigarettes! I am at the lowest level of nicotine and have gone several days without taking a hit off of it. When I do get an overwhelming need for a cig a hit or two off of this device and I can make it through. At this point if it were to break or get lost I would not replace it. You all had your crutches to get off just as cigarettes were our crutches in life. This is the reason that I enjoy messing with people in public. No I don't blow smoke at people that would be disrespectful! Just as making rules for other people to live by when it doesn't affect you is disrespectful to me. That is a big problem in this world, too many people worried about others instead of worried about themselves. Kind of like the people in LA. You live in one of the worst cities in the world for pollution in the air and they are worried about second hand smoke on the open beach. If people would worry more about their own life and less about everyone else we would all be a lot better off!

[vocalek]

I stopped tobacco smoking 3/27/2009. I have been using a personal vaporizer (aka "electronic cigarette") ever since. Yes, I know that there are people who think they "look stupid" and people who (like my cousin who quit cold turkey) say "they're a gimmick." To those people I say, "You don't have to look at me and you don't have to pay for or use an electonic cigarette." I am the one who has to live inside this body and live with the choices that I make.

The point is that it worked for me. To me it's a miracle. I know that there are readers of this forum who believe that I "should not" be continuing to take in nicotine. That nicotine is bad. Again I say, I am the one who has to live inside this body.

For many smokers, the "withdrawal symptoms" go away after a few days or a few weeks of abstinence. Last time I totally abstained, I waited months for my brain to start working properly again. Finally, after six months, I was in danger of losing my job. I asked the doctor if there wasn't SOMETHING I could take that would fix the problem. She said no, but it turns out that there WAS something that did return me to normal -- smoking. At the time, the viewpoint of the medical community was that pharmaceutical products containing nicotine should be used only to wean smokers off the drug.

The following information is from "Pharmacology of Nicotine: Addiction and Therapeutics," N L Benowitz, Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Vol. 36: 597-613 (Volume publication date April 1996)

"Because nicotine underlies addiction and sustains cigarette smoking, it is logical to consider nicotine maintenance as a potential alternative to tobacco use for smokers who cannot quit. The administration of nicotine replacement therapy in smokers has been shown to reduce smoking rates, and among those who reduce their smoking, to promote smoking cessation (61). However, the currently available nicotine delivery systems deliver nicotine into the blood stream much more slowly than does cigarette smoking, so for most smokers nicotine medications are not satisfactory substitutes for smoking. The development of a consumer-acceptable inhaled nicotine delivery system with absorption kinetics similar to those of a cigarette has been proposed and could be an important advancement in pursuing harm reduction through nicotine maintenance.

An important question in promoting nicotine maintenance is the safety of nicotine per se. Without doubt, nicotine medication is much safer than cigarette smoking, with the latter delivering not only as much or more nicotine but also thousands of toxic combustion products to the smoker."

For me, the electronic cigarette is the "consumer-acceptable inhaled nicotine delivery system with absorption kinetics similar to those of a cigarette." Finally! I can refrain from inhaling smoke but continue to think, read, write, and be a productive, happy human being. I find it sad that there are people who are not in any way harmed or affected by what I am doing that will do their utmost to stop me from doing it.

[vocalek]

Nonsense, Edith. I really don't care that it looks like a cigarette. I am not addicted to "pretending" to smoke. I am addicted to being able to remember, concentrate, think, and reason.

If it looked like an asthma inhaler and it worked, I would use it. If it looked like a pill and it worked, I would swallow it. If it looked like a bloomin' rubber ducky and petting it worked, I would pet it. The e-cigarette is the only thing I have found that allows me to NOT SMOKE TOBACCO and still be able to function normally.

The reason it works is that--for me--it provides adequate amounts of nicotine to bring the dopamine levels in my brain up to normal. Low dopamine levels can cause reduced thought processing speed, forgetfulness, and difficulty concentrating. Low dopamine levels can also cause anger and agression.

This could explain why a lot of people become so hostile when they quit smoking. Some even indulge in verbal abuse such as discounting, accusing and blaming, judging and criticizing, undermining, and trivializing,