How can I manage my withdrawl symptoms better?

[JEM1598]

I am currently in college and I need extra energy and focus to keep good grades. Vaping has kept my heart rate up and it keeps me awake. Everytime I try and quit I lose focus in school and want to sleep all day. Also, since my heart rate goes down it feels as though I can't breathe. How can I manage quitting better so that I can still stay on top in my school work?

[VAPEASDEADLY]

Breathing exercises.
Slowly breath through nose, and release slowly .. Someone mentioned the exercise of blowing buddles for breathing exercises.

[YoungAtHeart]

Welcome to our community!

Isn't your Spring Break coming up shortly?  That would be a GREAT time to start your quit.  In the meantime, I highly recommend you do a bunch of reading (sorry!) to prepare for it.  As you begin to understand what is going on, you will naturally find ways to break from it.  Start by studying in places that don't allow smoking....stay away as much as you can from places where you can.

The important thing you can do right now is to educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind. To that end, I highly recommend Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” This is an easy and entertaining read. You can search for it online or at your local library. If you do nothing else to get ready for your quit, please do give this a read. You should also do the tracking and separation exercises recommended here on the site.
 
 After you have completed the recommended reading, it will be time to make an informed choice of the quit aid, if any, you will use. If you go that route, I personally recommend the aids that don't let the addict control the dose such as the available prescription drugs or the patch. If used properly, gum, lozenges and inhalers are fine, but they need to be used only as a last resort after you have tried to delay and distract.   I have seen folks become addicted to them if they substitute them for every cigarette they used to smoke - just trading one addiction for another.  You need to start out with a plan to reduce use of them over time - which the patch does by decreasing the dose contained in them..  For the gum, you can start by cutting each piece in half, then in quarters, then sub regular gum of the same flavor in between, adding more and more regular gum.  For the lozenge, you need to start subbing a mint in between to begin, increasing the number of them over time.  I do not recommend the e-cigarette for four reasons: 1) the vapor has been compared to the polluted air in Bejing on a bad day, 2) they just provide another nicotine delivery system while continuing the hand to mouth smoking motion,  3) the batteries can spontaneously catch on fire and 4) you can become addicted to that and it has not yet been proven safe .
 

 You should also read the posts here and perhaps go to the pages of folks who you think might be helpful. You might visit whyquit.com, quitsmoking.com and livewell.com for the good information contained there. @https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/best-of-ex has lots of blogs written by members of this site with their experiences and guidance. Here is a video to inform you further about nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.

The idea is to change up your routines so the smoking associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from when you smoked. Maybe switch to tea for a bit.  If you always had that first smoke with your coffee, try putting your tennies on right out of bed, going for a quick walk, then taking your shower and THEN your coffee! Rearrange the furniture in the areas you used to smoke so the view is different. Buy your gas at a different station. Take a different route to work. Take a quick walk at break time where the smokers AREN'T.
 
You need to distract yourself through any craves.  You can take a bite out of a lemon (yup - rind and all), put your head in the freezer and take a deep breath of cold air, do a few jumping jacks, go for a brisk walk or march in place, play a computer game.  Keep a cold bottle of water with you from which to sip. Don't let that smoking thought rattle around in your brain unchallenged. Sometimes you need to quit a minute or an hour at a time.  You will need to be disciplined in the early days to distract yourself when a crave hits.    Get busy!  Here is a link to a list of things to do instead of smoke if you need some fresh ideas:
 https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/blogs/Youngatheart.7.4.12-blog/2013/02/25/100-things-to-do-instea...
The conversation in your head in response to the "I want a cigarette" thought needs to be, "Well, since I have decided not to do that anymore, what shall I do instead for the three minutes this crave will last?"  Then DO it.  You will need to put some effort into this in the early days, but it gets easier and easier to do.
 Stay close to us here and ask questions when you have them and for support when you need it. We will be with you every step of the way!

 Nancy

[maryfreecig]

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!!!

[lqsi12]

There are several breathing app on smart phones that will assist you with controlled breathing education practice.   Personally from what I have read about Vaping and E cigs is not good, ( reminds me of the early cigarette days when even doctors thought they were a great stress reliever ) I found this on the John Hopkins school of Medicine web page 

"Truth No. 2: Vaping Is Still Bad for Your Health.

Nicotine is the primary agent in both regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and it is highly addictive. It causes you to crave a smoke and suffer withdrawal symptoms if you ignore the craving. Nicotine is also a toxic substance. It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack.There are many unknowns about vaping, including what chemicals make up the vapor and how they affect physical health over the long term. “People need to understand that e-cigarettes are potentially dangerous to your health,” says Blaha. “You’re exposing yourself to all kinds of chemicals that we don’t yet understand and that are probably not safe.”

Truly your addiction to the nicotine  ( vaping ) is controlling you, it's going to take some r and r, education, practice, and support to help you quit.  You can find all that here on this site. Be prepared to face the fact of addiction, understand that its hard work to break the cycle, so your body going to have a rough time of it for the first few weeks.  But after that the addiction will settle down, and with support you can overcome this addiction, just remember even after you have stopped, for sometimes years, you're still an addict to nicotine.  We are here  so keep in touch each day.  Spring break is coming can you time your quit around it ?  Often if your out of your normal space quitting is a little easier to deal with during that period of time.  

[elvan]

A respiratory therapist when I was in Pulmonary rehabilitation told me to get bubble juice...take a strong breath in and HOLD it and then exhale very slowly through pursed lips.  If you exhale too fast...you won't get any bubbles.  It really does help to control your breathing, keep in mind that making your heart go faster through smoking is NOT a good thing.  Making your heart go faster..naturally...through exercise is a GOOD thing.  You really do not need to poison yourself to remain focused...this addiction is powerful and it will tell you that you do but please, please know that it lies.  Read everything recommended to you here and know that we all want you to succeed.  We cannot do it for you but we can and will support you every step of the way on your journey  I came to this site every morning and every evening when I quit, I read whenever I had the chance, I paid attention to what worked for others and I incorporated everything that I thought might help me into my journey.  This IS a journey,  it is not an event, it is normal to feel the way you do but the good news is that it gets easier.  

Welcome to EX,

Ellen

[shashort]

Welcome to EX. Glad you found us and is a good place for support.  Do the reading recommended above and read lots of blogs here to help you see how people handle their craves and what they did to stop the craves in their tracks.  For me in the beginning I used mints, sugar free gum and carried a water bottle with a straw and fresh ice water. When the crave would come I would take a big drink out of my straw which helped me with inhalation and sucking power.  Take big slow deep breaths and blow out slowly, also exercise was a biggy for me too.  I made a list of things I avoided cleaning by always going out to smoke.  I think I had the cleanest house ever during the beginning of my quit.  Another thing come here and blog when your stuggling it takes your mind away from the want and we are here to help, so type HELP in your title of blog and we will come running.  The great thing about this group we have been through it and we understand how tough it can be.