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Give and get support around quitting

First day

Todays my first day of not vaping. I feel anxious and hyper. Does anyone know why?

11 Replies
YoungAtHeart
Member

Welcome to our community!

You are anxious because you have stopped feeding the sensors in your brain that have been sensitized to nicotine! It is a normal withdrawal symptom. Read on to better understand what is going on. You will need to substitute “vape” or “device” as you do the reading I will recommend. Research suggests nicotine may be as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Because vaping is available to you most anywhere, anytime, I believe it might be more difficult from which to break free than regular tobacco products - but it CAN be done!

 

Considering vaping to be “safe” is far from a given - there is much research to be done. What we know is that vaping 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. Recently vaping has been in the headlines because of the possibility of it causing severe lung damage in young people. An August, 2019 study at the University of Pennsylvania showed that a single instance of vaping immediately lead to reduced vascular function: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190820101601.htm I am glad you have decided to seek our help to break free! It isn't easy – but it IS doable!

Nicotine addiction is nicotine addiction - no matter the delivery device - and how to beat any of them is about the same. Every time you read :"cigarette" in the information I will give you, just sub "Juul" or “vape,” or “device.”   The one thing different I would recommend is that you first start to reduce the nicotine content of the pods.  Start with a lesser amount in, like, one in every four, then three, etc. until you are only using the smallest amount, or reduce the amount of nicotine in the pods over time. That way the physical withdrawal should be more manageable. You might find useful information, as well, here: https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/quitting-smoking-vaping/quitting-e-cigarettes.

 

I recommend that you educate yourself on what nicotine does to your body and mind To that end, I suggest Allen Carr's “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” . Vaping was not a concern when this was written, so you will need to sub “vape”as necessary. This is an easy and entertaining read which can be found online or at your local library. If you do nothing else to get ready for your quit, please do give this a read. Here is a video to inform you further about nicotine addiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpWMgPHn0Lo&feature=youtu.be.

 

 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.

 

The idea is to change up your routines so the vaping associations are reduced.  Drink your coffee with your OTHER hand in a place different from where you vaped. Maybe switch to tea for a bit.  If you always had that first puff 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 vape so the view is different. Take a different route when you are out and about so you aren't driving by your vaping supply shop. Take a quick walk at break time instead of vaping.


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 vaping 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 vape 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 to vape" 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

MarilynH
Member

Welcome to the community greg.thomasian you've made the best decision that you'll ever make in your lifetime and it's definetly the best gift that you'll ever give yourself which is the gift of LIFE, please read everything you can because there's a wealth of information right here on this site to strengthen your resolve to kick poison to the curb permanently it's not easy by any stretch of the imagination BUT boy oh boy it's so worth it to be Free stay close because we're all here to help you in any way we can you can do this quit believe it deep breaths and start stacking up those precious Days Of Freedom so each evening you can say YAY for another Day WON.....

indingrl
Member

Welcome and Yes - YOU are going THROUGH NICOTINE withdraw - YOUR OLD NICOTINE MIND is CRAVING to vaping sucking on DEATH NICOTINE pods  -so I was told when I FIRST STOP SUCKING on DEATH STICKS - to EDUCATE myself on MY NICOTINE ADDICTION - people said  education is ONE of the keys - reading ALL XEteam offers and Dr Hays and choosing - blogs by reading them -  blogs from anyone -  YOU choose to read to learn to get a NEW mind and DECIDE for YOUR self YOUR NEW NON SMOKER life style of living ONE day at a time - just for TODAY - NOT ONE vape puff for YOU - blog BEFORE you choose to suck on vaping nicotine death pods please take what HELPS and let go of the rest - to be HELPFUL is MY only aim - thank youcongrats on nicotine FREEDOM

indingrl
Member

 for YOUR NICOTINE FREEDOM - WAY TO  GO

Barbscloud
Member

Welcome to the Ex and congrats on your quit.  Yes, being anxious and hyer is common for nicotine withdrawal.  Stay close and reach out.

Barb

sweetplt
Member

Hi and Welcome to Ex’s...greg.thomasian 

If have gotten some great advice above me...but number one reason you are having these feelings, is withdrawal.  You are and addict and when you no longer feed the addiction, your body craves it back...you need to do healthy things in place of vaping...keep busy and/or rest and do not feed the addiction....you can do this, but it takes time...we are here for you...keep close to the support site...keep us posted on how you are doing...Colleen 552 DOF 

Day two and feel like a new man. Thanks you all soo much for the support and kind words and answers to my questions. I feel better today/this morning. I SOS yesterday and kept really busy. I am thinking I’ll continue this process if i find more unknown trigers. 

again thanks so much,

Greg

sweetplt
Member

Congratulations to Day 2 greg.thomasian  Greg...Day 1 ... is Day Won...whoo hoo...!

Oh there will be more triggers ...in fact, if you haven’t yet, read at My EX Plan | BecomeAnEX replace smoking with vaping...and here you will think of some of your tough triggers and what you will do in place of the vaping...hang in there and “onward and upward”...Colleen 552 DOF