Nicotine Addiction

[Dlavjr]

Ever since I started working construction a few months ago I've been smoking cigarettes. I finally quit them, but only through the use of vaping, which I'm aware is not an improvement. Problem is, I use smoking as a crutch for anxiety. I get anxious when I'm in traffic coming home from work and it's a 2 hour drive going through Boston, so smoking is something to keep my mind off. Also, I foolishly used smoking to suppress my overeating habit. It worked successfully, but now I'm just smoking more and eating less. It's not necessarily hindering my life in any way, I'm not obsessive over it, I don't need it and I'm not pouring a lot of money into it. Even with vaping daily I still hit the gym, do cardio daily, and work an active job. Thing is, I know long term it's not good for me, and I know I should quit, but I also really don't want to. I enjoy it a lot, and it's been the best method I've found for controlling my anxiety and snacking habits. Please, any advice would help. 

[BlackEar]

Hi!

I started smoking around two years ago for the same reason you mentioned, anxiety. Around four months ago I went cold turkey and haven't smoked since.

The thing about cigarette addiction is, nicotine is not that addictive on itself but the act of smoking is what makes quitting harder. And there are almost no habits that can fully replace the act of smoking.

If you were to quit, I suggest you start analyzing your environment and your mood when you are tempted to smoke and try to eliminate the trigger factors as much as you can (I stopped hanging out with my smoking coworkers). Try to put yourself in environments when you're not allowed to vape (I started going to non smoking cafe's for working. that one helped me a lot.) And lastly find better solutions for the internal causes (if it's anxiety you can meditate or journal etc etc.)

One more thing, If you're worried about your health and wanna quit, quit! Because just thinking about the side effects and not actually quitting is gonna give you the side effects PLUS some placebo in result of you thinking about how harmful it is to your body.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck!

[Dlavjr]

17 hours ago, BlackEar said:

Hi!

I started smoking around two years ago for the same reason you mentioned, anxiety. Around four months ago I went cold turkey and haven't smoked since.

The thing about cigarette addiction is, nicotine is not that addictive on itself but the act of smoking is what makes quitting harder. And there are almost no habits that can fully replace the act of smoking.

If you were to quit, I suggest you start analyzing your environment and your mood when you are tempted to smoke and try to eliminate the trigger factors as much as you can (I stopped hanging out with my smoking coworkers). Try to put yourself in environments when you're not allowed to vape (I started going to non smoking cafe's for working. that one helped me a lot.) And lastly find better solutions for the internal causes (if it's anxiety you can meditate or journal etc etc.)

One more thing, If you're worried about your health and wanna quit, quit! Because just thinking about the side effects and not actually quitting is gonna give you the side effects PLUS some placebo in result of you thinking about how harmful it is to your body.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck!

You hit the nail on the head. It's the act of smoking, plus the social benefit, that keeps me hooked. Smoking has been helping me further my career in construction as well, because I hang out with the bosses while I smoke and get to know them, which gives me an edge as a worker. Plus when in traffic it's hard for me to get my mind off the craving. I started hitting the gym again and I'm able to do a surprising amount of cardio considering I smoke half a pack a day. I don't feel any side affects now which makes it harder because I don't physically feel a reason to quit, but I've witnessed the long term affects and it's more than concerning. It's like, I know I should, but I just don't have a good enough reason to yet. And with the financial stress I'm under right now I have a hard time finding the strength to let go. Thank you for your advice though, I'm trying my absolute hardest to at least slow it down.

[Aeris]

limit yourself at 2 cigs per day, morning + before night.

and only with social bosses. ( you can drink a beer sometimes with friend, but you don't drink every morning )

don't cling to "over doing it" and don't cling to " I should cause X"

the more you do it, the less efficient & the more toxic & the more dependant.

coffee increase the need for smoking. cut coffee completely. ( if you do it )

 

I m cutting completely on smoking weed ( and smoking, cause I wasn't smoking cigs ), and that was my fuel for work, I sleeped 15 hours and my head is still a bit heavy now from quitting it.

same, social friend smoking weed, very dangerous, but I choose to cut the friends. Not that I hate them, just another story will begin and those people drive me mad and at the bottom right now. I cannot motivate them, then that's their problems not mine anymore.

motivate yourself for yourself, the number of excuse to keep doing a behavior our ego loves is infinite.

then the fairy tail whispered in your ears than smoking makes you happy.

and while you wait something there is a ton of things better than smoking.

more than 4 cigs a day is pure addiction, no pleasure, all your cigs should feel like the first in the morning.

I was smoking weed every 5 hours, but that was already too much, I m just cutting down and focusing on being healthy again.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Aeris

[Forestluv]

@Dlavjr Nicotine is sooo hard. I chewed tobacco for years and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever quit by far. . . . I’m not familiar with vaping nic. Is it just a nicotine oil/wax that vaporizes? If so, that would seem far better than smoking the dozens of toxins in cigs. I wonder if you could slowly decrease the nicotine concentration. . . One thing I became aware of while quitting nicotine: a big part of the anxiety/jitters that nicotine reduces is the addiction/withdrawal of the nicotine itself. 
 

It also sounds like you aren’t fully addicted to it and can manage. Perhaps it’s offering more pros than cons in your life for the time being. Kinda like someone consuming caffeine. 

[Dlavjr]

1 hour ago, Serotoninluv said:

@Dlavjr Nicotine is sooo hard. I chewed tobacco for years and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever quit by far. . . . I’m not familiar with vaping nic. Is it just a nicotine oil/wax that vaporizes? If so, that would seem far better than smoking the dozens of toxins in cigs. I wonder if you could slowly decrease the nicotine concentration. . . One thing I became aware of while quitting nicotine: a big part of the anxiety/jitters that nicotine reduces is the addiction/withdrawal of the nicotine itself. 
 

It also sounds like you aren’t fully addicted to it and can manage. Perhaps it’s offering more pros than cons in your life for the time being. Kinda like someone consuming caffeine. 

Vape juice consists of water, flavoring, nicotine, vegetable glycerin, and propylene glycol, according to the Google search I just made. Admittedly I know very little about vaping, so I really don't know how it compares to cigarettes, but I can't imagine it's as bad. Certainly cleaner. I just love cigarettes themselves. I know that juul offers lower nicotine pods but with all the commotion going on with vaping right now I'm not sure I can get ahold of them.

I'm certainly not fully addicted, I can say no to a cig and there are times I'm just not feeling one. It's definitely offering more pros currently but like I said, I wanna avoid it coming back to bite me in the ass later in life. I'm young and push my body to it's limits and at this rate I'm gonna have a lot of health problems later in life if I don't catch them now.

It seems like vaping is a better alternative but it's more expensive for me and honestly I have a tendency to unconsciously vape throughout the day, which is where I'd argue it's just as bad. I don't just treat it like a cig, I practically chain smoke vapes. I've tried quitting cold turkey but I end up cracking a lot easier that way because it just becomes overwhelming, but I have a hard time easing myself off as well because it just becomes second nature to reach for a cig at certain points in the day. Vaping is the only way I can strictly quit cigarettes but once I try quitting the vaping the cigarette cravings return. It's a cycle, and I'm not sure of an alternative that works for me.  

[Dlavjr]

3 hours ago, Aeris said:

limit yourself at 2 cigs per day, morning + before night.

and only with social bosses. ( you can drink a beer sometimes with friend, but you don't drink every morning )

don't cling to "over doing it" and don't cling to " I should cause X"

the more you do it, the less efficient & the more toxic & the more dependant.

coffee increase the need for smoking. cut coffee completely. ( if you do it )

 

I m cutting completely on smoking weed ( and smoking, cause I wasn't smoking cigs ), and that was my fuel for work, I sleeped 15 hours and my head is still a bit heavy now from quitting it.

same, social friend smoking weed, very dangerous, but I choose to cut the friends. Not that I hate them, just another story will begin and those people drive me mad and at the bottom right now. I cannot motivate them, then that's their problems not mine anymore.

motivate yourself for yourself, the number of excuse to keep doing a behavior our ego loves is infinite.

then the fairy tail whispered in your ears than smoking makes you happy.

and while you wait something there is a ton of things better than smoking.

more than 4 cigs a day is pure addiction, no pleasure, all your cigs should feel like the first in the morning.

I was smoking weed every 5 hours, but that was already too much, I m just cutting down and focusing on being healthy again.

Weed is a hard habit to kick too, I was a pretty major stoner for a while but I just got sick of being high all the time. I feel like maybe I just need to get to that point with cigarettes where I just straight get sick of them and ease off them naturally without really consciously making an effort, because the ego certainly has a major issue with "if you tell me I can't I'll want to even more". Thing is, I don't know how long it'll take for me to get to that point. 

[Michael569]

On 13/10/2019 at 3:28 PM, Dlavjr said:

Thing is, I know long term it's not good for me, and I know I should quit, but I also really don't want to

I'd say start by making up your mind about what it is you really want. "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable." 

So it seems like smoking is masking a) anxiety b) food cravings. 

Food cravings may come down to blood sugar dysregulation. Eating the wrong food at wrong times. Eating junk your blood sugar skyrockets and drops subsequently leaving you with further cravings. This would be causing you to overeat because your blood glucose and insulin are riding a rollercoaster together. To optimize this it is wise to eat foods with lower glycemic load, eating regularly but avoiding sweets and processed foods. Implementing more plant food sources, more whole grains and legums, these are perfect foods for blood sugar regulations. However if your cravings are due to boredom or stress, that's a different story. You can work with a nutritionist on this. 

Anxieties are a bit harder to tackle but it has been discussed many time all over this forum. You can try various abdominal breathing techniques, daily meditation is a must and then observing and investigating your anxieties. If yous say it is about a long commute....well perhaps you should consider changing that. There are some adaptogenic herbs such as Siberian Ginseng or Ashwagandha that may help you as well. Try them in tinctures not capsules. Otherwise finding ways to cope with commute. Audiobooks are good. Guided meditations are perfect as well. 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by Michael569

[Charlotte]

OP I went from smoking from the age of 13 and quit at the age of 26. I then vaped for 3 years. I then decided to completely cut out the nic from thr e-cig just this year, I'm not going to lie it wasn't easy to quit but it wasn't the hardest thing ever. The 3 week long night sweats were the hardest thing for me to deal with. Yes I did crave extra food (naturally) but I substituted unhealthy food cravings for healthy foods (such as low fat low sugar soups for example) and then just 2 weeks ago I noticed how much I wasn't even picking up the e-cig anymore so I decided to quit that also. Yep I've struggled because like you I genuinely thought I was using it to handle stressful situations... turns out that's bullshit. I've smoked something from the age of 13 so I never knew what it was like without any sort of vice and now I don't smoke anything... I know the bullshit your mind tricks you into with them... You will actually get on just fine without anything I promise you.

Like Michael said though, you have to make your mind up on what you actually want to do otherwise you just won't do it. 

You need anymore advice or guidance be sure to let me know x

[Dlavjr]

On 10/16/2019 at 6:00 PM, Aeris said:

 

Thank you all for the great advice. Honestly I'm not sure what I want and I don't know how to figure that out. I have a love hate relationship with cigs, I wanna quit for beneficial reasons because I just miss how good my health used to be, but I love cigs for how much I've benefited from them with the way I live my life now. Maybe I'm not ready to quit, but how can I get to a point that I am? Do I just continue smoking until I reach that? Or should I push myself because it'll only get worse? 

[Charlotte]

@Dlavjr Go and contemplate what your health (life) would look like in minimum 8 years if you continue. Go and research the effects on your body. 

[Aeris]

On 17/10/2019 at 3:31 AM, Dlavjr said:

Weed is a hard habit to kick too, I was a pretty major stoner for a while but I just got sick of being high all the time. I feel like maybe I just need to get to that point with cigarettes where I just straight get sick of them and ease off them naturally without really consciously making an effort, because the ego certainly has a major issue with "if you tell me I can't I'll want to even more". Thing is, I don't know how long it'll take for me to get to that point. 

you can try something, but that's dangerous, I would abuse for one day. But like abusing. Like 10 packs. Smoking all day, never stop.

But that's on you if you do it. This can lead your body to rework it, and after 2 hours, you should be sick of smoking, and you should keep doing it. ( that would be my method, it worked with alcohol ! was sick 2 days ! asked blessing all day for not suffer that much, now I m very soft with it, not drunk since years. ( only once, but it wasn't my attempt ) it was like a vaccin though )

I think that if you can disgust yourself with it, it could work. ( but that's on you if you choose that radicality )

being sick aswell is a good way to stop addiction, when you're too sick too smoke. Get a little cold haha, if forces you to purge yourself.

that's the "violent method" other is just reflecting like @Charlotte.

but sometimes it's not enough, if you can, focus only on the idea of "why I should quit", meditate and contemplate, another good way and less violent.

 

it will maybe take weeks, but in the end if you mind focus on solution you'll find your own custom answer.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Aeris

[Dlavjr]

On 10/16/2019 at 6:00 PM, Aeris said:

you can try something, but that's dangerous, I would abuse for one day. But like abusing. Like 10 packs. Smoking all day, never stop

That's pretty intense lmao. I can definitely imagine that working but that'd be like a last resort. I can hardly smoke two cigarettes in a row without feeling sick, but within an hour or two I'm ready for another one. I think the idea of smoking always ends up being better than actually smoking which I need to keep in mind. 

[Dlavjr]

7 hours ago, This is the end said:

When your health is seriously affected, you would not do the same as you do right now. That sense of urgency is now missing. You need to have that urgency in your experience.

Change is also identity based. Identify as a person who is aware of his health. 

So would it be wise of me to get myself into a mindset of "every cigarette I have is closer to killing me", kind of condition myself into feeling like it is an urgent need to quit when it's not? I used to consider myself a very health conscious person, I'm fighting bit by bit to get it back. I'm doing full body workouts 3 days a week to start, and I can definitely tell smoking has weakened my respitory system already because I have to fight a lot harder to finish a full mile run than I used to in my "prime". Cigarettes kill my appetite for anything more than a couple snacks here and there, but I've already had a lot of issues eating full meals just because I get very bad acid reflux and stomach aches if I eat over my limit, which is not much. Even when I was attempting a vegetarian diet I had to stop myself from eating a big meal, which is why I have an issue with snacking, but when I smoke a cig I can keep myself from wanting to eat a lot. But I digress. Point is, I haven't felt the urgency, but I can see how smoking is slowly but surely starting to affect me more and more every day. Oddly I feel like my immune system is weaker as well, I'm not sure if that's also a side affect of cigarettes. 

[ThermalTide]

As someone who works for a vapor company, I can definitely say with confidence that nicotine is no joke when it comes to addiction. Something that has helped me a lot in the past is dropping to 0mg juice, which still allows for the oral fixation and whatnot to occur, but removes nicotine from the equation. The first week will be rough (headaches, fatigue, etc.) but once you actually break the cycle, you'll feel so good about it. I really struggle with nicotine because I'm surrounded by it all day, but I've made the promise to myself that this will be my last year with it. Its interesting to see addiction close up all the time, people drop hundreds of dollars on nicotine products. I've encountered a lot of people on the verge of mental breaks because they ran out of juice or their coil fried. It's almost sad to see sometimes. Good luck to you!

[Average Investor]

If you are just vaping that is a huge improvement from smoking cigarettes. Look at the report from the royal College of physicians. However, air is the best thing for your lungs and mind. You are going to have to find the root causes for those issues if you really want to get past them. Find what triggers your anxiety. It might even be what you eat or drink things like caffeine. Overeating can also be part of what you eat if you are consuming a lot of dense fattening foods, but it could even just route back to the cause of the anxiety too. I would try to work on adding healthy habits and that will ease wanting to have bad habits and encourage you to improve. It's a step at a time and do what feels best for you.

When I quit nicotine after using it for 5 years I was eating candy for a couple weeks to help with it. But really you could just tough it out for a couple weeks and most of the withdraw will be gone. Few months and you won't even think about it anymore.  I actually completely removed added sugar from diet as well after that, so I did not just replace it with sugar. A lot of the issue might just be what you are trying to get off your mind while you are doing it, or using it to distract yourself.  

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

What about nicotine gum? Thats even better for tapering off than vaping. 

[Average Investor]

@TrynaBeTurquoise I don't think there is anything that has worked statistically better for quitting than vaping. I've seen first hand a large amount of smokers quitting cigarettes and eventually being able to quit vaping. Some of the pharmaceuticals are even really harmful for it. I'd be very skeptical of anything else on the market to be honest. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Average Investor

[inFlow]

@Dlavjr smoke mindfully, be conscious of every inhale of the smoke and you will quit within a few packs. Inhale, feel the taste of the smoke, feel what it does to your throat, to your lungs, how it affects your heart, then exhale feeling all the smoke come out. You will notice that you are just poisoning yourself with actual burnt smoke. DO IT MINDFULLY

[Dlavjr]

Update for all of you, I've managed to stop smoking cigarettes for 2 weeks now and I've been strictly vaping, and now I've been slowly cutting down on that as well. I'm hoping to drop it all together by the end of the week, as well as clean up my diet. All of your advice has helped, I really appreciate the kind words and motivation. Wish me luck