• AnalogRegression@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    I argue that vaping is far far worse than cigarettes given that the ability to “smoke” indoors is much greater.

    I recently quit smoking after 6 or so years. I had no choice due to $$ and problems maintaining a state id (super fucking hard if you don’t have a physical address mailbox). I used to walk 3 to sometimes 15 miles a day as long as I had smokes. It was forcing me to get the fuck outside multiple times a day. Chain smoking plus cardio seemed to have a extremely positive effect on my blood pressure, because when I quit smoking, I completely stopped going outside 100%, save it for a minute or two throwing out the trash. My blood pressure SKYROCKETED and remains so ever since I was forced to quit smoking 🚬. Crazy but true.

    I had literally zero issues going through the quitting process thanks to the nicotine gum (niccorette branded gum, the Amazon off brand had zero sweetener). It completely killed off the intense cig cravings I would usually get during no smokes periods. After a month and a half, I completely stopped going for the gum without even thinking about it. Done and done.

    I’m constantly hearing others switch to vaping to stop smoking. I imagine if I was vaping, my addiction to nicotine would be much worse than with smoking, because the temptation to smoke (vape) would be easier to succumb to if I were able to smoke (vape) indoors. Above all, it is the nicotine that drives the urge to smoke (vape), it changes certain brain receptors and it’s irreversible. It takes many years for the receptors to return to normal after smoking cessation, at least that’s how it was for me the first time I quit smoking around age 21 two decades ago. Back then I quit cold turkey and it took 2 years for the random cig cravings to go away.

    • Impractical_Island@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      I’ve found quitting vaping is easier for the cravings than with cigarettes, because the tobacco has other stuff in it that makes the craving intense when I don’t have those, but vaping is something that I can set down and not be bothered so much. Circumstances of the present moment are particularly stressful and I’m working on staying sober, too, so as I’m alone right now, I’m smoking, but I’m only smoking 3-4 puffs before putting it out. I agree, the ease at which I can grab a vape would make it easier to take a small hit, and I would instinctively do that, but under ideal circumstances, vaping has made it easier to set it down for an extended period of time before stress really took off.