Hey guys, just sharing what worked for me.

35 days vape free and 15 days nicotine free.

I vaped and used other nicotine products like tobacco pouches and Zyn for 16 years straight. Never even tried to quit.

This is pretty simple guys. There’s two parts to this addiction. The physical vape device/hand to mouth habit is the first, and the nicotine chemical dependence is the second half.

I’m no rocket scientist, but I thought it might be easier to separate the two. So I did.

I searched my closet and car and gathered around 50 vapes that were almost dead. Put those in a Walmart grocery sack and put in a gas station garbage can.

I knew the addict in me would go back looking for them so I held onto just one vape for about 3 days and vaped normally. Until I knew that garbage can would be empty and I couldn’t go back searching in it. Then I bought nicotine replacement therapy patches, 21 mg, to put on my shoulder and also picked up some nicotine gum, both from Walmart.

I drowned that last vape in water, put on the patch and chewed the gum.

That was September 15.

I’ve quit other drugs before, and the best advice I ever got was to “embrace the suck”.

In this case, it was not only to embrace the suck but to embrace the absence of the vape.

Every time my hand went for it or my brain thought about grabbing it, I just thought, it’s gone. There’s nothing to find anymore. Not for me, not for people at work, not for my kids, it’s gone. And I embraced the absence of it. I was still getting nicotine from the patch and gum so things went smooth.

No more searching for under my pillow at night. It was gone. Did it suck? Of course. But anything worth doing is hard.

Felt kind of empty not having it there, but it’s not the hardest thing in the world to just reinforce the brain to know that it’s gone. It gets easier each day.

And for reference, I was a fiend. I was sucking on that thing day and night, in the workplace, blowing it out right before people walked in the room, blowing it out between my legs at my desk, where I knew it would dissipate and nobody would see it unless they walked up right behind me. Constantly hiding it, blowing it out at home right before kids walked in the room, hoping they didn’t see.

Anyway, used the patch and gum for three weeks and when I felt ready, I threw away the patches and gum on the night of October 5 (after 3 weeks of no vape and just using patches and gum).

That’s the last time I used nicotine, Oct 5. So here I am at 15 more days of being nicotine free and feeling pretty damn good.

Did I have a couple days of feeling a little off and maybe even a bit more of an asshole to my family? Yes, that did happen and I did feel a slight bit of depression but really guys, this is childs play compared to most other drugs.

There’s virtually zero physical withdrawal as far as being actually sick. It’s pretty much just mental. Anyway, not meaning to boast by saying that, but nicotine is fucking easy compared to other drugs, which I’m sure many of you know and have experience with.

What about the world saying that nicotine is the most addictive drug? I don’t know what stats they’re coming up with, but I don’t see people at rehab going through acute physical withdrawals for smoking or vaping.

It can literally be done at home and is actually quite easy. The only mental battle is fighting yourself.

Literally, I’m sitting here, scratching my head, wondering why this is the most addictive chemical. I call bullshit on that, but I digress.

When something is easy to quit that’s when our brain decides it wants to go back to it because it was easy right? Wrong. Going back to it keeps us in the same spinning carousel forever.

So make the choice and be done with it. Cold turkey works just fine as well. I just decided to split it into two parts.

I didn’t want to read Allen Carr’s entire book so I asked Google for a summary.

What Carr reinforces over and over through each chapter is pretty much one simple truth, and that is nicotine does not solve stress or anxiety. It is the very substance that caused the stress and anxiety because you start going into withdrawal (even if you don’t feel it) within just a couple hours.

So it solves the problem that it created. It’s called a negative reward loop. Understand that and once you step away from that circling addiction carousel, it all becomes clear that it was only solving a problem that itself created.

So I decided to step off that carousel and looking back at it now it all makes sense. It’s better just to be done with this shit. It’s expensive, it ruins your health, and it’s not solving anything. I have less anxiety and less stress now and feel more at ease as my dopamine regulates and my brain rewires. And I’m only two weeks out clean.

If you read all of this, I hope I’ve helped you and best of luck to you in your quitting journey.

After 8 years of smoking cigarettes and 10 years of vaping, I smashed my vape. Tank, mod, coils, all gone.

I quit using nicotine in May and switched to 0% juice.

I kept telling myself that I'm not even getting the nicotine. Its just a fog machine.

I feel so relieved, like a curse has been broken.

Day 16 really felt like a turning point where I didn’t think about vaping pretty much the whole day - and yes I’m also flexing my other clocks.

Hi all! Just wanted to make this post as I found it helpful to read other success stories when i quit.

I quit vaping 2 months ago after 8 years of vaping / smoking cigarettes. I don’t even know what number quit attempt it was, but in the 20s for sure.

The main things that helped me were gum, distraction, and honestly isolating for like 4 days. After 4 days I started to accept my new normal.

One of the hardest parts was sleep, which I’ve always had issues with, but it is slowly getting better (no more waking up every hour to vape lol) and i do fall asleep SO MUCH EASIER. Staying asleep has always just been hard for me

I also have noticed my appetite has been much better and I’ve noticed much faster muscle growth.

A lot of people recommend the Allen Carr book, tbh I found the core ideas pretty helpful for shifting my perspective but not the most helpful thing as people make it out to be or a godsend by any means.

Sorry this post has been so long and confusing, but feel free to leave any questions and I’d be happy to answer.

I quit vaping a year ago today. I woke up, took my last ever hit, and threw my vape in a glass of water. I haven't taken a single hit since and feel SO much better.

Join me on my journey to quit vaping, starting tomorrow! 🥹🤍 If you have any tips or advice that could help me quit for good, please leave them in the comments. I really want to stop vaping and start living a healthier life. Wish me luck! 🙏🏻✨

This may seem crazy but I don’t think I would recommend anybody who vapes to quit cold turkey. As in, no NRTs, no Desmoxan, no weaning off with vape juice, etc… I spent too much time failing miserably at quitting because I kept seeing people say that quitting cold turkey is optimal because you’re not prolonging the addiction. Sure, there are a handful of people it may work for but the vast majority I doubt. I know more people who used some method of tapering to quit compared to cold turkey, anecdotal sure but significant in my eyes.

It’s terrible advice, the withdrawal symptoms are brutal and it’s really hard to be a functional adult while undergoing that process. I wish I didn’t try 100 times to quit cold turkey and just allowed myself the help, there’s no shame. Desmoxan helped tremendously and I’m now three weeks vape free.

All this to say, I think as a community “quitting cold turkey” should not be entertained as legit advice. Obviously this advice is null and void if you need to quit because of a health reason.

I'd quit smoking for EIGHT YEARS. Last fall I was in Italy and had a cigarette with a glass of wine, like a moron. When I got back home, I didn't want to start again. While I was out with some friends, I snagged her vape. Just to give it a try because I was craving a cigarette. I had NO IDEA how much harder it would be to quit this thing. Probably because you can do it anywhere and not smell horrible after doing it.

My husband has health problems and I'd paved the way for him to get on the vape too. I want to quit, and I REALLY want him to quit. We're trying for the millionth time to give it up, and this morning I grabbed the vape out of his bag and refused to give it back. I pleaded with him to let me keep it for two days while I listen to Allen Carr's easy way and quit that way. I feel like an absolute junky. Sneaking this thing out of his bag, making a million promises to really quit this time. WTF have I become?!

I have been vaping for the past 3 years. It started as peer pressure and now it's an addiction so if anyone has any tips please help.P.S this is just one of the many vapes I have.

27 years of smoking/iqos/vaping - nothing I tried worked. Honestly, I was going cold turkey trusting my motivation and it didn't last more than a day.
So I finally did research (NRT - gum), made a plan - no devices (Phase 1) supported by Nic Gum in gradually decreasing quantities, till I go to zero nic.

Thinking of others like me (and to stay distracted when I'm hit by cravings), I'm put together an Android app - that understands what you smoke, your triggers, and supports when you need distraction from a fleeting craving. Releasing soon. Deets on the website quitterly.com

Would love feedback from all of you inspirational people. If someone if seriously looking to quit, I'm recruiting a founding cohort - absolutely free access to the app, personal mentoring - all I ask for is honest feedback so we can help as many people kick the habit as possible.

Cheers

GJ

hi all,

so this is really embarrassing. I've gotten a little lax in hiding my addiction lately, and today I got an email from my supervisor saying she wants to discuss a concern that was raised regarding my recent work shifts. The only thing that comes to mind is that I've started hitting my vape in the back room (we have no cameras as it's a dorm building).

idk why I thought I could get away with it. addiction is a bitch. I'm sure a coworker noticed and reported it (rightfully).

anyway, regardless of if the report is even about that, I need to take this as my sign to just quit. No more weaning. no more pussyfooting. but i have no clue how to do that without ruining my life and grades. I feel so dumb for vaping at work and even more dumb for thinking it would be fine.

how do I do this?

please don't tell me how dumb this was. I know. I just need to kick this monster once and for all. I likely won't get fired as this is a first offense, but how the hell am I supposed to look my boss in the eyes and not burst out in tears at how stupid and embarrassing this is?

So, I have been using nicotine since 2014 in one for or another. For most of the time it has been vaping. I majorly cut back on Monday this week. Felt like crap but tried to manage intense feelings and dizziness with limiting myself to I hit every 30 min. Needed to still be a parent of two and get things done. This one every 30 minutes was still a very diminished amount. Tuesday I continued the same thing but stopped all together from like 1pm to 6pm. Then one every hour. This morning I have been awake for 1 hour so far and have not used any nicotine yet. But I will have to bring one kid to school soon and go to the store later and pick the same kid up from school later. I feel dizzy, light headed, cold but hot ect. How am I suposed to do things through the day with feeling this way? How long should this specific part last because im not going to lie, from what I can tell so far it seems like this is a phisical reaction over a mental need to want to vape. Meaning, I seem to currently be fine with not nessisarily wanting to vape, I just feel light headed and dizzy among other seemingly phisical reactions that I know will no longer be there is I just vape again. Any advice would be helpful as well as maybe a quick, this is how long the phisical light headed feeling lasted because for me so far, it is the worst part of it being i have to still do things through the day and the fog and being almost dizzy is stressful in itself. Thanks!

....who has managed to quit vaping without scaling down nicotine or having used nicotine gums,how was your personal journey?

Sorry for my english 😅

Hi, I’ve been wanting to quit vaping and have tried once before in the four years I’ve been nicotine addicted, im 22/F and I want to quit before the side effects worsen. I live in a very stressful household and would always be constantly vaping and wouldn’t feel the need to stop because I’m generally a very anxious person.
Is there anything that you guys have used to distract yourselves when craving? Like sparkling water or mints or even meditation?
I know it’s gonna suck really bad for at least that first week and I’d have to try to not cave when someone or something pisses me off, but how has it been for others?
I don’t want to use patches either because I know that won’t stop me, anyway thanks for listening!

Yeah so I’ve been vaping for roughly 5 years, I’m 23 now. I can’t think of a time or activity where I didn’t have my vape. I decided to quit A TRILLION times and I literally can’t. I’ve never hated a habit more than this one. Every hit was torture and I couldn’t make myself stop, like I would actively ask myself wtf are you doing, even be in pain and still hit it. Every attempt concluded with me getting a new one after 2 or 3 days and it was crazy because I’d literally drive myself to the smoke shop while not wanting to do it, it was a complete loss of self control.

Not too long ago I started to try and loose weight, I quit for 2 months, lost weight, picked it back up because “it suppressed my appetite”, stopped loosing weight. In between that attempt and now I tried to quit 3 times, failed all of them.

Until now, I’m only 4 days in. I threw away a full RAZ because I’m committed to my health. I want to lose weight, I want to do good at the gym, I want to play tennis, I want to learn how to run, I WANT TO TASTE MY FOOD.

For some reason this run feels A LOT easier since I’ve been doing some things differently. I know I’m not too far in to be writing a success story but this is a win for me and I do feel like it’s the end of my addiction so I wanted to share the things I’m doing that make me feel like that and that also make this a lot easier. I hope this helps someone :)

1. Keep the old (non rechargeable) vape
Controversial, I have an old HQD (the small one) that every other day suddenly gets recharged and has like 2 soft hits in it. If I’m feeling a strong urge I just hit it and its gone, doesn’t come back. Good thing is you can only hit it once till it charges back up so you have to be really mindful about the hit.

2. At least for the first few days don’t keep count
My other attempts kinda failed because I would have a time tracking app and I’d check it regularly. I’d be feeling like I went a whole week without a vape and then realize only 2 days went by which would discourage me.

3. KEEP YOURSELF OCCUPIED
I have anxiety and THINK TOO MUCH. These past few days I’d literally wake up and be like yeah right I don’t have a vape, it would be like the thought unlocks itself first thing in the morning. The way you swoosh those thoughts away is by DOING SOMETHING. I would get out of bed and make my bed, brush my teeth etc and boom thought gone.

4. Triggering settings
I’d hit my vape before and after a workout, driving, GAMING OMG. All. The. Time. So naturally, for someone as addicted as me, every setting is triggering to vape. My solution? Music. Car? Put a song on blast or a playlist and sing it all the way. Gaming? MUSIC. Background music, listen to a song MINDFULLY all the way. Before and after gym? a little sweet treat…. This is just what works for me. I found out that music actually gives me that distraction, it’s 2/3 mins that you’re focusing on something else. Enough for the thought to go away.

5. Positive thoughts/my reasons why to stop
- Vaping only feels like a reward because every time you hit it you’re just soothing withdrawal.
- You dont need it.
- Expensive
- You might appreciate life or not (I have depression) but it’s really not worth to decay your body like this.
- I’m on birth control-> blood clots
- Takes you away from small moments. My parents don’t know I vape. It’s been way too many times they invited me somewhere or asked me to hang out and I said no because I couldn’t vape.
- Food tastes better
- No more getting tired going up the stairs
- Four days only and I have so much energy, sleep is better
- I feel awake, like I’m actually here. Crazy feeling idk how to explain it.
- FREE YOURSELF

6. Don’t restrict yourself/make it permanent.
Ofc everyone’s goal is to quit permanently. Your brain doesn’t need to know that. Just quit for a week, quit for 2 days. Get one later, idc. (Don’t tho) Trick yourself into thinking you can get one eventually but hopefully by the time that week goes by you’ll feel better already and you’ll have to think: If I decide to quit again, would I want to go through a HARD WEEK OF WITHDRAWAL again?? No right? then don’t get a vape and trigger the withdrawals.

7. And last…
Don’t dramatize. I get it it’s hard, everyone says its the hardest thing to quit. okay yeah I get it. all the times I tried to quit I told myself: okay probably the hardest thing I’ll ever do in my life, I have to put so much effort, I’m gonna suffer so much from withdrawals. What did this do? Give me an excuse to go back. “Oh its so hard, I deserve to take a break or quit trying to quit because life is so hard rn and I can’t go through this rn” No, stop. It’s not hard. You literally have to NOT do something. It is a little hard, it’s not as hard as your brain is tricking you into thinking it is. Trust.

1. One more thing sorry lol
   I currently don’t have any friends that vape but, a good head start if you really do struggle with this, start by not owning a vape. Don’t think of it as I WON’T VAPE ANYMORE. think of it as I don’t OWN a vape anymore. That way you can taper down and kind of stop doing it as much.

Again, I’m only 4 days in but I tried so many times and I know I can do it. I know everyone’s experiences are different but this is what is going through my head right now and I just wanted to see if I can maybe help someone quit as well or at least attempt to.

Not really looking for advise just wanting to vent.

Throughout our relationship, there have been several times I've lied to him about vaping. As ridiculous as it is, it's like I'll do whatever I need to do to keep the addiction going. I've tried to quit and failed and the lies start when I fail and keep that from him. A few months ago he caught me vaping while on vacation, then when we returned I bought a vape within a week or so. The day I bought it I turned my location history off, so that my maps wouldn't show I had been to buy a vape. That was back in August, and it just came to light on Sunday night through a totally innocent interaction that prompted him to look at my location history, which has been disabled since then.

Now I don't really know what to do, because I understand the way it looks and why his mind would jump to infidelity. It does seem ridiculous to go to that extreme to disable my location history to conceal buying a vape. I feel fully controlled by this addiction and I don't want to be a liar, but the fact is I lied. And now it looks worse than it is, and of course my word means nothing to him so I understand why he feels like it's something much worse than vaping.

It's so embarrassing and shameful. I have damaged the trust and hurt the person I love the most. The worst part is he is absolutely right to feel the way he feels and I can't really do anything to help him right now. Its not the vaping itself that is destroying the trust, it's the lies surrounding it.

Long story short, a girl I had been dating for a couple months broke up with me because I vape. She knew I did going into the relationship, didn’t give me any warning or a chance to quit to save the relationship. I really liked her. From today I’ll be transitioning to 4mg gum (I’m a very heavy vaper, almost constantly. I’m 22 and have been vaping for 4 years) until my desmoxan arrives in two weeks. I really want to be done with it so I’ll never be in this position again. If anyone’s got any support group chats going on, let me know. My IRl friends are all heavy smokers or vapers with no interest in quitting.

Did anyone wake up a lot more frequently after stopping vaping?

Trying to buy a flat. It's costing everything I've ever saved and more to get the mortgage. Mortgage lender says I need life insurance.

Called a life insurance broker.

They ask if I've used any nicotine products in the last year, or in the last five years. Not smoking - ANY nicotine product. I said I vaped a little bit, a few months ago.

Apparently that classes me as a "current smoker" and it will cost me about $60 more per month than if I hadn't used any nicotine products in the last five years.

I have to get it though, because if I die without life insurance then my family will lose their home.

Basically the message is, if you think there's a chance you might be buying a home with people you care about in the next half a decade, vaping now is going to have costs you might not even have considered

I have been vaping since I was 14 and I turned 20 back in may. I have only taken one break for about two months and I was miserable, that was junior year I believe. Recently, I’ve developed a bad cough and my boyfriend asked if I was willing to quit as I had mentioned it in the past. For his birthday October 18th I threw it out. He claims I have done so well throughout these last two days but all I want to do and am doing is cry. It feels like a part of me is missing as dumb as that feels. I also feel a strange twinge of resentment towards my boyfriend as he was the one who officially asked me to quit even though it was entirely my choice. I want to quit so I can get married, play with my kids, and run a homestead but it’s been with me for so long that I wonder if atp if there is a point in quitting. It’s been 2 Days 7 hours and 32 minutes. I’m not really sure what I’m asking here I just want to get everything off my chest thank you for reading and everyone dealing with similar feelings remember your long term health is so important so many want to see you grow!

So I've not quite vaping (may well now) but my arms and hands started tingling about 3 hours ago and I just need some reassurance.

I strongly suspect it is related to my vape - Ive had very mild and brief pins and needles in my hands maybe 2 or 3 times before, but this is up to my elbows.

Additional context, i currently have a migraine and got treatment at the ER earlier. I received torodol, dexamethasone, ondansetron and saline. I've had this before with no side effects, but I have a chunk of meds in my system. I left the ER, went home and started a new vape - so it's stronger than what I had been vaping the last couple days which was on its last legs. Hit it just intermittently, not aggressively. Then tingles.

ChatGPT (i know i know, but I have complex circumstances) was like "go to ER now" but I think its reading too much into the fact I'm also experiencing a neurological event with my migraine. But it freaked me out.

I'm going to my drs in the morning anyway, but is this something that needs urgent attention?? No other symptoms related to the tingling. Just hands and forearms.

I'm getting married in December, and I was dreading my wedding day because my parents don't know I vape. I kept thinking, how on earth am I going to hide it? Then i thought, why don't I just quit?

Then I got this horrible sore on my tongue from that bloody thing, and it made me so angry that I threw my three devices into a bin at a bus stop.

Honestly I'm proud of myself but man do I miss vaping! I'm managing, though. Whenever I get a craving, I try to focus on something else, and it usually passes.

The one thing I'm really scared about is going out for drinks. How am I supposed to enjoy alcohol without a cigarette or a vape? I only go out for drinks with my fiance and we go once a month, but I'm still worried that it'll trigger me to start again and i will ask for one of his cigarettes while drinking.

I'll just have to avoid alcohol for a while. Probably for the best. Does anyone have any advice though?🫂🚭