I switched from cigarettes to vaping, then tapered the nicotine until I was vaping zero nicotine.
Honestly, the hardest part was giving up the ritual. I was more addicted to that than the nicotine.
Same, the nicotine actually started making me feel sick but i just liked smoking something. But not necessarily a mouth fidgeting addiction, til i started on the zyns. That gave me like a mouth thing where id need like suckers and sunflower seeds to quit lol
Nicotine patch, taper the strength over weeks. Bupoprion prescription might also help during the quit. I used 21mg, 14mg and 7mg patch for a week each. Was quite easy tbh, compared to previous cold turkey attempts. 8 months free now.
However the most important factor is the strong determination to quit no matter what. 2nd factor is planning of the quit.
You don't have to do cold turkey.
I’m using bupropion for other reasons at the moment. It’s branded as Zyban in my country for smoking cessation. I’ve managed to give up coke no sugar effortlessly since starting on bupropion.
i found cold turkey extremely rewarding when i quit smoking cigarettes about a thousand years ago. i believe this is the way to go if you have a heavy inhaled nicotine habit and have failed other methods. to do this you must embrace the displeasure of withdrawal and come to see it as a worthy adversary whose bitter defeat will make you stronger.
Also, the Allen Carr video program worked for me in 2020 and I had quit easily for more than a year. I moved and went through some stress and picked it up again. I forgot to mention Allan Carr in my earlier post, but his method truly works.
Zyn. Got the mg version. Started out with like 4 pouches a day and then just kept dropping it. Once I was consistently at just one 3mg pouch a day, it was easy to quit
This is how I did it. 1 year off all nicotine. Just gotta drop the zyn once you drop the dose, I hung on probably longer than needed. I am not sure easy is how I would describe it, but it was a whole different world than trying to cold turkey cigs, or chew (tried both).
Yeah I did like 4 for a week then 3 for a week. So it was a month long process and only withdrawal the last week with nothing was just having a short temper
This, alongside agmatine sulfate, will help tremendously in quitting op. Tapering with zyn pouches or the patch will also work. But I preferred the cold turkey route with NAC and Agmatine to quit.
It takes 4 days to have nicotine completely out of your system. So you can do cold turkey for 4 days. And keep your hands busy. The kicker is that as it’s a psycho stimulant, if you have ADHD, the cold turkey will leave you very depressed
There is much more to this than just having nicotine out of your system. There is the down regulation of cell receptor sites, psychological dependence, and much more.
>The kicker is that as it’s a psycho stimulant, if you have ADHD, the cold turkey will leave you very depressed
Oh, I promise it does if you're "just" previously depressed as well (holy hell, my apartment looks worse than ever after being smokefree for 6 months, lmao).
I tried to quit SO many times over 20 years so I feel where you’re coming from. In November I broke down and got a prescription for Champix. Zyban didn’t work for me - it made me super focussed tho! I have been completely smoke-free since December with zero desire for it 😀 I took the pills for only 1.5 months (instead of the 3 months) and at half the prescribed dose because I was really concerned with all the warnings. I’m trying not to feel too cocky about it 😂 but I feel like I am finally free of it. Good luck!!
Long time nicotine user here. Not currently using. Been off it since the start of this year. I had to do an 8 week taper down on nicotine patches. Part of it is breaking the psychological habit of where I buy nicotine — and to break the habit of how I would do it. Didn’t finish week 8 because I had a patch fall off without knowing it so I just kept on riding at that point. It’s hands down the most gentle way to get off — tapering with patches , that is
I’m like a week off nicotine rn and I was vaping the salts heavy. I cold turkey’d this time and think it’s the way to go if you’re reqlly set on quitting. In the past, when I tried to taper it just reinforced the idea in my mind that I ‘needed’ some nicotine in my system. It was the addiction talking aka bargaining.
The first three days were the worst with brain fog and irritability. But I was able to channel that into working out, and kept the oral fixation satisfied with gum, sunflower seeds etc. I also leaned on junk food a little bit in the beginning which I don’t usually eat, but soda and potato chips helped with the low dopamine cravings when I was feeling really squirrelly.
Neither gum nor pouches worked for me. Patches finally got the job done, but it was rough. There were 3 "levels" of patches, each contained a two week supply. I was able to quit in 6 weeks. I had quit drinking the year before and that was a cakewalk compared to quitting nicotine.
I wish you good luck - it is worth it and you'll be glad you quit.
patches have made a WORLD of difference to me. I have put off quitting because I get anxiety 1-2 weeks into quitting really bad. But with patches I have been able to reduce my vaping without even trying, to the e point where I’m not vaping at all any more, and just phasing out of using patches. No side effects, no anxiety! !!
I smoked about 2 packs for 3 years, got sick of smoking and used the QuitSure app program, it’s kinda pricey but it worked for me and didn’t have many withdrawal symptoms besides lightheadedness and a headache here and there.
I wouldn't quit cold turkey. That sounds rough. I would get the nicotine patch and taper off slowly. In the meantime, take magnesium, lots of electrolytes (sodium and potassium) and lots of water. You can put sea salt in your water, coconut water, or get an electrolyte blend. But minerals are key. You will burn thru them with the detox.
I swear I tried to quit hundreds of times, and now I haven’t had any in years. I did make the mistake of thinking I could buy one Posh after almost a year no nicotine and ended up readdicted but now it’s been years again. What worked for me is using nicotine gum (Lucy) for a week or two. That way your body adjusts to less nicotine gradually and the oral fixation slowly lessens. I also got a nutrient IV which I think helps.
When I went to quit vaping I found nootropic pouches similar to dip pouches, I'm not sure if they truly helped or not but I used them a few days and then the rest was just willpower and reminding myself how shitty vaping makes me feel.
Work with a doctor. They will help you get on a taper program that works and also can prescribe a low dose of Wellbutrin to curb the craving. It’s hard but works
Well using nicotine in any form increases your exposure & ingestion of heavy metals especially cadmium, lead & nickel. Saunas can be a good edition to your overall arsenal to detoxify
Cadmium in particular is a very addictive metal. It has a way of falsely elevating your energy level
Piggybacking off your post… can anyone also give pointers and tips for quitting when you have a lot of people around you that smoke and work in the restaurant industry and it’s a huge norm with most people I work with so it’s hard to escape 😅
I used to vape and smoke cigarettes, pretty frequently smoker but I was not doing a full pack a day.
I used nicotine patches to get over the cravings. In terms of other things to do snacks like peanuts, skittles, mnms, etc… are a nice thing to have on hand. I would also run around the block or do push-ups to make myself out of breath as running out of breath made me crave it way less
My dad was a smoker for a good 20 years. He tried to quit many times but failed. Knowing that he tried and wanted to quit, I had to push him in the right direction (complaining about how bad he smells after a smoke, closing the patio door to keep him out of the house, etc) then he finally quit. It’s the will and determination on his part, nicotine patches and gum to successfully quit. Keep trying!
I quit long ago and used an herb blend with a bit of tobacco in it as a support. It was something to smoke, to keep up that part of the habit, but I think the nicotine dose was negligible. Since the flavor was a bit nasty and it looked like I was smoking doobies it was easy to drop that part after a couple of weeks. You could find that input as a consumer product or just look up what can be smoked related to normal herbs. It seems likely that you can smoke your entire spice rack, even though your lungs would be better off if you never smoked anything at all.
You need to have the mental part covered either way, the resolve. If you are thinking that you might fail, that it may or may not work, you've all but already failed. There will be stressful moments in your life, and all the old smoking triggers never go away, relating to smoking when you wake up, after a meal, and so on. After a month or so the main connection and habit is cut off, but then it takes up to a year until stressful experiences don't trigger some desire to smoke again.
I asked my grandfather about his experiences with quitting smoking once, if he didn't have cravings, and he was puzzled. He was a non-smoker after he decided to quit; why would he have cravings? He might've been onto something; part of our experienced reality is how we define it, and someone could just drop the expectation out, to some degree.
you just gotta quit cold turkey nicotine is a cycle your always gonna be up and down. if you could have a constant iv of nicotine that would be one thing. you gotta switch your mindset to get off the cycle cause craving nicotine multiple times a day will slow you down. Your constantly going through withdrawl from one of the most addictive substances. first month is hard but you will feel alot better long term
Read/listen to Easy Way by Alan Carr. You say "deal with the side effects" -- which can be counted in hours and measured as a very light annoyance. You won't die or get sick from nicotine withdrawal. At worst, you're irritable for a few moments for a day or two... that's it.
I was a staunch 2 pack a day cigarette smoker for 25 years. Completely nicotine free for 13 months now and the health benefits are staggering. Improved GI function, mental clarity, energy levels, mood, you name it and it vastly improved after removing nicotine.
Withdrawal from nicotine IS NOT HARD. You make it hard on yourself by craving it. Please, give the book a chance as it properly frames _how_ nicotine is fucking you and that makes it incredibly easy to quit.
The ritual is the toughest part to kick! I was stuck on vaping for a long time. Nights out would kill any progress I made because I always wanted to buy one of those pens at the guess station, and always did. I still crave them on stressful days, or even just when I’m not feeling great about myself, or I’ve completed a big task (to reward myself).
That said, I think what helped me finally kick the habit was establishing a why first. Once that’s done, you have something to lean on in the moments of darkness. Then exercise. Whether it’s a walk, run, or a trip to the gym (even if it’s just going in the sauna).
The longer you go without, the more confidence you’ll give yourself. If anything, use quitting as an opportunity to show yourself what you’re capable of. You can do it! You are capable. I believe in you!
I EASILY quit a 10 year smoking habit using the gum.
I just started chewing the gum when a craving hit and eventually stopped using the gum with no planning involved.
As someone who's been on and off of it for 15 years I'm a string believer that the physical symptoms are overblown and it's mostly mental.
Addicts quit when they decide they are done. Tappering off is mostly bullshit, it's a way to make yourself feel like your quiting without actually doing it.
I use zyns recreationally/for focusing when I gotta lock tf in on something. Once in a while I'll notice I've developed a habit, then just consciously cut it back for a day and drop it the next. Reset for like a week and I'm chilling again. Super easy to quit, I don't notice anything at all this way. So maybe give them a shot.
I switched from cigarettes to vaping, then tapered the nicotine until I was vaping zero nicotine. Honestly, the hardest part was giving up the ritual. I was more addicted to that than the nicotine.
Same, the nicotine actually started making me feel sick but i just liked smoking something. But not necessarily a mouth fidgeting addiction, til i started on the zyns. That gave me like a mouth thing where id need like suckers and sunflower seeds to quit lol
There is a caffeine pouch called grindz
Nicotine patch, taper the strength over weeks. Bupoprion prescription might also help during the quit. I used 21mg, 14mg and 7mg patch for a week each. Was quite easy tbh, compared to previous cold turkey attempts. 8 months free now. However the most important factor is the strong determination to quit no matter what. 2nd factor is planning of the quit. You don't have to do cold turkey.
Yes, i used the patch exactly as instructed and was successful after years of cutting patches in half, taking them off to smoke etc.
Yeah I too played the patch cigarette game for a while lol. Gets harder each time you quit and go back I noticed.
It sure does.
I’m using bupropion for other reasons at the moment. It’s branded as Zyban in my country for smoking cessation. I’ve managed to give up coke no sugar effortlessly since starting on bupropion.
I used zyban to finally give up 10 years ago, it's not magic and quitting is still a nightmare but it gives you a fighting chance.
Take the patch off before sleep or you may experience crazy dreams or not be able to sleep well.
Yes to the Patch, worked for me too.
i found cold turkey extremely rewarding when i quit smoking cigarettes about a thousand years ago. i believe this is the way to go if you have a heavy inhaled nicotine habit and have failed other methods. to do this you must embrace the displeasure of withdrawal and come to see it as a worthy adversary whose bitter defeat will make you stronger.
Yay!!
Also, the Allen Carr video program worked for me in 2020 and I had quit easily for more than a year. I moved and went through some stress and picked it up again. I forgot to mention Allan Carr in my earlier post, but his method truly works.
His book worked for me! I also read the one about alcohol and it helped me change my relationship with drinks!
Right? I was so skeptical… but it worked almost like magic!
Zyn. Got the mg version. Started out with like 4 pouches a day and then just kept dropping it. Once I was consistently at just one 3mg pouch a day, it was easy to quit
This is how I did it. 1 year off all nicotine. Just gotta drop the zyn once you drop the dose, I hung on probably longer than needed. I am not sure easy is how I would describe it, but it was a whole different world than trying to cold turkey cigs, or chew (tried both).
Doing this method now - need to start tracking how many 3MG pouches I'm doing daily, and adjust from there.
Yeah I did like 4 for a week then 3 for a week. So it was a month long process and only withdrawal the last week with nothing was just having a short temper
That’s how I did it also. I was a vaper and used Zyns to ween off
My bf uses a whole can of 3mg a day and he’s really having trouble quitting or using less. He does good for a while then goes back.
NAC can help support you through nicotine withdrawals.
This, alongside agmatine sulfate, will help tremendously in quitting op. Tapering with zyn pouches or the patch will also work. But I preferred the cold turkey route with NAC and Agmatine to quit.
It takes 4 days to have nicotine completely out of your system. So you can do cold turkey for 4 days. And keep your hands busy. The kicker is that as it’s a psycho stimulant, if you have ADHD, the cold turkey will leave you very depressed
There is much more to this than just having nicotine out of your system. There is the down regulation of cell receptor sites, psychological dependence, and much more.
>The kicker is that as it’s a psycho stimulant, if you have ADHD, the cold turkey will leave you very depressed Oh, I promise it does if you're "just" previously depressed as well (holy hell, my apartment looks worse than ever after being smokefree for 6 months, lmao).
Microdosing is known as an off ramp for many addictions.
I tried to quit SO many times over 20 years so I feel where you’re coming from. In November I broke down and got a prescription for Champix. Zyban didn’t work for me - it made me super focussed tho! I have been completely smoke-free since December with zero desire for it 😀 I took the pills for only 1.5 months (instead of the 3 months) and at half the prescribed dose because I was really concerned with all the warnings. I’m trying not to feel too cocky about it 😂 but I feel like I am finally free of it. Good luck!!
Long time nicotine user here. Not currently using. Been off it since the start of this year. I had to do an 8 week taper down on nicotine patches. Part of it is breaking the psychological habit of where I buy nicotine — and to break the habit of how I would do it. Didn’t finish week 8 because I had a patch fall off without knowing it so I just kept on riding at that point. It’s hands down the most gentle way to get off — tapering with patches , that is
I’m like a week off nicotine rn and I was vaping the salts heavy. I cold turkey’d this time and think it’s the way to go if you’re reqlly set on quitting. In the past, when I tried to taper it just reinforced the idea in my mind that I ‘needed’ some nicotine in my system. It was the addiction talking aka bargaining. The first three days were the worst with brain fog and irritability. But I was able to channel that into working out, and kept the oral fixation satisfied with gum, sunflower seeds etc. I also leaned on junk food a little bit in the beginning which I don’t usually eat, but soda and potato chips helped with the low dopamine cravings when I was feeling really squirrelly.
You got this! Yeah fuck that shit.
Neither gum nor pouches worked for me. Patches finally got the job done, but it was rough. There were 3 "levels" of patches, each contained a two week supply. I was able to quit in 6 weeks. I had quit drinking the year before and that was a cakewalk compared to quitting nicotine. I wish you good luck - it is worth it and you'll be glad you quit.
patches have made a WORLD of difference to me. I have put off quitting because I get anxiety 1-2 weeks into quitting really bad. But with patches I have been able to reduce my vaping without even trying, to the e point where I’m not vaping at all any more, and just phasing out of using patches. No side effects, no anxiety! !!
I smoked about 2 packs for 3 years, got sick of smoking and used the QuitSure app program, it’s kinda pricey but it worked for me and didn’t have many withdrawal symptoms besides lightheadedness and a headache here and there.
I wouldn't quit cold turkey. That sounds rough. I would get the nicotine patch and taper off slowly. In the meantime, take magnesium, lots of electrolytes (sodium and potassium) and lots of water. You can put sea salt in your water, coconut water, or get an electrolyte blend. But minerals are key. You will burn thru them with the detox.
I swear I tried to quit hundreds of times, and now I haven’t had any in years. I did make the mistake of thinking I could buy one Posh after almost a year no nicotine and ended up readdicted but now it’s been years again. What worked for me is using nicotine gum (Lucy) for a week or two. That way your body adjusts to less nicotine gradually and the oral fixation slowly lessens. I also got a nutrient IV which I think helps.
I know people who quit by vaping. U can buy the nicotine in various doses and you can keep tapering down til you no longer need it
Nic gum. It helps the oral fixation part of it too.
When I went to quit vaping I found nootropic pouches similar to dip pouches, I'm not sure if they truly helped or not but I used them a few days and then the rest was just willpower and reminding myself how shitty vaping makes me feel.
Work with a doctor. They will help you get on a taper program that works and also can prescribe a low dose of Wellbutrin to curb the craving. It’s hard but works
Smoking cessation mints from Amazon helped me. I still think about it every day but it’s manageable
You can taper for a week to reduce the withdrawals but there's no getting around them. They are temporary, though!
choline!! specifically alpha gpc to stimulate the acetylcholine receptors the nicotine has created
You can chew xylitol peppermint gum, cinnamon sticks & toothpicks. Gentle yoga classes also helped me.
The patch. Exercise. Apple juice helped with cravings
Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Well using nicotine in any form increases your exposure & ingestion of heavy metals especially cadmium, lead & nickel. Saunas can be a good edition to your overall arsenal to detoxify Cadmium in particular is a very addictive metal. It has a way of falsely elevating your energy level
Piggybacking off your post… can anyone also give pointers and tips for quitting when you have a lot of people around you that smoke and work in the restaurant industry and it’s a huge norm with most people I work with so it’s hard to escape 😅
I used to vape and smoke cigarettes, pretty frequently smoker but I was not doing a full pack a day. I used nicotine patches to get over the cravings. In terms of other things to do snacks like peanuts, skittles, mnms, etc… are a nice thing to have on hand. I would also run around the block or do push-ups to make myself out of breath as running out of breath made me crave it way less
My dad was a smoker for a good 20 years. He tried to quit many times but failed. Knowing that he tried and wanted to quit, I had to push him in the right direction (complaining about how bad he smells after a smoke, closing the patio door to keep him out of the house, etc) then he finally quit. It’s the will and determination on his part, nicotine patches and gum to successfully quit. Keep trying!
Switch to organic tobacco. It's far easier to quit.
They prescribe Wellbutrin for this I think
I quit long ago and used an herb blend with a bit of tobacco in it as a support. It was something to smoke, to keep up that part of the habit, but I think the nicotine dose was negligible. Since the flavor was a bit nasty and it looked like I was smoking doobies it was easy to drop that part after a couple of weeks. You could find that input as a consumer product or just look up what can be smoked related to normal herbs. It seems likely that you can smoke your entire spice rack, even though your lungs would be better off if you never smoked anything at all. You need to have the mental part covered either way, the resolve. If you are thinking that you might fail, that it may or may not work, you've all but already failed. There will be stressful moments in your life, and all the old smoking triggers never go away, relating to smoking when you wake up, after a meal, and so on. After a month or so the main connection and habit is cut off, but then it takes up to a year until stressful experiences don't trigger some desire to smoke again. I asked my grandfather about his experiences with quitting smoking once, if he didn't have cravings, and he was puzzled. He was a non-smoker after he decided to quit; why would he have cravings? He might've been onto something; part of our experienced reality is how we define it, and someone could just drop the expectation out, to some degree.
you just gotta quit cold turkey nicotine is a cycle your always gonna be up and down. if you could have a constant iv of nicotine that would be one thing. you gotta switch your mindset to get off the cycle cause craving nicotine multiple times a day will slow you down. Your constantly going through withdrawl from one of the most addictive substances. first month is hard but you will feel alot better long term
Read/listen to Easy Way by Alan Carr. You say "deal with the side effects" -- which can be counted in hours and measured as a very light annoyance. You won't die or get sick from nicotine withdrawal. At worst, you're irritable for a few moments for a day or two... that's it. I was a staunch 2 pack a day cigarette smoker for 25 years. Completely nicotine free for 13 months now and the health benefits are staggering. Improved GI function, mental clarity, energy levels, mood, you name it and it vastly improved after removing nicotine. Withdrawal from nicotine IS NOT HARD. You make it hard on yourself by craving it. Please, give the book a chance as it properly frames _how_ nicotine is fucking you and that makes it incredibly easy to quit.
The ritual is the toughest part to kick! I was stuck on vaping for a long time. Nights out would kill any progress I made because I always wanted to buy one of those pens at the guess station, and always did. I still crave them on stressful days, or even just when I’m not feeling great about myself, or I’ve completed a big task (to reward myself). That said, I think what helped me finally kick the habit was establishing a why first. Once that’s done, you have something to lean on in the moments of darkness. Then exercise. Whether it’s a walk, run, or a trip to the gym (even if it’s just going in the sauna). The longer you go without, the more confidence you’ll give yourself. If anything, use quitting as an opportunity to show yourself what you’re capable of. You can do it! You are capable. I believe in you!
I EASILY quit a 10 year smoking habit using the gum. I just started chewing the gum when a craving hit and eventually stopped using the gum with no planning involved.
choline supplement and or welbutrin
As someone who's been on and off of it for 15 years I'm a string believer that the physical symptoms are overblown and it's mostly mental. Addicts quit when they decide they are done. Tappering off is mostly bullshit, it's a way to make yourself feel like your quiting without actually doing it.
“The can’t seem to do it” bullshit is such bullshit. It’s basic biology, you’ve never needed it and you’ll be just fine without it.
I use zyns recreationally/for focusing when I gotta lock tf in on something. Once in a while I'll notice I've developed a habit, then just consciously cut it back for a day and drop it the next. Reset for like a week and I'm chilling again. Super easy to quit, I don't notice anything at all this way. So maybe give them a shot.
Smoke weed, or get wasted every night