To remember quitting being harder than this?

[ElleMcFearsome]

Decided to stop smoking. Have been smoking for over 20 years (started at 12), only stopped when pregnant with DDs. Have tried many times to stop when not PG, failed within 2 days. Am on day 4 and I feel fine (if a bit chesty).

I'm using an e-cig. Is this why I'm not struggling? Still getting nicotine and still getting all the 'kick' from inhale/exhale etc. Am I actually giving up in any meaningful sense, or just transferring my addiction from real cigs to electric ones? Am using e-cig a lot less than I would smoke (about a pack a day, yes I know, I'm ) but I'm not convinced I'm quitting per se. Any thoughts?

I think an ecig can help get rid of some of the habitual addition to smoking, while still delivering nicotine. Hopefully you'll continue to decrease the amount if times you 'smoke' in a day, your addiction to nicotine will be lessened, you'll hopefully have got rid of some of the triggers that make you want a fag, and you'll gradually stop.

Good for you. I was a serial quitter and finally did it when I found something that worked (in my case patches, a motivational book and a non-smoking partner). My main trigger was going to the pub but the ban came in after a few months of quitting so that really helped.

I probably would've used e-cigs, they seem brilliant.

Keep going.

The coughing and black phlegm will get worse over the next 4 weeks, which is why so many people stop after 3 weeks.

After week 4 you will cough less and it won't be that horrible brown stuff you are coughing now.

Well done for getting this far, keep going.

Kirsty - patches didn't work, I couldn't wear them, after 40 mins I looked like I'd been branded! All the mints, inhalers etc I found grim . Also, I'm not sure I really wanted to give up... This time I do. I'm hoping that what everyone has told me, that there's no point in trying to quit unless you really want to, is true. Because I really do want to.

alien - I think part of what I was wondering was whether e-cigs do remove the habit part of the addiction. Because I'm tending to have a few puffs at the point where I'd have smoked, IYSWIM? But it's noticeably less.

AND I'm going to put the terrifying amount of cash that I would have spent on cigs into a jar. Then go and buy something lovely when I've been quit for a month!

Quitting is so easy, I've done it loads of times ;-). Well done you & good luck

Thanks Laurie

sashh I'm revoltingly intrigued by what I'm coughing up. I was going to ask Google, then decided that it would have to do with tar, and toxins and bits of my lungs and decided not to. It's going to last a month? So I'll lose weight as well?

Try and get rid of a particular time of day that you have the ecig - first of the day, orjust target a particular one to further reduce the number of times you smoke.

Do you leave it at home sometimes or do you always have it with you?

For me the coughing got much better after a couple of weeks, and lung capacity felt a lot better after just one week. I could easily walk up a steep hill when the week before I'd been huffing and puffing and having to stop for breaks. It was amazing :)

As it stands, it's by my side at all times. I know from past attempts that I can really easily fall into the 'I'll just have one' trap, and them I'm done for. I don't want to wobble!!

This morning I didn't have anything until I'd had two cups of coffee and brekkie (usually I'm outside puffing away with my first cup of coffee) and I've managed to have a phone conversation without taking the phone out with me for a smoke!!

I can tell you why you're coughing, if you like. It's actually quite positive to hear.

The tar in cigarettes paralyses the cilia, which are little cells with filaments attached. They line your airways, and their normal job is to sweep mucus and gunk up and out of your lungs. (This paralysis of the cilia makes current-smokers more susceptible to viruses and bacteria, by the way.) As you are now just taking in pure nicotine, the cilia are reactivating, and clearing out all the gunk that has lined your airways for years.

Good work, ElleMcFearsome's cilia!

A word of warning...I gave up about 7 months ago. The first 24 hours were murder, I was constantly on edge. Then I remembered my mother had bought me an e cig a couple of months earlier as a hint/encouragement to quit. The relief was instantaneous and I have used them ever since. At first it wasn't a big deal, a puff here and there when I was feeling desperate and the e cig would last a couple of weeks. But, slowly but surely I have become more dependent on them. It's difficult in a sense, because you can smoke them anywhere and it's all too easy to keep puffing away while you're watching tv etc. I now smoke up to 2 e cigs a day!! And as such it's more costly than smoking was for me and I'm 'smoking' over triple what I would as an actual smoker (according to what they say an e cig is the equivalent to in actual cigarettes).

I'm sure not everyone would take it to this extreme like I have, but please be careful to watch you don't build up how much you're smoking them, and actually make an effort to continually cut down your usage.

I tried cold turkey with them a couple of weeks ago and it made me so depressed I felt like constantly crying, so I'm now phasing them out a bit more gradually.

Which is the best ecig to get? I tried one and found it tasted like cocoa butter and really didn't like it :/

I made the switch from smoking to e-cigs a couple of months ago, and found it easy. I've now moved on from e-cigs that look like cigs, and am using a personal vaper which I fill with liquid that has nicotine in it (and a huge range of flavours to choose from, today's is apple pie). This is MUCH cheaper than the disposable e-cigs and indeed real cigs. The initial investment in equipment and juices came to under ?100, and after 2 months I have saved over ?500 that I would have spent had I continued to smoke.

You can get the liquids (or mix your own) in many different strengths, allowing you to gradually decrease your reliance on nicotine. I'm down to 12mg liquids now, having started at 18 or 20mg. A Google on 'UK Vaping' will bring up loads of online vendors and forums - there's even a Vapefest happening in Tamworth on August 17th. Check the forums out for advice on good, reasonably priced starter kits. Really well worth a go for anyone who smokes - I never thought I'd be able to quit, but I have!

I smoked for 45 years - stopped 6 months ago with the E-Cig. E-Cig getting less and less use, so slowly I'm getting there. Keep going OP!

Jessie - thank you!! I was too scared to Google it.

Hercy - see this is what is worrying me. I'm not allowing myself to use them in any place that I wouldn't have smoked (so not indoors, in the car etc) as I have a friend who seems to have one surgically attached to her mouth/fingers. I hope you have success with cutting down.

Crispy I'm using a 10 motives one. It's sort of disposable but sort of not, I have the main 'bit' then refills that I screw into the end. I bought menthol (as that was what I smoked) and vanilla because... umm, I'm not sure. I loathe the vanilla one, it's just sickly. I like the menthol one, it's quite minty, and obviously without the smoky overtone of cigs but I'm happy with it.

Furry I looked at those forums - some people taking vapping v v seriously I'm doing ok with the 10 motives refills at the moment (actually, haven't needed to change except from vanilla to menthol) but I notice that they don't do cartridges that let you lessen the amount of nicotine. In a few months time (fingers crossed) I might look into the mix your own thing again.

Last - yaaaaaaaay! Thank you so much for the encouragement. 45 years - that's even more than me! I'm really impressed!

Thanks Elle, I'll have a look :)