To think I’m addicted to smoking but not nicotine?

[SinkGirl]

I quit smoking about 12 days ago. I’ve been smoking a very, very long time (over 20 years). I’ve managed to quit twice before (once while pregnant, once a few years before that) but started again during very high stress situations.

The first time I quit, I went cold turkey. I tried NRT in various forms and they did literally nothing. I got a vape after a few days, which helped with the habit / hand to mouth part but did nothing for the cravings even when I experimented with different levels of nicotine etc.

This time I bought vape stuff in advance. The first few days were horrid but I got through it. I’ve been using the highest dose of nicotine salts liquid which is meant to be more effective for those quitting. It’s meant to hit you more quickly - I didn’t feel anything but figured it was helping.

Today I cut down to 0mg nicotine liquid because I have a blood test in a couple of days (apparently stopping smoking / nicotine for 24 hours+ can impact thyroid antibody levels, as smoking suppressed thyroid antibodies).

The liquid flavour isn’t as good but the lack of nicotine is making literally no difference to my cravings - I’m not missing it at all.

Is it possible to be severely addicted to smoking but not nicotine? If so, what are you addicted to in cigarettes? I don’t understand why nicotine itself doesn’t seem to have any effect on me.

I suppose you can be addicted to the routine and the actions iyswim

I went from smoking to vaping.

I was definitely addicted to both nicotine AND the habit of smoking.

I am now addicted to nicotine and vaping but the vape habit is far easier to drop, if that makes sense. I can go out without my vape and not be bothered by that, but I do want it when I get home.

I could NOT have left the house without a packet of cigs on me. No way.

Slowly working my way down the nicotine strengths but im less bothered as my reasons for giving up were the money and the damage to my lungs, if vaping damages my lungs well I am not likely to live long enough to find out anyway, and so far they are significantly better than when I was a smoker.

Watching with interest. Alan Carr (The quit smoking chap, not the comedian) wrote that smoking addiction had very little to do with nicotine, and much more to do with psychological addiction to the “act” and “habit” of smoking itself.

Says I two years on the 0g nicotine and still not able to put the e-cigarette down!

Two diametrically opposed posts in your first two replies OP.

Shows how complex addiction can be...

Yep, different for everyone I think.

I can remember the smoking days when I was skint and had no fags and could not face the day without a cig, it gave me SO much stress.

Now if my vape goes flat or ive forgotten it, I've a moments 'bugger' and then get on with whatever, it's fine.

Vaping with or without nicotine IS a very different habit though and whilst initially the nicotine hit from a vape meets that immediate need, you slowly lose the physical habit of ...

*Go out
*Light a cig
*Smoke it til its gone
*Go back in

And replace it with 'hold your vape most of the time or have it by you, vaping from time to time' whenever you are anywhere you can do that.

I think because there isn't that 'go and have a cig then the cig is done then go back inside' thing with vaping, as there is no 'end point' to 'a vape' as there is with a ciggy, you do change that habit fairly fast, and effectively.

Thanks everyone, it’s interesting to hear your thoughts. When I quit I definitely feel like I’m withdrawing from a drug, it’s jusy that nicotine doesn’t make that any better. I know there are thousands of chemicals in cigarettes so who knows.

Addiction is an incredibly complex thing with actualnphysicsl addiction being just the tip of the iceberg.
Your body will almost certainly have been physically addicted to nicotine but physical addiction is relatively easy to get over, once it's out of your system (around 3 days) then that's it.... it's the psychological addiction that keeps people going back. And psychological addiction can absolutely make you feel physical cravings.

Like I said, it's very complex.