Help weaning off vaping nicotine

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isch

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Jan 13, 2018
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oi I has a problem...

I've been trying to wean myself off vaping nicotine for awhile now. I never smoked, and stupidly picked up vaping nicotine during college; now having been at it for about 7 years. I've been mostly trying this through trial and error with some light reading on the net for ideas, and it's gotten me from 14mg/ml at my peak down to 1mg/ml! Super proud of that. At one point I was really worried and doubting I could get below 4mg/ml. I did it!

I think I've hit a wall now, though. Check it:

AFDDR4p.png


As you can see, I start out tapering down on 1-2 week schedules. It didn't work. I started withdrawing hard. So, I cut it back to 1 month schedules or more to let my receptions adjust. That's gotten me pretty far! A few times, I tried to simply vape less by leaving it places, or using self-restraint. The cravings and irritation came quickly to make me not feel confident in that as a long term solution. I tried to quit at 2mg/ml, and after a day of intense cravings, constipation, poor concentration, no motivation, and waking up every hour of the night, I caved at 4am and broke the attempt, desperate to sleep.

You see, the reason I'm tapering at all is to avoid these strong withdrawal effects. I work with computers, and have to do complex problem solving daily. I am responsible for keeping systems operational, and working with interdisciplinary teams in planning a startup's system architecture. Lapses in concentration and effectiveness for days would be felt throughout the organization. On top of that, my sleep is paramount to continuing to function optimally. So, combining the poor concentration itself and sleep deprivation from withdrawing seems like a catastrophic meltdown on my productivity.

I come to ya'll for ideas on how to continue with tapering with the intention of eventually quitting nicotine altogether. Since bumping down to 1mg/ml, I've had cravings 20-50% of the day. While vaping. It seems like I can only barely get enough nicotine into me. My juice consumption has doubled from what it was at 2mg/ml on some days. The doubling of juice consumption happened when I first hit 3mg/ml, but it evened out over the month that I stayed with it. Yet, this has been difficult to stay with due to the paradoxical cravings that aren't being satiating while I'm hitting my vape for minutes straight! I'm having serious doubts about continuing, desperately wanting to increase my nicotine to simply feel on an even keel again.

The only idea I have is what I've done in the past, and know to work. That being increase to 1.5mg/ml and lower the taper increment to 0.5mg/ml each month (1/4th steps instead of 1/2 steps), yet again elongating the schedule. Does anyone have any other ideas for me to be able to stick with this?

In case its relevant, I'm using an iPV D4 with a uwell crown II tank and 0.5ohm prebuilt coils at 50w.
 

Eskie

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Hie much volume are you vaping a day? 30 ml of 1 mg you’re still using 30 mg/day, not a small amount. Best bet at such a low concentration is probably decreasing the total amount vaped/total puffs per day. You can also alternate between 1 mg and a 0 mg juice during the day to help satisfy the hand to mouth habit you’ve developed if you have a second tank to switch off with.
 

isch

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Jan 13, 2018
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Right, reducing the volume is the intention with increasing the concentration slightly, and it worked the last time I attempted it. The cravings I'm experiencing are from not having the nicotine my brain is expecting during my breaks at work to take some in. I'm already limiting myself to a certain number of minutes at the vape per session, and since the concentration is so low, I'm not getting enough in that time. At 2mg/ml I was vaping 5-10ml/day. Now, at 1mg/ml, I am vaping between 7.5-15ml/day. A net reduction in nicotine. If I were to increase to 1.5mg/ml, I'd predict my volume would go down to 5-10ml/day. That'd be the same cumulative daily dosage on the upper bound as my consumption at 1mg/ml, but during my breaks, I'd be getting more since concentration is higher, which I predict to help with the cravings.

Thanks for the suggestion for swapping to 0 every once and awhile. I think I'll work that into the plan before I do the final drop to 0 and see how I fair!
 

zoiDman

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... Now, at 1mg/ml, I am vaping between 7.5-15ml/day. ...

So using an Average ml/day, your Total Nicotine intake would be around 11.25mg/day.

If your Absorption rate is around 35%, then you Metabolized Nicotine would be around 4mg/day.

At 4mg/day, I think you are Fighting more of a Mental Addiction than a Chemical Addiction.
 

zoiDman

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So using an Average ml/day, your Total Nicotine intake would be around 11.25mg/day.

If your Absorption rate is around 35%, then you Metabolized Nicotine would be around 4mg/day.

At 4mg/day, I think you are Fighting more of a Mental Addiction than a Chemical Addiction.

BTW - Welcome to the ECF.
 

isch

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Jan 13, 2018
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Thanks for the welcome :)

When I quit at 2mg between 5-10ml/day, that figure would have been ~5mg. Not much of a change. Yet, I don't think the insomnia and constipation was all in my head, mate. The cravings weren't keeping me up at night. I just couldn't stay asleep and every hour would suddenly be wide awake. I typically sleep pretty soundly, so that was unusual.

I do realise this isn't typical. I seem to be more sensitive to psychotropics in general. Can't drink as much compared to others, having more than one cup of coffee a day produces strong side effects, psychiatric medications I've been on in the past have been lower than average dose to get effectiveness, etc. etc.
 
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zoiDman

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Thanks for the welcome :)

When I quit at 2mg between 5-10ml/day, that figure would have been ~5mg. Not much of a change. Yet, I don't think the insomnia and constipation was all in my head, mate. The cravings weren't keeping me up at night. I just couldn't stay asleep and every hour would suddenly be wide awake. I typically sleep pretty soundly, so that was unusual.

I do realise this isn't typical. I seem to be more sensitive to psychotropics in general. Can't drink as much compared to others, psychiatric medications I've been on in the past have been lower than average to get effectiveness, etc. etc.

Just say'n that if something is More of a Chemical Addiction/Chemical Dependency, removing the chemical is Many Times enough to Break the Addiction.

But when the Addiction is more Mental (or Ritualistic), removing the Chemical in question usually Doesn't have the same Results.
 

Caterpiller

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When I decided to taper down my nicotine :

Down from 12mg to 10mg (Stayed at 10mg for 6 months).

Down from 10mg to 8mg (Stayed at 8mg for 10 months)

Down from 8mg to 6mg (Been on 6mg for around 5 months so far)

I'm still finding 6mg an effort. At all other strengths I was vaping between 4-5ml per day. With 6mg I've gone up to about 10ml per day.

I plan to stay at 6mg until I'm back to 4ml per day before dropping down again. I figure this might be anything up to two years from now.

I'm in no rush. Sounds to me like you might be rushing it a bit.

Good luck, hope you get it down to where you want it.
 

Walee

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I just want to say welcome and wish you the best in your endeavor. You describe it well and I know it well. What I don't know is the best way to proceed. I am fortunate as I am now retired and no longer under pressure to completely manage the habit. I will say this, I have naturally decreased my intake over time. I'll start feeling the negative effects of the nic such as a light headed feeling or throat irritation and drop the level. Somehow there is balance there and my being finds the change acceptable. I can't even completely qualify that in terms of physics, biology, or psychology.
 

stols001

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Well, if you are super sensitive to nic, it would make sense to make your last steps more graduated, like 1.5 to 1.25 to 1.0 nic, etc. If you already know that you are very sensitive to withdrawal effects/psychiatric meds, then well, you already have your answer. It's not the amount of TIME necessarily, but more the issue of dependency at lower percentages needing smaller decreases.

I would probably try to use 0 nic at home (if you decide to have 2 setups) not on your work breaks if you are feeling the effects of nic there and need to be "sharp," as it were. Nic is a stimulant, certainly, but stopping anything could cause insomnia.

Planning ahead, perhaps you can also take a vacation time right around the time you plan to go to 0 nic completely, so you don't have to worry as your nicotinic receptors die off and you feel disorganized and woozy or however you feel, without having to worry about work performance.

Nicotinic receptors do proliferate over time when fed, so yeah, it may be an uncomfortable detox for a while but most brains return to homeostasis once they are "starved" and die off, so if you didn't have focus issue before nic, you shouldn't have them once you've been detoxed completely from nicotine.

Best of luck, I'm not entirely certain what the best course forward may be, but you've gotten some (hopefully helpful) suggestions.... I might add that if you are having sleeping problems, you "fill" your brain with some nic vaping before bed, while "practicing" 0 nic at home.

If you want to know if it's psychosomatic at THIS point (I'm somewhat doubtful) have someone else fill up your 0 nic and with nic (identical in every other way juice) and see if you can tell. If you can, it is most likely not ALL psychosomatic, although some of it may be.

You did mention psych drugs, are you ADHD? If you are, you may need to adjust your stimulant dose. You could also look a sleep meds for a period of time once you give up nic to take that worry/torment away, although probably not for too long unless you want the problem of then having to detox off a sleep med. But if you have a Pdoc, he/she may be of some use to you with this problem.

Best of luck,

Anna
 

Walee

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Oct 6, 2017
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Well, if you are super sensitive to nic, it would make sense to make your last steps more graduated, like 1.5 to 1.25 to 1.0 nic, etc. If you already know that you are very sensitive to withdrawal effects/psychiatric meds, then well, you already have your answer. It's not the amount of TIME necessarily, but more the issue of dependency at lower percentages needing smaller decreases.

I would probably try to use 0 nic at home (if you decide to have 2 setups) not on your work breaks if you are feeling the effects of nic there and need to be "sharp," as it were. Nic is a stimulant, certainly, but stopping anything could cause insomnia.

Planning ahead, perhaps you can also take a vacation time right around the time you plan to go to 0 nic completely, so you don't have to worry as your nicotinic receptors die off and you feel disorganized and woozy or however you feel, without having to worry about work performance.

Nicotinic receptors do proliferate over time when fed, so yeah, it may be an uncomfortable detox for a while but most brains return to homeostasis once they are "starved" and die off, so if you didn't have focus issue before nic, you shouldn't have them once you've been detoxed completely from nicotine.

Best of luck, I'm not entirely certain what the best course forward may be, but you've gotten some (hopefully helpful) suggestions.... I might add that if you are having sleeping problems, you "fill" your brain with some nic vaping before bed, while "practicing" 0 nic at home.

If you want to know if it's psychosomatic at THIS point (I'm somewhat doubtful) have someone else fill up your 0 nic and with nic (identical in every other way juice) and see if you can tell. If you can, it is most likely not ALL psychosomatic, although some of it may be.

You did mention psych drugs, are you ADHD? If you are, you may need to adjust your stimulant dose. You could also look a sleep meds for a period of time once you give up nic to take that worry/torment away, although probably not for too long unless you want the problem of then having to detox off a sleep med. But if you have a Pdoc, he/she may be of some use to you with this problem.

Best of luck,

Anna
Impressive post! Very helpful. I'm gonna have to go for a "blind taste test" here at some point.
 

isch

New Member
Jan 13, 2018
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8
Thanks everyone for the well wishes and advice! I sincerely appreciate the time and attention ya'll have put in to responding to my plight. :closedeyes: It's helped me arm myself with solutions to refine my plan and feel confident in continuing with cessation. I hope your holidays were satisfying and wish you all enough in your lives. <3
 

chellie

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I've been vaping for years and have not gotten down to zero either. Right now pretty steady at 1.5 to 2. What I do is buy juice that is 3mg and an identical one at 0. And I mix them together to reduce super slowly. That's how I got down from 6 to 2 because with the 2 bottles of the same flavor you can really tweak the mix and step down really slowly. When I tried going from from 6 to 3, it did not work too well but from 6 down in super small steps has been working for me. And I also try to fool myself and by mixing them in various concentrations and not labeling them to see if I realize if I have a zero one..
 

SteveS45

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After being a Marlboro Red smoker for 40 years I thought I would taper off and quit vaping but when I got down to 1.5MG, vaping that was like............ Why am I vaping? So now back top 3MG and actually contemplating raising to see if I vape less. But I doubt I will vape less because I enjoy my vape and not planning on stopping.
 
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