My own problems are pretty minor compared to a lot already mentioned... but I've struggled with depression for pretty much my entire life; although I started smoking at 13 to be "cool", I'm sure it was a major reason I didn't self-destruct at a very young age, and I'm also sure that it helped me get thru high school; it seems clear now that I suffered what is now known as ADD, though back then (the 70s) it was called laziness, unmotivated, etc. Actually it was flat out boredom; summer-school, which goes 3 times faster than normal school, always got me A's, because it went fast enough to hold my attention. Given the major post-partum depression I suffered after my son's birth, and the major depression I suffered while also suffering PTSD and early-onset peri-menopause, it's clear that my brain's biochemistry has always been pretty fucked up, and has gotten worse throughout my life. Effexor and a very competent therapist, not to mention a supportive spouse, got me thru it.
A couple of times I seriously tried to quit smoking, using the patch; both times, after about a week, both husband and son were begging me to smoke, I became so absolutely deranged -- again with the fucked-up brain chemistry. When I started vaping, I really had no interest in nor intention of quitting smoking; I merely wanted a way to not need to hang around outdoors in the cold... but when I discovered what an amazing substitute vaping is, I thought I'd be a plain damn fool to pass up such a golden opportunity to become what I'd wanted to be for so long: a non-smoker. The first time, in February 2014, it was like falling off a log: I kept competing with myself, to see if I could smoke less, or at least not more, than the previous day... and it just kept working, number of cigarettes each day going down and down until finally, I was at one a day, for the last 3 days... and I realized that if I could deal with just one a day, I could probably deal just as well without it -- and I was right. No real cravings, no real trauma, just miraculous freedom from 39 yrs of smoker's prison.
Then, after nearly 4 months of that miraculous freedom, I suffered acute appendicitis, and the requisite emergency appendectomy. The surgery went fine; and after 45 mins of gen'l anesthesia, I suffered ZERO coughing or congestion afterward, my lungs were clear as a bell -- a far cry from the god-awful breathing treatments I had to endure after FIVE mins of gen'l anesthesia for my son's caesarian birth, when I had been a smoker for just 14 yrs. I went home the same day as my appendectomy, on top of the world -- probably still high from morphine and the anesthetic.
Then, my IBS let me know that it was NOT happy to have had a septic appendix which ruptured and required surgical removal, and for 4 days, I couldn't eat, drink... or vape... I was much too sick. After my stomach finally emptied itself out, I slowly began feeling a bit better, though weak as a newborn kitten.. and everything tasted FOUL, after 4 days of nothing. I kept trying to eat, but it tasted bad. And even my vape, after 4 days away from it, tasted just awful... so of course my addicted brain said SMOKE! SMOKE NOW! RIGHT FUCKING NOW! and I was tired of fighting with it, so I did... I thought, maybe a couple weeks... but it took a month to peel those claws back out of my flesh and get back to vape only.
But I finally succeeded, and became once again and very happily smoke-free... for about 10 days, when those fucking cravings came back, slapping me right upside the head. I might have succumbed yet again... but I had had the foresight to acquire some WTA, during my dual-use relapse, so the next day, I added some to my vape when I got up and started vaping.... and later that night, I realized I had not suffered a single craving all day. That shit really works! It took me 15 months to get free of it, with a steady and gradual weaning-down, but in March 2016 I was finally back to nicotine-only, and having no cravings at all.
It's been a long road to become a happy, long-term non-smoker... but I am so damn delighted to finally be one. So I really don't care if y'all don't like that I vape at 9.5 watts, high-PG, with a draw like sucking a golf ball thru a garden hose... it works for me.
Andria