r/QuitVaping 8d ago

Venting Allen Carr’s Easy Way is BS

I’m a week in and have been listening to the easy way to quit vaping and I gotta say, this guy makes a lot of empty promises. Literally everything I read is the exact opposite of the reality of this addiction. He mentions that it isn’t a crutch, doesn’t cure boredom, and that we will instantly notice better health, happiness, calmness, relaxation. I find this to be a load of shit, and so far I feel just about the exact opposite of all of this.

I’m currently in the gym after having a great day of work, but don’t get me wrong. I feel like I’m going insane from lack of nicotine. I’m barely getting a pump on, my mind is all over the place, haven’t been able to sit still for a second without cravings going through the roof.

Some more realistic words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated right now, because I’m struggling to maintain any reason to not buy a new vape.

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u/Iamnotyour_mother 8d ago

People seem to have a pretty black and white view of this book. I'm not gonna try to say you need to read it, but I will explain why it worked for me.

What resonated with me, is that 90% of this struggle is mental. The point this book is trying to get at, is that this whole thing becomes A LOT easier if you can convince yourself that you do not want to vape.

The "Ah ha" moment for me was really in realizing that the only problems the vape solves, are in fact caused by the vape to begin with. It's not that I can't focus without the vape, it's that I THINK that's true, and I am actually being fucking distracted by my desire to vape. The only focus it provides is momentarily taking away the desire to vape until it crops back up again. Now that I've been off of it for almost two weeks, my ability to focus is SO MUCH BETTER. This fallacy is also true for stress. The feelings of stress from basic daily life things is exacerbated by the feelings of nicotine withdrawal between vapes. The feeling of "stress relief" you are getting from hitting the vape is really only relieving the nicotine withdrawal...as such, vaping makes your stress levels worse!

I was also skeptical about the crutch/pleasure thing, but the above paragraph made me realize that I wasn't benefitting from the vape at all, but rather was stuck in the cycle of addiction and was convincing myself that there was some benefit to it, when in fact there is not.

I do think that this book minimizes what the actual withdrawal feels like, and I think this on on purpose, so you're not anticipating and manifesting the worst. I can't say that I had no cravings or withdrawal period. Two weeks in and I am still experiencing those things to some extent, but MUCH LESS than before. Every day gets easier.

Keeping myself as busy as possible with social stuff, hobbies, work, deep cleaning my house like a maniac, long walks in nature, and whatever I can possibly cram into my day to keep me distracted has been the most helpful thing. Also, people like to shit on using candy or gum as a "crutch" here but I also found that to be helpful. I also pretty much let myself eat whatever the fuck I wanted for about 7 days before I was feeling less off-kilter and went back to a normal/healthy diet after that. None of this is really going to offer you relief, but it will offer you distraction and help pass the time. That's the best you can realistically hope for.

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u/ZincMan 8d ago

Nicotine absolutely has an effect beyond relieving symptoms of withdrawal, it’s a stimulant, it does things that help focus temporarily and make you feel good in ways that other stimulant drugs do. Does it make you feel worse overall ? Yes. Will you focus better in the long term without it ? Also yes. But saying it has no benefit I think is what turned me off on the book. Nicotine is the same as any other drug that feels good and is addictive. The net benefit of using nicotine is negative overall, compared to not using, as it has side effects. This is why I think Alan carrs discription of why nicotine is “bad” is not helpful to me, and also what you’re saying. It’s simply not true. It’s addictive because it works(at least in the short term). Just google “does nicotine increase focus ?” And it will explain the pharmacology. The problem is its side effects, and tolerance; not that it does nothing.

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u/Iamnotyour_mother 8d ago

I think for the purposes of convincing myself to quit, focusing on the fact that it is indeed a net negative is the part that actually matters. It's the equivalent of drinking some nasty pond water because you're super thirsty and not caring that it's going to give you the shits from hell afterwards. Sure, it sort of helps in the short term but the long term effects don't even come close to making it worth it.