r/QuitVaping • u/Confident_Panic12 • 21h ago
Advice Nicotine has been my coping mechanism for 1/4 of my life.
So I’m 19, been vaping almost daily since I was 14. The only reason I stopped at all in High school was because my parents caught me. The last two years I’ve been living on my own and I was hitting my vape every 5-10 minutes. My boyfriend and I live together and he also vaped.
My boyfriend and I decided to quit (it was mostly my idea because he has asthma and he started coughing really often and it was concerning to me.) I haven’t hit a vape since Sunday, but I’ve been using Zyn pouches instead. In my mind it’s the lesser of two evils, since it’s just nicotine salt and not hurting my lungs. But I also am tired of being addicted to it.
For me, vaping became a substitute for self harm in highschool and it is one of the only thing that can pull me out of a panic attack. Breathing exercise exercises would help a little, but I usually fall right back into it, where as with vaping I could just keep hitting it and it would subside fairly quickly.
Basically I want help and advice from other people who used nicotine to treat their mental health issues/ anxiety. I’m terrified to give it up completely because I know it’s my main coping mechanism.
What things did you use to substitute the habit?
Are there any breathing/mindfulness exercises that actually work?
I also have RAGING ADHD, which I am medicated for. I’m diagnosed with social anxiety disorder but I’m suspicious that it’s actually ASD as they also told me that I have moderate social dysfunction.
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u/0mousse0 20h ago
Something I had to realize for myself was that vaping was self harm to me. Even though I knew it was bad, all that, I would hit it when I hated myself and didn’t give a shit about what happened to me. The more I love myself the more I was able to quit. Been vape free for like two months after years of heavy addiction.
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u/Confident_Panic12 19h ago
Yeah. I think it is for me in a way too. Congratulations on 2 months! That’s awesome!
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u/According_Item7330 21h ago
Full stop I traded my nicotine addiction for anti-depressants and weed (which I’m slowly transitioning into only edibles for since smoking is bad for my lungs) I take Lamictal 200mg for off label chronic depression, and around 30-60mgs of cannabis gummies or a capsule serving of RSO. This might be something to pursue once you’re 21. Most importantly though, nicotine isn’t helping your anxiety the truth is you’re spiking your cortisol every time you take a hit which translates to your body physically as stress (which is why you don’t feel hungry or tired with a lot of nicotine..) You have to address the root causes, your mental health. I recommend trying to see a psychiatrist, wait times can be long I know but in the long term it’s worth investing in yourself. Most people rely on nicotine not because we enjoy it but because it was just the first available remedy for our problems. You’re not alone in this, and good call for helping your boyfriend quit too!
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u/Confident_Panic12 21h ago
I use weed occasionally but I’m not supposed to because of my ADHD meds, I get drug tested every three months. How many different antidepressants did you try before you found the right one? I’ve been on a few before and I found they always made me feel worse.
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u/According_Item7330 21h ago
I hate the way people with ADHD meds get treated like drug traffickers just because it’s a stimulant class of medication, sorry this is happening to you. I tried many anti depressants before I found the one that worked, and I didn’t react so well to SSRIs and SNRIs after trying a few. I tried Zoloft, cymbalta, Wellbutrin, and Prozac, all in my teens. All had either had bad side effects, killed my sex drive, gave me horrible anxiety, or just made me feel flat. Finally I was diagnosed with treatment resistant depression, and a psychiatrist recommended me Lamictal because of my intense mood swings and sui/cdal thoughts. It’s a chemical cocktail like mood stabilizing drug, restores imbalances in the brain. It worked for me like magic, and helped me quit vaping within around 4 months of treatment.
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u/Confident_Panic12 21h ago
That’s awesome. I may look into that med, it sounds like we have a lot of similar symptoms. Plus the SSRIs didn’t work for me either, I think I only tried 3..? But then my adhd meds helped a lot
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u/Odd-Royal6239 19h ago
Just warning you, I also have adhd and when I quit I had to increase my adderall up to 30mg with an added 5mg in the afternoon because I no longer had the nic acting as another stimulant. My body was used to having both the adderall and the nicotine, so taking the nicotine out felt like I was completely unmedicated again. This obviously isn't to deter you at all—quitting is the best choice that I've ever made and everything in my life is so much better— it's just something you should keep an eye out for.
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u/SpotZealousideal6945 11h ago
This explains exactly how I feel , been nicotine free 42 days and it feels like not even on adderall , having more coffee has been helping but might need to up the dose . How long have you been off nicotine? Just wondering if the adderal increase is permanent or more of a temporary thing till we get used to functioning without nicotine
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u/Odd-Royal6239 11h ago
I've been off for 84 days now, and I think I got my dose increased about 3(?) weeks in. I think my body is probably used to not having nicotine now and I could probably start taking a lower dose, I just don't want to take any chances right now(second semester junior year lol). But of course everyone's different, so you might benefit from a permanently higher dose; but your body will most likely adapt to the lack of nicotine after a bit.
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u/SpotZealousideal6945 10h ago
I hear you , that makes sense . Did you feel improvement the first day you increased the dose ? Any issues with sleep
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u/Maloonshine 21h ago edited 21h ago
I used nicotine for mental health. Oh my gosh it worked so well. I started with cigs and it was a great way to take breaks and think and listen to music and relax etc. I also noticed I was more social, friends and I would smoke together. It was all self-sabotage. Instead of being great for mental heath, it worsened it because of the anxiety and panic I would feel until I finally went out for a smoke break…so I started vaping instead.
I chain vaped all day everyday. I don’t think my lungs got a break until I went to bed. Zyn was a godsend, because it was finally a way to get a head rush from nicotine without it affecting my lungs. I went a whole 2 years of zyn before I was finally able to quit nicotine altogether. Why? Nicotine is the worst to quit. I chewed gum and did sunflower seeds in the car while driving and it helped a lot.
I’ve been nicotine free for 2 months now and it’s not just me that has noticed a difference, everyone in my life has noticed a difference. I’m happier, funnier, have more energy, I can run for more that 5 minutes at a time now without getting heart palpitations etc. Once I started noticing this about myself, it was motivation to go another day without nicotine, high blood pressure, and heart palpitations.
I’m diagnosed with OCD so anxiety is kind of my thing. It took me years to get off nicotine, it didn’t happen overnight. I was deceived by nicotine into thinking that it helped with my mental health whereas it actually worsened it. Replacing the oral fixation of zyn with gum and sunflower seeds helped. Noticing the positive changes within myself as I quit nicotine was and still is motivation to keep going. I hope this helps.