Possible health benefits.

[MsJoeyBug]

Nicotine has plenty of potential health benefits. They seem to be focused on relieving inflammation and auto-immune diseases like Alzheimer's and colitis.

It also improves concentration and promotes feel good hormones like dopamine. This is what gives a buzz with smoking or vaping.

Even the World Anti Doping Agency is reviewing their stance on nicotine because they recognise that some athletes might be getting performance benefits from it, related to blood vessel production. (Of course they never really *needed* to have a policy on it in the past, because until they invented patches, gum & vaping, people couldn't get it except by tobacco - and Olympic athletes don't tend to do that.)

You learn something new everyday

 

[pabs]

I'm getting many of the benefits as already mentioned above, but one thing I see all the time is that my fingers aren't yellow now, and I presume over time my teeth with clean up a little from 20+ years of smoking. It's also great to wake up without having lung-burn.

 

[MsJoeyBug]

I'm getting many of the benefits as already mentioned above, but one thing I see all the time is that my fingers aren't yellow now, and I presume over time my teeth with clean up a little from 20+ years of smoking. It's also great to wake up without having lung-burn.

I have to agree, I had a cleaning at the dentist just before I started vaping and worried it would be the same, but nope, still white as ever and it's great As for the lung-burn, I get that anyway with my lung issues, but I do find I don't cough as much or wheeze all the time like I used to, or at least not as much as I used, I do wheeze, but that's part of the disease not the vaping...

 

[vaporsizer]

It's true that a lot of the reasons I see the addiction as a bad thing is because people have made be believe it is. A lot of the time when I was trying to quit smoking, it was because other people wanted me to, and sometimes because I wanted to, but with vaping, I'm getting the benefit of the nicotine without the bad stuff as well, so I'm happy and although I'm on 18mg now, I like that I have the choice to go down (or up) if I want to...all in all, it's a win/win situation for me.

Exactly, you have more idea how much nic you're getting & that gives you the chance to regulate it at your leasure. Tea & coffee have addictive ingredients , sugar is everywhere & it's my opinion that it can be addictive too but because they are available in every shop in the world they are seen a normal & socially acceptable. Indeed they are encouraged & never raise more than an eyebrow from anyone. Nicotine is no different in my eyes except there is an invisible line somewhere & all the ignorant people in the world seem to be able to see it, but i can't ! I think you/anyone should just take care ,keep learning about it & make your own individual choices about it.

 

[MsJoeyBug]

Exactly, you have more idea how much nic you're getting & that gives you the chance to regulate it at your leasure. Tea & coffee have addictive ingredients , sugar is everywhere & it's my opinion that it can be addictive too but because they are available in every shop in the world they are seen a normal & socially acceptable. Indeed they are encouraged & never raise more than an eyebrow from anyone. Nicotine is no different in my eyes except there is an invisible line somewhere & all the ignorant people in the world seem to be able to see it, but i can't ! I think you/anyone should just take care ,keep learning about it & make your own individual choices about it.

Exactly, when I started I thought 12mg would be about right, but am happier with 18mg, but again I can regulate that, I can have an array of flavours and choices and I can find what works best for me...with the additional health benefits I've found it's worth it to me without the need to smoke at all.

You are right, I have friends who are addicted to caffeine and look on nicotine addiction as something worse, but I'm starting to see that it's not all about that.

 

[jinnx]

I used to cough a lot when smoking. After I stopped, for a couple of weeks the cough calmed down a lot and the accompanying wheeze wasn't as bad. Then I got what I thought was quitter's flu and felt worse than when I smoked. But it got even worse and I started to wonder if it was some sort of reaction to vaping. Even though everything I was reading suggested it was unlikely, you know how it is when you're doing something new. I got to the point a few weeks in when I couldn't go upstairs without having to rest for half an hour and get my breath back, and I even started dreading needing the toilet because I had to rest after and that's not normal when I'm not even 40 yet! I even stopped vaping for two weeks just in case it was that (although hoped to try again later if I felt better) I started half wishing I'd not quit because I'd never felt so bad. Even my son who is militantly anit-smoking and HATED me smoking and begged me for years to quit ended up telling me it was okay if I started again because I was so ill with it. He even said it was his fault for asking me to quit But I was determined I needed to stay quit because whatever was happening was not going to be fixed long-term by going back on the fags, even if it did end up being a temporary fix. It ended up being something else (not sure what yet) but now that's been treated, I feel a lot better than when I smoked. I still cough but it's nowhere near as much and less aggressive/painful. The wheeze is also not ever present. Only if I'm stressed/in cold air/over exercised.

Before I stopped smoking I was trying to get a bit fitter. I'd bought a couple of the dance games for my son's Wii and liked dancing to them, but I had to sit down and rest for 5-10 minutes after every song. A complete difference now. When I was getting better, I had another go and suddenly I danced ten in a row and was hardly out of breath, it felt amazing! I can go upstairs without having to rest like a ninety year old woman, and I no longer dread needing the toilet! And I feel better than I had for ages before quitting. Because I was told I'd probably been unwell for so long that I'd forgotten what "normal" feels like. I think that's true. So I'm glad I quit smoking, even if I didn't do it off my own bat, and it was definitely vaping that helped for me because my previous attempts at quitting cigarettes never lasted longer than 11 days and according to my OH "turned you into the Devil's mother"! And even I admit I was no Julie Andrews

 

[MsJoeyBug]

I used to cough a lot when smoking. After I stopped, for a couple of weeks the cough calmed down a lot and the accompanying wheeze wasn't as bad. Then I got what I thought was quitter's flu and felt worse than when I smoked. But it got even worse and I started to wonder if it was some sort of reaction to vaping. Even though everything I was reading suggested it was unlikely, you know how it is when you're doing something new. I got to the point a few weeks in when I couldn't go upstairs without having to rest for half an hour and get my breath back, and I even started dreading needing the toilet because I had to rest after and that's not normal when I'm not even 40 yet! I even stopped vaping for two weeks just in case it was that (although hoped to try again later if I felt better) I started half wishing I'd not quit because I'd never felt so bad. Even my son who is militantly anit-smoking and HATED me smoking and begged me for years to quit ended up telling me it was okay if I started again because I was so ill with it. He even said it was his fault for asking me to quit But I was determined I needed to stay quit because whatever was happening was not going to be fixed long-term by going back on the fags, even if it did end up being a temporary fix. It ended up being something else (not sure what yet) but now that's been treated, I feel a lot better than when I smoked. I still cough but it's nowhere near as much and less aggressive/painful. The wheeze is also not ever present. Only if I'm stressed/in cold air/over exercised.

Before I stopped smoking I was trying to get a bit fitter. I'd bought a couple of the dance games for my son's Wii and liked dancing to them, but I had to sit down and rest for 5-10 minutes after every song. A complete difference now. When I was getting better, I had another go and suddenly I danced ten in a row and was hardly out of breath, it felt amazing! I can go upstairs without having to rest like a ninety year old woman, and I no longer dread needing the toilet! And I feel better than I had for ages before quitting. Because I was told I'd probably been unwell for so long that I'd forgotten what "normal" feels like. I think that's true. So I'm glad I quit smoking, even if I didn't do it off my own bat, and it was definitely vaping that helped for me because my previous attempts at quitting cigarettes never lasted longer than 11 days and according to my OH "turned you into the Devil's mother"! And even I admit I was no Julie Andrews

I'm glad to hear it's not just me that had big issues with my chest when coming off the fags...I have a lung disease and it was never helped by smoking. I already had the disease when I started smoking at 16 ( ) and everytime I tried to quit I would get much sicker, even ended up in ICU at one point. It was enough to make me go back on the cigs (see the and then when I started vaping, I was worried the same would happen and it hasn't...yet. I do feel like I have something brewing in my chest, but it's par for the course with my lungs so I'm not sure if it's connected or just my normal bad luck, I'm hoping it won't turn into anything because I really don't want to go back into hospital again. I know it's not smoking, but my lung doc may not see it that way!

Well done for sticking it out even though you got so sick, and I'm glad you're doing better now!

 

[jinnx]

I'm glad to hear it's not just me that had big issues with my chest when coming off the fags...I have a lung disease and it was never helped by smoking. I already had the disease when I started smoking at 16 ( ) and everytime I tried to quit I would get much sicker, even ended up in ICU at one point. It was enough to make me go back on the cigs (see the and then when I started vaping, I was worried the same would happen and it hasn't...yet. I do feel like I have something brewing in my chest, but it's par for the course with my lungs so I'm not sure if it's connected or just my normal bad luck, I'm hoping it won't turn into anything because I really don't want to go back into hospital again. I know it's not smoking, but my lung doc may not see it that way!

Well done for sticking it out even though you got so sick, and I'm glad you're doing better now!

Thank you Mine was horrendous and did end up in hospital - thankfully not ICU though, but was panicked at one point in the ambulance that I might end up having horrendous invasive things done to me.

I have also never been great chestwise (although not as bad as it's been for you) so am equally daft for starting smoking, I freely admit. But that's teenage years for you, we don't always make the wisest choices do we? Particularly when we think we're immortal lol. Paid the price now though, and I'm lucky it wasn't worse. But it was one hell of a wake up call. Even though I'd already quit before getting sick, it showed me in stark 3D detail exactly what my future would be if I did ever take up smoking again. Of all the people on the ward I was probably the least sick. I was surprised to be told that my horrendous cough was actually a good sign because my lungs were trying to reject all the muck very aggressively. I was one of the few people who coughed at all, and pretty much the only one who was mobile. I used to get a round of applause every time I coughed and it was meant nicely not nastily.

After seeing what smoking had done to everybody else there it strengthened my resolve by 1000% never to smoke again. I've taken heed of the warning - I do not want to end up like that, and I will if I smoke again.

Glad you managed to stick it out too, because it's truly horrendous isn't it?

 

[Pyretta]

I'm looking forward to trying an 'exercise test'. In the past, if I had a cig I needed to wait at least 30 minutes before exercising or else I'd be gasping and unable to get through anything. I want to try doing it right after vaping to see if I feel the same or if it's like working out when I haven't smoked in 30-45 minutes. Haven't tried it yet cause I'm lazy

As for health benefits, not sure if this would be called a 'benefit' but when I was in the hospital before being diagnosed w/Crohns they thought I had regular IBS or Ulcerative Colitis and one doctor told me that smoking has been know to stave off the symptoms for years before they become a real problem. Maybe that's because of the anti-inflammatory action mentioned earlier by flava ?

 

[MsJoeyBug]

Thank you Mine was horrendous and did end up in hospital - thankfully not ICU though, but was panicked at one point in the ambulance that I might end up having horrendous invasive things done to me.

I have also never been great chestwise (although not as bad as it's been for you) so am equally daft for starting smoking, I freely admit. But that's teenage years for you, we don't always make the wisest choices do we? Particularly when we think we're immortal lol. Paid the price now though, and I'm lucky it wasn't worse. But it was one hell of a wake up call. Even though I'd already quit before getting sick, it showed me in stark 3D detail exactly what my future would be if I did ever take up smoking again. Of all the people on the ward I was probably the least sick. I was surprised to be told that my horrendous cough was actually a good sign because my lungs were trying to reject all the muck very aggressively. I was one of the few people who coughed at all, and pretty much the only one who was mobile. I used to get a round of applause every time I coughed and it was meant nicely not nastily.

After seeing what smoking had done to everybody else there it strengthened my resolve by 1000% never to smoke again. I've taken heed of the warning - I do not want to end up like that, and I will if I smoke again.

Glad you managed to stick it out too, because it's truly horrendous isn't it?

It is, my dad and another friend have reported something similar, though not as bad as what you or I experienced. It's scary and not being able to take a breath is terrifying, no matter how many times you've done it..Still we're past that bit and onto enjoying vaping