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Research Shows E-Cigs Might Be As Good For Quitting As Nicotine Patches
"Taking a drag from an e-cigarette may be just as safe and effective as slapping on a nicotine patch for smokers struggling to quit, according to the first physician-run trial to compare the two products." That's according to research recently published in The Lancet (PDF) and reported by Bloomberg. Why is this significant? From the article: "If European and U.S. regulators treat e-cigarettes as medical devices, yet leave cigarettes on general sale, tobacco makers 'will retain their market monopoly, and we will never learn whether e-cigarettes would replace traditional cigarettes if allowed to continue evolving and competing with smoked tobacco on even terms,' [wrote clinical psychology professor Peter Hajek]. The results will also be presented today at the European Respiratory Society’s annual meeting in Barcelona.
E-cigarettes have taken Europe and the U.S. by storm. In France, there are more than 1 million regular users, according to a government-commissioned report published in May. Sales worldwide will probably approach $2 billion by the end of this year and top $10 billion by 2017, according to a forecast by Wells Fargo & Co."
Anecdotal evidence: Myself and many of my friends switched to ecigs with success. Many of us tried and failed with other methods. Now I have a roaring ecig addiction that tobacco just can't satisfy. So that's not quite a successful quit yet, but in terms of harm reduction it's looking good so far. Since I can control the strength of the liquid by mixing it myself, I'm working on a very long, gentle taper down.
As someone who got into e-cigs relatively early (2009) and still vapes, it's important to note that they are NOT really meant for quitting. Sure, it's possible to quit using them, but they are more intended to be a replacement device. It's only quitting in the sense that you're not using traditional cigarettes anymore.
Why are they catching on?
1. They are (likely to be) healthier. Sure, some will say that e-cigs contain ingredients present in anti-freeze. These same ingredients, though, are also found in rescue inhalers, fog machines, and Twinkies. Mostly, though, they don't contain all of the tar and poisonous substances we all know are present in other cigarettes.
2. You don't smell like burnt paper, and don't make you smell like burnt paper for the rest of the day. Pretty self-explanatory.
3. (Or 2a) You can vape indoors, and stealth-vape. Smoking outdoors is fine eight months of the year here in Upstate NY. The other four months - and all of the days it's raining - having to go outdoors sucks. Not only in homes and apartments, but at bars. Also, if I'm in a place where I don't want people to know I vape, I can just go into the bathroom or a toilet stall, and nobody is the wiser. Not the same for a cigarette.
4. Much easier to maintain a constant buzz. I recently had the charger I've had since the start decide to stop working, so I switched back to traditional cigarettes. I absolutely hated that I felt like hell or got enough of a buzz to make my legs weak.
E-Cigarettes aren't "as good as" the patch - they are much, much better. I smoked 1-2 packs a day for 28 years and was finally able to quit due to e-cigs. My lungs sound better, I feel better, and I don't stink anymore.
The patch left me with a rash on my arm.
It wasn't really my intention to stop smoking altogether I just found I didn't need to anymore.
Probably took about 3 or 4 months until I realised I could taste and smell better, they really do work although I think a lot depends on the quality of the liquid used.
I'd go as far to say that they have almost certainly extended my life and I couldn't have stopped without one.
I tried to use e-cigs to quit, but they didn't provide the satisfaction of real cigarettes so I just ended up alternating between them and real cigarettes.
I did eventually manage to quit, but it was only by going cold turkey. Every time I wanted a smoke, I would start lifting weights instead. By the time I was finished with my workout, I found that I no longer had that immediate craving. After about the first month, I reached my first day in a long time where I didn't even think about smoking. Five years later and I'm still clean.
As I recall, nicotine patches are actively bad for quitting, compared with not using anything. What they perform better than is "placebo" patches which, of course, actually contain small amounts of nicotine. On the grounds that if they didn't you could smell the difference and they wouldn't be a proper placebo. The exact amount of nicotine is not disclosed, last I heard, but the interesting thing is that nicotine addiction appears to be highly responsive to even small amounts of nicotine getting in your system; it's only completely cutting it out that seems to actually help people shake the addiction. (That, and stuff like buproprion, which can short-circuit the addiction mechanism.)
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After 22 years of smoking up to 2 packs per day, increasingly bad health and high prices ... and many previous attempts to quit smoking, I used Chantix plus an e-cig.
Chantix alone was OK at first, but then I started cheating, grabbing a puff or a half cig. I quickly learned it was the physical habit of taking a drag from a cigarette that was really hitting me. I grabbed a low nicotine e-cig and used it for those cravings (zero nicotine wasn't available locally). An "equals two packs" e-cig lasted me 2 to 3 months and after 9 months I just stopped using that too.
I've been smoke free for 18 months now. And yes, I had the weird dreams with Chantix ... I liked them!
No, because I didn't pressure them to stop smoking.
Since this is Slashdot, I believe a car analogy is expected. Let's say you like to drive your gas-guzzling muscle cars. Someday someone gives you a Prius as a gift. Furthermore, that person doesn't ever bother you about whether or not you are using the Prius.
That's not meddling.
In contrast to the anti-smoking campaigners, I didn't use guilt, pressure, coercion, or logical fallacies. Instead I sent them the e-cig as a random gift with a note that suggested they try the e-cig as an upgraded nicotine delivery device. However, I never subsequently inquired if they used it. I was actually surprised when they all contacted me to report subsequently ceasing their use of nicotine altogether after using the e-cig.
Whatever, it's their choice. My personal rule is that I discontinue my addictions when I am no longer enjoying them. Therefore, I was happy they were happy about breaking their unwanted addiction nicotine, even though I find my nicotine addiction to be fulfilling.
Chantix was great. I was able to quit after a week of taking it. I was smoke free for a few years.
I started smoking again when my wife passed a few months ago. I tried using Chantix again but the nightmares were terrible. It got to the point were I was terrified to go to sleep. I'm going to try again when things are less "fresh."
It is amazing how quickly smoking has effected my breathing this time around. I don't remember the effects being so quick last time.