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People hooked on vapes try a new way to quit: cigarettes

248 points · 335 comments · alephnerd

  1. sph · · focus · HN ↗
    For the past 3 years I have replaced my ADHD stimulant medication with nicotine patches and they’ve been great, cheap, and legal in the country I live in now.

    Recently I got the urge to try vaping again, bought all the paraphernalia and started vaping like a chimney 24/7. Got light nicotine poisoning as well. After two days, I caught myself compulsively reaching for the vape.

    So I threw everything away and I’m back to patches. Took me a week to forget the compulsive hand-to-mouth urge. I now believe intradermal nicotine is the superior method of administration. At least with cigarettes the smoke is such an intense irritant you self-regulate pretty quickly compared to a cupcake flavoured vape you can just suck on all day long.

    1. cucumber3732842 · · focus · HN ↗
      >For the past 3 years I have replaced my ADHD stimulant medication with nicotine patches

      My first thought was "That's a no brainer why didn't I think of that".

      Then I remembered that I grew up during peak anti-smoking and so they made nicotine out to be some sort of borderline meth boogeyman rather than just extra addictive extra effective caffeine that comes in bad for your health form factors and that all that propaganda got sent straight to long term memory and I was indoctrinated by it at such a young age it didn't even occur to me to think outside the box like that.

      Nicotine patches are expensive for what they are but they're basically free compared to meds.

      1. huurtehoog · · focus · HN ↗
        > rather than just extra addictive extra effective caffeine

        That is a severe understatement. Nicotine is consistently ranked as one of the most addictive drugs, near cocaine and heroin.

        Only about 6% nicotine users manage to quit every year.

        <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nida.nih.gov&#x2F;publications&#x2F;research-reports&#x2F;tobacco-nicotine-e-cigarettes&#x2F;nicotine-addictive" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nida.nih.gov&#x2F;publications&#x2F;research-reports&#x2F;tobacco-n...

        1. astura · · focus · HN ↗
          It might be addicting, but it&#x27;s still overcomable, since 2002 there&#x27;s more former smokers in the US than active smokers. 66% of all Americans who have ever smoked have successfully quit.
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