The Challenge of Electronic Cigarettes

I’ve been a cigarette smoker for the last 40 years. June 29th 2013 I caught a nasty respiratory infection that knocked my feet from under me and took my breath away, the doctor prescribed six different medications, one was an inhaler!

I’ve always wanted to quit smoking. Every time I did something healthy like cycling, weight lifting and eating right, I felt like (actually knew) I was defeating the purpose by lighting up and inhaling 4000 toxins from a cigarette. Well, it took the grave circumstance of this respiratory infection to give me enough desperation to do so.

Since July 7th 2013 I’ve been using the e-cigarette as a medical detox from tobacco cigarettes. It’s been working great! I can breath better, my teeth are whiter, my clothes smell fresh and most importantly I feel like I will live a healthier longer life.

One other thing that has happened since I quit smoking tobacco cigarettes; I no longer like the taste of black coffee, used to drink it all day and night, no cream no sugar…wow…go figure. I’m a tea drinker now.

I plan to eventually wean myself off the e-cigarette by lowering the nicotine dosage from 20mg to 15mg to 4mg and then zero. Once I hit zero mg nicotine, the vaping (inhaling e-cigarette vapors) will have served it’s purpose.

UPDATE:
August15, 2013

I was getting headaches from a particular type of e-juice and I didn't know the difference between PG (Propylene glycol) and VG (Vegetable glycerin). I switched from (Propylene glycol) to VG (Vegetable glycerin) and the headaches went away.

Here’s the google search page related to PG vs VG

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=PG+vs+VG&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

UPDATE #2
September 15, 2013

After vaping for a while I began to have issues with phlegm in my throat, always having to clear my throat and this interferes with my radio show, stand up comedy and on-screen acting, etc…soooo….yup…had to give it up. 

Well, that was the plan any way right? Did a medical detox from cigarettes using the e-cigarette, then  ween myself off the e-cigarette. But the e-cigarette  forced me off it. Good. My lungs and throat thank me daily.

UPDATE #3

October 23, 2013

After being off the e-cigs for a bit, I was craving nicotine so I started back with a lighter version, the GreenSmartLiving brand has been working just fine, no head aches or throat irritation. I’ll ween myself off these over time. As of now I’ve been off regular cigarettes 3 ½ months!

Here’s an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that goes pretty deep into the current discussion on the health and regulatory talk surrounding e-cigarettes: JAMA Network | JAMA | The Regulatory Challenge of Electronic Cigarettes.

Here’s an interesting article from Daily Finance on how the tobacco companies are now getting in on the e-cigarette market and what we can expect as competition for dollars heats up in this arena: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/06/11/altria-enters-ecigarette-market-tobacco-nicotine-smoking/