My vape story

My vape story is slightly different than most of those you'll hear.

While I am a reformed smoker - I smoked off and on from the time I was 11 until I became pregnant with my son.  I then stopped cold turkey with no ill affects which really pissed off people I knew that were trying to stop smoking - I simply smoked the last one in my pack and never bought another one.  With the exception of the odd one while at a bar or out with other smokers, I never once started smoking regularly again.

So while I didn't enter into this new culture to stop smoking, I did pick it up for other health reasons.  Those reasons are two-fold.

First, I suffer from chronic migraines; that's another story for another blog, though.  For those of you unfamiliar with chronic migraines, this is when you suffer from migraine attacks 15 or more times a month - even with the aid of medical treatment.  Those of us who suffer this disease are oftentimes left debilitated, hiding away from society, because we cannot control the pain and suffering we are forced to endure almost daily (for some, it never stops.)

One of the biggest concerns about chronic migraines is the fact that you may not know all of the things that will trigger an attack.  And, of the triggers you do know, you can't necessarily control them.  In my case, my main KNOWN triggers are hormones, stress, barometric changes, and fluorescent/flickering lights.  Each of these triggers - even the stress - are outside of my complete control.  Sure, I could use hormonal birth control methods that will lessen the effects hormones have on my migraines - but they have all sorts of side effects themselves.  I have ways I can slightly control my stress levels, but there always seems to be something else that comes along after I calm down to raise the levels through the roof (again, another story for another blog).  As for barometric changes or fluorescent lights, you can just give up on being a goddess enough to be able to control those.

So there's the first factor that led me to vaping.

Secondly, I am overweight.  I have been since I hit puberty, and my weight has increased over the years - dramatically so after the birth of my son.  In fact, my weight ballooned to the point where I was medically diagnosed as morbidly obese.  While I do try exercise and eating right, there are other factors that have made the process of losing weight almost impossible.

I was on the road to success for a while when I was on a very strict diet called Ideal Protein.  Now, when I say strict, I mean REALLY strict.  I was eating 800 or fewer calories a day, every day.  The foods I could and couldn't eat were severely limited, and, because of the limited daily food intake, was forced to take many, many vitamins and supplements just to stay healthy.  (Please, before I go any further, don't think I'm trying to give the Ideal Protein diet a bad rap.  It does work for a lot of people - I actually lost approximately 100 pounds on it before I was forced to abandon it due to monetary concerns.)

That was the second factor that led me to vaping.

One of the draws of vaping for smokers is it is a much safer alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.  The nicotine used in the "juice" (ejuice/eliquid) used is distilled and doesn't contain all of the harmful pesticides, chemicals, and carcinogens the tobacco used in cigarettes contains.  Yet the nicotine in the "juice" seems to work better at curbing the awful cravings smokers have when they trying to quit.

Yes, I know.  Before you lecture me about the highly addictive nature of nicotine (I've researched it for different stories), it is partly this addictive nature that led me to turn to vaping.  Nicotine, like caffeine, is a stimulant.  It speeds up your system - your metabolism, your circulation, your energy, etc.  Its stimulant affect is one of the side effects of its addictive nature that leads smokers to NEED - not just want, but NEED - a cigarette first thing in the morning when they wake up.  It speeds up all of your systems, not just the circulatory system that gets it to your brain faster.

And it was the stimulant effect in which I was interested.  Most commercial diet pills are nothing but high powered stimulants meant to increase your energy and metabolism so your body can use the calories you take in more effectively, causing you to burn fat.

Also, the different flavors available for different juices gives you access to rich, complex profiles you once were only able to find in calorie-dense sweets.  You can experience the flavor and satisfaction of your favorite ice creams, cakes, pies, cookies, etc without consuming 1000 calories per serving to do so.  This makes all those scintillating, tempting treats available in the palm of your hand, guilt free.

Then, there's the process of vaping itself.  The act of deeply inhaling that warm vapor into your body, holding it for a few seconds, and then exhaling it into the air is highly relaxing.  It puts you more in tune with your own body - you can feel the vapor of it enters your mouth, your throat, your lungs; you can feel it as it leaves your body, the billowy cloud joining the air around you in a hazy ballet.  It dances - swaying, swirling, circling, dipping, rising - on the air currents around you, surrounding you in the lingering warmth of the vapor like angels in a cartoon.

Wrapping coils for your hardware, playing with designs and configurations, to try and achieve bigger and better clouds or richer flavor is an activity like crocheting or knitting - something you can do that can be calming and therapeutic but still allows you to interact with family and friends who may be in a room with you.  Wicking your RDA, experimenting with different materials for the best results, allows you to shift your focus to something that isn't stressful to you - something that you can do while you let the worries of the day fall away.

And for the more advanced vaper, experimenting with different flavor profiles and combinations to make your own custom juice is much like being in the kitchen and making those cookies your grandmother always made when you went to visit her.

Keeping all of that in mind *takes a huge breath*

Since I bought my first mechanical mod (a Tesla Corsair Sea Raider) and RDA (a Tugboat V2), I have noticed a drastic improvement in my health. 

The number of migraines I have each month has dropped from 30/31 (we're talking basically just one long month of nothing but migraines) to between 16-19.  Still chronic, but it's not just one long torture session.  Along with that, my blood pressure has also dropped.

Weight wise, since I started vaping with the type of equipment I have now near the end of February, I have lost about 25 pounds.  While that may not seem like all that much, I will point out that the ONLY thing that changed is I started vaping.  I still get as much exercise and movement as I was before; I still eat the way I was eating before I started vaping; and I still have the same sucky insomnia keeping me from normal sleep as I had before.  So the ONLY thing different that could cause weight loss like that is the addition of vaping.

So there you have it... long, wordy, and most of you probably don't care one iota.  But I wanted to share my personal vape story with you before I start diving further into the vape world and culture in future blog posts.

I hope, if nothing else, this will help you view e-cigarettes, vape gear, and vapers themselves a little LESS negatively than you might have previously.

#vapingsavedmylife