Long time vapers - how do you feel physically and mentally?

soupdragon

I'm almost 24 hrs now without smoking, got my vaper starter kit yesterday and so far so good. I've got a question (or 2) for those who are further down the line and have been vaping for a fair old time.

Q1. How do you feel physically?

Any benefits - any drawbacks? Eg, I friend in work who had been vaping for a while I noticed his voiced changed after a while, as if he had slight congestion. I'm also wondering about weight gain/loss. Its pretty common for those giving up smoking to gain weight - is this a watch out for vaping as well? What about general activity - say running, playing sports, that type of thing…. Have you noticed any performance variance on the fitness side of things?

Q2. How do you feel mentally?

Linked to the physical side of things too, do you feel better in your mind knowing that you've kicked a pretty dangerous habit - placebo or not - how has vaping affected you mentally?

Would love to hear you opinions!

oska

Physically, I've never been a fit bloke anyway. Not sporty etc. I can still feel the benefits though. I used to have asthma as a kid and it would return when I smoked, I don't have those Ill effects anymore. I don't cough loads but I will admit I do have the odd cough in the morning, nothing bad or harsh just a bit of dryness sometimes.
This leads me on to what you said about your friends voice. Sometimes I do get a very dry throat after Vaping a lot the previous day/evening. It can affect my voice and make it croaky. I can only descibe it like when your voice starts dropping as a kid. It may last a day and then won't appear again for weeks.
Now I am very bad at drinking water so this may have a big factor.

Apart from that not much else to say, I don't notice massive improvements in taste and smell but it's been a while now so I may have at the start. Certainly not stinking of smoke is a huge benefit.

Mentally, I probably feel more addicted to Vaping mainly because I do it a lot more than I ever smoked. I have no intention of stopping unless there are proven massive health risks. I have always had an addictive personality, I latch on to something until I get bored so who knows. I can't see me stopping anytime soon.

Good luck with it all and well done for sticking with it. I hope you continue on the same path.

Dony

When I was smoking I had all the usual things, bad cough, sore throats and a tightness in my chest.
I've been vaping now for just over 3 weeks and those have all but gone away. My chest and throat feel so much better, and my cough is starting to go as well.
My sense of smell has also returned as I can now smell smokers walking past!

JC4PM

I smoked for over 25 years.  I turned to vaping after a bit of a scare,  I really felt ill.  
From day one I never felt the need to buy a packet of smokes, and now I'm nearly two years without an ashtray by my side.  
My health is good, I run and cycle to work every single day, passed a government medical exam at the same pace as 20 year old lads.  I'm me again!

WozzaUK

Over 3 years now and all the smokers symptoms have long gone. If only vaping helped sort the ever increasing, age inducing belly weight!!

Timmy C

Been vaping for 2 or 3 years and haven't touched a cigarette in at least 16 months. I have zero craving to smoke, clothes don't smell and hangovers are much easier to deal with. In terms of overall fitness I've certainly not noticed any negative aspects (and like others I vape a LOT more than I used to smoke) but I wouldn't say I feel fitter either but that I would put that down to being generally pretty unfit anyway. This is something I plan to do something about and I'm confident the lack of cigarettes in my diet is going to make that task a lot easier!

Edit: Just re-reading some other comments and would say my sense of smell has improved too. I'm having my kitchen extended at the moment and I can tell whenever the plumber has arrived as I can smell the smoke on his clothes from upstairs!

soupdragon

Thanks for the insight with your replies all

From my own short experience, I'll be 4 weeks off on Sat which is a nice little milestone and I'm 99.9% certain I'll get there and beyond. In truth, it's been easier than I imagined.

My other half still smokes and as I stand at the back door vaping, the temptation is there to lift one of hers. I've resisted though and it's only after a wee drink that the temptation is a bit stronger

It's given me more confidence though, beating that temptation!

To answer my own questions, mentally, I'm not sure how I feel yet as I need to get over the physical hurdles 1st. Since I've stopped, I've had a really bad ear infection, I've got a sore in my mouth and I've put on a little weight. I played football tonight and was very poor but I'm putting that down to being ill and really hope that I will actually see a physical benefit sometime soon.

I will need to watch the snacks I think now, as previously I could eat absolutely anything and stay between 12 and 13 stone which is ideal for a 6ft person. Last year my metabolic age was measured at 22 and considering I was 37 then, that's a major stroke of genetic luck lol!

I'll be getting measured again soon but something is telling me that giving up smoking will have considerably effected that number which is why I'm getting quite wary of my diet now. So much easier to put it on than get it off so I'll need to make sure no more goes on to begin with!

Overall, I'm so glad I did it and vaping is so much better than gum or patches, miles better. While I don't feel great right now, I can feel an underlying improvement sort of bubbling beneath the surface so hopefully in a few more weeks I'll be on the road to feeling great about kicking the habbit

Tomthebomb

This October will be four years vaping. Four years of not smoking 30 Marlboro's each of those days.

42,720 fags not missed

soupdragon

Wow, that's a lot of fags... and a lot of money saved - somewhere in the range of £17k!

Which would be enough to buy one of these supercharged RR

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201411269259555

PumpingtonSteel

I would like to revisit this topic and hear an update from the above posters and from newer papers
health is a big motivation for me but so is fitness
i'm generally pretty unfit, carrying extra bulk and with the smoking on top, I suffered from the triple whammy of breathlessness upon exertion. Giving up has inspired me to get back into the gym. I still get achy/tired muscles easily, out of breath easily (it's only been a week/4 sessions and still carrying the bulk) but breathing is clearer. Looking to improve cardio fitness and lung capacity/efficiency, thinking mainly through interval training on the treadmill
In the past I've seen massive improvements through heavy training but always smoked heavily throughout, perhaps this time the improvements will be more significant. worried that the infamous weight gain/return of appetite will hinder me (although I never suffered from lack of enthusiasm when it came to food)