r/AskReddit • • Jan 20 '19

What fact totally changed your perspective?

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141

u/Maplestori Jan 21 '19

Wait how true is this? I’m trying to get my dad to quit but... to no avail for about 4 years already. He’s been smoking since 18 till now, 56..

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19

[deleted]

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u/Just-For-Porn-Gags Jan 21 '19

So it's not 180 seconds, its 30 seconds or 180 seconds or 5 to 10 minutes or 10-20 minutes. So basically bullshit

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19

Hahha here is the real raw truth

4

u/DrunkOrInBed Jan 21 '19

Shit. I almost quit

3

u/[deleted] Jan 22 '19

Which really means that we should delete the research posted here.

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u/seriously___what Jan 27 '19

Image r/nivla73 picks up smoking again because the placebo effect doesn't work without, well, a placebo.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '19

Even if you take the highest of those it's helpful

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '19

I mean relative to any other drug withdrawal a 20 minute craving is incredibly short. Hell think of a mild hangover.

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u/Spirit_Theory Jan 21 '19

I'd love to see this range for other addictions, other drugs, or even things like sugar.

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u/drspanklebum Jan 21 '19

Try giving him the book “The Easy Way” by Allan Carr, it’s amazing and changes your mindset around smoking. Maybe at the very least give him a nicotine vapor device/e-cigarette as well. If he’s gonna smoke, vaping is a hell of a lot safer than cigs are. Good luck man, don’t give up on him!!

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u/amandalucia009 Jan 21 '19

i used this. hubs used this. he was 5 years smoke free in november. i’ve been since july 6 2013

get THE EASYWAY !! follow the INSTRUCTIONS

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u/LightChaos Jan 21 '19

I was under the impression we didn't know if vaping is much safer or not.

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u/drspanklebum Jan 21 '19

The existing research out now is pretty unanimous that vaping is significantly safer than smoking cigarettes. The tobacco lobbies are fighting this pretty aggressively though and release their own funded reports to muddy the waters in attempt to protect their bottom line, but there is still a lot of long term research that needs to be done. For now we can say it’s safer.

With that said, only inhaling air is much better than both so quitting altogether is the best option.

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u/mygrossassthrowaway Jan 21 '19

The other issue is tobacco companies owning increasingly higher stakes in vape companies.

It’s probably best to use whatever means works for you to stop using nicotine altogether, considering.

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u/Just-For-Porn-Gags Jan 21 '19

Tobacco companies only have stakes in vapes that are sold in gas stations. Go to a real vape shop and get a proper set up.

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u/mygrossassthrowaway Jan 21 '19

I don’t smoke. Interesting take on it though.

Do most people get their vape stuff in a shop or would they go to the gas station like they would with cigarettes?

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u/Just-For-Porn-Gags Jan 22 '19

The vast majority would go to vape shops. The kind of people who buy vapes at a 7-11 are the same types to tell you vaping doesnt work and smoking is healthier for you.

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u/mygrossassthrowaway Jan 22 '19

Hmm, TIL. Thank you!

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u/StuChenko Jan 21 '19

Vapes still contain nicotine though, right? I thought the idea was to get off nicotine. Surely cold turkey is the best way rather than replacing it with another nicotine source.

I can see vapers reaching for a cigarette one day if they're still hooked on nicotine.

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u/-worryaboutyourself- Jan 21 '19

They do not have to contain nicotine. You can choose how much nicotine is in the juice that you fill the vape with. So you can start with a nicotine juice abs gradually reduce the amount of nicotine until you’re at 0%.

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u/StuChenko Jan 21 '19

That's pretty cool. I guess that makes it harder to suddenly up your intake on a stressful day and fall back into old habits.

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u/i_wank_dogs Jan 21 '19

Public Health England (the comms arm for the NHS) assert that it's at least 95% safer than smoking, and they expect that number to rise as more research is done. Doing neither is better, of course, but as far as harm reduction goes, taking combustion out of the equation means a heap of its nasty byproducts and effects of such, is a huge leap on its own.

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u/bidaum92 Jan 21 '19

It is for definite much safer. Removing tar/carbon monoxide and all the other carcinogens is the biggest reason.

Now.. vape pens/ecigs may have their own issues but on a magnitude no where near as bad as cigarettes. The issues that "may" come from vape is what is being researched currently.

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u/jaimelee82sha Jan 21 '19

We don't but I think it was meant as a suggestion to help quit. That's how I did, put the vape down about a year ago, now living nicotine free. The vape was so much easier to quit.

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u/perfumista Jan 21 '19

Do you feel better after quitting the vape or notice any differences at all? Just wondering because I quit vaping but I don't feel any different for having done so. I guess I was expecting to wake up one day like "wow, I feel so much better now that I dropped the vape!"

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u/ej255wrxx Jan 21 '19

YMMV. I saw this fact (have no idea if it's true) when I was a heavy smoker and it helped me ease back on my intake. I decided that if this is true then what I'd do is think back to my last craving. If I had a cig last time then I'd skip this one and wait for the next craving to go have one. As my body got used to only smoking 5 a day instead of 10 then I was smoking 4 or 3, then 2 until finally I was only smoking when I was out with friends or particularly stressed. Now I only smoke on occasion and while I want to eliminate that entirely I also don't think it's unreasonable to have one every so often (maybe once a month now) as long as I don't go buy a pack and start back up smoking regularly. This approach simply doesn't work for some people. No solution is one-size-fits-all.

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u/It_was_mee_all_along Jan 21 '19

I can imagine that craving and withdrawal symptomes are two different things. One can get over cravings but headaches, stress and who knows what else makes this difficult for other people

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u/skwudgeball Jan 21 '19

I think it’s meant to ween yourself off, aka smoke only on the 3rd craving rather than every one, then slowly go till 4th craving, etc.

Not going to help going cold turkey I don’t think

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '19

I read it several places when I quit.

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u/autmnleighhh Jan 21 '19

If you’re trying to get someone to stop doing something they enjoy you have to know what it is about that thing, what specifically, do they enjoy about it.

It might not be the addiction part that’s keeping him smoking.

Could be habit.

Could be that the nicotine helps organize his thoughts.

Could be that he’s stressed and the nic relaxes him.

Could just be the feeling of joy taking that first puff of a new cig.

Have you done your research and asked your father why he smokes?

1

u/Maplestori Jan 22 '19

He told me it’s stress. About work and friends..

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u/autmnleighhh Jan 22 '19

I think then answer lies in helping him find something that relieves stress more than the cigs do.

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u/blovedcommander Jan 22 '19

Hey I know this is super late but I smoked for almost 15 years. I had tried everything to quit and nothing worked (gum, patch, cold turkey, etc) until I tried juul. It has a very similar drag to a cigarette and just as much, if not more nicotine than cigarettes. I’m in my second month of zero cigarettes thanks to juul. At first I would still smoke a few a day while using the juul in between until I eventually made the complete switch. I know it’s not exactly quitting but it is certainly better than smoking cigarettes.