Mastodawn

Blake [he/him]Sep 27, 2023

People who vaped but never smoked, do you regret vaping?

People who vaped but never smoked, do you regret vaping? - Feddit UK

I am curious to hear from people who started vaping without having smoked beforehand. I’m curious about these things - feel free to respond to as many or as few of them as you wish. Primarily I am thinking about nicotine, but feel free to reply if you vape something different. 1. What age were you when you started vaping? Feel free to reply with a vague range (e.g. 12-15) or description (e.g. young teen / adult) 2. Why did you start? 3. Do you regret having ever started? If so, why do you regret it? 4. Have you noticed any long-term negative health effects from vaping? 5. Do you feel that the socialogical and/or legal issues around vaping are more or less of a concern than health effects? (e.g. having to go outside to vape, vaping being banned/restricted in certain places/situations/countries, the risks of vaping being more legally controlled in future, etc.) 6. Do you feel that the financial cost of vaping is more or less of a concern than the health effects? No need to follow the numbered format or anything, this isn’t a survey, I’m just looking for answers to these questions for my own personal curiosity! Please only share from your personal experience - no links to news stories or studies, please. Also, not interested in responses from ex-smokers, sorry - those can be found in huge volume already.

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rufus Sep 27, 2023

Don’t get addicted to nicotine.

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Blake [he/him]Sep 27, 2023

Thanks for sharing - but why? What is your reason for quitting?

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rufus Sep 27, 2023

German law. Crazy high taxes were introduced starting earlier this year.

Why do you want to know all the things in your post? (If I might ask…)

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Blake [he/him]Sep 27, 2023

So it’s a monetary thing, mainly? If it was cheap would you still want to quit?

I’m very curious on the topic - having had many friends and relatives who have started vaping, I wanted to get an understanding of the topic, both in terms of health data, but also the perspectives of people who vape.

It’s incredibly difficult to get good, clear information about this - lots of responses are from smokers talking about how much better vaping is than smoking - but we know that kids/teens have been picking up vaping at a high rate without ever having smoked and have been doing so now for a number of years, so those responses aren’t helpful.

On the other hand, when it comes to finding the negatives of vaping, it’s very difficult - so much has been written about one or two overblown stories (e.g. vitamin E acetate in THC vapes, or issues involving black-market or gray-market vapes/nicotine solutions) which absolutely drowns out the ability to find information about the negative health effects of a typical vape user buying name-brand products from reputable suppliers.

Long story short, I’m just trying to gather opinions and personal experience with vaping products. I have no real opinion either way, I’m just looking for the truth.

If you do want to help people avoid nicotine, all of the research has shown that the best anti-smoking campaigns used storytelling and strong emotional messaging - so I would encourage you to share your story if you’ve had a negative experience with vaping.

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possibly a cat

I think one factor is that it is a stimulant, and one that doesn’t require a sugary drink or else a bitter drink. Stimulants are extremely popular in society, legal and illicit. Dosing can be more controlled than with most popular caffeine sources.

And although I suspect the MAOIs in tobacco are a strong component, there is an antidepressant effect that I don’t think has been entirely isolated - studies show that smoking often has an effect in patients where pharmaceuticals do not (and for some people who do not medicate traditionally due to severe side effects which is a relatively common problem). Last I checked, it was possible that nicotine itself contributed to this effect and so would have some effect on its own.

The lack of MAOIs is believed to make vaping much less addictive than smoking. Many studies on nicotine show a fairly mild risk (and addiction) profiles for healthy individuals, even compared to many OTC medications or other household items. There is also, of course, less of a mental health stigma about having vaping in your history than a track of prescriptions.

For someone looking to self medicate, for energy or depression, there can be various appeals to vaping. I tend to worry more about what in society is driving people to self-medicate so much.