Quitting Smoking is a Bitch, But I May Have Found a Product to Help

I promised myself and my kids that I would quit smoking when I turned 40. I’m 39 today, and my 40th birthday is rapidly approaching in October. I don’t want to quit, as I love smoking and it’s my last “crutch” upon which I can lean when I’m feeling stressed. I’m afraid that my quality of life will be drastically reduced when I quit. But to be honest, continuing to smoke after 40 is scarier.

I started smoking at 13 when my older cousin stole our grandmother’s cigarettes and we smoked them after she went to sleep. I was hooked immediately. Throughout high school, I found willing participants to buy me cigarettes. I wanted to be one of the “cool kids” smoking in the bathroom.

As I got older, I picked up more unsavory habits. I breezed through marijuana, to cocaine, to heroin in a year. My first experience with a drug rehabilitation facility was at 15. At that point, my mom gave up and bought me cigarettes to take to treatment. I guess she figured they were the least of my problems. But just like with drugs, I have taken cigarette smoking to the extremes, at one point smoking over a pack a day.

I’m an addict through and through and I’m very aware of this shortcoming. It affects me in almost every aspect of my life. Whether it’s drugs, smoking, food, or shopping, addiction rears its ugly head throughout my daily existence. It’s always a struggle to keep my demons in check. I have kicked heroin and crack after a several-decade-long battle for my life. I know what it takes to deal with addiction. But cigarettes are a different beast, at least for me.

When I quit heroin, I decided to get involved in a methadone maintenance program. I’ve been through withdrawal more times than I can count. Every time I would try to quit, the harsh flu-like symptoms, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, restless appendages, and hot and cold flashes were enough to send me running back to my dealer.

Keep in mind that I had tried just about every way available to get clean and nothing worked for any substantial amount of time. Methadone was my last resort and luckily, it worked. Because of my success with methadone, I decided that I wanted to try a replacement-type therapy to quit smoking cigarettes.

My first thought was to try vaping. Before I had done any research on nicotine vaping, I thought it was the panacea to all my problems. I reached out to some people on Twitter that were advocates for vaping. One guy pointed me toward a study done by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in Australia. They looked at nicotine vaping from a harm reduction perspective to see if it was a safe alternative to smoking combustible tobacco (regular cigarettes).

E-cigarettes indeed have fewer toxic chemicals than cigarettes. Despite this, they asserted that there is no way to know how e-cigarettes will affect people after long-term use. Although vaping has had some success in helping people to quit smoking cigarettes, there is no evidence available yet that compares the success of e-cigarettes against that of other available smoking cessation aids. The RCP encouraged more studies about using vaping as a harm reduction cessation tool.

Other findings from the RCP indicated that a 2016 Cochrane systematic review analyzed two randomized controlled trials that revealed, compared with placebo (non-nicotine) e-cigarettes, the use of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes is more likely to achieve six months of continuous abstinence from smoking tobacco cigarettes. Due to the limited number of trials, this evidence does not carry a lot of weight in the scientific community.

After reading the RCP’s assessment, my biggest takeaway is that there has not been enough scientific testing done and we know next to nothing about the long-term effects of using nicotine vapes. Although I believe that nicotine vapes are much safer than regular cigarettes, I still would rather not start a habit with something that could cause health problems down the line.

I also discussed nicotine vaping with my doctor, and she was not thrilled with the idea; however, she still saw its worth as a harm reduction tool. Our plan is for me to cut out one cigarette every month from the amount I was smoking when we devised this method. I was smoking 17 cigarettes a day when I first started counting my cigarettes. I am now down to 12 cigarettes a day. I should be a little bit further along, but there were a few months that I didn’t cut a cigarette out.

Initially, I was feeling a fair amount of anxiety about quitting smoking. I hated counting my cigarettes because all I would think about was how many I had left that day. What would happen if I completely ran out of cigarettes for that day and I really wanted one? These thoughts plagued my mind as I struggled to find the will to trudge on.

A few weeks ago, my son and I were talking about my progress when he noted that he saw an ad on TikTok for a new product called Rise. Rise is a caffeine vape with all-natural, safe ingredients. I went to the Rise website to do some research. The ingredients include propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, white lemon oil extract, yellow lemon oil extract, maltol, menthol, the guarana berry, cranberry extract, and caffeine.

Each Rise vape is disposable — there’s no battery or charger — and contains about 300 puffs. It’s recommended by the manufacturers that you use this product 5–10 times a day for energy. It comes in two flavors: pink lemonade frost and cool mint frost.

It took six days from when I placed the order to when I stood excitedly at my front door, grasping a small cardboard box full of Rise vapes. I ordered four of the pink lemonade frost and one of the cool mint frost. I ripped the packaging apart and sat down on the couch, ready to try my new vape.

I took a puff and immediately fell in love! The taste was amazing. I hate the taste of cigarettes, and I always need a drink (usually iced vanilla lattes) while I’m smoking. I could easily take a puff of Rise and not need something to clear my palette.

Most importantly to me, the hit I took was smooth and it felt nice and familiar going into my lungs. It wasn’t like THC vapes, which make me cough so hard I sometimes pee in my pants. It wasn’t so weak that I couldn’t feel the hit at all. It was the perfect hit. It may sound silly to a non-smoker, but I needed it to feel like I was smoking a cigarette for it to work. There would be no point in using it if it didn’t feel authentic.

Over the first few days, I used Rise strategically to shave a few cigarettes off of my daily use. So far, I’ve been able to reduce my cigarette intake to 10 a day instead of 12. Usually, I use it less than five times a day, which is not what I was expecting. I thought I would need to use it more often to obtain the desired results. But as I lower my allotted cigarettes for the day each month, I will have to depend on Rise more and more.

Once I get to the point where I’m only smoking a few cigarettes a day, Rise will become more prevalent in my daily life. I only use it when I really want to smoke a cigarette, but I’m trying to push it off or smoke a few less that day. I’m not concerned about the energy aspect of Rise, but I have noticed that I feel more alert and awake after I use it. It doesn’t make me feel jittery or strung out and I also consume at least two iced vanilla lattes every day.

Being that there’s no nicotine in Rise, I may struggle with withdrawal symptoms down the line. That’s something for which I am trying to prepare. To get optimal results, I may need to buy a nicotine patch or gum and try mixing that with Rise. But I may not need that, as I am slowly weaning down to one cigarette a day. By that point, I may be through the worst of the withdrawal. I will have to feel it out when I get to that point.

I am a huge proponent of harm reduction strategies when dealing with addictions, and I think that Rise has the potential to be a game-changer for people trying to quit this deadly habit. I’m going to discuss it with my doctor next time I see her and get her perspective on my ideas. She was hesitant, but understanding about the nicotine vaping, so I think she may respond well to Rise. I’m sure she’ll have concerns about too much caffeine, but I won’t be abusing this product.

I am going to write a follow-up article later down the line as I continue on my journey to quit smoking. I’ll share the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m nothing if not real about my experiences. Hopefully, Rise will be the key to my success. With Rise and a lot of willpower and determination, I can quit smoking before I turn 41 and keep my promise to my children.

Originally published on Medium on May 25, 2022