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Want to quit vaping? Compared with cigarette smoking, it might be even harder
- Higher levels of nicotine inhaled during vaping when compared with traditional cigarettes could make quitting more challenging, experts say
- As vapers tend to be younger than cigarette smokers, traditional smoking groups are not necessarily the answer
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Inspired and scared by the recent spate of US hospitalisations and deaths from a mystery respiratory illness linked to vaping, young people can be seen throwing out their e-cigarettes on social media, vowing to quit.
Just as there is a lot to learn about e-cigarettes – a relatively new trend that is especially popular among young people – doctors say there is little known about how to successfully quit.
“Are we going to use the same techniques and medications [used for quitting traditional cigarettes], or are there unique features?” says Andrea King, professor of psychiatry and director of the Courage to Quit programme at the University of Chicago.
She adds that as these products have come on the market and been rapidly adopted, there just hasn’t been enough time to develop specific treatment programmes for those looking to quit vaping.
Because the basis of a vaping addiction is nicotine, King says, it’s possible that traditional methods for quitting could work. Those use a combination of counselling on changing behaviours together with medications that quell nicotine cravings, and are proven to be more effective than someone going “cold turkey” or quitting on their own.
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