After a good two months without any cigarettes I had three or four while in Grants Pass, OR for my brother’s wedding a few months weeks* ago. It went well with the shitty local beer, the cigarettes that is. Other than that i haven’t smoked any since the second week of May. It’s been a pretty good transition.

When I had a follow up appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist in June he asked if I had quit smoking, to which I responded that I had switched to electronic cigarettes. He then asked if I planned on quitting them. I asked him why. He had no good reason and couldn’t substantiate the suggestion with evidence, but thought it might cause some cardiac issues. That could be the case since it is a stimulant, but the effects reasonably wouldn’t be any different than drinking coffee all day.

At work, the doctor that contracts with us came to chat with me like he usually does on each visit and we have nice chats. He asked how it was going with the electronic cigarettes. I told him I was trying to step down the nicotine levels. He asked, “Why?”

There’s no good evidence on the effects of just nicotine, other than that it improves mental function. However, droping the levels made me pretty irritable during what was a busy, stressful week at work paired long hours and not getting to complete all the tasks on my list…not good. I might just go back to the 24 mg/mL level and stay there.

P.S. If you want the link on the study about nicotine’s effects on mental function, it’s an article I saw quite a while ago and I’ve had just enough beer to not care to dig for it.

*I caught the error and fixed it.