My Story || How To Quit Smoking For Good

I started smoking at the age of sixteen - I'm talking smoking full time, in front of my parents and spending my well-earned money on cigarettes. Over the years, I've smoked more cigarettes than I care to admit and when I turned twenty I was smoking more than I ever had done. I decided to try and cut down - but it was hard. I soon fell pregnant in 2005 and smoking was no longer an option in my life. During my pregnancy, I was sick as a dog until around the ninth month so craving cigarettes was the last thing on my mind. Not long after my son was born though I ashamedly started smoking again.

Weirdly I missed holding a cigarette more than I missed the actual inhalation of toxins. Between 2006 and 2009 I fell pregnant two more times and each time was similar, I'd fall pregnant, stop smoking and restart shortly after my sons were born. In 2009 when I restarted it was different from the previous times. I started smoking again, sure, but this time there was real hate for the dirty habit. I smoked because I struggled to fight the craving - but - at the same time, I despised the habit and each cigarette that I smoked. I felt torn and weak and ashamed. I so badly wanted to stop.

Seeking help, I found the only methods available for stopping smoking in 2009 were Nicotine patches, consultations at a chemist and a prescription medication called Champix (Varenicline). I decided to try the Nicotine patches first because they were the less invasive method, but I couldn't stomach the patches no matter how hard I tried as they made me violently sick. Visiting the doctors I was prescribed Champix. I had heard both good and bad stories about this medication, but I was willing to give it a try.

Champix was my only hope to stop smoking so I wholeheartedly agreed to give them a try. Once again by the second week (when the tablets increased) I was throwing up continuously and the migraine that had taken root in my head literally made me feel like I was about to die. I soon realised that my only way of giving up for good was to go cold turkey. That prospect terrified me.

Six years on I'm so impressed with how far we've come with products and treatments to help people kick their own smoking habit. If I was quitting now, I think I would have gone down the vaping and e-cigarette route which has become hugely popular for good reason. I have a few close family members who stopped smoking using e-cigarettes and in particular the e-liquid from Medusa Juice. My cousin loves the Medusa Juice, Banana custard flavoured e-liquid in particular. It's enabled her to cut her smoking habit in half without the horrible side effects that come from patches and prescriptions. She's hoping to fully stop within the next month or two. This is the e-juice that she uses...

Had vaping been around back when I was a ''smoker'' I doubt I'd have ever re-started and gone cold turkey would have never been an issue. I still think back to when my habit was in full force and I still feel guilty for smoking when my sons were so young, granted I smoked outside, but I would have still had cigarette smoke, nicotine and other toxins on my skin and clothes as I picked them up and smothered them in kisses. Those memories don't sit right with me because it should have never happened. Vaping provides an easy and manageable way of reclaiming your health and breaking the habit once and for all and because of that I wholeheartedly recommend this as the easiest and most viable option for quitting safely.