Health specialist offers advice on quitting vaping

Many young people have taken up vaping as what they think is a safer alternative to smoking: the nicotine buzz without the cancer risks of cigarettes. But with the rash of vaping-related illnesses, many young people want to quit – and are finding it incredibly hard.

“I think the level of addiction that we’re seeing is really unprecedented in terms of the trajectory of use from initiation to dependence,” said Patricia Atwater, director of health promotion at Hall Health, the University of Washington’s student health center. “When you start using nicotine products under the age of 26, nicotine actually rewires your brain to predispose you to addiction for the rest of your life to nicotine."

So how do people quit vaping? Cessation programs are being developed to address vaping, she said, there’s a pretty clear path in treating nicotine addiction: Replacement therapy, such as the nicotine patch, lozenge or gum.

“The best practice is to use more than one, so using both the patch and the gum,” she said.

Atwater said a big part of quitting any kind of tobacco product is addressing the role that nicotine has in your life, such as helping to manage loneliness, boredom, anxiety or stress – and then creating an environment that supports the journey of quitting.

“It is hard. It’s work. And it might be uncomfortable, but it’s worth doing,” she said.