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Vices. Could be a drink, could be a hobby, could be anything that you want to do or have while you were under stress. Me? I had a few, I drink and I smoke.

If you don't smoke, just scroll away.

Drinking alcohol and smoking are some of the few common vices. Oh wait, let me put a disclaimer.

I am not encouraging anyone, specially minors who are in this platform, to do such thing. This is me just sharing my experience and what I observed from the people around me. If you are drinking or smoking, I DO ENCOURAGE YOU TO STOP.

Alright, back to the ballgame!

Some of you might have read my previous articles and some of you may already know that I am a mom.

Just so you know my cravings for alcohol and smoking went to zero when I got pregnant. When we knew that I was pregnant, I do admit that I still think about smoking or drinking but the craving was gone that I can just be simply brush it off when i think about it.

That was went I was pregnant, how about now?

After i have birth my cravings to alcohol and cigarettes still didn't go back. But there were stressful times that I wanted and tempted to drink and smoke.

DO I STILL DRINK?
There are people or moms who still drink and it says that beer contains malt, which helps to increase breastmilk supply. (That's why I drink milo everyday). Other people say it's safer to drink wine, other people say that you can drink beer. How about for breastfeeding moms? Some say that you can breastfeed after 2 hours from drinking alcohol.

**Based on my experience, I drank red wine just half a glass because it was by bestfriend's birthday, I was just there for a couple of hours and when I got home I needed to pump milk but then supply was low. It was new to me as usually I get out of the house for 2 hours to do groceries and have my me time and get at least 3 to 4oz. I thought it was just one time thing and continuous pumping it'll increase again. It didn't, it was gradually decreasing more until I can only pump less than an ounce. I did everything for a week but still no go, I decided to buy lactation treats and well it worked and I was so relieved as a pure breastfeeding mom.

After that, I decided not to drink any alcohol again for the time being until my baby has been fully weaned.

DO I STILL SMOKE?

I am asking for everyone's understanding and I do appreciate if you won't judge me.

We all know that being a first time time is a sudden adjustment of lifestyle. I've been smoking since I was in college and I wasn't able to stop until I got pregnant. Smoking was my breather, my relaxant, my peace of mind, my calming toy back then. I restrained myself from smoking as a mom, especially a breastfeeding mom.

I didn't smoke until my 5th month postpartum. I was just fascinated by a new smoking device that my bestfriend bought. I tried it and yes, it was different from a regular cigarette, much lighter to my chest or lungs. (I'll share a few details about this later.) Good thing that I out of our house as I asked my bestfriend if she can drive my husband to the airport going back to Leyte and she agreed. Of course I promised my husband, that I just tried it out. He wants me to quit obviously. I didn't breastfeed bb right after I got home, of course I bathed and washed thoroughly before I touch and feed Lil B.

Attempts to stop smoking

How about drinking? Oh nooo, hahahha! Drinking ocassionally is okay just not at the moment while I am still breastfeeding, but I plan to wean Lil B after her 1st birthday due to other personal and husband reasons.

Alright, I tried to stop smoking of course. I can already feel the effect of smoking in my body gradually back then. Why didn't I stop? Do you love coffee? Then why didn't you stop drinking coffee? Yes, it was for the same reason, same cravings and both bad for health if you take too much.

Vape

Remember when smoking ban was implemented? Our company followed the ban. No more smoking areas, but there are still a lot of employees who find ways to look for a spot to smoke. That's why the guards told the employees in our building to smoke at the roof top. It was on the 5th floor and you'll have to take the stairs. We have to go to the ground floor thru elevator and climb the stairs up to the roof top. We can't just directly take the fire exit stairs as the alarm will be triggered. We only have two 15-min break and climbing up takes time and smoking made it harder for us to rush back in the office.

Oh I forgot to tell you that the company removed smoking areas but turned it into vaping areas. Yes, that's why I turned to vaping.

Again, I don't encourage people or minors to smoke nor vape as it is dangerous to your health.

When the smoking ban was implemented, a lot of smokers turned to vaping. There's also an arguement that vaping is safer than smoking, and vapes are more dangerous as it explodes.

I admit that I don't like vapes before because I'd still choose cigarettes over vape but when I tried it, there was a relief. If I will compare how my lungs feels after vaping, it was very light. After a few weeks of vaping, I tried smoking again and I can feel how heavy the nicotine or the tar into my lungs as I inhaled it.

I've known a few people who were heavy to light smokers who turned to vaping and don't smoke cigarettes anymore. After a month or just a few weeks of vaping, they don't like how cigarettes smells and taste like. Mind you, these people are also cigarette smokers for years or even a decade already. Some of them tried vaping (vape pods), just for a few weeks and months then decided to quit vaping and quit cigarette smoking too. I was actually glad that it helped them stop. I on other hand still find the smell of a cigarette pleasant to my nose.

DISCLAIMER: Not all vapers stopped smoking but it helped them manage their nicotine and tar intake. This still depends on one's preference, mind and body, the effects on other people may not be the same to others.

For the people who are healthy here or doesn't smoke nor vape, well good for you. DON'T TRY TO EITHER.

Oh may I add this note as well, some kids think that vaping is cool. It isn't, I feel like they are disrespecting the vaping community, they are disrespecting the people who wants to stop cigarette smoking. These people wants to stop or change something for health reasons and vaping actually helped many smokers to stop. There were also cases that their lungs were all cleared after vaping.

For all I know, anything that doesn't belong to your body system is harmful. So as what vapers say, do not vape if you don't smoke. For non-smokers, just simply don't smoke.

Vape issues

There were a lot of vape issues that came up. Exploding devices, vape juice contents are more harmful, vaping causes lung damage. If you think about it there were also issues in cigarettes that can also lead to lung cancer. There are visual reminder on every pack of cigarettes on the effects of cigarettes.

We, vapers take pre-caution in our vape devices. There are different types of vapes too. The first one was the e-cigarette, which is pretty safe to use. Vape mods are more complicated, then vape pods are somehow similar to e-cigarette, more compact but longer battery life and more juice storage.

Here's my take on certain issues: (only my opinion)

Exploding devices - a lot of exploding devices are due to mishandling. I personally have experienced it and cannot blame the device, it is my responsibility and I should've been more careful. My vape mod (device didn't explode), I simply forgot to turn off the device before putting it in my bag.

One device that was broadcasted on the news was owned by a teenager. I assure you that no vape store sells vape to minors, they are very strict to that UNLESS a person of legal age buys one for a minor OR they are not authorized vape sellers. The same underage vaper bought a second hand vape. Take note that he's a minor, he doesn't know much about vape yet, it could also be his first time using a vape. When buying 2nd hand products make sure that you know specifics before buying better yet, you must be knowledgeable enough to a certain product to check its quality. We've checked on the news what happened and as far as I can remember the batter of the vape the kid bought wasn't in a good condition, that may result for the vape to explode.

There are certain maintenance that you do when you own a vape:

• Change cottons as frequent as you can

• Change coils

• Clean vape mod parts

• Check battery charger

• Change battery wrap

Yes, we do change the battery wrap as soon as there's a tear on the original or previous wrap. If you own a vape pod, you don't have to worry about these things. You just simply need to change the pods.

Vape juice - they say vape juice are more harmful as it contains chemicals. That's what I thought too but if you buy from authorized or licensed juice manufacturer there shouldn't be a problem. Usually vape juice contains Flavoring, Water, Propylyne Glycol or Vegetable Glycerin (or both) and Nicotine. Nicotine is the harmful ingredient that can also be found in cigarettes.

There's an issue about vape juice that contains Marijuana which says that it causes lung failure. I don't know specificilly what happened to that medical case as I didn't follow it after wards but just a piece of advise, better check the contents before buying from a specific brand. There are a lot of local juice manufacturers that are still not fda approved.

Another alternative or step to stop smoking

IQOS device

Disclaimer: This is not sponsored and I shouldn't be doing this but I want to help smokers to stop too.

This is the device that my bestfriend uses, this is also the one that I tried. She introduced this device to me and when I tried it, I can feel that it wasn't as heavy as a regular cigarette.

How does it work?

It was like an e-cigarette but you still have cigarette sticks to put in. It's a cigarette heating device. It doesn't but the cigarette stick which brings tar and cigarette ash. It simply heats the tobacco in the cigarette stick. Advantage? Little to no smoke, smoke fades quickly, little to no smell, no cigarette ashes and lighter to the lungs.

Oh another advantage for me is, you can control your frequency of smoking. You can only use the device up to one to 2 consecutive use, then you need to put it back on its charging pack for next use. The charging pack is portable by the way.

AGAIN A DISCLAIMER: do not try this if you do not smoke. I do not encourage you to use this device is you are a minor or a non-smoker

I wanted my father to try this device so he can stop smoking. He's a chain smoker, he smokes less than 2 packs a day but now that he's retired, my mother limits her to smoke less than a pack per day.

Here's a vid on Youtube, so you can take a look.

If you want to try and gradually stop smoking I suggest you try this device. The picture above was taken from my Gcash account, if you see that pop up you can sign up for a free trial of the device. Just click the link from there.

I initially signed up for my father so he can try it to at least lessen his smoking habits. Well, for some reason he still find it inconvenient. He prefers convinience over health. UGH.

Will I purchase one if I feel like smoking again?
Yes, or I will just sell the other heet sticks to my bestfriend or I'll vape instead. I still have my vape set with me so... I don't know. I hope I don't go back to smoking or vaping but I admit that I still have cravings.

For now, a little sacrifice for my Lil and hopefully I won't go back to smoking like my father.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS!

I've been wanting to share this to you all especially to smokers out there. I know cutting off smoke in your habits is hard but we should at least try. It saves money, time and longer life!

I know some people may agree with me or not.
Again, I am sharing this not because I am encouraging people our minors to do so. Well, if you are a non-smoker and you already have a job or you already have your own money, it's your decision but I hope that you take care of your health.

CIAO!

Lead image from unsplashed and pictures posted are mine.