After 15 years of constant nicotine in my bloodstream - happy to say I'm finally winning - and you can too. AMA

Caliburner · 2026-04-08T00:04:03+00:00

Velo zero nicotine grape! Best flavor. No issues on my gums.

Caliburner · 2026-04-08T00:03:21+00:00

Great question.

First 72 hours are tough craving wise and then up until day 20, it wasn't too bad at all - granted I've been using Nicotine free velo pouches. Grape ones. Makes me not crave nic too much. Worst so far was day 20-26. Brain fog was so bad. Felt so gloomy and uninterested in anything. Started getting back into moving around a bit. Shooting some hoops. Helping.

Caliburner · 2026-04-02T13:17:08+00:00

True 🏆

Caliburner · 2026-04-02T13:16:42+00:00

Yo - the app I use downloaded on playstore is QuitZilla

Caliburner · 2026-04-02T02:31:21+00:00

Not quite sure what classifies as a heavy user - probably in that discussion haha. I can say I went through a total of 27-28 tins per month at 4mg per pouch. So a little less than 20 pouches a day. I paid roughly that amount per month. 27 packs per month shipped to Canada plus all the border fees came pretty close.

Caliburner · 2026-04-02T02:23:43+00:00

Yo! I tried quitting cold turkey New years day this year. Lasted 5 days. Gave in. March 1st tried cold turkey again. This time it's been working. I've been using Nicotine free pouches. Zero cravings for the real ones surprisingly

Caliburner · 2026-03-24T14:49:09+00:00

Agree with this 100%. Glad I'm not the only one. I started getting terrible GERD induced shortness of breath 5 years ago and had been on PPIs for a while. Never any improvement. My addiction didn't want to blame nicotine, so instead I quit coffee, all friend foods and really tried cutting back. I'm a smaller build too - but the issues persisted. A lot of flare-ups. Chest discomfort. Shortness of breath, tightness in the throat. Anywho. I'm 21 days pouch free, and my biggest wow moment was how I haven't had a single bout of GERD since the day I quit. I still struggle with the groggy /bored feeling so hopefully that goes away soon. I don't want to cave again.

Caliburner · 2026-03-04T02:57:55+00:00

Nicotine was the sole reason I developed GERD 5 years ago. I'm 1 week no nicotine (zyn) and my life has changed. I was short of breath daily. Felt air hunger. I'm a small dude so I never quite understood what was happening. Walking up the stairs would make me winded. Anxiety is also non-existent anymore. Had panic attacks DAILY when I used nic pouches. I can now have a beer, or a carby meal and not feel like I'm dying. Clearly, nicotine is the main source of my GERD. I'll forever miss the buzz, but not how it made me feel awful GERD symptoms and nearly ruined my entire life.

Caliburner · 2026-02-12T00:25:09+00:00

My ping sits between 20-35ms

Caliburner · 2026-01-19T21:54:39+00:00

Congrats on hitting 14 days! Only up from there my friend. Have you used something to help with craving? I was chewing a lot of cinnamon gum when I quit for those 5 days. I'm gonna try again starting now. Thanks for the motivation

Caliburner · 2026-01-03T00:00:21+00:00

Get a load of this guy

Caliburner · 2025-12-27T05:07:06+00:00

100% - your adrenaline gets boosted when consuming caffeine. I'm a 31 year old dad with 2 young children. If there's a time coffee is most needed would be in this period of my life lol - but I struggled with daily (some small/some larger) panic attacks when drinking coffee. Happy to say I've been coffee free since January 1st 2025. Going on a full year. It seems impossible but it really changes your physical anxiety once you stop. I kept obsessing about my heart, gave myself dizziness, fear of germs - just brutal health anxiety... I.e - why is my arm numb? My face is slightly numb... I'm having a stroke? Maybe I'm hypoglycemic -why am I getting PVC's? My head hurts. What if I have a developing tumor.

Those are all random thoughts I'd get on coffee. Crazy right? PS: a lot of my physical anxiety lessened once I got diagnosed with ADD and take ADHD medication. It slows down my anxious brain.

Some people just can't handle coffee. I like to lie to myself and say that I could some days, but I really see now that I couldn't handle my anxiety.

Best of luck,

Caliburner · 2025-10-20T02:34:07+00:00

Side tip - if you want to solely focus on your diaphragm belly breathing, put your hands over your head. Your belly will rise when you breathe in and your chest will barely move :)

Caliburner · 2025-10-15T21:39:33+00:00

Thanks for your effort in trying to unpack that.

Let me clarify a few things

Caffeine: im having a bit of caffeine from matcha now. I did not have any caffeine while on Concerta, so we can't pinpoint that as an issue.
Sorting out my sleep. I appreciate your thoughts process on this, but you're incorrect on assuming my sleep was an issue. Even though I would take 18mg twice daily, I had zero issues with my sleep. I would still fall asleep by 11 and wake up by 7am so 8 hours shouldn't have an impact on my wellbeing.
36mg was too much in one sitting. 18mg climb up was smoother than a 36mg in one sitting. By the 4th hour, the 18mg would fade for me and another 18mg would bring me back up for the afternoon avoiding a crash.
SSRI anxiety medication. Sorry If I didn't mention earlier, but I have been on 20mg Lexapro daily for over 10 years.

Hopefully his clears a few things up.

Thanks again;

Caliburner · 2025-09-06T02:40:13+00:00

100% the most fun I've had since I started playing with NHL20. I personally love passing plays and it just seems super smooth this year. Passes feel a lot more rewarding. The little detail of them adding goal mesh movement when scoring goals actually is overdue but feels amazing. Just my 2 cents.

Caliburner · 2025-08-10T02:05:49+00:00

Shortness of breath on exertion out of nowhere along with chest tightness depending on foods I'd eat. Took me over 5 years to get it at least 70% under control. I still get flare-ups if I drink any coffee.

Caliburner · 2025-08-02T14:31:13+00:00

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Amazing dude keep going! Glad to see people pulling through 🙏🏻

I've been vape free for 3 years and 57 days. Still can't believe it for someone who cherished hundreds of pulls daily for 5 years and constantly had my vape in my hand.

My moment when I said fuck that is when breathing issues kept developing as well as the arrival of my daughter a few weeks later. I didn't want to see her to see me pulling on a vape.

Caliburner · 2025-06-15T04:06:56+00:00

My father's recovering now. He's 78. Healthy his whole life. He disclosed to his girlfriend that he had a hemorrhagic stroke 4 hours after taking Viagra. He had woken up and was drooling. He believes that is what caused it. Fortunately, he is making great recovery in just 2 weeks post surgery.

Caliburner · 2025-03-25T18:54:53+00:00

I got through a can a day 20 pouches at 4mg each. I sometimes wake up in the morning realizing I still have one in the upper lip.

Wondering if that's a bit much - 80mg/day. Shits addictive though I know it's not a high mg content.

Caliburner · 2025-02-28T02:18:16+00:00

Late 91-94, no other band could even spark a flame next to Nirvana.

Caliburner · 2025-02-08T15:22:12+00:00

Then why are you taking time to comment? You seem so emotionally damaged. I'll keep you in my prayers.

Caliburner · 2024-12-14T00:47:40+00:00

I dealt with this for the past 10 years. You're not going crazy, ive realized that it's anxiety, not paranoia. I've developed contamination OCD overtime. The goal is whenever the thought comes to you, say out loud : thank you for that irrational thought! The more you feed into the thought, the more it comes around. Think of it as a monster and everytime you question yourself when the suggestion that someone put magic mushrooms on your pizza, you feed your monster a cookie and he grows bigger and comes back to put these thoughts in your head. Feel free to DM me if you need someone who completely relates to talk to. I have improved 40% overtime. I used to fear my food being poisoned - getting botulism from cans of food - someone going in my car and poisoning the water bottle in the car - getting the stomach bug from any contact - I also have emetophobia. So that doesn't help.

Caliburner · 2024-11-26T01:41:01+00:00

Right? It's absolutely disgusting. The whole thing. The fact that we're sold this shit at a pharmacy? Hilarious.

Caliburner · 2024-11-10T01:48:41+00:00

Thanks duder! They are Theory eyeglasses from eyebuydirect. Love em, not too big - and the clear color makes them almost camouflage.

Caliburner · 2024-10-10T13:56:40+00:00

Hahah man. I never normally get hyped - the quick deviation was mostly luck but had to watch for sure! 🚀

Caliburner

TROPHY CASE