i’m enjoying DIY’ing for some weeks now - many thinks to a lot of you here for helping
my real happiness started when few recipes came out really good. i mean as good as, or even better than (tweak to my own taste) some of the premium juices i used to buy.
then i also noticed it’s getting harder to sleep. i can stay awake for 1.5 sometimes 2 days without getting this sweet “sleepy” feeling, i’ll get the headache and heavy head, but no “sleepy” - and when i try to sleep “regularly” when it’s late, i wake up after only 2-3 hours (wanting to vape :)) - my sleep pattern is completely messed up. ok, to be fair, i had chronic sleep resistance when i was smoking, but those days are (should be?) gone.
little background, i’m on 3mg nic in my mixes, and have been since i moved to vaping - i mainly work from home office, so i do vape a lot - my stuff are comfortably beside me and i have 3-4 setups in rotation as i get flavor fatigue quick and just keep changing. some juices used to make me sleepy before i DIY’ed. is this a normal nicotine effect? is it because i’m vaping more now as i test new mixes, admiring my own creation , and should i lower my nic to 2 or 1.5%?
Go and see your doctor, there are hundreds if not thousands of reasons your struggling to sleep.
Nicotine intake can help relax you and is known to help you deal with stressful situations, 3mg nicotine is nice and low already, it is possible to over vape, like anything, too much is too much, remember, your lungs need oxygen too!
Try getting out and doing some exercise, getting some fresh air will help you a lot.
While I can’t directly answer your question, one thing that jumped up at me (not necessarily bad, but it looked odd) was the phrase you used:
“If” you think that is the cause, if nothing more than peace of mind, make your testing batches at a lower nic level during your testing phase of them, then boost their nic up to your normal vape afterwards when your not vaping as much of it.
There was a topic… awhile back… about size of test batches, I made the comment that I always made at least 15ml, normally 30ml test batches. While I agree that many people should make test batches at small sizes (why waste flavors and nic) with the exception on 1 recipe (a Milk and a lil Honey (I believe it is)) I will normally vape what I make… the Honey Bee honey just kills me as too powerful in that mix, hmmm come to think about it I have another that has too much coconut, but I am wittling that down mixing it with other things.
Point is make your testers with little to no nic until you see your liking it, then add your nic or boost the level of the nic into it to your desired point… if that is what you think the issue is.
@CallMeTut, thanks for the good tip. i make test batches at 20ml. found it’s a reasonable size i can shake, stir, …etc much better than a 10ml - and i plan to lower the nic, and even try some 0 nic (maybe for evening vapes)
maybe it would also help share the experiences from others if i better quantify what “vaping more” - for me - means. so when i refill a tank, i will always fill around half or less (in case i don’t like the flavor or wick needs adjust) - i would go thru 4 to 6 of these… so probably around 10 to 15 ml of juice per day - juice buying days, i was on a 30ml bottle every 4 days or 2 per week - so around 8ml per day
My sister noticed this when she switched to vaping as well. Even if it’s ‘relaxing,’ nicotine is technically a stimulant. You might try lowering your nic level around 6pm or even switch to 0mg at that time and see if that helps. That is what my sister wound up having to do or she couldn’t sleep at all. Bonus, you use less nic base and it goes farther!
I was looking to see how long you’ve been off the stinkies. I know for me it took a while to get to 3mg nic level. I vaped 24mg nic for months. You might be going through nicotine withdrawal. If all else fells, try a higher nic %.
@Pro_Vapes, it’s been a year off smoking. i used to smoke the MB lights (gold) - maybe 1 to 1.5 pack a day.
trying to compare the nic dose between then and now, which is not as simple as i thought.
As @JoJo said, i think it may be more of an over-nic than withdrawal. i do need my morning vape, and it helps me get my engines starting - so maybe i do lower nic mixes for evenings and see if that works
Home made vape doesn’t have the additives they put in cigarettes, namely compounds in the filters that act like anti-depressants. Tobacco companies are evil, my friend. They understand addiction and have for almost 70 years. One of my docs told me it can take “years” for your brain to stop missing those stinkies. Exercise helps this… but yeah, this is a tough road - hang in there.
Could go one step further like I did. If evening (6 PM) deadline does not work or proves to be psychologically difficult, take the label identifier specifying nic mg. content off your mixes and vape from some with and without nic in a blind test. Next step would be to do the blind vaping during the day and evening. Slowly eliminate mixes with nic, before you know it, you will be vaping zero nic.
Vape as much as I want, no physical additions, no taste/buy/USA Gov. hassels with nic and save some money.
… and btw… I still get migraines from “not smoking”. Two years…on and off the evil things. I smoked for almost 40 years and I still wake up between 2 and 3 am.
@Maureeenie, sorry to hear that.
i was so happy few months after moving to vaping that i can stay for many hours (read, 15-hour flights) without the old “craving” - i thought this is another benefit of moving to vaping. i was 25 years in.
thank you all for the responses. i read more on this
another issue i just found out with my mixes, that my measurements are off
who said there’s 35 drops per ml ???
i re-calibrated the tools i use for measurements - i don’t use weight, i mix with volume and drops. on closer inspection, my syringe is off (which drives me crazy, as it’s supposed to be something to use for medical dosage) - it has a nozzle that keeps around .75 ml hidden from the scale, and my droppers and pipette are around 22 drops per ml - i double checked each -
now happy i discovered this early - so going back now and re-testing many mixes and adjusting - big lesson to learn. i should know my mixing tools better.
On the syringes, after dispensing your flavoring in the mix, if you draw air into the syringe and depress it quickly, the air will force the rest of the flavoring out of the needle.
However, I do highly recommend mixing by weight, it’s soooo much easier, faster, and almost no clean up. Or counting drops. Counting is very inaccurate as almost all bottles dispense different size drops. Although what is important is repeatability. If you use a bottle of say Strawberry, and every time you use 10 drops from that same bottle and like it, then it works for you, and it’s repeatable. But still time consuming.
just throwing this in there, might help might not, from time to time I suffer with insomnia, nothing too bad just find it difficult to drop off at the right time if there’s a lot going on, recently I bought some CBD e liquid, google it there’s a lot of info on t’interwebz about it, I found it to be quite relaxing, albeit very expensive, it doesn’t get you high or anything remotely like that, I used to partake in the ‘devils lettuce’ a lot up until a couple of years ago so I know the difference but it did have a relaxing effect on me, also helps with pain relief amongst other ailments, I used ‘Canavape’ it’s one of the better known ones and I chose quite a high 250mg due to my past incrimination’s…
anyway, like I said, just throwing it in there
@MysticRose, it’s not that straight forward. what i found out is that when the syringe reads 1ml, it’s actually 1.75ml - reads 2ml, it’s 2.75ml and so on… it’s a10ml syringe and since my test batches are 20ml, this is causing a shift in ratios. Another scaled 20ml container i used for measuring my nic base and PG/VG also found to be misleading. then there was the drop count…
i was sooo off for both nic and flavor %… no wonder the recipes tasted funny until i diluted… good thing is, i keep my recipes to max 15% or less flavor in total. BTW i’m not saying that this is the reason for the sleep issue, it’s just another thing to be aware off for a newbie mixer like me
now starting from scratch with better calibrated measures - and things are working much better.
Best tip I can give you early on in your mixing is spend $30 and get a good scale. You’ll never regret the purchase. American Weighs LB-501 is an awesome scale and available on Amazon for around $30 shipped.
, and should i lower my nic to 2 or 1.5%?
