u/mauvermor

Maybe I should say "mostly not vape" because I did relapse briefly a couple times. But I've spent less than 48 hours vaping in the past 7.5 months, so I'd say that's close enough.

Anyway, I wanted to share what my experience quitting vaping has been like. I remember what it was like, having vaped heavily for about 5 years, unable to imagine what my life would look like without vaping and nicotine. I was scared, I didn't know what would happen to my body and how I would feel. This is what actually happened:

I quit cold turkey in November. I woke up one morning and just didn't vape. Yes, it was hard. I'd say it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I went through intense withdrawals over the course of about two days. Those around me at the time have told me that I was behaving pretty erratically, rocking back and forth a lot, complaining constantly, and asking for my vape. I did end up taking a couple puffs after the first 12 hours, but quickly put it back down and didn't touch it again for over a month.

During the withdrawal period, I experienced the worst headaches of my life. My brain actually felt like it was going to explode. I could feel my heart beating so slowly. I checked my heart rate, and it was averaging in the upper 50s while I was awake, a stark dip from the average of 80 that it had been before. It was unsettling and uncomfortable.

I felt an irresistible urge to consume. And now that I couldn't consume nicotine anymore... I turned to sugar. I was constantly "hungry." I felt like I constantly "needed something."

The acute withdrawal period only lasted about 48 hours for me. Things got much better after a couple days, and even better after a week. It took a couple weeks before I stopped reaching for my vape or thinking about my vape in situations where I was used to using it, and for the majority of the cravings to stop.

I did relapse a couple more times. Once after about a month, for a few hours. Then the month after that, for about a day. The last time I relapsed was in February. Every time I relapsed, I felt sick. The nicotine made me feel sick, I was using way too much way too fast. It felt like the first time I'd ever smoked a cigarette.

I gained over 20lbs in the first two months after quitting. I honestly thought I had more self control than that but... quitting nicotine is no joke. The body feels like it's constantly having an energy crisis and doesn't know what else to do with itself than consume.

As far as how I feel emotionally... like absolute garbage. It's been over 7 months. Back when I was researching what it's like to quit, a common milestone I would see is the six month mark. Like everything will be better after six months. The body will be acclimated to life without nicotine. No more cravings, no more "missing something."

But that's not how it's gone for me. I still don't feel like I've recovered. My heart rate has recovered. It's no longer low. My head doesn't hurt anymore. My body did adjust. But the increased appetite is still here. The energy deficit. I feel so tired all of the time. I feel like I need something to help me wake up and function. I feel so much pain all of the time, much more than I used to feel. I still want nicotine.

So now... I'm wondering if this is just going to be it, then. If this is the extent of my recovery. Nothing much has changed for me since the first or second month of quitting. I feel like an unproductive zombie. I feel so drowsy. I spend too much of my time sleeping. Unsatisfied with my life. I feel like I've put myself in an entirely lose-lose situation from ever having vaped in the first place. I haven't been able to focus very well since quitting. Can barely focus on anything. And that doesn't seem to be something that's going to change.

All the doom and gloom aside though, there were a couple things that I wanted to mention, to anyone who is planning to quit. These are things I wish I didn't have to find out the hard way. So, firstly, nicotine accelerates the removal of caffeine from the body. So when you quit nicotine, if you are a caffeine user, you may notice that caffeine has a much greater effect on you than it used to. You may notice that you are more sensitive to caffeine now.

Second, I wanted to mention that nicotine isn't necessarily the cause of all of your woes. For example, if you're struggling with heart palpitations and that's one of the reasons you want to quit, depending on what's actually causing the palpitations, they may or may not continue to be present after quitting. Same thing with a cough or sore throat. Not everything is caused by vaping.

I personally thought that nicotine was heightening my anxiety. After quitting, I realized that it had practically no effect on my anxiety. If anything it's been even worse since quitting. No effect on heart palpitations, either. Or sore throat. All that's still present. I do cough less now though. And I can objectively breathe better. My lung capacity is twice what it used to be.

Overall, I personally don't feel better yet. And it's been over 7 months. I feel worse than when I was vaping.

I have three major allergies: Kentucky Blue Grass (June Grass), Timothy Hay, and Ragweed. They're severe allergies. If I prance through the wrong field, I leave with my eyes swollen shut at best. I experience itchy eyes, nose and throat despite daily use of three different allergy medications (Claritin, Flonase, NasalCrom). I get skin rashes, can barely breathe from the congestion and flood of post nasal drip... it's just a bad time.

My allergist has suggested that I could benefit from allergy shots, and while that sounds fantastic in theory... I also have a pretty bad anxiety problem. I'm scared that the shots could provoke an anaphylactic episode. I've only had one of those before, and it was from a medication reaction. I've never suffered anaphylaxis from my environmental allergies. But if there's a first time for that, it would definitely be after injecting the allergens beneath my skin.

I just wanted to hear from people here, who have had the shots. How likely is it to experience a reaction after getting the shot, whether that reaction is mild or severe? And how long until I could feel in the clear, after getting the shot. For instance, if I wait two hours and nothing happens, could I assume that nothing bad is going to happen, or could something bad happen like 8 hours later? Or 8 days later? I just want to know what I could expect, in terms of safety, or feeling safe.

And if anyone knows of any good online resources somewhere that may help me understand this better, I'd appreciate knowing where I can read more about possible reaction timelines.

If when you read the title here, you thought "if she only took one dose, this is going to be a horror story", then you thought correctly. It didn't go well for me. But I took detailed notes throughout the experience, and am choosing to drop them here for those who are seeking to understand what could possibly happen when one takes Motegrity. At least, what could happen when someone like me takes Motegrity.

I tend to be very sensitive to medication and am prone to negative reactions. I have a long history of reacting poorly to medication that affects serotonin levels in the brain, and though Motegrity is intended to primarily target the gut, it does also affect the brain. I also have chronic migraine. These facts about me likely contributed to the outcome that I experienced.

The ways in which Motegrity can affect one's mental state don't seem to be widely known, which is another reason I wanted to share my experience. Here's what happened:

Day 1: March 26, 2026.

14:15 Took first 2mg dose without food.

14:30 Started feeling “off."

14:45 Significantly dizzy. Balance is affected but I can still walk.

Head feels like someone is squeezing it. Pressure in head. Only one instance of stabbing pain in head but for the most part the head only feels pressure rather than outright pain.

No stomach or abdominal pain but bowels feel a bit "queasy."

Minor nausea, no concern over vomiting but I don’t have an appetite and eating and drinking are somewhat labored.

Noticed an elevated heart rate. Maybe 10-20 beats above normal. This continued for the rest of the day. Heart rate averaged about 90 when resting, sometimes going over 100 (normal is 60s or 70s).

15:00 I’ve had to run to the bathroom twice. Most recent time has been straight liquid diarrhea, at 45 minutes in. Still no stomach or bowel pain.

16:15 Okay, now some intermittent mild-moderate stomach pain.

17:00 Onset of Moderate Headache. Diarrhea seems to have stopped. I had to run to the bathroom about 8 times total in about 3 hours. And I do mean run.

However, despite an end to the diarrhea, there is now a start to intermittent moderate intestinal cramping.

20:00 Headache has gradually increased in severity over the past three hours, now a Severe Headache located in frontal lobe, behind temples. This is the worst possible headache pain that I have ear felt, even worse than quitting vaping. Also jaw pain. I suspect this is migraine headache pain, given that my migraine aura is making a more intense appearance than usual. Visual snow is significantly more intense than usual, plus tingling in my hands. 

20:15 Moderate Intestinal pain upon eating second meal but no bowel movement.

21:45 “Loud silence”, ears feel like they have a huge amount of pressure, and internal noises or silence is deafeningly “loud”, very strange phenomenon that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. This is happening on and off now. 

Intestines continuing to cramp, much like a bad menstrual period. 

22:15 Noticed profound tiredness/fatigue. Perceived weakness in muscles.

22:45 One more episode of diarrhea. While diarrhea had been brown in color before, now it is a dark grey or black color.

^ This was the last of the diarrhea, and there was no more as of 19:15 the following day. Neither diarrhea nor any bowel movement of any kind. 

00:00 Headache down from Severe to Moderate. Headache went from constant to intermittent. 

01:00 Noticed heart palpitations, episodes of racing, pounding, fluttering heart beat. 

04:00 This was bed time. I attempted to fall asleep but failed to do so. I lied in bed for 90 minutes before getting back up. During these 90 minutes, I experienced repeated heart palpitation episodes. I observed my heart rate repeatedly spiking from about 70 to about 100. I repeatedly felt an internal sense of vibration and tingling in my gut. 

I was seeing flashing lights as my eyes were closed, and seeing visions of what appeared to be "demons" (though this is not the first time in my life that I have hallucinated, this is the first time I have ever seen demons). I was experiencing significant mental disturbance, difficulty concentrating and thinking, felt highly paranoid and frightened. 

All of these symptoms except for the heart palpitations resolved after I got out of bed and stopped closing my eyes and trying to sleep. 

05:30 - 07:00 I remained awake and out of bed, emotionally disturbed but no longer experiencing visual disturbances or visions. Heart palpitations continued to be intermittent, and I felt intermittent mild-moderate intestinal pain but no bowel movements. 

07:00 - 08:30 I went back to bed. It took me about 90 minutes to fall asleep. At this point, it was 4.5 hours past bed time. So I suppose you could say I was experiencing insomnia. 

Demons did not reappear. No flashing lights. No more vibrating or tingling in intestines. But heart racing and palpitations continued, to a lesser and lesser extent though as time went on.

Day 2: March 27, 2026

13:30-14:30 This was normal waking hours. I got up, went about my morning routine, took my medicines and ate breakfast. 

Moderate headache upon waking. Continued on intermittently. Mild-Moderate intestinal pain off and on. Emotionally volatile and upset. Extremely tired from lack of sleep, went back to bed after an hour.

18:00 Got back up. Had been able to sleep much easier this time. Still have intestinal pain and headache. Still emotionally unstable.

Noticed heightened sensitivity to light sources, which is a migraine factor for me. From all that I’ve researched, Motegrity isn’t supposed to do this, but it’s happening for me. It is very reminiscent to when I took Doxycycline. Unsure if the medicine is causing this directly, or if the medicine has triggered severe Migraine problems for me.

20:00 First bowel movement of the day, after drinking coffee. Felt urgent but only a couple thin black pebbles came out.

23:40 I had a couple more micro pebble movements. Painless. But now I’m having a moderately painful bowel movement where more is coming out (still not a lot, but more), but it hurts. Stool feels too bulky. I can’t even remember the last time it actually hurt to poop, but in light of trying Motegrity, today is the second day that I have taken no MiraLAX. 

04:00 Bed time. Fell asleep quickly and no palpitation episodes, no insomnia, no bright flashing lights, no demons, no bowel tingles, no nothing. 

I did wake up multiple brief occasions to pain in my bowels though. 

Day 3: March 28, 2026

13:30 Woke with a headache, more mild than previous day. Woke with bowel pain, more mild than previous day. 

15:00 Sharp pains in lower chest area. Feel lightheaded. Tingling on skull. Possible migraine aura. 

Bowels continue to feel pain or soreness off and on.

21:00 Chest pains stopped.

00:00 Lightheadness continues.

01:20 Chest pains started again.

Nothing significant happened the rest of the night. Chest pains resolved before bed and didn’t recur the following day. 

I swear that my GP is flaring, since I had the audacity to try and fail Motegrity. Intense chest pain after eating. Less appetite than usual. 

Head still hurting significantly. Migraine symptoms, sensitivity to light. Feel lightheaded often. 

Update as of May 2026

While the direct effects of Motegrity lasted only about three days from a single dose, Motegrity did end up provoking a migraine cycle for me that lasted for over 3 weeks before I was able to break it. Motegrity may also have provoked problems with recurring vasovagal episodes, though it's unclear whether it directly caused this, or the stress of the situation indirectly caused it. 

I have sleep apnea, and am required to use CPAP therapy when I sleep. I need a full face mask, and am currently using the Resmed AirTouch F20 because it keeps the best seal for me, while also saving my face from silicone (I'll spare you from the details but my face can't handle silicone). However, the headgear goes right over my pain area from ON, at the base of my head. I'm waking up repeatedly throughout the night to pain. The only thing that temporarily relieves the pain is taking the mask off.

Those with sleep apnea who use CPAP therapy... what solutions have you found for this? What have you found that can make wearing the headgear more comfortable, or relieve the pressure put on the back of the head?