On his first day of quitting nicotine, Jake ’26, noticed his heart and mind racing, shaky hands, and lots of sweat; he was in withdrawal. Paying attention in class and even getting food with friends felt difficult; he could only think of reaching into his pocket for a hit of dopamine. 

“I couldn’t even wake up and start my day without hitting a vape first. That was when I knew I had to stop,” said Jake.

Jake began vaping in his junior year out of peer pressure from friends and curiosity. What started as a weekend occurrence, hitting his friends’ vape if he got the chance, began to spiral quickly. 

Jake soon began to have his own vaping device, which he could use as he wished. Over time, he would use it to combat feelings of anxiety and for energy on the days that felt difficult to get through.  

“One morning on the way to school, I had an energy drink and then hit my vape… My heart was racing, and I was like, ‘This cannot be good.’ That moment really scared me,” said Jake

Similar moments became common for him, “Another time, I woke up and didn’t eat anything. I didn’t even get out of bed—I woke up and immediately hit it. For about ten minutes, I felt dizzy and nauseous, like I was going to puke. I was almost fainting,” Jake said. 

Within Jake’s household, drugs were not something that went undiscussed. In fact, Jake’s mother had enacted a policy of routine drug tests during middle school, proclaiming it as a way to give her kids an easy excuse to avoid peer pressure and taking substances.

“I’ve told all my kids in middle school that I was going to drug test them no matter what because my thinking was if their friends start to tell them, ‘Well, try this, try this,’ they can just say, ‘My mom’s crazy. She drug tests me,’” said Jake’s mother.

But one of those routine tests brought positive results for nicotine. 

“I was shocked, I really was surprised because I thought he was smarter. I was sad, concerned, that type of stuff. And then honestly, just a little afraid as when I started to think about things and about all the things that could lead to,” Jake’s mother said. 

Jake eventually came to the realization that he had a problem, and he had to quit one way or another. 

“When I realized I couldn’t even wake up and start my day without hitting a vape first. That was when I knew I had to stop,” Jake said. 

The decision came with consequences, Jake said that he immediately felt worse. “The hardest part about quitting was definitely the cravings. Going cold turkey is almost impossible unless you have someone holding you accountable.” 

But it’s these side effects that make quitting nicotine so difficult. According to the American Cancer Society, nicotine is oftentimes more difficult to quit than alcohol or cocaine. This is because nicotine causes the release of dopamine, a chemical that makes the brain feel good. When nicotine intake stops, feelings of anxiety and irritability are common because the brain is deprived of the prior feelings nicotine creates, as described by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

“Almost everyone I’ve talked to who vaped says, ‘I wish I never started.’ People say they’re going to quit, but without accountability, it’s extremely hard,” said Jake. 

But Jake’s parents stepped in to help. “It wasn’t until my parents found out that I was really able to quit. After I got caught, they started testing me. If I tested positive again, my car would get taken away, my phone would get taken away,” Jake said. 

Together, Jake and his parents worked on a plan to help him overcome the addiction. They committed to consistent testing and a plan to help Jake be exposed to new people who might influence him differently. 

“We didn’t say you can’t be with this person, you can’t be with that person. We just thought we would rather him have opportunities to widen that friend group and also he needed to get more involved in school,” Jake’s mother said. 

The plan began to work, Jake’s mother even noting how important the tests were as a “black or white thing you can see whether it’s happening or not.” 

Jake’s mother noted how Jake had expressed gratitude for being caught, “I remember he did say he was happy that he got caught.”

But she also said how surprising it was to find out how pervasive the issue was. “I talked about him widening his group of friends. The other friends that were doing this, they also came from great families. I was shocked that they were doing it too.”

Despite the difficult hardships in overcoming the addiction, Jake’s mother spoke to how their relationship was able to grow throughout the process. 

“I always felt we were close… He would share a lot of things with me and we had trust,” said Jake’s mother. “He knew I was nervous about some of the risky choices and I hope Jake will remember that I’ve always been honest with him because I love him and I want the best for him. But I remember telling him that being in your corner doesn’t mean ignoring what’s unhealthy. It means believing in your ability to grow and do better.”

Jake noted how he jeopardized his relationships with his parents during the addiction too. “You become deceitful. You go behind their backs. And when it all comes out, it’s just bad. It’s not just that you’re addicted—you’re lying, you’re hiding things, and that hurts your relationship with them.”

The quitting experience was not just hardship, however. Outside of the physiological struggle with addiction, Jake said how friends helped him recover, “When I told people I was quitting, they respected it. Even friends who still vaped wouldn’t let me hit theirs. They were like, ‘We won’t let you do that.’”

Jake has now been clean from nicotine for seven months and has grown from the experience but he remembers how difficult it once was to overcome. 

“It’s a horrible habit. You might think you have self-control—only on weekends, only with friends—but it just gives you dopamine hits and messes with your brain. Eventually nothing else feels as good, so you keep chasing that hit. It spirals.”