Be Aware of How Much you Vape!

[Hellen A. Handbasket]

Not to side track this discussion but does this mean there is more nicotine left in vapor than in smoke? Just thinking if it not as easily absorbed than maybe there is more nicotine in exhaled vapor than smoke. Also I never considered what form the nicotine was in. Are you sure it isn't free base? If not, is it nicotine hydrochloride or what?

Sorry Harry... I was off making dinner and cleaning up Hate that part!!

I hope I didn't spout it off wrong! It is my understanding that cigarette tobacco is/can be a freebase. When I was first researching e-cigs (before buying one) to make sure it wasn't going to be something awful for me, I came across lots of references to freebase in cigarettes. This is one article I just pulled up.

OHSU researcher publishes first measurements of 'free-base' nicotine in cigarette smoke

If you put freebase in the forum search you'll get lots of hits. This is one of them: Interesting stuff by Kinabaloo on the chemistry of nicotine (who we should probably confirm my mouth shoot off with ):
Chemistry of Nicotine

Harry, we should post there to see if we can get more info. and clarify this (I'd like to know for sure). Point was, we aren't ingesting as much nicotine through vapor as everyone thinks. I'll try to find that thread later and post it (or someone else can... I'm getting evil looks from husband who wants to start a movie... akkk).

Ok... Enough of the derailment here.

I just wanted to make sure we weren't jumping on someone if they had an actual diagnosis, and I wanted to get more info. from the OP on their nicotine levels, test results, etc.

[Jules22871]

Sorry to hear that you got sick. I had the same symptoms a few times a week. Finally went to the doc Wednesday and was diagnosed with H. Pylori, a stomach bacteria that will sneak up on you and also come and go until it is cleared up. I never once thought is was the nicotine making me sick. I chain vape 22mg all day long and it never bothered me.

What did the doctor say it was from?

[CJsKee]

Here is another link on nic absorption from vaping vs. smoking...

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/for...-research.html

[webtaxman]

Why did you call 911?

[framitz]

The only way I can imagine a nicotine overdose hours after vaping is if you had spilled a bunch on your skin, but it seems that you would feel it in the skin. I wash my hands every time I get juice on them so it's never had a chance to soak in.

I've vaped 36mg until I felt flaky, shaky, and just BAD, then stopped, the symptoms cleared up after 15 minutes or so.

[maryjo]

I have to admit there have been a few times when I would feel kinda sick and crampy after chain vaping. At first I didn't connect it with vaping, but then I started to wonder. I'm still not sure - shouldn't be nic overload. I smoked 1 to 2 packs of cigs a day for a long time. I am vaping about 8 to 12mg. That shouldn't be too much - should it? Maybe it is something else - pg?

[Jules22871]

I'm not saying this is what's causing the sick feeling but... If anyone has an ulcer or has had one, you might want to be checked for H. Pylori. It is a pretty common stomach bacteria that often goes along with ulcers. This is the third time I've had it. I knew that was what was wrong with me, but I really hate the cure for it so I kept putting off going to the doctor for it. Symptoms can/will come and go. There are so many more things that can cause an upset stomach than nicotine. Unless you are bathing in it or drinking it, I think you would feel symptoms long before you would overdose with it, ie headache, dizziness, etc. But that is just my opinion.

[chad]

...in the middle of the night I ended up wretching, so dizzy I couldn't walk, and having cold sweats so bad that it was pouring off me. Ended up calling 911 and spending the day in the hospital until they felt I was well enough to go home.

I don't doubt your episode and I'm sorry to hear of it. Those kinds of symptoms are miserable. I do know that anytime people try something new (either new to them or new to the world) they often attribute anything that happens around that time to whatever it is they're trying out. This is a natural thing to do. The mind looks for patterns and associations. You'll see evidence of this in clinical trials. There's always a "less than 1%" section of symptoms no one else experienced. Sometimes it's attributed to bodies handling things differently than the statistical norm and other times it's purely coincidental. In a clinical trial, subjects have to report everything going on with their bodies.

The problem here is that most everyone is weary of the "deal breaker" side-effect that will keep them from using PVs. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop - spoilage of a good thing. Maybe your episode was somehow related to vaping, maybe it wasn't. Unless there is other data to back up that it indeed was caused by vaping, I'd take the correlation with a grain of salt and chalk it up to coincidence. Not medical advice mind you, just my layman's opinion.

[Jules22871]

I don't doubt your episode and I'm sorry to hear of it. Those kinds of symptoms are miserable. I do know that anytime people try something new (either new to them or new to the world) they often attribute anything that happens around that time to whatever it is they're trying out. This is a natural thing to do. The mind looks for patterns and associations. You'll see evidence of this in clinical trials. There's always a "less than 1%" section of symptoms no one else experienced. Sometimes it's attributed to bodies handling things differently than the statistical norm and other times it's purely coincidental. In a clinical trial, subjects have to report everything going on with their bodies.

The problem here is that most everyone is weary of the "deal breaker" side-effect that will keep them from using PVs. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop - spoilage of a good thing. Maybe your episode was somehow related to vaping, maybe it wasn't. Unless there is other data to back up that it indeed was caused by vaping, I'd take the correlation with a grain of salt and chalk it up to coincidence. Not medical advice mind you, just my layman's opinion.

Very good layman's advice! You put that just right. Way better than I ever could have,lol

[ramblingrose]

I'd be very surprised if it was nicotine poisoning.

Nicotine kills quickly. With severe symptoms of nicotine poisoning like you describe, I would have expect you to say they tested your cotinine level, and maybe even that they administered activated charcoal.

MLD for nicotine in an adult is .5-1mg/kg absorbed; halflife is 2-4 hours. If my math is right, for a 165lb man that makes the MLD around 38-72mg. Dr. Laugersen's study concluded that 300 puffs on a 16mg e-cig yields 3mg of nicotine absorbed. So, if you were using 36mg eliquid, unless you managed to vape nearly 5 times that in a few hours, smoked heavily at the same time or had an accident with the juice, its just (IMHO) not likely.