concern from new vaper

[flobiwan]

I need some help with a concern I have. have been vaping a little less than a week. The skin on my hands has been breaking out in itchy rashes. This is something that also happened occasionally before but it's definitely increased now. It starts out as one or two small bumps on my hand - the size of a pimple but very itchy.

Also, when I started vaping, for the first 2 or 3 days I was coughing a LOT (whether vaping at the time or not). a constant hacking chest cough. At first I thought this was my lungs cleaning themselves out but the cough has decreased tremendously. I still cough sometimes when I'm vaping. My reasoning is if that the coughing was my lungs cleaning out the bad stuff, it wouldn't have stopped (I never actually produced anything).

For the record, I smoked an average of 5-6 ultra light analogs a day before I started vaping.

The possibilities I can come up with are:

1. (for the skin) perhaps from accidentally getting eliquid on my hands.
2. cigarette withdrawal
3. A PG allergy
4. Accidental overdose of nicotine (I am using the low 6mg liquid)

Any suggestions?

[TropicalBob]

Concerns 1 and 2 are likely. Quitting cigarettes triggers coughing for days, sometimes longer. You were not a heavy smoker, so withdrawal symptoms should be minimal. It sounds as if you're experiencing contact dermatitis from touching e-liquid.

PG allergies are real, but rare. And overdosing is highly unlikely, just virtually impossible with your 6mg liquid.

Do take care to wash your hands after contact with e-liquid (to protect against swine flu, too). If the coughing continues beyond a week or two, get a doctor to check it out. Right now, your body is probably just trying to restore healthy lung tissues.

[flobiwan]

Thanks. I try to wash my hands after touching eliquid but don't always. I guess I hae to be more careful with that. Perhaps I'll try a "skin test" and see what happens.

I'm actually HOPING the cough comes back to clean my lungs out. It seems to have mainly subsided except for sometimes when I'm vaping.

[TropicalBob]

Depending on the liquid, you might sometimes cough on inhalation. Some are much more potent than others -- and it's not dependent on nicotine strength. The biggest hit comes from what used to be called Heavy Shag (or Cigar) from Janty. No matter the nic strength, this one produced a cough. Funny, but some people want that "throat hit". I certainly don't. Coughing is the number one reason I quit cigarettes. I don't want to cough again on a regular basis.

You can find very smooth e-liquids, that don't irritate the throat and lungs. My personal favorites are Janty's RY4 and Cappucino flavors. Easy on inhalation and tasty too.

[maryjo]

It could also have nothing to do with vaping. Sometimes we associate every little symptom to vaping because we expect something bad to start happening. I'm not saying that the ejuice can't cause the skin rash - just be open to something else being the cause.

[wezzie]

The skin on my hands get dry too....but, I think it was a result of washing them sooo much. I don't want to take the chance of transfering the e-juice to anything other than the cartridges.

[flobiwan]

This isn't dryness, though. It's like little blisters about the size of pimples suddenly appearing. They itch like crazy. We've had an extended period of humidity and rain in this area so I'm wondering if that's somehow contributing to it.

I put a small amount of eliquid on the back of my hand yesterday morning as a test. No reaction at all so I'm starting to think that's not what it is.

[Hangtime]

This isn't dryness, though. It's like little blisters about the size of pimples suddenly appearing. They itch like crazy. We've had an extended period of humidity and rain in this area so I'm wondering if that's somehow contributing to it.

I put a small amount of eliquid on the back of my hand yesterday morning as a test. No reaction at all so I'm starting to think that's not what it is.

I've been getting the same thing on my hands for about 7 months

The cause for me is Stress.

After washing your hands use lotion, I hardly do because I cant stand the feeling of lotion on my hands.

I'm a machinist and my hands are alway covered in oil and coolant all day. I believe this and the addition of stress is what cause it for me.

I was on second shift for the 1st year after my son was born and didn't get to spend more than a couple hours with him a day, this was the cause of my stress. Ive been on first shift for about 4 months now and it is finally getting better.

Use lotion, don't scratch at them, and try to lower your stress factor without going back to analogs of course.

If this doesn't help then see a dermatologist.

Don't take my word 100% because this is just my opinion of what I have gone through. GL

[Stranger]

You might try wearing gloves when filling the carts.