Vaping & Medications

[rave]

About a month ago I "accidentally" quit smoking analogs in favor of vaping. There was no intention of quitting - I just like vaping much better. This is after 41 years of smoking analogs! I felt so FREE!!

I started feeling very dizzy to the point of feeling like I would pass out. Then I missed a day of work because I was just too frightened to drive. So I quit vaping for 24 hours to see if my mental "balance" would return. I tried smoking analogs again during this 24 hour period, but they tasted so awful (I'd been vaping exclusively for two weeks) that I could only take a couple of drags every few hours. I still felt nearly drunk and barely able to walk.

At that point I called my neurologist because I have multiple sclerosis and thought that I was having a relapse. She prescribed some meds. I was still being whammed with "the whirlies". I felt so tired and drained I was barely able to do anything other than sleep.

Yesterday at work, it hit me so hard at my desk that I think I may have actually blacked out a coupla times. Can't be sure of that because I couldn't think. I could hear my bosses and another co-worker in the background discussing whether they should call an ambulance or just drive me to the ER. The co-worker took me.

A blood pressure test very quickly determined that my blood pressure had tanked. I was still taking the blood pressure medications of a smoker ( three of 'em! ) even though I'm not a smoker anymore. It had never occured to me because I'm still getting nicotine. Apparently, not nearly as much as I was getting as a pack and a half a day smoker.

So - this is just a word of warning to those with hypertension (high blood pressure). Your meds will probably need to be adjusted if you quit smoking cigarettes or even cut down significantly. The doctor has already taken me off of one medication, and I could tell by monitoring my blood pressure today that it's not enough. He's supposed to adjust further on Friday after looking at my readings. At one point today my BP was 99/56 with a pulse of only 46. I'm no doctor, but I know that's just not right.

By the way - The doctor said that MY LUNGS WERE CLEAR! Prior to taking up vaping, they would crackle when I laid down to sleep at night.

[beckah54]

I bet that was scary, especially since you had changed to vaping and were unsure of the cause of the dizziness.

Glad it was your medication and, hey, it's a good thing! Your BP is leveling off since you gave up analogs and you're not needing as many prescriptions to keep it at the correct level. Good news on the clear lungs too.

Please give us an update after your doctor visit........keep an eye on the BP, don't want you passing out and hurting yourself.

[MREXE]

wow, great "heads up" to the positive! Im on one BP med, and just started vaping, so ill keep a close eye on it! thx!

[Crankyfuzz]

Wow glad to hear your ok.....I will keep this in mind for friends that want to switch over to vaping instead not sure if any of them are on blood pressure pills or not but this is good information to have and probaly not thought of until after something happens.

[kalojado]

Im also on blood pressure medicine, but so far so good. No issues that I am aware of...

[rave]

I should add that I probably contributed to the problem a bit. My starting vape liquid was 18 mg, but I cut it to 12 mg within a week. And when you consider that we don't actually absorb all of that, it was probably too fast of a drop. I dunno - I really didn't feel that I was lacking so I just ran with it.

This is all so amazing to me. Although I still feel pretty rotten from my BP meds, I'm sure that will be fixed in short order. It's the fact that I don't need them anymore that blows me away! My body is healing so fast.

I just didn't want for this to happen to anyone else with hypertension. Just be aware Folks.

[JustMeAgain]

I should add that I probably contributed to the problem a bit. My starting vape liquid was 18 mg, but I cut it to 12 mg within a week. And when you consider that we don't actually absorb all of that, it was probably too fast of a drop. I dunno - I really didn't feel that I was lacking so I just ran with it.

This is all so amazing to me. Although I still feel pretty rotten from my BP meds, I'm sure that will be fixed in short order. It's the fact that I don't need them anymore that blows me away! My body is healing so fast.

I just didn't want for this to happen to anyone else with hypertension. Just be aware Folks.

What great news to hear that vaping is helping so much...Very inspirational to those of us on the slow train to getting off the analogs.