My own experience and health.

[Panorama911]

What I have found odd and perhaps there is some reasoning to it not really discovered but I quit tobacco cold turkey and never have touched it since, 4 years coming on. But there are somethings I am sensitive to that before I never was....burning leaves, automotive exhaust, especially diesel and .....cigarette smoke! I absolutely get affected and my breathing suffers, short term pain and short of breath. After a short period I feel great and ready to take on a long hike......So why I bring this up is I wonder if there is some sensitivity to inhaling certain gasses, fumes etc. that make us ill where they may not have prior to quitting?

Could it be our systems are rejecting foreign inhalants much like the body will reject a donated organ?...Interesting to ponder the thought.

 

[TheDaughterOfTyr]

Just a thought on the note of potential environmental causes for your symptoms. I'm guessing you're a paramedic by your name (just checked your profile... I am goood today). I know my fella (also a medic) has a few coworkers who have developed lung issues due to exposure to cleaning/disinfectant agents (the old ones not the new ones) and of course there are other health concerns in that field too. Most of them are long term medics though. He's never had an issue yet but he's only 3 years in.

 

[wetclay]

I had to go through your posts in the other two threads to get a more complete picture, but I still wonder about few things:

1- Breathlessness, fatigue and pain are subjective symptoms that can't be measured or quantified easily. Do you have any objective symptoms? weight loss or fever for example?
2- Have you ever woke up in the middle of your sleep with chest pain, cough or breathlessness?
3- Can you predict when you're likely to get short of breath on exertion? In other words, do you get breathless consistently after the same amount of exertion? Or it varies widely?
4- was O2 sat ever checked when you were short of breath or with exercise?
5- You mention somewhere having lymph nodes. Were they checked by your doc. and judged to be significantly enlarged? Did they persist for more than a couple of weeks? Sarcoidosis should be considered if the answer is yes & yes
6- A CT scan is probably the only test you still need to do .

 

[BigEgo]

Well yes. And so are most people. But I've never heard of anyone in the history of vaping having problems due to diacetyl.... Right?

That's correct. I have never heard of a single case of BO from vaping, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't happened and gone undiagnosed. It's possible that BO happens more often than we think in smokers, but is misdiagnosed as COPD (the symptoms are about the same). This is the main reason I only DIY now -- I know for a fact I am putting no diacetyl or AP in my liquid.

Keep us posted with your upcoming medical test results. I am no doctor and I don't feel comfortable speculating about causes, but I will read this thread with interest. Good luck to you.

 

[ManiacMedic]

Just a thought on the note of potential environmental causes for your symptoms. I'm guessing you're a paramedic by your name (just checked your profile... I am goood today). I know my fella (also a medic) has a few coworkers who have developed lung issues due to exposure to cleaning/disinfectant agents (the old ones not the new ones) and of course there are other health concerns in that field too. Most of them are long term medics though. He's never had an issue yet but he's only 3 years in.

Yes, I am a paramedic but only a year and a half in. I wonder if maybe I have a PG sensitivity given that hospitals use PG in their air systems (or so I hear).

I will answer this next post one by one.

I had to go through your posts in the other two threads to get a more complete picture, but I still wonder about few things:

1- Breathlessness, fatigue and pain are subjective symptoms that can't be measured or quantified easily. Do you have any objective symptoms? weight loss or fever for example?
2- Have you ever woke up in the middle of your sleep with chest pain, cough or breathlessness?
3- Can you predict when you're likely to get short of breath on exertion? In other words, do you get breathless consistently after the same amount of exertion? Or it varies widely?
4- was O2 sat ever checked when you were short of breath or with exercise?
5- You mention somewhere having lymph nodes. Were they checked by your doc. and judged to be significantly enlarged? Did they persist for more than a couple of weeks? Sarcoidosis should be considered if the answer is yes & yes
6- A CT scan is probably the only test you still need to do .

1: no. I had minor weight gain that happened in conjunction with switching roles at work and being less active. This also coincided with a prednisone treatment. Truly indistinguishable as a symptom. More than likely a side effect.
2: not that I'm aware of. I do get confused on waking up a lot. I have never actually noticed myself short of breath or hungry for oxygen.
3:can not predict it at all. It is worse when my girlfriend is cooking in the house or I'm exposed to exhaust, but it quickly recovers. It happens a lot when I'm sitting there doing nothing. Pain in one specific spot in the right side of my chest and associated difficulty. Can't take a full breath. R nasal turbinates swells to 95% blockage. Ear feels full. Can't breath. Running helps (paradoxically). I can't do it for long but afterwards I feel better. Swelling reduces for an hour or so.
4: yes. I have seen it below 97 maybe twice at 96. Regardless of symptoms or activity. My heart rate does go pretty high on exertion though, and I used to work for a moving company. I should be in decent shape.
5: lymph node swelling is consistent in the R side. Out of 5 doctors I've seen, only 1 checked lymph nodes. They did comment that R side feels swollen.

Also void to note that I bought one of those PEF tests at A drug store. The ones used to measure expiratory force for asthmatics. I can blow 590-620 consistently. I'm 6' 210lbs. That puts me in the correct range.

Thank you all for giving opinions and suggestions. Helps me work this out in my own head.

 

[Racehorse]

I'm interested in auto-immune or inflammatory conditions.

A fascinating subject. Advances in genome stuff has helped a lot. Working w/a nutritionist at the hospital for spell, she was showing me research on how they can actually WATCH certain genes for inflammation, turning on and shutting off, just by feeding people certain food substances. This kind of research will someday revolutionize medicine, as will stem cell research. For instance, there was always some thought that aging, cancer and inflammation were related, then they found the AUF1 gene.

Have they done your blood profiles with screens put in for inflammation?

Mine came back off the charts and doctor immediately "assumed" I had RA and wanted me to go on DMARDs. I declined, since I had no desire to go on what are actually early chemotherapy drugs, which would also affect my immune system.

I ended up finding a rheumatologic specialist (my first visit last 5-1/2 hours), who in tandem with an immunologist, was able to figure out that I didn't have RA. Very long story short, a number of food allergies which were causing quite a lot of immune system response----which, of course, will put a ton of inflammation in your body. Chronic inflammation contributes to many pathological and autoimmune conditions including allergy, cardiovascular system disorders, central nervous system disorders, and rheumatoid arthritis, for instance.

Inflammation never bothered my lungs though. But inflammation will affect and target different systems and organs in different people.

Based on what I know now, certain food and esp. processed food, which is a chemical slew of god knows what, wreaks havoc on people's bodies, and very few doctors know much about this stuff. It PAINS me greatly that people are out there suffering, some are even in wheelchairs, or on asthma inhalers their entire lives, and then find solutions.

You have to find "the right" people though, and thankfully I did find some very good M.D.s in my journey. I hope you do, too.