What does your doctor have to say about vaping?

[bwh79]

So I'm the kind of person that only sees a doctor when I'm sick, I don't go in for regular checkups or anything like that. Earlier this year I caught a bad case of the flu, so I did go in for a visit. The nurse asked me if I was "still smoking," and I felt proud to announce that "actually, I've recently switched to electronic cigarettes." So, what was the response? No "congratulations on quitting" or "good for you, at least it's better than the real thing." No, nothing like that. All they said was "so, yes" (as in, "okay, well I'm still going to mark here in your chart that yes, you are in fact still smoking.")

Today I went back for a follow-up appointment, and the actual doctor, not the nurse this time, asked me "when do you plan to quit smoking?" I told her that actually I had quit smoking and that now I was vaporizing instead. Even though she didn't show anything outwardly except for pure professionalism, I could almost feel her rolling her eyes, inside her head. "Okay, so when do you plan to quit nicotine then?" As if that's the only next logical step and of course I'm planning to quit, because why wouldn't I? I said I didn't know that I did plan to quit, necessarily. Then she went into about how "those things have 'thousands of chemicals' in them that we don't even know about." She shut right up, though, when I said "well, that's debatable. It depends on what kind of flavors you are using, and if you use unflavored then it has exactly three chemicals in it." She did concede, however, that it is better than smoking, but only on the grounds that "you can dial down the level and eventually get off of it completely."

She also told me that I'm too fat, and I drink too much, and that I need to exercise more (because, apparently, walking everywhere because I don't own a car, running up and down the stairs of my 2-story apartment several times a day, and regular sexual activity [i.e. aerobics], don't count.) Yeah, I don't think I like my doctor. This is why I only see her when I have to. What does your doctor have to say about your vaping, or just about vaping in general?

 

[Traijan]

I use to be one of those people that would only go to the Doctor if I felt it was like an emergency, flu... childs play, food poisoning... let me give it a good burp, pneumonia.... Let's see how I feel tomorrow.

But then one day I discovered that the Doctor is my friend and I started to see my doctor every 2 months at the minimum since he's was treating me for all kinds of ailments that I knew I had but refused to seek help for.

Anyway, I moved and my last doctor retired so I found a new doctor and told him that I was a 30+ year smoker smoking anywhere from 1 to 4 packs a day and I told him that I quit smoking about a year and a half ago but that I am a vaper. He had a simple response for me "You need to cut that crap out too". He's an older doctor and I have a feeling has not necessarily researched vaping and as that's what he said to me I chose to just clam up on the subject and if he ever brings it up again I'll give him an earful.

He told me a lot of other things too like too much red meat, not enough chicken (even though we eat chicken 4 nights a week at home, 2 nights of red meat and 1 night of pork) and that I need to eat more vegetables and fruit, (apparently zucchini 5 nights a week isn't vegetable to him) and that I should totally disregard what my last doctor told me and start drinking grapefruit juice even though my last doctor and the pharmacist said to not drink grapefruit juice with certain meds that I have to take saying it's purely a myth that I should not drink grapefruit juice with the meds. Funny, he didn't say anything about my 2 cups of chicken bouillon and all the salt that is putting into my body.

 

[rgerber]

Mine gave me a hug.....

 

[GinnyTx]

Mine's great..been going to him for 20 years and he knows anything he would tell me negative I already know *lol* That and he also knows he works for me and I'll get another in a heartbeat.

but he's all for vaping if I got me off the smokes (and all the respiratory Rx's he'd refill for me each month even though he'd scowl when he wrote for them *lol*

if you don't feel your doc is acting in your best interests..get another.

 

[dbrandt01]

I personally haven't been to a doctor since I was 19. I'm 24 now and was medically discharged from the Army for my legs. I'm rarely sick. Maybe once in the last 5 years. My dad goes to a doctor and the VA doctor and they never said anything bad about vaping from what I heard though.

 

[bluecat]

3 years ago my doc asked of I was still smoking. For the past 10 years he wanted to prescibe Chantix which I always declined. I told I quit smoking and was using an ecig. He said, hmmmmm. That was it. No lecture. No asking if I wanted the little blue pill. The hmmmm was good enough for me. The 2 times I been back, he just asks if I am still using it. I say yes and that's that.

Good enough for me.

 

[dhood]

Went in a few weeks ago for a shoulder problem. The doctor asked and when I told him I was vaping, and had been since last August, he put me down in the system as a former smoker.

 

[Bootiewootsy]

MY Dr. was pleased to see that I had quit smoking and took up vaping. He said nicotine would never cause cancer and in mild doses it was actually good for me. He also said he wished the ecig was available when his father was alive. He died from smoking. He is a younger Dr. in mid forties I am guessing. I was a pack and half smoker for over 30 years..

 

[Bob Chill]

It would be interesting for a person who quit a 20 year smoking habit and vaped for the last 3 to ask a doctor they've never seen before with no records of them if he/she can find clinical evidence of smoking or any respiratory harm.

 

[Larry J]

Bob Chill, there is still respiratory harm to the lungs of former smokers, whether they quit by vaping, cold turkey or other NRT. I think we forget sometimes that our bodies will never COMPLETELY be able to repair the damage we've done to them, and that there will always be an increased risk of cancer because of our past smoking. Damage is definitely self-repaired to a good degree and the risk of cancer is lower, but it never goes away completely.

 

[vapeydave]

This is my perspective - my doctor works for me since I pay him. If I tell him vaping is safe he better damn well agree...or I'll fire him and find another. I'm not fond of insubordination.

 

[Lannie]

I refuse to go to a doctor. If I had a broken bone, or a severed artery or something like that (trauma care ONLY), I'd go. Otherwise, I'd have to be unconscious and someone would have to physically drag me. When I fell down the basement stairs a couple weeks ago, I got banged up pretty bad, and Rich (my husband) asked me if I wanted him to take me to the doctor. I said, "Not just no, but HELL NO!" So I had a bump on the head and a lot of bruises and stuff. I could still walk, sort of. And I'm fine now. My knee still hurts some, and some of the worst bruises aren't quite gone yet, but I'm fine.

I did, however, go in for a cleaning at the dentist because I'm one of those that had gum problems from smoking. When I went in this time, I told the girls to change my file from "smoker" to "non-smoker" and they were all giddy! I told them I'd gotten a vaporizer (and they KNEW what vaping was) and was using that for now, and they were still happy that I'd quit. They said vaping wasn't the same as smoking (wow, a voice of reason!). Now, a doctor, I'm not so sure about. I think if I DID go to a doctor for some reason, and they asked, I'd just say I used to, but I quit. And that's that.

~Lannie

 

[Cullin Kin]

Well... Anyone who has Kaiser insurance or saw the threads about the Kaiser email on this forum knows how my doctor feels...

 

[AllElseFailed]

I was at a pre-op appointment today(so not my regular doctor) and he asked me if I still smoked and I told him no, that I had switched to vaping. He put in my charts the day that I became a "former smoker" and put in bold that everyone should congratulate me when they see me.

 

[WonderDude32]

My primary care doctor and my cardiologist both condone vaping. My PCP asked all kinds of questions and even took a few notes on gear. Maybe she has someone in mind? My heart doctor says the nicotine isn't even bad for me as it's a blood thinner and I take Plavix already so it just helps.

 

[Traijan]

The thing that I find funny now though is that even though my new doctor told me that I need to cut that crap (vaping) out, back in the days of smoking 1 to 4 packs a day my doctor used to tell me how terrible my lungs sounded. Well the new doctor took a listen to my lungs on my last visit there last week and didn't say a word about how good or bad my lungs sounded, this was after telling me to stop vaping. Maybe he'll come to terms with vaping eventually after he gets enough patients that have quit long term smoking in favor of vaping. I know that if my lungs had sounded as bad as they did with my previous doctor this new doctor would most assuredly have said something about it.

 

[caramel]

My Dr. smokes cigar and doesn't care about vapes, she says they're not even close to the real thing.

 

[cocacola31173]

I haven't been to the Dr for a few years and the first time I went back when he listened to my breathing the first question he asked me was did I quit smoking because my lungs sounded so much better. Told him I started on E Cigs...he said "Yeah I seen those...they look like cigarettes but they;re not. And then he asked to see mine. He was surprised when I pulled out my MVP 3 and Kayfun set up...He even had me demonstrate it and said it smelled good! Told me to keep up the good work.

 

[mare ze dotes]

As far as I am concerned. I quit smoking. My lungs don't have the rattle. I say that I don't smoke for several years now. They never asked about vaping so I don't tell. I am afraid of the insurance rates.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

My doctor went into politics and sold his practice to a big conglomerate a couple of years ago. I have not seen the same doctor twice since then...