At my wits end... a cry for help.

[tomf]

Vegatable glicerine is 100% carbohydrate...that is what is spiking your blood sugar. Here is the link. Carbohydrate Content Of Vegetable Glycerin | LIVESTRONG.COM
As you know carbs are bad for diabetics. No more vg for you. Hope this clears this up.

This is true, VG is processed as a carb, but shouldn't contribute to BG spikes. Not being one to take other people's word for gospel, I've experimented with several different ratios from 100%pg to 100%vg and have noticed a number of different effects... but the only thing that has consistently caused my sugar to jump is the nicotine level. Weird, I know.

Also, it is a pretty common misconception that carbs are "bad" for diabetics. While it's true that too many carbs turn my blood into battery acid... well, just ask my awesome and beautiful wife what happens when I don't get ENOUGH carbs...

How did I trick that woman into marrying me?

Also, just did some math, here. 1 teaspoon = about 5ml. 1 teaspoon of VG is about 5g of Carbs. I go through let's say 8ml a day. So, I would need to DRINK 3 teaspoons of straight VG to even have to think about correcting with insulin.

 

[DanFromRioRancho]

A shout-out to the the members monitoring this thread (please). It's a long-shot but........

I remember seeing threads related to a relatively rare (??) condition where individuals are chemically addicted to more than just the nicotine in analogs, and certain specialty suppliers make juice that contains those compounds for those individuals. I've been searching but evidently using the wrong terms and have not been able to find the name/acronym for those chemicals or those threads. If anyone here knows the name/acronym, it might help Tom to do the research so that he can talk to his doctor and find out if he has that condition. If so, he might have new options.

 

[Disconnect]

WTA juice (whole tobacco alkaloids) is what you are looking for.

 

[tomf]

But I wouldn't be having withdrawals from chemicals that I still imbibe, right? I was hospitalized for almost a week a couple of years ago and didn't experience any of these symptoms. (they don't let you smoke in the hospital... who knew?) That's an interesting thought, though. I'll do some reading.

Or do you mean adding WTA to see if I can make the switch?

 

[wwaaazzup]

I agree with the whole tobacco alceloids post. Anyway my wife is a nurse and I asked her about your issue and she said the nicotine levels shouldn't be making your blood sugar spike like that but you should definately explain to your doctor what is going on. Also maybe the vaporization of vg could be different then ingestion of vg. Either way the best thing to do is talk to your doctor.

 

[wwaaazzup]

About the wta post... he meant you might need to add wta because of the rare dependancy but for sure I would explain all of what u are going through with your doctor. Only he has the real answers to what you're dealing with.

 

[tomf]

Hey Guys,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your suggestions. I was actually in the doctor's today for a med pick up and asked to speak with my Doc briefly. Here's the scoop:
- He had no clue about ecigs. Ha!
- BUT nicotine raises BG. Without a doubt.
- We did see some spikes when I was using high mg nicotine gum.
-At this point, my breathing sounds better and my BG has gone the other way. Not dramatically, but on the LOW side of normal.
- Rash seems to be an allergic reaction to PG.
- Water consumption is good.
- TOOTH pain. Get this. He asked, "is any of the liquid getting into your mouth when you inhale?" That's when it hit me. I've had a series of flooded cartos over the last week or so. With all my experimenting with different ratios, I tend to make a pretty big hole to accommodate the higher VG ratio. I'll update you all with progress on that front.
- He said basically what you all have been saying. If this is really the route I want to go I need to start all over with unflavored stuff at different ratios, mg. I'll be researching flavor allergies today.

That's all from the front. I'll continue to update on progress and conclusions. THANK YOU!

This is one of my posts from a while back. I've spoken to my doctor. He agrees that it's the NIC raising my BG. I don't think there is any doubt at this point...

When I first talked to him about quitting I said, "what NRT would you recommend?" He replied, "None. They all contain nicotine." I didn't understand what that meant then but I do now. He expected me to quit and quit cold turkey. I asked him, "You've never tried to quit smoking, have you?" Of course he hadn't. He seemed reluctant to even discuss vaping with me. I'd go to somebody else, but, I don't have health insurance. So, I'm kind of stuck with this guy.

 

[D4rk50ul]

I'm sure this isn't going to help much but do you drink any form of energy drinks? Those cause serious withdrawal symptoms I used to spend 16+ hours on cases and chug those, getting off them has been torture.

As far as sore throat and skin rash it's PG, I get the same thing if the mix is higher than 50/50.

Nicotine will cause blood pressure spikes could that be causing you to have your blood sugar spikes? If I drink caffeine then vape hard enough mine goes from 75/120 to 85+/140+.

I would recommend finding a vendor that can mix you a juice with 70vg/30pg and no sweeteners added. Go for a 12-16mg'ish strength in a tobacco flavor. You need enough nic to keep you from extended vape sessions yet still kill the cravings. You can get menthol crystals separate and experiment with different levels. Remember the flavoring themselves could have sweetener in them so talking to a good juice vendor is very important.

As far as gear is pointless to just keep buying hardware it isn't the problem, you need a viable juice first. Since you mentioned volcano they have a nice dual coil carto tank setup that my wife uses that seems to work decently if you are looking for a cheap setup and really want to switch it up.

It sounds like you may be getting vape spray. The atomizer can't keep up as it's probably flooded a bit and you are inhaling uncooked juice. I get this when I get nuts on my REO and keep squonking even when I already filled the Atty. At that point you are going to get sore throats, heavy lung, and headaches.

I doubt any of this helps but maybe it triggers a thought for you and helps you figure it out.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wwaaazzup]

My only question would be why didn't you big spike when u smoked two packs a day?

 

[DanFromRioRancho]

But I wouldn't be having withdrawals from chemicals that I still imbibe, right? I was hospitalized for almost a week a couple of years ago and didn't experience any of these symptoms. (they don't let you smoke in the hospital... who knew?) That's an interesting thought, though. I'll do some reading.

Or do you mean adding WTA to see if I can make the switch?

Depends on why you were in the hospital. I had to go in for cancer surgery and was so honkin' scared and in so much pain post-op that I didn't even think about having a smoke until I was in the car on the way home -- at which point I chain-smoked a half pack from door-to-door.

No, didn't mean adding WTA, or at least not yet. Meant finding out first if that was an unknown complication for you or not. If it is, then adding WTA might (maybe) allow you to use a lower % nicotine.

 

[wwaaazzup]

I did wright might need to add wta after talking to the doctor and only after talking to the doctor. Anyway I'm out of this one. Good night all.

 

[tomf]

My only question would be why didn't you big spike when u smoked two packs a day?

Good question! I have to check my sugar 5x a day. I've just adjusted over time. When I started vaping i figured higher nic would be better (24mg). That would account for the spikes.

Like I said, at this point all of my symptoms are better or have disappeared. I went through a lot of trial and error before I got here. But I'm happy at this point. Buying more equipment is an effort to produce better results (flavor/vapor/less cravings) with the 2 juices I've identified as viable. I'm just tweaking my setup

 

[nchamber68]

Vegatable glicerine is 100% carbohydrate...that is what is spiking your blood sugar. Here is the link. Carbohydrate Content Of Vegetable Glycerin | LIVESTRONG.COM
As you know carbs are bad for diabetics. No more vg for you. Hope this clears this up.

VG may be pure carbs, but it is also low carb. One ml of pure VG e-liquid is equal to less than 1/15 of one serving of carbs...so it would actually be considered a 'free food' for diabetics. Diabetics can eat low carb foods all day and not count those carbs if they are eating 5g of carbs or less per hour.

Even if a diabetic were to vape seven ml of pure VG juice in a day, that would still be an intake of less carbs than they'd get from half of one small banana, or five ounces of orange juice, or one small potato.

What is more important than the carbs in VG is how each individual reacts to the ingredient. I'm much more likely to have a BG spike if I use VG, but I am one of those people who is allergic/reacts to VG the way some people react to PG. (I can have pure PG all day long, but when I use VG I get blood glucose spikes, rashes, itching, etc.)

The OP is reacting to the PG and the nicotine, not the VG.

 

[nchamber68]

No inspiration at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. There was no effort, tears, frustrations, or hardships involved.

I'm just one of thousands (hundreds of thousands? More?) that found the right combination(s) of hardware and juices that "worked for me". Some of us stumble into the right combination through blind luck, others keep experimenting until it clicks.

My only message to you is to keep at it. Take joy in every analog you avoid smoking, don't beat yourself up over any analogs you do smoke, and keep fiddling until you find what "works for you". It WILL sneak up on you eventually, and probably will surprise the hell out of you when it does. The wait is worthwhile.

Absolutely and Exactly! I didn't go into this intending to quit (after 32 years and hundreds of attempts to quit), but I experienced the same: no effort, tears, frustrations or hardships.

I still have an analog any time I want one, but each one is nastier and less tempting than the last. I never, ever would have believed it was possible in the past, but I haven't wanted an analog in weeks. It's wonderful, amazing, and a joyful experience. (and yes, I started smoking very young and my picture is a picture of me from this year at 44...and why do people keep asking me that? lol)

 

[ANONeSKILLZ]

As far as flavor I'm right there with you, nothing works. The only thing I could actually stand is Joytech Menthol 18mg of nic. I buy it at Cignot, believe it or not it was the first juice i ever bought. Countless hundreds of dollars later after a failed attempt of finding other juices and I'm back to the Joytech Menthol. I say give them a shot (lower nic obviously). I also bought flavorless juice from CigNot and cant complain at all about it.