Cattargh, wind, sore stomach and pounding headaches from vaping

[Hotwire]

I dunno i'm falling out of love with vaping fast a month into it.

I still smoke, even though my intake has halved due to the pv.

But everytime I get out of a hot shower now, I get terrible cattargh.

I'm also getting put off by the pounding, literally pounding in my eardrums after vaping up to 8 draws.

The highest juice I have is 18mg only.

And I have not had cattargh for about 20 years, so what the heck is causing it - I don't have a cold or cough or anything and it only started about 3 weeks into vaping.

I'm going to go low nic 6mg and see if that helps with the headaches and pounding in my ears (Last time I had a heart check up a yr ago the doc asked if I WAS OR USED TO BE AN ATHELETE, IT IS VERY HEALTHY, so I don't have a heart problem) which started as soon as I started vaping and starts after around 5 draws on my ego.

And no it's not the old chestnut 'changes due to quitting analogues' as I still smoke them and was never a heavy smoker anyway....

I don't know, I want this to work.

 

[JudgeVape]

Could be a PG allergy. What is the PG/VG ratio of the juice you are using?

 

[texasgranny]

Sorry to hear about your delima Hotwire...I had to look up what "Cattargh" was and it appears it is a
disorder or inflamation of the mucous membranes. When I read the symptons and possible causes
it appears that there could be other possibilities that is causing this other than the vaping, such as
a major infection of ears, sinus or tonsile and could become chronic and the sympton you describe
of pounding in the ears could be a infection in the eardrum. You did say it had been a year
since your last DR checkup and I would highly suggest that you return for another soon.
Their could just be a coincidence of unusual timing with starting vaping, that this has come about.
That being said, it could be the PG or VG content of your juice. I have read many post where others
have had allergic reactions to one or the other and perhaps the makeup of the juice from a particular
vendor you may be using.
Again, sorry to hear this is happening and I believe a DR visit is in order.

 

[markfm]

I'd be curious about the PG/VG mix, also just a general juice switch -- some people have sensitivity to some flavorings, and if by chance you're vaping one, that could cause problems.

I don't know if you have access to unflavored VG and PG nic juice, but if you do it might be good to try some straight VG (diluted to a reasonable mg strength, and thinned a bit with distilled water), and then some straight PG (likewise diluted to a rational mg strength).

As a simple thing, if you have some 18 mg juice in hand, if you can get the equivalent of vegetable glycerin USP grade, try cutting your existing juice with 50% glycerin. This will increase VG%, decrease nic to 9 mg strength, cut the amount of flavoring.

Sounds a lot like the really bad sinus infection my wife and I had in late Spring, before I started vaping -- nothing in the chest, no cough, but terrible congestion, mucus. It took us two rounds of anitbiotics to clear, a real pain in the .....

Checking in with your Dr. can be a good thing, even if only to rule out an infection or something else.

Best of luck

 

[JWolf]

Not sure what could be causing the stomach symptoms, but 6mg is very low, anything less than 10mg and a former smoker can pretty much vape it constantly with no ill effects. So in that sense, you probably aren't getting anywhere near the satisfaction you had when smoking, and cravings will be an issue.

That said your symptoms could be due to a pg allergy, though I think thats a little unlikely. I would very much second the sinus infection notion, when you listed your symptoms thats pretty much what I went to, aside from the stomach.

 

[Hotwire]

It's not cravings. I like smoking for the relaxed feeling not the nic. The nic buzz from vaping does nothing for me really. it's the flavor and the cloud that I like, the physical act. And anyhow, I can't be having cravings as I still smoke in the evenings.

The juice that I 'Think' is the cause is DEKANG menthol 18mg. Though I still got the pounding from other 11mg juices that are pg / vg blends but it is a lot less severe.

I do not have a sinus infection or ear infection or infection of anything esle as these symptoms ONLY occur when I vape. An hour or so after my last vape if I don't vape again they completely dissapear.

The pounding head and ears is the nic obviously, I must be sensitive to it and it doesn't happen and never happened with cigarettes. The 11mg juices give less of that than the 18mg which is why I will switch down to 6mg.

The cattargh, I am not sure. I DID vape some essential oil of orange a week ago, which was 5 drops mxed with 9ml of e-juice and made me feel kind of stoned so I threw it out. That was a week ago though. And I'm still getting the cattargh. BUT I have no other infection like symptoms, no loss of taste or anything, NO COLD OR FLU SYMPTOMS just the cattargh. AND ONLY AFTER A HOT SHOWER - HOW WEIRD!!!!!Could be non vaping related but weird coincidence seeing I have not had it for over 20 years...

Will stop the dekang menthol 18mg this weekend and go back to 11mg juices and see if it clears up.

I have recently started getting out of breath when walking also for the first time in my entire life. Like I said, docs usually ask me if I'm an athelete and I am very fit usually, never get out of breath, hell I used to step sprint and then run up a mountain near my apt! Damn, I don't get 2nd winds I get 10th winds when I used to run!

Also sometimes when I vape the veins or something on the left side of my neck feels like it's straining / sticking out! that's f'd up and again - only when I vape, not when I smoke.

 

[markfm]

If you aren't vaping for the nicotine, then you might want to try VG USP plus menthol crystals diluted in high proof plain vodka or pure grain alcohol (if that's available where you are). You'll get buckets of vapor, the menthol taste, no nicotine.

The plain VG USP (glycerin -- it should have no other ingredients at all) does need thinning -- about 5 - 10% drinkable alcohol or distilled water. The menthol crystals dissolved in alcohol will likely be enough thinning.

(You just crush the crystals, put them in a small dropper bottle with the vodka/PGA, shake them, then add this flavoring to another small bottle that's mostly filled with VG. Some places sell the menthol already dissolved in PGA, but I don't know if that's readily available in S Korea. Start with about 5% of this flavoring, increase until it gets to a taste that you like.).

Good luck!

 

[Hotwire]

Just wiki'd cattarh and yes it does all point to signs perhaps of an allergy!

But to what? It has only happened (the cattarh, not the pounding in the ears) since I got the dekang menthol. But I have no plhegm at all.

I did have bronchitis b4 I started vaping which is indeed why I tried vaping to begin with.

Right, no vaping this weekend and see if the cattarh goes (I know the pounding in the ears will as that only happens after vaping.) If it doesn't - off to the docs on monday!

 

[Hotwire]

ps thanks for all the replies! I will do my little non vaping experiment and report back! Like i said, I did have bronchitis for a few weeks, so it could be related.

But damn I need to vape or smoke, I am not the kind of person that could give up for anything other than a doc saying I'll die painfuly and soon if I don't. Sad perhaps but true. I am an addict.

 

[Zal42]

NO COLD OR FLU SYMPTOMS just the cattargh. AND ONLY AFTER A HOT SHOWER - HOW WEIRD!!!!!

In the past when I'd quit smoking (no vaping involved), this would happen to me after a month or so of being cigarette-free. I think it's one of the usual effects of your body recovering from all that smoke it's been inhaling. Like you, a hot shower triggered it every time. So would laughing really hard, about half the time.

 

[markfm]

That's why I suggested trying the straight thinned VG, to see if totally removing PG helps. Also, trying the VG with straight menthol crystals is a logical step, to see if that one clean flavoring is OK for you. Menthol crystals are, I believe, readily available in many places, as is VG of pharmaceutical grade (in the US it is at most pharmacies, near the isopropyl alcohol, typically called something like Glycerin USP skin protectant).

You'll get there, you may well just have a really nasty reaction to a particular dekang mix, or perhaps have some PG or particular flavor sensitivity. An active desire to vape is a huge positive.

 

[silkakc]

The shower always makes my asthma worse and I only get asthma from allergic reactions. Try taking a Benedryl one hour before your shower. If you don't get the cattargh, then it IS an allergic reaction to something. Try then to vape all VG and try another flavor.


Lori

 

[Elendil]

Moving to health forum

 

[Hotwire]

In the past when I'd quit smoking (no vaping involved), this would happen to me after a month or so of being cigarette-free. I think it's one of the usual effects of your body recovering from all that smoke it's been inhaling. Like you, a hot shower triggered it every time. So would laughing really hard, about half the time.

But I AM still smoking! PPL please put effort into your reading.

 

[Hotwire]

Okay, I have a theory.

Perhaps I do have infection that causes both the cattarh and the pounding in the ear. And then when I vape, the nicotine raises my heartbeat which would perhpaps naturally increase the sound in my ear.

Logical I believe, and a connection that would naturally lead me to equate the symptoms with vaping.

I'm off to the docs today to see what he says. Will aks if I have an infection or if it sounds like a reaction to something in the juice.

Being a Korean doc though, he'll most likely just give me anti biotics. It's their answer to most things - even the flu and colds. Yes they really do prescribe anti-biotics for a virus over here.

Also I woke up this morning with the pressure in my ears still there, and I don't think the half life of 18mg nic in the juice I vaped lasts that long, so yeah - probably some sort of infection and the vaping accentuates the symptoms due to the increased heartrate. Either that or an allergy to something in the juice.

Could anyone describe the symptoms of a pg allergy?

 

[Hotwire]

well I haven't vaped all weekend and my symptoms instantly dissapeared.

Must be either

1. pg allergy perhaps

2. The way my body metabolises or reacts to the nicotine in e-juices.

 

[rothenbj]

Hotwire, time to quit smoking, quit vaping and join the Swedish snus generation. Or quit tobacco all together.

 

[Hotwire]

Hotwire, time to quit smoking, quit vaping and join the Swedish snus generation. Or quit tobacco all together.

I dunno, you may have heard but that's kind of difficult to do.... ;P

I could try Snus. I'll have to find out if it's legal here in Korea. I knowthe g.i.'s in Seoul chew a lot, so you can by that here, but not sure I'd be into that as I don't want to do the whole spitting thing...

I have some new juices from fsusa coming soon with a cpl at 6mg, so I'll try those and see how I do with those first.