cold like symptoms i can't shake?..... i'm very disappointed

[BennyBlanco]

hey all,

1st of all i wanna thank everyone here for being so helpful and supportive. i've been off the cigs for over a month thanks to this place and the e-cig. i smoked my last cig on 4/18 and have been vaping since, first with disposables, then with a v2 kit, then with an ego twist and a v4l dial a volt recently. the first week after i quit i was MISERABLE with cold like symptoms, blowing my nose all day until i got nosebleeds, hacking stuff up all over the place, etc. i kind of got over that a week or 2 later and the next 2 weeks were smooth sailing.

now this past monday i woke up with the worst sore throat of my life, excruciating pain when i swallowed and just a nasty feeling of malaise. i chalked it up to the high nic WOWboy juice i was using from v4l and switched to a highbrow ry4 and coffee juice i ordered. i felt slightly better but i still had a mild sore throat and i've been coughing all week. its a productive cough but i'm not really coughing up mucus as its clear in color and just kind of pasty. i'm no doctor but i think to blame it on allergies or the seasons changing would just be me rationalizing at this point. i'm at the end of my rope here and i'm ready to throw all my vaping stuff in the trash and switch to snus or something. i'm just very, very disappointed because i legitimately enjoyed vaping, the flavors, the throat hit, just everything about it.

i will never have a bad thing to say about e-cigs because they got me off the cigarettes for good and i'll never go back, but i think there is legitimate health concerns with e-cigs and there is too much conflicting information about them online.

sorry for the rant, i'm just very disappointed and wish my body would allow me to continue vaping. ill post back in a few days and let everyone know if my symptoms have cleared up after switching to snus.

 

[Orobas]

Well. Propylene glycol is an expectorant - it's a common additive in cough medicines to help clear out all that gunk. You may want to try using 100% VG or reduced PG juices instead and see if that helps.

 

[Fizzpop]

First, go see your doctor. Nobody here can really diagnose you.

I can, however, some some anecdotal experiences my wife and I had while switching to vaping. From what I understand, it is not uncommon to experience cold-like symptoms when quitting smoking. Your body has been subjected to thousands of bad chemicals for years, some of which suppress the cila in your lungs that help to expel mucous and other bad stuff. We went through a similar experience - a bad cold that just hung on for longer than one would like. But then the positive changes started; we could breathe again, we started feeling better, the cold went away. Yes, I hacked up some awful green goo, but it is out of my body and I'm not hacking anymore. Our doctor is very supportive of our vaping. (Would he prefer we quit cold turkey? Yes, but he says that what we are doing is much, much better for our health.)

You may have an allergy to PG. You might want to try high VG juices and see if that makes a difference.

One last comment. Vaping will really, really dehydrate you. I'm drinking 4 times the amount of water I did before - this has some good health benefits as well! Drink lots of water. If you are vaping, you should be drinking, it makes a difference. Good luck and good health to you!

 

[alisa1970]

Honestly I was in the same boat just last week after 2 weeks of misery--not with cold symptoms but with an unidentified allergic reaction. Stuff I had vaped for weeks all of a sudden were like pepper spray in my mouth, and my face was swollen, red, and hot. Didn't matter whether it was PG or VG, didn't matter if it was organic/natural or artificial, or the nic level--one day the juice is fine, then next I'm getting prickly tingles all over my face.

I was pretty sure I would have to stop vaping, and I did for two days in order to "reset" my body. With a bit of trial and error, getting some unflavored stuff and really being aware of the situation, I think I have it under control.

Don't give up--it could be something really simple that fixes it for you.

Good luck!

 

[Scoper50]

Or you could just be sick and this has absolutely nothing to do with vaping. I think you are jumping to conclusions.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Well. Propylene glycol is an expectorant - it's a common additive in cough medicines to help clear out all that gunk. You may want to try using 100% VG or reduced PG juices instead and see if that helps.

do you recommend a vendor that sells 100% VG flavors? i was waiting to try bobas bounty but i guess that's not happening.

 

[tmcase]

I would see a doctor in case it's something non vape related before I threw everything in the trash. It's best to catch these things soon than later. If you get a clean bill of health from your doctor then you'll know it's something you're vaping.

 

[Orobas]

do you recommend a vendor that sells 100% VG flavors? i was waiting to try bobas bounty but i guess that's not happening.

a lot of vendors have "reduced" PG flavors, like ecblend and high desert vapes. I think mtbakervapor does, too. I DIY 50/50 so I'm not on top of the VG only juice vendors :/

 

[Chiku]

PG Free Line - Spring Vapor has pg free juice. I haven't tried it, saw it in taste your juice

 

[Myk]

PG/VG tend to dry a person out. If you aren't hydrating enough that can open you up to infection. If you are actually dehydrated that also makes one feel bad.

Johnson Creek has some 100% PG free. I have lung problems when I use PG.

 

[stormwench]

If your throat is that sore, it may very be something you need to see about. I could have 0 to do with e-cig and more to do with having caught something like a strep throat.

Sometimes health issues are coincidental with starting something new or stopping something old. Human nature is always to to blame the 'new ' thing when it may have nothing to do with it.

Quitting smoking and starting to vape may have some to do with it if you have a sensitivity to PG but that is very overrated around here - people blame PG sensitivity on everything and if the world population was as sensitive in percentage to PG in the same numbers claimed here the FDA would have it off the shelf in a heartbeat. Actually, if they ever read the list of people here claiming allergies to PB or telling people they are they might anyway.

Yes, PG had a drying effect as does warm vapor passed over moist services. This can dry out the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat and lead to irritation that can make the membranes raw and bacteria can pass them more easily to set up an infection. But that should be a very small number of people. If this has happened to you chances are that it was the normal drying effect in tandem with a failure increase your WATER (not any other fluids as many are dehydrating themselves to membranes) intake to that needed. Remember sugar and acidic drinks, beer and liquor may feel like the quench thirst but can not only dry out the membranes but have a dehydrating effect n the whole body.

If you increase your water intake a lot and that is still not keeping you will dehydrated (body as well as membranes) and you gums, mouth and throat still appear dry you may need to use a toothpaste and/or mouth wash for people with chronic dry mouth. These things promote saliva production and saliva is a defense against infection.

Some people find when they stop smoking that they can get really bad sore throats along with teeth and gums that are extremely painful and sensitive. While drying and dehydrating properties of things do help matters the fact that a lot of this is caused because they are also getting away from smoking tobacco seems to get by them. When smoking the stuff that these parts if the body were exposed to cut down blood circulation, damaged tissues, gums, teeth and so on and when you stop the body goes into overdrive to get rid of the stuff that has buries itself between gums and teeth, the blood supply returns to normal flows in tissues totally unable to cope without healing and so things get really sensitive.

This is why most cessation programs have some MD oversight or recommend people have good physical either just before they stop or as soon as they do> When it comes to smoking and getting off it sometime things seem to get a bit worse (subjectively) before they get better because some of the things the body has been wanting to fix and could not while those chemicals poured into your body are now free to do so, and to fix something it often is an uncomfortable transition.

Some people have decided, after being told it might be a PG sensitivity have gone back to analogs and believe that that 'diagnosis was correct because they symptons stopped. What they forget is by going back they arrest the body's transition to repair all the damage, as well as any steps made to better hydrate the body and so on. So when the symptoms disappear they think its all good - when its really all bad because they are going back to the unhealthy state - that they were comfortable with. Just like having to hurt all over when you take up exercising after years of nothing strenuous, stopping the exercise does cure the hurting but in the long run perpetuates the unhealthy life style. Eventually the body gets things in condition and fixed up if you fight through the muscle pain a bit and then its stops. Pretty much the same things.

Also seeing a doctor can determine if you really are one of a very small percentage the FDA's testing says has a sensativity or allergy to PG. These people probably already know they do, and should never have started on anyting but a VG mixture. PG is almost across the board in soaps, lotions, skin medications, and lots of edible products. If you're sensitive to PG you are getting rashes from these products and other symtoms long before you started vaoing.

 

[ScottP]

do you recommend a vendor that sells 100% VG flavors? i was waiting to try bobas bounty but i guess that's not happening.

MBV offers every flavor in 0% PG at 2 different thicknesses: 70%VG +30% Distilled H2O and "Max VG%" which I believe still has H2O just a smaller %.

Although as others have said, it could just be an actual cold or allergies.

 

[Bewenched]

Or you could just be sick and this has absolutely nothing to do with vaping. I think you are jumping to conclusions.

Agreed, this time of year there is SO MUCH pollen and mold spores my nose has gone crazy even before full time vaping.

I found I also had bad reactions to PG juices and now only vape 90% Vg / 10pg (only if the flavoring requires it)

My first week of vaping I had horrible bouts of nausea from the PG but some of the "reaction" could have been from withdrawls I was only vaping 12mg nicotine. Not enough to satisfy me, switched up to 18mg nicotine and felt better but was still chain vaping.

Luckily for me I dont drink sodas and such and I've always drank a lot of water, but now I drink even more.
YAY for healthy kidneys!

Drink a lot of water, get yourself some saline only nasal spray and you may need to raise your nic level so that you are satisfied with less vaping and I'd say get some VG only juice.

Of course this is just from my experience and I'm by no means an expert, doctor or cecessation specialist.

 

[Myk]

Quitting smoking and starting to vape may have some to do with it if you have a sensitivity to PG but that is very overrated around here - people blame PG sensitivity on everything and if the world population was as sensitive in percentage to PG in the same numbers claimed here the FDA would have it off the shelf in a heartbeat. Actually, if they ever read the list of people here claiming allergies to PB or telling people they are they might anyway.i

You tell me. When I first vaped in '09 I felt really bad and just kept feeling worse. I blamed it on too much nicotine so I cut my nicotine. I was down to 0mg in a month. I still felt bad.
Ecigs were junk back then and obviously weren't doing me much good so I quit them and went back to smoking.

Then when I came back to vaping in '12 I fired up my old ecigs with the 0mg I was using before while I waited for some new liquid to come. I had read on ECF about PG sensitivity and didn't put too much faith in it but the liquids I was waiting for were PG free just to try. That very night on the 0mg PG I was feeling bad.
Once I got the PG free I started vaping like a freight train without a problem.
After about 6-8 months I decided to try a PG flavor again. By the time I had 1ml gone my lungs were hurting and I started coughing up blood.
No problem vaping 3-4ml of PG free a day for the past year.

I guarantee you that PG does not do me any good when vaped as a habit. I have no problem believing VG does others just as bad. We are all individuals with individual body chemistry.

 

[Valjean]

As a newbie, I almost gave up altogether before I switched over to 100% VG and also got off of the cartos. The filler in the cartos was really killing me. Now I use the CE3 bottom coil clearomizers. Made a huge difference in my being able to vape as well as getting great clean vapor with the bottom coils. They were suggested to me, and I am passing along that little recommendation. V.

 

[SissySpike]

While its normal to ask others If you are having prolonged cold symptoms. Id see the Doc. You are possibly right in laying off the Vaping if doing so will not turn you back to smoking. If you feel you need nether your better off fore sure! I would be interested to see if you stop vaping today if your symptoms will diaper.

 

[Myrany]

I Can't stress enough SEE A DOCTOR

I went through a horrid bout about 1 month in. SOre throat + horrible drainage + fever/chills +really bad stomach/diarhea/vomiting

It turns out that smoking was masking a really nasty sinus infection in allergy like symptoms that I had been treating as they came. When I stopped smoking it took a few weeks for whatever in smoke was suppressing most of the symptoms to work itself out of me but since I wasn't treating the symptoms anymore that infection kicked into high gear and landed me in bed for a week. ONLY prescribed heavy duty antibiotics cleared it up.

See a doctor

 

[catalyst]

There's good advice in this thread. PG is an expectorate. You're coughing up the years of cigarettes. Many people feel like they have the flu when they come off of their cigarette addiction. Also, don't fully inhale your vapor. Just take it into your mouth. You will absorb plenty of nicotine through your mucus membranes. You don't have to pull the vapor into your lungs.

Also, take the advice about seeing a doctor. You may just have the flu, friend.

 

[volume control]

My quit symptoms lasted about 2 months, just suck it up man youll thank yourself later =)

 

[LuckyCat]

I can't contribute anything that hasn't been said already, but I agree with what other posters have stated. When you smoke, you suppress your immune system, as everyone knows, but I think people believe that when they quit- they will just be......healthier and more resistant to colds and sensitivities. In actuality, it isn't uncommon to become hypersensitive to a number of ingredients, foods, environmental elements, as your immune system struggles to regulate itself and is triggered by things it was too weak to even respond to, previously. When I quit smoking, I developed acne, dermatitis (EVERYTHING gave me a rash), I would swing between bursts of energy and feeling lethargic, a long dormant allergy to strawberries and latex fruits resurfaced (a problem I hadn't experienced since I was a teenager), and my gums bled heavily for nearly a full six months. I don't attribute any of it to e cigarettes. Just my body going rather haywire and attempting to balance itself after 20 years of daily poisoning.