Damage to lungs

[danibanani]

I had a PFT (Pulmonary function test) 3 weeks ago and it showed moderate to severe lung obstruction. I smoked Marlboro Reds for 22 years. I had a chronic cough and major yucky phlegm production. I couldn't walk up a flight up stairs without being out of breath.

It's well known that analog abuse destroy the tiny hairs known as cilia that line the upper airways and protect against infection.

The pulmonary doc said my lung function should improve 75-80% with smoking cessation.

My question is: Does vaping destroy cilia that lines my lungs? Since quitting analogs, my chronic cough and phlegm production have ceased. Zero going into my 3rd week. I like to think that vaping doesn't destroy the cilia, but I'd like to hear it from someone else, maybe with evidence based research (or opinions! I love opinions!)

Thanks for your time,
Dani

 

[boomhower1820]

Nobody really knows at this point. vaping is still to new to know the long term effects of it. I know I certainly feel a ton better. I can breath again and most report the same thing. Of course ten years down the line we all may get sick by something, nobody knows at this point.

 

[Alto101]

To my knowledge (and I have read most of the studies to date), nobody has suggested that vaping damages the cilia like smoking does. While the long-term effects will not be clear for many years, the short-term effects are very well understood and suggest that any long-term side-effects will be minimal.

The majority of people here report dramatically improved lung function as well as a large reduction in the frequency and severity of sickness once they switch to vaping.

 

[danibanani]

Thank you for the replies. I'll be interested in the long-term studies. As Alto mentioned, people report dramatic improved lung function. I know I have. If it weren't expensive, I'd like to have another PFT 6 months-1 year down the road to see how my lung function has improved.

Thanks again!
Dani

 

[YKruss]

You can search the Health sub-forum - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/search.php?searchid=27527398

Most people report drastic improvement over lungs functions and COPD.

 

[Alto101]

While I am also very interested in long-term studies I fear they may not be performed in a manner that helps us understand the long term effects of vaping. There are a number of parties out there that wish to equate vaping to smoking. When long-term smokers who switched to vaping later in life later develop issues, how will the researchers handle this? Will they assign some of the blame to smoking and some to vaping? Will they say vaping made the existing problems worse?

I am guessing that the best results will come from studying people who either smoked a very short time or never did and then became vapers. Unfortunately, this population is far smaller.

When you read various research about vaping, please keep in mind that there are a lot of people out there who want to equate vaping to smoking and seem to start with that conclusion and then do their "science" to back up the conclusion. Becoming educated on this subject has really opened my eyes and raised my level of distrust in the various entities that are supposed to be looking out for our welfare.

 

[Norrin]

I did read something about nicotine and cilia and IIRK nicotine affects it but not in the same way. It stops it functioning while using, but doesn't damage it. linky. If I'm reading it right anyway someone might understand this better. I did search further but couldn't find any info so I guess not much research has been done.

 

[tj99959]

IMO (since you like opinions) is that vaping can do nothing about the scar tissue that smoking has already created in the lungs & bronchials.
BUT, it can improve the lung function problems caused by excessive tars in the lungs. So while you will see improvement, don't set your sights on miracles.

I now show an oxygen reading of 99, but my lung capacity is still quite low. 60 years of smoking has a tendency to cause that.
The good news is that I'm still alive. Had I not quit smoking, that likely would not be the case. Now at the age of 73, I just might get to hang around to bug you guys for another decade or two.

 

[DT Artisan]

I had a PFT (Pulmonary function test) 3 weeks ago and it showed moderate to severe lung obstruction. I smoked Marlboro Reds for 22 years. I had a chronic cough and major yucky phlegm production. I couldn't walk up a flight up stairs without being out of breath.

It's well known that analog abuse destroy the tiny hairs known as cilia that line the upper airways and protect against infection.

The pulmonary doc said my lung function should improve 75-80% with smoking cessation.

My question is: Does vaping destroy cilia that lines my lungs? Since quitting analogs, my chronic cough and phlegm production have ceased. Zero going into my 3rd week. I like to think that vaping doesn't destroy the cilia, but I'd like to hear it from someone else, maybe with evidence based research (or opinions! I love opinions!)

Thanks for your time,
Dani

Hi Dani!

First off....congrats on quitting the Marlboro reds! I had the ol' Marlboro Cowboy lassoing my lungs for 20+ years as well. A few years back, I was diagnosed with mild Stage 1 COPD at 40 years old. Thought I'd "outsmart" the disease and switched to Marlboro lights... Well, that didn't help. Sooooo... one evening a good friend of mine came over for a beer, puffing on this strange stick-device. I thought he was smoking a battery as the blue colored light lit up the table outside. Turns out my good buddy had quit smoking a week prior and was using a Blu e-cig to do so. So I began reading about ecigs and the plethora of devices available.

I still remember the blustery Winter's day I threw my last pack of cigs out my truck window and watched them tumble down the road....thinking I'd just made some "bum's" day. I'd gotten winded that morning just rushing out to catch the garbageman, whom I'd missed BTW...That was a little over a year ago...and I haven't smoked since, only vaped. The Benefits of vaping? Well.. now I jog (be it quite slowly) for about a mile...three times a week and hit the gym for an hour a pop, three times a week. If you would have asked me to do that 2 years ago...I would have lit a smoke and laughed at you. I now use my Spiriva inhaler once every 3 or 4 days instead of every day. Maybe a little coughing still after very heavy exercise but no phlegm or hacking. I smell and taste good (sense of taste, that is. ) I would say my lung capacity has improved by 30% or so...but it's only been a year off cigs and Rome wasn't built in a day. AND...there you have it!

Not a scientific study, just an old ex-smoker who CAN tell a major improvement in his life....thanks to vaping!

Be Well Friend!

Bri

 

[danibanani]

TJ and Bri-

What great stories! Thank you for sharing them with me. It gives me hope that I really might just improve my lung function and be able to exercise and run up the stairs again without feeling like I'm going to die.

I don't think I'll ever go back to analogs. The only thing I miss is that throat hit, but I'm working on some different juices and clearomizers on that one. I'm sure that issue will get resolved soon.

Take good care,
Dani

 

[cope]

i will say i have had increased lung function have more energy and in the last 2 years i havent gotten sick like i did when i was smoking. i have had one cold and did not get the usual chest conjestion like i would have...strange.. i dont think so

 

[Alien Traveler]

Vaping is definitely much better for lungs than smoking. Even if it has (who knows...) some adverse effect, I still would advise to switch to vaping from smoking.

 

[nyiddle]

Just my little comment, I used to get bouts of bronchitis about 4-6 times per year (every other month pretty much) back when I was a 2 PAD smoker.

Since vaping, I've had bronchitis once in the last year, and I think it was brought on by the change of seasons. I think that's worth something.

 

[skoony]

aside from any one that has allergies or chronic usually life time problems with their lungs
it appears from reading this forum improvement in lung function is the norm not the
exception.
it takes from 6 months to a year for your lungs to repair the damage,how ever
you should notice an improvement much sooner because compared to smoke,
vapor is magnitudes less irritating if at all than smoking is.
regards
mike

 

[ddkl7780]

Been off smokes since January and I can def say theres a BIG diff. Smoked 20 years and am still slightly asthmatic. I havent had any real issues with vaping. PG bothered me but figured that out pretty quick. High vg can be a little heavy on the lungs but depends on how u vape. I drip basically 90% of the time and go through 20-30ml a day and I see improvement. But thats me everyones diff.

 

[ddkl7780]

Just my little comment, I used to get bouts of bronchitis about 4-6 times per year (every other month pretty much) back when I was a 2 PAD smoker.

Since vaping, I've had bronchitis once in the last year, and I think it was brought on by the change of seasons. I think that's worth something.

I use to get it at least once or twice a year. Havent gotten it yet Im waiting for weather to change see if I can finally be rid of it. Lol

 

[kakiser56]

Don't forget that PG is used in asthma inhalers, and hospitals pump into their HVAC systems. So you may be breathing it and not know it! I found this thread on reddit, which has links to studies using PG/VG.
http://www.reddit.com/comments/rsht6/do_we_know_what_the_long_term_effects_are_of/

 

[SueandCootie]

Remember too that vaping as we know it has only been around on a larger scale for the last 6 or 7 years, and has changed drastically in just the last few years. A lot of us that tried it in the earlier years did not vape continually due to unreliable equipment 5 or 6 years ago. A researcher would have quite the time rounding up enough of us for, say, a five year use study, and would not have an initial health assessment to compare with current health indicators anyway...

 

[AndriaD]

I had a PFT (Pulmonary function test) 3 weeks ago and it showed moderate to severe lung obstruction. I smoked Marlboro Reds for 22 years. I had a chronic cough and major yucky phlegm production. I couldn't walk up a flight up stairs without being out of breath.

It's well known that analog abuse destroy the tiny hairs known as cilia that line the upper airways and protect against infection.

The pulmonary doc said my lung function should improve 75-80% with smoking cessation.

My question is: Does vaping destroy cilia that lines my lungs? Since quitting analogs, my chronic cough and phlegm production have ceased. Zero going into my 3rd week. I like to think that vaping doesn't destroy the cilia, but I'd like to hear it from someone else, maybe with evidence based research (or opinions! I love opinions!)

Thanks for your time,
Dani

The cilia seem to grow back in about 90 days, even with vaping, which is why around the 90 day point, there's some coughing up (at least there was for me) -- it's like the last of the tar buildup is making its exit. The heat isn't so extreme, as it is with smoking, and I think it's the heat that kills the cilia.

I've had asthma for about 30 yrs (adult-onset), and I found that as little as 5 days without smoking meant I didn't wake up sounding like a water-pipe. I can walk right alongside my husband in parking lots, without getting winded; I can walk up hills without missing a step. Sometimes I do still get a bit winded from strenuous exertion, probably just because I do still have asthma, but it's NOTHING like when I was a smoker. Stairs don't faze me a bit.

Last week, I came down with a cold. My sinuses are pretty wretched, but no coughing, except to clear my throat -- my lungs aren't affected one bit, which is mighty weird; when I was a smoker, every cold I got went straight to my chest, making me sound like a TB patient or something. This time, none of that at all.

You might want to go pretty light on VG, if you have some airway obstruction. I've found over and over that anything over about 25% VG just suffocates me. I think it's because the VG is so thick, it coats the airways so thickly that the lungs can't clear it quickly enough to prevent that suffocating feeling -- PG is thin enough that the lungs can clear it before it ever feels like a problem, however the PG has been really irritating my sinuses and throat, with this cold, so I'm just trying to vape lightly -- and surprisingly, it's really not a problem; I don't feel that terrible need, as I did with cigarettes, to go ahead and smoke no matter how sick I was.

Andria

 

[Racehorse]

Nobody really knows at this point.

Vaping is harm reduction. Safer than smoking.

Possibly not harm-LESS and then again no method is going to eradicate previous damage to lungs from decades of smoking....except Father Time.