Doctors visit regarding COPD

[txtumbleweed]

Great to hear dcinky sounds like you are having great results too. I just passed my two year anniversary and on my way to three. It is a great feeling to know I will never smoke again!
Is the Atomic Fireball better than the Atomic Cinnacide? I vape mostly Menthol but I've been vaping the AC quite a bit lately.

 

[nansc]

Congratulations to you,hope the Doc encourages the other vets.

 

[txtumbleweed]

I've got to go in for a checkup next week so we will see how I'm doing but as far as I can tell everything is excellent. It is like taking your car in for an oil change and it is running great but they tell you you have a seal leaking and if you don't get it fixed the engine will blow up. lol

 

[Rar]

I've got to go in for a checkup next week so we will see how I'm doing but as far as I can tell everything is excellent. It is like taking your car in for an oil change and it is running great but they tell you you have a seal leaking and if you don't get it fixed the engine will blow up. lol

Yeah, I know what you mean. I saw my primary care doc about 2 weeks ago. He said my lungs sounded clear. Though he is HIGHLY supportive of the e-cigarette, he still said it would be 'better' to be breathing only air. I've seen a pulmonologist and on 3/1, will be having those breathing tests. Let us know how your visit went.

 

[Njt07]

@rar, I dunno what mod you are using, but one thing I have found that makes me hack a lot is high vg juice on a high voltage mod. As an example Bobas Bounty, great juice, tastes really good at higher voltages but some days it makes me cough like I was still smoking and my lungs, for lack of a better description, feel "heavy", btw BB is 100% vg.

As a suggestion if you are using a VV mod or higher voltages, try dropping it down for a cooler vape.

 

[Rar]

@rar, I dunno what mod you are using, but one thing I have found that makes me hack a lot is high vg juice on a high voltage mod. As an example Bobas Bounty, great juice, tastes really good at higher voltages but some days it makes me cough like I was still smoking and my lungs, for lack of a better description, feel "heavy", btw BB is 100% vg.

As a suggestion if you are using a VV mod or higher voltages, try dropping it down for a cooler vape.

Actually, I have a couple of mellower juices of mostly VG, but I vape them on my Riva 510s. I have 2 Buzz Pros, which I haven't been using because of the heat. The juices I vape mostly are 70 pg/30 vg. I am working my way to a nic level of 6 mg. I have some BB, which I really don't care for. I didn't know it was 100% vg.

 

[txtumbleweed]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I saw my primary care doc about 2 weeks ago. He said my lungs sounded clear. Though he is HIGHLY supportive of the e-cigarette, he still said it would be 'better' to be breathing only air. I've seen a pulmonologist and on 3/1, will be having those breathing tests. Let us know how your visit went.

I'm sure your doctor is right it would be better to breathe only air at least clean air anyways if you can find any. lol

My test came back and they were some good and some not as good news. My xrays showed no further deteroration but my lung capacity had decreased some from last year. My colesterol and blood pressure were both perfect though!
I wish I would have quit smoking before I developed COPD but I'm sure happy I found out about Nic Vaporizers when I did.
My health is 100% better than it was and I'm holding my own as far as it getting worse. If I would get some excercise and lose about 30 lbs I'm sure I would be alot better.
I see it has been one year exactly since I made my first post on this thread. So thanks to all who have responded and encouraged me. I will keep you posted on any further developments.
I still haven't had a single cold in three winters now!

 

[wizard10000]

Amusingly, I went to see my pulmonologist on Monday and brought the spousal unit along. Spousal unit quit vaping and started smoking again and told the doc the reason she'd started smoking again was that vaping didn't agree with her lungs. My pulmonologist was less than impressed with her reasoning and told her to quit smoking and start vaping again.

Chuckle.

 

[AutumnWolf]

I quit smoking for my final time 16 months ago when I started vaping. I started smoking 55 years ago when I was 15. I had been diagnosed with COPD a few years prior and knew I had to quit or I would soon be on oxygen like my brother and many friends are or were, my brother just died in Jan, because of smoking for over 50 years . I tried my best but although I had quit for five years once and ten years another time I couldn't stay quit this time. I tried other nicotine substitutes but nothing worked until I tried vaping. To make a long story short I went for my annual check up and I was real curious about my lungs and how they were doing. The last time I had my lungs checked the doctor said my lungs sounded like an accordian so I was anxious to find out how they sounded now after vaping for 16 months. I knew I no longer wheezed or coughed but what would they sound like to the doctor. He was amazed and I was delighted because he said they sounded really good. I told him I hadn't had a single cold in 16 months although I take care of my grandkids and they have had lots of colds but I haven't had a single one. I told him I can't prove it but I think it because of the PG I vape. He was real interested in them because this was at the VA hospital and there are many ol vets like me that have COPD. So I pulled out my Go-Go and showed him how it vaped right there in the examining room. He was pretty amazed and wanted to know where I bought them and how much they cost and how often I used it. lol I am going to start carrying cards with me to hand out.
Besides all of that my cholestoral was perfect and my blood pressure was perfect so I'm a happy ol codger today.

Txtumbleweed - thank you so much for sharing your story! What an amazing thing you have accomplished and you are definitely an inspiration for all of us!!! Happy continued vaping!!

 

[priorities]

CONGRATS! That is just fantastic..! Great story..and I hope he follows up with that..I will be going to the Dr soon..my asthma is almost non existent..! I can't wait to see what he 'hears' when he listens to my chest..I will write about it..will be telling him AND showing him the e cig..I mean how much BETTER is getting nicotine this way than all of the patches..pills 'which have awful side effects' and all of this things the never work...100 times better~~!! Keep going..that is just great..happy for you...Lee

 

[priorities]

Wow..I just read the first page..CONGRATS to all of you who have such great stories FANTASTIC!!!..hope those coughing issues get remedied for those of you with a problem...take care all..Lee

 

[Beans]

TW. Thank you for keeping us updated, I've been watching this thread for a long time I hope your health continues to improve.....We're all here for ya

 

[txtumbleweed]

Thanks everyone! The ecf family is amazing and always there for support. I don't know if I would have succeeded at vaping without all of the great people on ecf.

 

[Rar]

My health is 100% better than it was and I'm holding my own as far as it getting worse. If I would get some excercise and lose about 30 lbs I'm sure I would be alot better.

My pulmonologist told me to do something (exercise) for my lungs every day. As those with COPD know, it's easy to get fatigued, so it's easier said than done.

 

[four2109]

I too hope you all keep updating. My dad has COPD and I am sure I will one day. Probably at an earlier age than he got it because I think I smoked a lot more.
I think the anti-smoking campaigns should focus more on COPD than lung cancer. Somehow I think "living" with COPD is scarier than dying of lung cancer. I hadn't even heard of COPD until a few years ago.
A friend's sister was diagnosed 8 years after she quit smoking.
You hear about people smoking all their lives and not getting cancer, but I wonder how many smokers don't get COPD?

 

[txtumbleweed]

I too hope you all keep updating. My dad has COPD and I am sure I will one day. Probably at an earlier age than he got it because I think I smoked a lot more.
I think the anti-smoking campaigns should focus more on COPD than lung cancer. Somehow I think "living" with COPD is scarier than dying of lung cancer. I hadn't even heard of COPD until a few years ago.
A friend's sister was diagnosed 8 years after she quit smoking.
You hear about people smoking all their lives and not getting cancer, but I wonder how many smokers don't get COPD?

You are right I had two family members, my older brother and a cousin die last year from complications from COPD and smoking in general. They were both on oxygen the last few years. It is tough to watch and all because of smoking.
Good warning to all the younger ones to stay quit and don't push it until you get COPD.

 

[Rar]

I think the anti-smoking campaigns should focus more on COPD

+1

You hear about people smoking all their lives and not getting cancer, but I wonder how many smokers don't get COPD

I've wondered the same thing. It does seem to me that some folks appear unscathed.

 

[PaulieD]

I watched my Dad and my cousin die from emphysema, a slow torturous suffocating...awful. I have quit again after 42 years of smoking...I say again because I quit for a year. Occasional bouts of a few weeks to a few months here and there too.
Vaping is by far the most effective way I have found to stay off those analogs.
I find I cannot do high wattage vaping, it still make my lungs create phlegm. I am a 3.7-4.2 max vaper. I like the hotter vapes...but my lungs do not.
It definitely helps to exercise, my wife and I walk a lot now. We make ourselves, it helps strengthen those lungs to enable you to cough out that mucous and phlegm.
I still am expelling mucous, it seems like any amount of throat hit can cause mucous or phlegm because of the accumulation of damage. I can run OK and even walked 26 miles last week.
If we can get the message about how "cool" vaping is to the young kids, maybe we can save some from a life of addiction and coughing.
Amen

 

[txtumbleweed]

I am going to have to start making myself walk every day. I know it would be good for me but it is hard to get motivated. I seem to be getting lazy in my old age and want to stay on the computer all the time. lol

 

[Beans]

Yep, you and me both TXTumbleweed. Though I must say it's so much easier and even a little enjoyable to exercise now since my airways don't feel like their on fire when I get moving, I can even talk through my walks now. We should motivate each other to get off our duffs.

Go Tumbleweede!