Hensei's medical journal [throat issues]

[Hensei]

Written in hopes that someone else might be going through the same problems and that sharing the information as my case goes along would be helpful to others. Also, I think this way it's easier for me to track the whole cycle of mis-diagnosis' and treatments.

First, let's skip back almost a year. I'd quit my short smoking stint of two years(half-pack/day) and started vaping. At this time me and my fiancé moved to a new apartment and about one and a half month later got a dog as a pet(hence the allergy testing mentioned later on).

I enjoyed vaping, still do. It helped me break my smoking habbit without having to give up nicotine.
My first kit was a eGo-type battery and some MDCC's from Smok. First juices I tried out were 100% PG, the cheap chinese stuff. About after a month of vaping my throat was a mess. It hurt constantly and I quit vaping and went back to smoking for about a month(Why, oh why.. ). Then I found information on some local internet forums that the issues I'd had might've been caused by PG. Didn't take me long to get some PG/VG mixes(50/50 and 70/30) and off I went with vaping again.

It was great to be off the cancer stick again. But then came new problems...
Really persisten phlegm began building up in the back of my throat after about two months. This time though I consulted the internet first before quitting vaping as I did not want to pick up smoking again. People recommended I dropped my nicotine levels from the 18mg's I was at now. So I did, I dropped down to about 10-12 mg's, but that didn't help. And that's about it, this is still the situation I'm writing from.

About two weeks ago I finally managed to get my hands on some 100% VG juices and tried that for two weeks. Thusfar no change.

If anything, it's gotten worse. My throat feels very.. Hmm.. Acidy? If you've ever had heartburn, you probably know what I'm talking about. But as a heartburn sufferer myself, I'm guessing this isn't heartburn. This is going on only in my throat, it doesn't rise up from the esophagus as it usually does with heartburn.

I've been to the doctor and they've ruled out chronic sinusitis(for the phlegm build-up) and have now started ruling out allergies. I should hear back on that at the end of this week. If those come in negative, it's off to a throat-ear-nose specialist with me.

Hope is all I have at this point. I definitely don't want to have to quit vaping... Dunno if I'm yet ready to give up the nicotine.

Anyways. That's that, for now. I'll update the thread when I know something new.

 

[Z_Ghost]

Hope you find out what the problem is.

 

[windozehater]

i'm going out on a limb here but, i believe it is the excess moisture in the vg keeping your resp. trac over saturated in much the same way eating a rich dessert will coat your esophigus. have you noticed how your drip tip/tank/clearo ends full of condensation, vg is has tons in comparison to pg, i do know PG drys everything out badly, and condenses less.

this is just an over analyzing thought,,coming from my......in-less it works,then it is sound advise.

good luck and i pray you get better

 

[RoseB]

Hope you get to feeling better soon. I have had tonsil throat problems for years. Smoking cigarettes made it much worse. Switched to vaping and it has gotten better. All I vape is pg 'cause there just isn't many options around here (without ordering online). Long story short I quit vaping for a day (yesterday) and it felt better. If you don't feel ready to put it down for bit try drinking some plain old lipton tea. That is so soothing on a sore throat. BTW do you still have your tonsils?

 

[Hensei]

Hope you get to feeling better soon. I have had tonsil throat problems for years. Smoking cigarettes made it much worse. Switched to vaping and it has gotten better. All I vape is pg 'cause there just isn't many options around here (without ordering online). Long story short I quit vaping for a day (yesterday) and it felt better. If you don't feel ready to put it down for bit try drinking some plain old lipton tea. That is so soothing on a sore throat. BTW do you still have your tonsils?

As a matter of fact, yes, I do still have my tonsils. The doctor did comment on those when I went in for the check-up last week. He thought they seemed abnormally large, but added that they probably weren't the cause for my problems, or a problem of any kind for that matter.

I've been drinking tea pretty much non-stop these last few months, it has helped a lot. This mix of ginger and lemon seems to work the best. Soothes and numbs my throat atleast for a while.

Welp, the doc should be in contact with me on Friday about the results of the allergy tests and we shall see if anything interesting comes out of that. Probably not. Kinda leaning towards some sort of an infection myself.

Thank you all for the messages and well-wishes

 

[Hensei]

The doc called. No sign of allergies whatsoever, but they still wanted to see if a round of cortisone treatments would help. Got a nasal spray which I'm supposed to use once a day(preferably in the mornings) and a humongous packet of pills. Aaaaand this experiment, which even the doctor admitted was pointless, is going to have to go on for a month. Before that they can't send me to a specialist, because he'd just send me right back.

I hate this.

 

[JENerationX]

I had a dry scratchy throat with mostly PG... switched to 50/50 or 60 VG 40 PG, and the soreness went away but phlegm or frog in the throat incidence went up..... it straightened itself out within about a month. It happens from time to time that I get a little throat congestion in the mornings, but it beats the hell out of the smokers cough that it replaced.

 

[cags]

what did your doctor say about your vaping?

 

[Hensei]

what did your doctor say about your vaping?

Not much, just kinda passed with a "Oh." when I mentioned it.

 

[Hensei]

A week has passed since they put me on this cortisone treatment. I do realise it might take another week or so for it to start fully working, but thusfar there hasn't been any change in my condition. If anything, I can now taste and feel the phlegm/slime at the back of my throat even more. And that's just a *bleep*ing disgusting feeling. Vaping does seem to irritate my throat somewhat(PG/VG and VG juices), as I do get this sort of a slight burning sensation after I've vaped. Been trying to keep it to the absolute possible minimum, but y'know how it goes with nicotine addiction...

This is really affecting my life more than it should. I'm constantly thinking about it, constantly trying to do something about it and even though this isn't something that an outsider can see, smell or feel, I still feel kinda self-conscious about it. Which is silly, I know.

One week down, three more to go. I just hope this gets better some day...

 

[chad]

The doc called. No sign of allergies whatsoever, but they still wanted to see if a round of cortisone treatments would help. Got a nasal spray which I'm supposed to use once a day(preferably in the mornings) and a humongous packet of pills.

I don't know if the medical industry in Finland is anything like the medical industry in the US but it sure sounds like it is... "Umm... Yeah... We're not sure what's wrong but here's a bunch of pills. Try this out for a while, maybe it'll help..." If it doesn't, I'm sure they got a bunch more pills to try.

Vaping makes me a little phlegmy sometimes (but I also have allergies). I dealt with it by first changing to e-liquids with few or no flavorings and secondly by reducing my daily vaping "sessions." Maybe that can help you. I'm a big believer that the most annoying side-effects are results of flavoring.

 

[Hensei]

I don't know if the medical industry in Finland is anything like the medical industry in the US but it sure sounds like it is... "Umm... Yeah... We're not sure what's wrong but here's a bunch of pills. Try this out for a while, maybe it'll help..." If it doesn't, I'm sure they got a bunch more pills to try.

Vaping makes me a little phlegmy sometimes (but I also have allergies). I dealt with it by first changing to e-liquids with few or no flavorings and secondly by reducing my daily vaping "sessions." Maybe that can help you. I'm a big believer that the most annoying side-effects are results of flavoring.

Big Pharma is somewhat similar over here, yeah. In this case it's just that the specialists would rather not waste their time seeing people whose problems could easily be solved with allergy medication. And even though even the GP could tell that it's most probably not allergies, I have to go through this "trial period" too.

After having to reduce my vaping sessions because it just became too unbearable, the phlegmy feeling has somewhat eased. Didn't feel it over the weekend at all, for example. Maybe it's the reduced vaping, maybe it's the cortisone treatment finally taking hold, who knows. And I'm definitely with you on the flavoring irritation issue, because I have noticed that there's great variation in irritation levels within different juices from the same manufacturer.

Maybe I oughta try those no-flavour juices out. It would take out a lot from the vaping experience, but I'd rather be receiving my nic via vape and have no taste in it than go back to the cancer sticks.

 

[mel_vin]

I totally believe that to much of a "good thing" is bad. I think people in general over vape. I trully think that we over indulge when it comes to vaping. It doesnt smell, you dont have to go outsite, its "safer" and next thing you know you're at it like a pacifier... I mean its so easy to over do when you think of all the pluses....

I was noticing some strange issues too, when vaping alot. I would always feel "foggy/high" from constantly vaping along with excessive phlem. I was also starting to notice that my mood was changing also..very irritable...and i use a low strength (4mg) I didnt vape all weekend (and was very crabby about it on Friday night) and felt normal again on Saturday....I only vaped a little this morning when I got to work (as I keep my gear here) But I have been concious about it, not to over do it. From know on Im treating it more like a cigarette. I take a break and walk outside to vape and try to time it like a real smoke.

To me, vaping help me quit smoking. Saddly, I liked smoking, (as must of us do/did) but we know that it comes with a hefty price (health). I will continue to vape as it will steer me clear of real cigarettes, but I will def try to limit it. Just my opinion and seems to work for me. The good thing is I can totally be a casual vaper it seems...could never be a casual smoker tho, all it would take is 2 or 3 cigarettes and bam, hooked on them again....

 

[WallyO]

I did not notice anything about water consumption in these posts. Are you sipping water while vaping. Not at the same time of course. I carry my brita squeeze bottle around all day and probably go through 4 to 5 fills through the day. I do find if I do not drink a lot my throat begins having issues. Throat isues are why I am turning away from smokes in the first place. It has gotten better but I have not seen the miracle change I was hoping for yet. But I am also not totally off the smokes. Soon I hope. It's been almost a year vaping now. Went from 40+ years of two packs a day to 3 to 5 now. Anyway water and vaping go hand in hand.

 

[Hensei]

@mel_vin
You have a very good point. Especially with these yummy-tasting juices that are available, it's sometimes hard to just let the PV be and do other stuff. I definitely do vape more than I smoked(in terms of time spent per day), although I don't do it at work anymore. Cutting vaping off for those 8 hours was pretty damn easy. Shows that the nicotine hasn't got that big a hold of me anymore.

@WallyO
I must go through atleast a liter of water alone per day. If you add to that the tea and coffee, I'd say I'm pretty well hydrated(I think ). Gotta be careful with drinking though as I've noticed that overdoing it causes my throat to hurt even more. Guessing it's because of the increase in swallowing(tee-hee), must do something your throat.

In general, I'm probably gonna try to stick to my newly adopted casual vaping regimen and see how far that will take me.
And thank you for all the comments people! It's nice to talk about this stuff with like-minded people. For some reason I seem to be surrounded with "Oh that's poison!"-people in real life.

 

[WallyO]

@mel_vin
snip...
For some reason I seem to be surrounded with "Oh that's poison!"-people in real life.

If they are referring to the nicotene, you could always whip that attitude right back when they are hitting the caffeine or alcohol. Although I do love my poisons.

 

[mel_vin]

In general, I'm probably gonna try to stick to my newly adopted casual vaping regimen and see how far that will take me.
And thank you for all the comments people! It's nice to talk about this stuff with like-minded people. For some reason I seem to be surrounded with "Oh that's poison!"-people in real life.

Unfortunatley, thats just the way it goes. My wife hates the fact that I vape, even though I tell her that it keeps me off of cigarettes, but from their point of view, when you're not feeling right and the only thing you can point to is vaping as its the only thing new or different, its hard to agure agaisnt it....

See its great that you can go a whole work day without! I was the other way arround. I would vape all day at work and not do it a home...but that thing was always in my mouth it seemed and i was feeling all sorts of funky things, so I had to try and look at it subjectively, and now I try to be a little more aware about when and how much I vape...

I would love to design one with a timer/puff counter that would give you like 7 minutes or 15-20 puffs, whatever comes first, then it shuts off for like 5 min or something....Patent that ....!!

 

[Hensei]

I would love to design one with a timer/puff counter that would give you like 7 minutes or 15-20 puffs, whatever comes first, then it shuts off for like 5 min or something....Patent that ....!!

Count me in as a buyer for that!

 

[WallyO]

Count me in as a buyer for that!

I remember seeing a post saying there actually was something like that around. Unfortunately I can't find the post or the product yet.

 

[JENerationX]

No thanks on the puff counter, unless it's to tell me I only have 20 puffs left before the battery needs charged.

Interested to see how this pans out.