Intermittent vaping related illness

[AnthonyB]

Hi all,

I’ve been vaping for over 9 years. One would think by now I would have figured out what my intolerances are and what would cause me to get sick from vaping, but I haven’t.

I suffer with the occasional bout of bad symptoms from vaping. I have not been able to establish a pattern or link over the years. For a long time I thought it was excess nicotine but recently learned that even a low nic juice and infrequent vaping could cause me to feel sick that day or the next day.

My vaping related illness can come on from vaping high PG or low PG, from vaping mouth to lung or direct lung.

I’ve never thought myself to have a PG intolerance because I don’t get any rash or skin irritation.

Lately I’ve considered that possibly I am intolerant to flavours or certain flavourings but I’ve not been able to establish a link.

My symptoms can include :

Headache
Numb tongue and vapers tongue
Cough
Heart skipping beats occasionally
A loss of desire to vape
Nausea
Brain fog
Lowering of mood
Weakness
Tingling sensation
Tiredness and fatigue
Swelling in the glands (rare).

For a long time I thought the issue was nicotine but I am not so sure. Depending on what I vape I can get symptoms quickly even in a low nicotine juice. I can have no ill effects from some juices in a line of juice and get utterly ill within a few puffs or others.

Any insights, stories, similar experiences or medical advice would be appreciated.


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[Baditude]

Many of those symptoms can be related to the nicotine dose you are vaping.

When was the last time you had a complete medical checkup? Those symptoms could be from a number of medical illnesses. And this is not the place to ask for medical advice.

 

[Fredman1]

I have a story...vaping literally saved my life. I was on a road to distruction...my body told me so. Within a few weeks I could breath again and had a new zest for life again.
As a interest to some... another thing my body told me, was to stop eating carbs and sugars. Since I threw my cholesterol lowering statin meds in the dustbin, all my aches, pains and brain fog dissapeared overnight.
Now that i'm on a low carb/high fat (good fats) life style, i'm lean, sharp, healthy and have energy to burn.
I always grinned and shrugged it off, but believe me, I learnt it first hand.... Food is Medicine !!!

 

[Skeebo]

Hi all,



My symptoms can include :

Headache
Numb tongue and vapers tongue
Cough
Heart skipping beats occasionally
A loss of desire to vape
Nausea
Brain fog
Lowering of mood
Weakness
Tingling sensation
Tiredness and fatigue
Swelling in the glands (rare).


Any insights, stories, similar experiences or medical advice would be appreciated.

I googled all of that, and according to Web MD the possible maladies are endless. I also saw something about if you are a double amputee that you should see a doctor with what you describe.

 

[AnthonyB]

Many of those symptoms can be related to the nicotine dose you are vaping.

When was the last time you had a complete medical checkup? Those symptoms could be from a number of medical illnesses. And this is not the place to ask for medical advice.

I had a complete check a few times during my time vaping. Nothing shows up in my blood work. I’m pretty sure my symptoms are linked to vaping.

It’s the only pattern I’ve been able to establish; I.e, that I get the symptoms from vaping.

I have no other known conditions or illnesses.


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[AnthonyB]

I have a story...vaping literally saved my life. I was on a road to distruction...my body told me so. Within a few weeks I could breath again and had a new zest for life again.
As a interest to some... another thing my body told me, was to stop eating carbs and sugars. Since I threw my cholesterol lowering statin meds in the dustbin, all my aches, pains and brain fog dissapeared overnight.
Now that i'm on a low carb/high fat (good fats) life style, i'm lean, sharp, healthy and have energy to burn.
I always grinned and shrugged it off, but believe me, I learnt it first hand.... Food is Medicine !!!

Love this post ! I do indeed eat a lot of carbs and have speculated that I may have an underlying gluten intolerance as well but can’t be sure.


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[AnthonyB]

I googled all of that, and according to Web MD the possible maladies are endless. I also saw something about if you are a double amputee that you should see a doctor with what you describe.

Lol Skeebo! I feel somewhat bashful admitting this considering I am a grizzled veteran. I didn’t expect any of the ‘crew’ to venture this far into the recesses of ECF to read my embarrassing admission.


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[Nermal]

My suggestion is to quit vaping for a while. If all symptoms go away, go back to it. Otherwise, don't.

 

[Racehorse]

@AnthonyB
If you want to get to the bottom of this, many many people are sensitive OR have a full blown allergy to every day ingredients in personal care products, food, etc.

A trip to UAMS immunology, as well as a combo visit to the allergy department there, as well as complete patch testing from my dermatologist (100+ substances pricked into my back) revealed pretty bad allergies to cocomidapropyl betaine, phenoexethanol, organic lavender, one of the ingredients in the flu shot (I forgot what but there is a workaround from some manufacturers), about 5 different fragrances and other preservatives, several food ingredients (soy bean oil was deathly in terms of numbers). All this stuff is in so many things, I was barely able to even wash my hair anymore. But know that I know what to avoid, life is good.

That is when I also found out I have Alpha Gal Allergy, which I am always trying to spread awareness about, because the numbers are increasing all over the U.S. (as well as the rest of the world) and it really *can* be quite deadly. Some people will simply take a vitamin with gelatin in it and end up in the ER, etc. My numbers are low, so mine only manifests as severe gastrointestinal distress.....but I still have an epi pen. A lot of us who spend time in nature have gotten Alpha Gal. Sometimes it goes away.......most of the time it does not.

At any rate, you can certainly be tested for food additives/flavorings, propylene glycol (which is a very common allergy!), glycerin, etc. (less likely), etc.

 

[Racehorse]

^^^ I remember there was a gal on Mystery Diagnosis who was sick for decades. She would get very ill right about 1 hour after she got to work. And about the same time of day on weekends. Of course they thought it was psychological (that she hated her job or something).
Turns out she was allergic to an ingredient in toothpaste ---and she brushed her teeth at the same time every morning before work. It's so sad when you see this kind of thing happen to people.....she had crippling symptoms, too. Lost a lot of years of feeling well until she went to right doctors.

 

[Cynophobe]

Sorry to hear that AB

 

[Racehorse]

have speculated that I may have an underlying gluten intolerance as well but can’t be sure.

when you get a colonoscopy they can take a tissue sample. Pretty easy. No point avoiding gluten if they find you aren't intolerant.

 

[AnthonyB]

^^^ I remember there was a gal on Mystery Diagnosis who was sick for decades. She would get very ill right about 1 hour after she got to work. And about the same time of day on weekends. Of course they thought it was psychological (that she hated her job or something).
Turns out she was allergic to an ingredient in toothpaste ---and she brushed her teeth at the same time every morning before work. It's so sad when you see this kind of thing happen to people.....she had crippling symptoms, too. Lost a lot of years of feeling well until she went to right doctors.

Thanks for your input in both posts Racehorse.

This is my concern too - losing years from suffering elements in my environment that could easily be diagnosed.

It took me years to realise that the problem wasn’t nicotine. Though sometimes I did suffer elevated levels of nicotine, illness from nicotine didn’t make sense in many situations.

I have always assumed I am not one to have any allergies because I don’t tend to have any severe symptoms and seem to be able to eat anything. Now that I’ve been exposed to a variety of flavorings I am starting to think differently.

Ironically, naturally extracted tobacco liquids tend to not make me as sick as some flavours do.

What’s confusing identifying the cause is that it isn’t strictly particular flavors that bring on discomfort and illness. One banana flavour from one vendor can make me sick and a banana flavour from another vendor can be perfectly okay.

I think I might need to go for a full spectrum allergy test for the first time in my life as per your advice.


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[puffon]

You could try vaping unflavored.

 

[zoiDman]

...

What’s confusing identifying the cause is that it isn’t strictly particular flavors that bring on discomfort and illness. One banana flavour from one vendor can make me sick and a banana flavour from another vendor can be perfectly okay.

...

Something that is many times Overlooked are Sweeteners.

I'm with puffon. I would try using Unflavored for a Month and see if the Symptoms are unchanged.

BTW - What is an Average day for you for mg's of Nicotine? And ml's of Flavored e-Liquids?

 

[Vapntime]

As said vape unflavoured a lot of flavours especially artificial have already been proven to cause various responses, allergy's etc. I have vaped unflavoured for nearly 5 years and also take a variety of medications and have had no symptoms or interactions from vaping. I also use the best quality VG, pg and nicotine I can find.

If I remember you are a mouth to lung vaper. So you maybe ingesting a higher amount of formaldehyde (not dangerous levels or levels equivalent to cigarettes) however some people are more sensitive to its affects or symptoms. You may want to consider temp vaping or open DTL. Just a thought.

 

[Jebbn]

sounds like you have low platelets levels..... or early symptoms of diabetes....or ross river virus.... or early onset dementia... or low T....or........ a thousand other diseases.
If you are genuinely concerned, drop all processed foods and added sugar. Go to bed early and get plenty of sleep. Exercise regularly. Reduce alcohol intake.
Once you have done those simple few things you will have a new baseline to work off and judge how you are feeling.

 

[AnthonyB]

Something that is many times Overlooked are Sweeteners.

I'm with puffon. I would try using Unflavored for a Month and see if the Symptoms are unchanged.

BTW - What is an Average day for you for mg's of Nicotine? And ml's of Flavored e-Liquids?

Yeah I’ve wondered about sweeteners however I don’t think e-juices had sweeteners in my early years of vaping before the advent of sub-ohm vaping. I used to get sick then too.

In terms of quantities of e-juice vaped in one day I roughly estimate that if I am vaping 3mg juice then about 12-15 mls a day. If I am vaping 9mg or 12 mg in a MTL device then about 5mls a day.


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[AnthonyB]

As said vape unflavoured a lot of flavours especially artificial have already been proven to cause various responses, allergy's etc. I have vaped unflavoured for nearly 5 years and also take a variety of medications and have had no symptoms or interactions from vaping. I also use the best quality VG, pg and nicotine I can find.

If I remember you are a mouth to lung vaper. So you maybe ingesting a higher amount of formaldehyde (not dangerous levels or levels equivalent to cigarettes) however some people are more sensitive to its affects or symptoms. You may want to consider temp vaping or open DTL. Just a thought.

I do both sub ohm and direct lung and I do find that my symptoms seem to be more prevalent and frequent with mouth to lung vaping.

That’s what I thought until a month ago when I got a line of juices from a popular wide appealing vendor when 4 bottles tasted great and 3 gave me symptoms within minutes. Even the smell on the three that gave me effects was nauseating to me. There was something in those bottles that even my sense of smell told me was toxic to me even before I took a vape.

I had a friend smell and vape 2 of them and he said they were perfectly fine to his nose and tasted good.

Just last week I got an order from a popular vendor who’s reputation for juices is not top notch. These were high PG juices I wanted for some old cartomizers I planned to use up. The vendor has been around a long time and prides itself on Better than food grade kosher ingredients, a clean room, FDA approved flavours and so forth. I tried just one of the 15 sampler bottles and immediately in one vape I could feel the effects. It was a banana cigar flavour.

I’ve yet to try the others in the line.




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[AnthonyB]

sounds like you have low platelets levels..... or early symptoms of diabetes....or ross river virus.... or early onset dementia... or low T....or........ a thousand other diseases.
If you are genuinely concerned, drop all processed foods and added sugar. Go to bed early and get plenty of sleep. Exercise regularly. Reduce alcohol intake.
Once you have done those simple few things you will have a new baseline to work off and judge how you are feeling.

This sounds like solid advice mate

These are vaping symptoms. I am sure of it. I’ve keep a diary log of what I am vaping and there is a pattern. The same juices will cause the same symptoms.

I have been ‘trying’ to do those things and perhaps should try a bit harder. I guess that big plate of pasta on Sunday and ample bread all week long is not doing me any favors


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