Looking for advice on ingredient sensitivity

[LucentShadow]

Hi. First, I've got to say: Great community here! So, I've been trying different e-cigs and liquids for a while now, and am a bit put-off by what seems to be sensitivities to one or more ingredients of the e-liquids that I've had.

My first kit was a typical drug store cheapie, and that made me feel horrible. Painful, dry throat, headache, and queasy, as well as just 'off', mentally. I ceased use of that, and went to research the things a bit...

I've been lurking here for a month or so, and I've guessed that I'm PG-sensitive early on. May have gotten a bit dehydrated rather quickly from it, too. I tried topping the carto off with some Humco Glycerin USP some time later, and letting it sit for awhile to hopefully mix a bit. That made it tolerable, so it gave me hope.

I went ahead and bought a couple of T-Rex models in order to try some VG Juices, and those have mostly still caused me some trouble, like a lung-hit that sends me into a coughing fit, which I don't get with the original pg or analogs. Recovering from a bad cold makes it difficult to judge anything fairly at the moment, though. I suspect that flavorings may be causing me problems.

I'm planning on trying just plain unflavored VG nic juice, and maybe just some of the pure VG by dripping, in the morning. I have yet to try dripping at all, but it's difficult to try different things with carts.

Anyway, I was hoping that if anyone that had a puzzling intolerance to certain vg and pg liquids happens by this post, they might be able to point me toward something that worked well for them.

Well, I'm off to have an analog before bed (sigh...), and I'll continue to look for answers in the morning. 'Nite!

 

[tyleris12]

Sometimes flavoring and/or other ingredients in e-liquids can cause people issues too. I had a very hard time finding juice I could tolerate, but then I switched to an organic VG juice and have done great with that. If you would like the vendor's web site, I would be glad to share that info with you, just let me know! I wish you the best of luck and do not give up!!!!

I have to edit to add that not all VG juices are thick and dull tasting! If the vendor knows how to mix well, VG can be thinned with distilled water to a good consistancy, then flavor added, so you get a thin juice with awesome, strong flavor. I use my VG juices in Boge cartos, in a carto tank, and my carto's last well over 7 to 10 days, and I usually change them out because I like a fresher one, not because they go bad.

I may be able to tolerate PG in small quanities, and in products I put on my skin, etc., but I can not vape anything that has more than 20% in my e-liquids. If I do, my throat hurts, my face flushes and I feel horrible! Let me add too, that I only vape 5mg, so I know none of my systems are from too much nic!

 

[CES]

Testing unflavored liquid is a good idea, it can help you narrow down whether you are sensitive to PG, VG or flavorings. If id does turn out to be PG, still be careful with flavoring, because many flavorings are in a PG base. You may need to get used to the draw on the new e-cig too- longer, slower inhales may help with the coughing.

There are some symptoms associated with just quitting smoking, so check the health and medical section of the forum too.

Welcome to ECF and good luck.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Hi LucentShadow and welcome to ECF. I had a bad reaction to flavors that contained Ethyl Maltol otherwise known as Cotton Candy. This issue has also been reported by other vapers. I had cankers and a sore mouth and I gave it to a friend who had no issues with it- my cankers disappeared. In regards to dehydration the vapor does not come from the juice but from our bodies. PG and more so VG "trap" the moisture in our mouth, throat and Lungs and thus the vapor. I drink 2 large glasses in the a.m. and about 1 1/2 liters per day. VG is very thick and will quickly clog attys, carts and cartos so you may want to dilute with either PGA, Vodka or distilled water. Distilled water is prolly your best bet IMHO.
Good Luck, Vapoor.

Hi. First, I've got to say: Great community here! So, I've been trying different e-cigs and liquids for a while now, and am a bit put-off by what seems to be sensitivities to one or more ingredients of the e-liquids that I've had.

My first kit was a typical drug store cheapie, and that made me feel horrible. Painful, dry throat, headache, and queasy, as well as just 'off', mentally. I ceased use of that, and went to research the things a bit...

I've been lurking here for a month or so, and I've guessed that I'm PG-sensitive early on. May have gotten a bit dehydrated rather quickly from it, too. I tried topping the carto off with some Humco Glycerin USP some time later, and letting it sit for awhile to hopefully mix a bit. That made it tolerable, so it gave me hope.

I went ahead and bought a couple of T-Rex models in order to try some VG Juices, and those have mostly still caused me some trouble, like a lung-hit that sends me into a coughing fit, which I don't get with the original pg or analogs. Recovering from a bad cold makes it difficult to judge anything fairly at the moment, though. I suspect that flavorings may be causing me problems.

I'm planning on trying just plain unflavored VG nic juice, and maybe just some of the pure VG by dripping, in the morning. I have yet to try dripping at all, but it's difficult to try different things with carts.

Anyway, I was hoping that if anyone that had a puzzling intolerance to certain vg and pg liquids happens by this post, they might be able to point me toward something that worked well for them.

Well, I'm off to have an analog before bed (sigh...), and I'll continue to look for answers in the morning. 'Nite!

 

[holly123]

lots of good info im glad i seen this thread im learning alot

 

[Muramasa]

i'm not sure which supplier has it but get like 5ml 100%vg and 5ml 100%pg both 0 nic n unflavored. if u have 2 atties, it'll be great. drip 1 of into 1 atty and vape then the other in the 2nd atty n vape. u will be able to tell the difference. (reason for 2 atty becuz u do not want to use the same atty as they will mix hence inaccurate result) if both gave u 0 result i.e. both work fine with u, u probably have issues with some flavorings. if any of them has issues then u gotta watch out cuz most food product out there and even cosmetics contains either and u will wanna avoid them in future. Sometimes, it could also be the carto u r using. It could be not moist enuff thus when u vape, the coils are actually burning some of the polyfills and u r inhaling that (eww) lol. my
Vape on!~
and let us know the result of course.

p.s. if u do not have atty, it'll be a little difficult. as carto can trap juices pretty well unless u wanna wash them out, vape, wash them out, vape which is troublesome..

 

[dormouse]

Everything you described sounds like nicotine irritation and the effect of too much nicotine and too much vaping without staying hydrated and just smoking cessation. PG is what hospitals vaporize to deliver inhaled medications. Occasionally somebody is actually sensitive to PG but much more often it's the skin irritation of the nicotine, overvaping or using too high a nicotine level, failure to stay hydrated (vaping IS drying). PG does let the flavor, nicotine hit and the nicotine irritation through better. As well it is thin and high-PG juices are thin enough to work for every method of vaping including all cartomizers which are what most use to vape. VG is thick, dulls everything PG lets through, add thicker vapor. Most people use blends.

 

[Running Wolf]

+1 for CES's observation that it just might be withdraw from analogs.

Tobacco has a lot more in it than nicotine that gets into your body. There is a sticky about the symptoms of quitting smoking and going to vaping.

 

[holly123]

if trying the pg vg with no nic it would take awhile to get enough in your body to determine if thats the problem wouldnt it ?

 

[holly123]

oops i guess my point is ....i want to find what is giving me reactions ,,,, but dont want to vape without getting something out of it for too long anyway . i find it takes about a week or more to have the swollon glands etc kick in

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

It takes 72 to 96 hours for nicotine to leave the body. Drinking fluids will help.

if trying the pg vg with no nic it would take awhile to get enough in your body to determine if thats the problem wouldnt it ?

 

[DaveP]

Some juices contain PGA (pure grain alcohol) that accents the throat hit. VG liquids should be very smooth with less throat hit and clouds of vapor and a little less taste than PG. PG can be heavier on the throat hit.

Like others suggested, drink lots of water until you find the hydration level that helps. Quitting smoking is a reason to hydrate yourself to get the cig remnants out of your system. Lots of people find that the withdrawal symptoms from quitting cigs are similar to what you describe.

As mentioned above, there is a Health and Safety category on the main forum page.

Click here: Health, Safety and E-Smoking

 

[Muramasa]

cuz if no nic, and u have reactions means u r allergic to them (either one). it could be high nic thats causing the problem and dehydration (which was mentioned by the vets hehe). which is why i suggested no nic first to see if nic wasn't the cause. and well of cuz i may not be suggesting the best thing. Its just my own way of finding out cuz i did it and noticed i have slight irritation with high pg but am ok in a blend of 60/40 or 50/50. Also recently discovered i am slightly allergic to vodka. (didn't try other pga) i used it to dissolve menthol crystals.

 

[dotma]

My body doesnt tolerate PG well either. I had to go to 100% VG juice and now i can use some PG juices if it is in small concentrations. I have found actually that the VG juice makes me cough more (i had no irritation with the PG, just gave me symptoms of nausea, sore muscles, very tired all the time) and I think it is because the VG is so "thick" it makes my chest feel more congested and that makes me cough more but I can live with that!

 

[Bootsand]

Welcome to the forum! You sound like you're educated yourself quite well so far, thats a great step. This forum will provide info to a brain like a firehose aimed at a teacup, there's always more to learn!

I wish you the best at zeroing in on what's not quite right with your vaping experience. The initial journey can be rocky, I know it was for me, but I have hope that you'll find what works well for you and your body.

I personally vape VG only as PG irritated my throat. It wasn't an allergy, but just what I thought was a harsh nature if PG (which some people enjoy due to the throat hit) If VG only works well for you, I can assure you it does provide an excellent vape!

If you are interested in dripping, I recommend checking out 306 atomizers... they're made just for drippers and perform extremely well.

 

[Cool_Breeze]

I vape high PG DIY Liquids. I also sip coffee all day long.

When I started vaping, I suffered very dry skin, mostly on my face/forehead/brow. After a while I switched to nearly all decaffeinated coffee. The dry skin went away. I'm not sure how much of the relief might be attributed to losing the caffeine and how much might be my system adjusting to the changes.

I brew my decaffeinated coffee a bit stronger than I did the regular. That seems to make up for the lack of caffeine. I continue to have some regular coffee with I dine out.

I hope your circumstances improve.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Yes I was also drinking 10+ cups of java per day. After I began vaping dehydration was an issue. I discovered that more than 4 cups java= dehydration. I now drink 2 cups regular and 2 cups decaf and the dehydration is gone as long as I drink lottsa water.

 

[LucentShadow]

Hi, again. Thanks for the replies. There is almost too much information here on the forums, and not enough time to sift through it sometimes.

A bit of a positive update: I mixed some unflavored VG base down to about 11mg strength, adding only Humco VG USP and distilled water to cut it, and found it quite tolerable. I jumped the gun and made two changes, reducing the nic from about 18mg to 11mg, and cutting the flavor, but my original PG liquid (which didn't bother my lungs) was 16mg, so I don't think the nic strength was much of the issue.

At this point, I know that at least one of the new flavors is an alcohol-based extract, and I suspect that the alcohol is bothering me. So, I'll look for another type of flavoring to try.

In the meantime, I'll see how the unflavored continues to treat me. I'm not sure how long it takes for the atty primer to be removed from the equation with a new atty at this point.

At this point, I haven't nailed this down enough to be comfortable with trying to replace analogs, so I know none of the symptoms are from cessation. At best, I've reduced smoking by about 25%, and some days not at all (which would increase my nic intake by a bit.)

My plan was to slowly wean myself off of the analogs over the course of 2-3 weeks, to hopefully reduce any withdrawal from the other byproducts of smoking. It looks like that may be possible now.

Thanks again for the ideas. I'll post back here with any updates that I have.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Congrats LucentShadow and thanks for posting your results. As for you still using analogs that's no big deal and I'm so very glad you may have found a solution. I have a friend who only vapes Flavorless Nic Juice because of allergies and it was so painful trying to find her a solution. Painful because she wanted to quit analogs so badly. She's now cut her analogs from 1 PAD to 10 and is so delighted.
Happy Vaping and the Best of Luck, Vapoor.

 

[Muramasa]

Glad to see the results too. At least now u can narrow the problem down further to the alcohol based flavourings. Do not rush yourself to stop analog altogether. Let nature take its course. A stick not lighted up is a battle won. U will win more later on so its ok. Just be watchful of the nic intake. Primer can be removed from atty by blowing hard into it from cartridge end and capturing it on the battery end via paper towels. Do it for both side one after the other.
Vape on!~