My Doctor's Blessing

[Rusty S.]

I have high blood pressure, and I see my doctor about every three months. This last time, I asked her if she could give me an opinion about switching from smoking to vaping. I was very pleasantly surprised.

Apparently, many patients have asked her about it, so she did some research, and liked what she saw. She even tried it! I'm not kidding! She has a friend who vapes, and he let her take a shot from his PV so she could know what it's like. She said she got a little headache from the nicotine, but beyond that, she was satisfied that it was relatively harmless.

She wants me to reduce the nicotine levels over time, preferably down to zero; beyond that, she told me that I can vape to my heart's content and I'll never hear a peep from her about it.

I think what's very encouraging about vaping as opposed to smoking is that quite a few doctors are in favor of switching to vaping if nothing else works. No doctor approves of smoking. Maybe that's the bit that will drive the stake through the heart of the ANTZ - they don't have the entire medical community backing them up with vaping like they did with smoking.

Has anyone else has had a positive reaction from their doctor, or is mine just really cool?

Have a foggy day!

 

[rotorhead]

Just had a visit with my doctor and told him i gave up cigars for vaping. He was very positive about it. Been smoke free for more than a month now after many years of cigars. Good luck.

 

[middleborn]

Congrats to both of you guys.
I just recently had to go to ER (I'm okay, thanks) and when the doc was asking question, one was "do you smoke?"
It was the first time in my adult life that I proudly got to say "NO"
Usually, when asked, I mumble "yes" and get the look. You know THAT look.
I wanted to do a little jig, but I was in pain.

 

[seahawkin]

Has anyone else has had a positive reaction from their doctor, or is mine just really cool?

Yes I have. Regarding people with mental illness and medication, nicotine really seems to help. But the side effects of smoking don't really balance out. She has been looking into it for some time, before you could get stable levels of nicotine and such. So when she saw my system, saw it was US made she asked my lists of safe cheap kits.

She says she is getting great results with her patients and doesn't pressure me to reduce as she doesn't she it a cessation device, but a replacement. I get the impression she doesn't think it is 'safe' just so much better then the alternative.

 

[DC2]

This poll should give you a very good idea of how the REAL medical community feels about vaping...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/polls/120181-did-your-doctor-approve-your-vaping.html

 

[WattWick]

Good stuff guys!

... and rotorhead... keep it inverted!

 

[jdiulus]

My Doctor actually allows people to Vape in His office. I was SHOCKED!!

 

[TehGoobz]

Thats really cool, most docs are stuffy and would probably caution against anything like this

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

My GP LOVES me for vaping and so does my Surgeon, Dentist and Dental Hygienist. Gave a presentation last yr and brought some 0 nic and 37 out 43 healthcare professionals LOVED it. They wanted to do more but I explained if it's a smoking cessation device then it would have to go the Clinical Trial Route= 10's of millions of $$. Needless to say when they have a client that has unsuccessfully tried everything to quit smoking they give me a call. They've been absolutely astounded at the success rate and the overall improvement of their client's health. One GP was quite surprised when he asked how much my services cost and I replied nothing except the cost of kit and juice- 1 month later he made a donation to our non profit vape prog

 

[MorpheusPA]

So far my doctor and dentist are both on-board and approve. My mother's doctor approves. I've had zero negative responses from doctors!

 

[sammisam]

Glad to hear of your doctor's reaction!

I saw my doctor today for tonsillitis. I mentioned that they need to change me in their system as a non-smoker as I've switched to vaping. She said that I'm still classified as "trying to quit" and that I should get off the nicotine. I told her I had no intention to do so because I have ADD, can't take ADD meds, and that my ADD goes a bit nutty if I don't have the nicotine. She told me, "well, try quitting and see if the ADD straightens out in a few months." Um, really?! I was off nicotine for 4 1/2 months last spring and my ADD didn't go away. LOL.

Luckily my cardiologist didn't give me the same feedback. She was very happy to hear I had switched, even though I was getting the nicotine. Ah, well. You can't please 'em all, right? Vape on!

 

[bilbobaggins30]

There was a study done in Greece, by a heart doctor, and he compared the effects of Vaping to Smoking on the heart (the damned study results went whoosh over my head.), and he found that after smoking 1 cigarette, that your heart begins to show acute signs of failure (mind you, very acute, and in one artery), and that your blood pressure rises, ect. Then he tested the vapers, and found that there was no elevation of blood pressure in the vapers, and that we did not show acute signs of heart failure (disease, ect). Pretty neat study.

But, I like to cite my sources, so here goes....
Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos at ESC2012 - The Effects of Electronic Cigarettes on Myocardial Function - YouTube

 

[jeffsm3]

Hey rusty! That's awesome to hear! I actually know a doc who vapes and recommends to all his patients and a way to back off the analogs. He deffinetly doesn't say it's a cessation device but a great way to cut back and still get the nicotine.

I am a paramedic and I have talked to so many of my own patients about it. I was a pad smoker (bad habit I picked up in the military) and for the last few years I've been smoke free. Needless to say I come into contact with ALOT of people who smoke and are suffering with the after effects. I love when these patients ask me about vaping since my provari is usually chilling in my rig! Haha. Also our hospital here allows you to vape in your room. Pretty cool! Well the vaping part not the hospital part.

 

[XeniaMike]

Hmmm, quick story about that. The very first day I started vaping I had a doctors appt for a sinus infection (real cigs always turn colds into those for me) and I had mistakenly ordered "high" level nicotine carts. Since I smoked light cigs, I should have done medium. Anyway, my doctor couldn't help but notice I was od-ing on nicotine when I went to see him but we had a good laugh over it. He was skeptical about vaping and didn't say much either yay or nay.

 

[Beccca]

When I told my Dr he said "OK Becky...but be sure to drink alot of water"....now how did he know that.............

 

[Grimwald]

My doc is a former smoker (maybe still does) so he's always been sympathetic knowing how hard it is to quit. He usually just politely suggests that I try to cut down. He's all aboard with vaping...totally supportive.

 

[matchnomore]

There's going to be a ton of studies coming out with all kinds of conclusions about the "safety" of ecigs. Expect conclusions on both sides of the fence. That's cool your doc is good with them. At the end of the day I find it incomprehensible that any study can possibly conclude ecigs are as harmful as smoking. Even if ecigs are shown to be harmful, certainly a lesser evil is better.

 

[MxChino]

My dentist was pretty cool with it, vaping has done what chantix couldn't, make me stop smoking.

 

[DJ RyckRak]

My doc is a former smoker (maybe still does) so he's always been sympathetic knowing how hard it is to quit. He usually just politely suggests that I try to cut down. He's all aboard with vaping...totally supportive.

Buy him or her a setup..
then give him/her a 'professional discount' !

 

[BlasphemousPie]

My Dr. was also surprisingly supportive of my vaping. She does want me to quit nicotine all together but sees them as a safer alternative to cigarettes. I'd tried every smoking cessation tool out there; Patches (allergic reaction to adhesive), Gums (mouth blisters), Zyban (suicidal ideations), Chantix (Worked fantastically, but omfg the side effects, I. was. ANGRY. at everything).

My vital signs and O2 saturation are back to the levels of when I was completely smoke free. The constant cough, the hacking up brown(!) phlegm every morning, the inability to do anything intensively physical for fear of my heart exploding and passing out from lack of oxygen, all gone.