Need Vet mentoring badly ....

[wizardofozone]

I've felt like a 'poster child' over the last month for my love of vaping ... but I'm noticing something that concerns me and I wasn't sure it was even occurring until today ... I vape only unflavored nic cut with unflavored VG ... nothing else and no flavors at all since I have Anosmia and couldn't taste them anyhow.

About the second week of vaping (heavily) I went in to shave and thought I was looking a bit 'puffy' under my eyes ... That area is usually quite sunken in as it has been all of my life ... but it was slight so I ignored it.

Now, a full 3 weeks of vaping it is certainly clear my entire sinus areas are certainly puffed up ... no headaches, no dizziness, (I've been a heavy nic smoker of analogs for over 50 years)

It occurs to me that despite the much used term of 'water vapor' ... isn't it really more correct that we are vaporizing more of an 'oily' based liquid overall ? Since I read so many comments about windshields in cars with heavy layers of oily coatings I am wondering if vaping after all is coating our sinus ar3eas in perhaps the same way ? I wonder if diluting my NIC/VG with something thinner like vodka or water might stop this puffiness in my face if in fact the puffiness is even from vaping at all ... Never ever had puffiness occur ever in my life ...

 

[Hoosier]

Well, my body went through a number of changes after I switched to vaping. It was part of the healing process, but many of them did not feel like healing at the time. The worst was a huge increase in mucus production for no apparent reason. That lasted a few months until it went away and when it went away, my sense of smell was greatly heightened. So there was inflammation of the sinus membranes as part of the healing process which sucked at the time, but my sense of smell is normal to better than normal now.

The water vapor thing is because the water drawn out of your body is what gives the exhaled vapor its look. You are seeing water from yourself suspended in air. (You can see the same thing in cold air, but it doesn't hang around as long because it lacks the binding agent, PG/VG.) The best demonstration of this is to fire an atomizer for a specific time and note how much vapor is produced and then inhale from the same atomizer for the exact same time and note the amount of vapor produced. The difference is the water drawn from yourself.

PG and VG are alcohols, not oils. I can see how the lubricating properties can seem oil-like, but they are not oils.

So, healing from smoking can cause inflammation. Vapor draws water out of the body. PG and VG are alcohols. Anti-inflammatory OTC medicine and water help inflammation. Water intake helps replace the water drawn out of the body. Alcohol dehydrates and water intake helps counter that. So when you constantly hear, drink more water, there are a number of reasons behind that constant refrain to new vapers. It may be as simple as some acetaminophen and more water, or it could be an issue that requires medical attention. To be sure, check with your doctor. Hopefully they are better at this kind of stuff than some random guy in Indiana on the internet who's only qualification is he has been vaping for a number of years.

 

[Xaiver]

I don't think that you'll find much information here, any anything that we could offer is purely anecdotal. If you're concerned with these things, please see a doctor. There may be something else going on that you're not aware of.

Water Vapor is an easy term for explaining to people that don't care or don't have time to listen. (Which is quite a few people, if you look around)

The vapor from an e-cig is more akin to water vapor than smoke. Since the PG/VG/Flavoring mix are vaporized instead of burnt, it does something different than lighting things on fire.

If you're considering adding water or PGA (Pure Grain Alcohol) to thin it a bit, those things are only added in very small amounts. A drop or two for a 30ml bottle. Not enough to really change it if that is causing you a problem.

 

[supertrunker]

"The best demonstration of this is to fire an atomizer for a specific time and note how much vapor is produced and then inhale from the same atomizer for the exact same time and note the amount of vapor produced. The difference is the water drawn from yourself."

I was quite taken with that explanation until i blew thru the atty as i fired it and got a similar amount of vapour. So whilst not disputing that it's good advice to drink more water, i'm not convinced it needs to be an enormous amount more. Because airflow makes a lot of difference.

It took me about 6 months before i wasn't coughing and breathing well, smelling and tasting things properly again Wizard and it seems to vary from one to another. My simple advice is to pamper and look after yourself in the meantime.

T

 

[Hoosier]

I was quite taken with that explanation until i blew thru the atty as i fired it and got a similar amount of vapour. So whilst not disputing that it's good advice to drink more water, i'm not convinced it needs to be an enormous amount more. Because airflow makes a lot of difference.

You naturally exhale water vapor, hence the effect in cold air, if you want to compare it with air flow volume, you must use a dry air source, not your moist exhale. Outside air is moisture laden too. Heck, it's 30 F here and 50% humidity...usually higher but it just snowed and took some moisture out of the air.

PG and VG vapor will draw a bit more moisture than normal, but it can be tough to see the difference in many circumstances.

(And fog machines would not work as well if there wasn't moisture in the air, and below 30% humidity you can really see the reduction of output in these parts where most 10/31 evenings are 70-80%. Only had one Halloween in the last 15 years here that had low humidity and we went out and bought more fog machines for the next year after that one and next one was normal humidity and we drove ourselves out of the garage because we had too much fog being produced. )

 

[Xaiver]

I just stumbled upon an article where the World Health Organization did a complete blood count toxicology on E-cig smokers and Analog smokers.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512005030

It made me think of this thread immediately.

"It is concluded that acute active and passive smoking using the e-cigarettes tested in the current study does not influence CBC indices in smokers and never smokers, respectively. In contrast, acute active and passive tobacco cigarette smoking increase the secondary proteins of acute inflammatory load for at least one hour. "

 

[Rickajho]

You know - it's winter. People get sick in winter, so it could be anything not vaping related. I know two people right now that started out with a "common" cold and ended up on antibiotics for severe sinus infections that set in about five days into their "common" cold. (The fever settling in nearly a week after getting sick was the clue...) It's not been so common whatever is going around this season.

Please try to avoid the mythology that everything that happens to you from this point forward is somehow vaping caused or vaping related.