poisoning from nicotine?

[hgielm1]

Is it REALLY possible to get a significant overdose (or poisoning) from ecigs? If a person smoked 2 packs of cigarettes per day with no problems with the nicotine level, and is now smoking e cigs, do they have to be concerned about getting so much nicotine with e cigs that it could really be a danger to their body?
What about nicotine that gets on the skin from the e-liquid? Can a little bit really be harmful?
How can one tell if they are getting an "overdose" of nicotine in their body? Are there certain symptoms that might occur, that one can be on the lookout for?
Getting off cigarettes is great - just don't want to cause another problem with too high nicotine levels. Do we need to be worried? Thanks.

 

[sargon]

Hi Karen,

I think you would have to drink e-liquid to really overdose or suffer from NIC poisoning. I suppose if you use the 36MG liquid and vaped all day long, non-stop you might have a problem, but if you use your e-cig like you do/did analogs you shouldn't have a problem.

If you consume too much nicotine in a short amount of time you typically might experience light headedness/dizziness, increase heart rate and blood pressure, sweats, etc.

I don't believe you will consume more nicotine with an e-cig than you would with analogs. If you find your vaping more than you smoked then you might want to use a lower strength e.g. 4MG or 6MG cartridges or liquid.

From all of my research, it would seem that nicotine runs through the body very fast. It only takes a few seconds after a puff for it to hit the brain but it also leaves the body pretty quick e.g. 30 - 40 minutes. If you find your over doing it, just try to take a break, but seriously I don't think you will have any problems.

 

[ccure]

Hi Karen,

I think you have to be carfull, but not worried.

To overdose with an e-cig is very difficult since you are going to start feeling a little sick long before you can kill yourself. I have over-vaped before and I can tell when I am doing too much and have to stop for 30 min to 1 hour before I feel well again.

Yes, e-liquid can be dangerous if you drink it and you would have to drink about 3ml to 10ml (depends on the concentration) before you can kill yourself. Few drops in your mouth will taste ugly but will not kill you.

On the skin, well, there I think that you have to really make a good mess in order to absorb enough nicotine trough the skin to kill yourself. I really do not know, but some liquid in your hand will not harm you.

 

[hgielm1]

Appreciate your input. I've read other places that one drop of nicotine on one's skin can kill you! (not on this website). Obviously, that's wrong. Since no one really knows how much nicotine is actually absorbed from the vapor, I guess you just have to trust your body to tell you if you've had too much.

 

[feathersncream]

Appreciate your input. I've read other places that one drop of nicotine on one's skin can kill you! (not on this website). Obviously, that's wrong. Since no one really knows how much nicotine is actually absorbed from the vapor, I guess you just have to trust your body to tell you if you've had too much.

I think what they were talking about was a pure drop of nicotine.... what's in our bottles is really only a small amount in comparison.

 

[Nuck]

Pure nicotine on your skin can kill you quite quickly. The stuff we vape is very diluted. Many people have spilled significant amounts on themselves (myself included) and have not noticed any side effects at all.

I have no idea how much you would have to drink for it to be fatal but treat it like any other poison and avoid it at all costs.

It would pretty much have to be intentional to seriously overdose from vaping. You can feel the effects quite quickly if you are overdoing it and (just like with cigs) it's a good idea to stop until you feel back to normal.

 

[ccure]

There is information saying that 60mg of Pure Nicotine can kill a 70Kg person. Yes, that amount may be just a drop. But it has to be PURE.

Our liquid has nicotine very diluted with mostly VG and/or PG that are not absorbed by the skin as fast as can the nicotine be absorbed, so even if you spilled a lot of liquid over you, you have time to clean it out with water.

 

[ZambucaLu]

Moved to the nicotine forum.

Lu

 

[wv2win]

Considering that you could chew 10 pieces of nicorette gum and have all that juice in your mouth or could use the nicorette nasal spray and put like 10 sprays in your nose at one time, something tells me you won't overdose from vaping. I wonder why no one is concerned about this with the gum, nasal spray or inhaler????????

 

[booboo]

We figured out once that I was vaping an equivalent of 5 packs a day (I am using more self-control since then). But I am still alive in any case. Symptoms of od are quite obvious. Nausea, spaced-out feeling, chest pain, trembling, heart palps, and just feeling yucky.....at that point you pretty much have to stop vaping because it's not enjoyable any more. So your body does give you ample warning when enough is enough.

 

[Antebellum]

Is it REALLY possible to get a significant overdose (or poisoning) from ecigs? If a person smoked 2 packs of cigarettes per day with no problems with the nicotine level, and is now smoking e cigs, do they have to be concerned about getting so much nicotine with e cigs that it could really be a danger to their body?

Hi, Karen,

A few days ago, I sat down with two assembled 801 pen styles loaded with Totally Wicked 36 mg cherry determined to find out if I could "catch a buzz" from vaping. I'm almost a month into being tobacco free, but I still miss that "welcome back" buzz from the first cigarette in the morning. You know, the one that makes you all lightheaded and tells you it's time to go pee.

It took over an hour and one battery change, but I never did get that buzz. Instead I got nauseated.

Look up the New Zealand study here on the website. Among other things, it talks about the uptake rate of nicotine in PVs vs cigarettes. Cigarettes hit faster and peak higher. The amount of nicotine we absorb from PVs is much less than we get from cigarettes. Nicotine transfer in cigarettes is through the lungs. In PVs, the study said, it appears that the transfer is the nasal and oral mucosa. So that's like the gum and lozenges.

I doubt that you could vape enough to poison yourself with nicotine. You'd be puking your guts out long before reaching the toxic point.

 

[LaceyUnderall]

Karen,

The info Antebellum is referring to is: http://www.healthnz.co.nz/coynews.htm

Particularly the benchtop pdf and the e-cig effect handout.

What is interesting, from this study, is apparently you can take 78 puffs from your ecig in an hour as compared to 10 puffs from a tobacco cigarette in the same hour span.

Now, there are of course discussions regarding how we (as forum members and users) perceive this puff issue. Some believe that puffs are not a good measure. This study is currently the only one we have to go on and it is based off of the Ruyan product so you have to keep that in mind... but it is very interesting nonetheless.

Another thing you may want to try if you are interested: Get some no-nicotine liquid and alternate. When doing this, you may (or may not) find some interesting things out about your nicotine needs and your smoking habit. I think this is one of the beautiful things about the ecig: As a user, you can really hone down on what it is about smoking that truly drives you towards enjoyment and then you can control your habit more so than being controlled by it.

 

[sta11mom]

Is there a breakdown of ingredients somewhere? All I've seen - in my extensive 2 weeks of research - is the mg amounts, but nothing about how much of the liquid is just "filler".

 

[blackopz]

I've notive I can vape more frequently than I would smoke and in a couple of instances,when I first started vaping, I have ended up with a killer headache. What help me was learning to drip 1 -2 drops insead of the 3- 4 I was doing. I've also over smoked and gotten the same headache.. so as with anything I think there is a learning curve and you need to know your limits.

 

[yvilla]

Is there a breakdown of ingredients somewhere? All I've seen - in my extensive 2 weeks of research - is the mg amounts, but nothing about how much of the liquid is just "filler".

Sta11mom, yes the percentages are known. A 36 mg nic liquid (which means 36 mg per ml) has 3.6% nicotine content. A 16 mg liquid has 1.6% nicotine content. And so on for all the strengths - eg, 24 mg/2.4%, 8 mg/0.8%.

 

[Txrider]

I started out with 18mg liquid, I had to vape basically constantly to keep the cravign for an analog cig away.

I switched to 36mg and now I already have a vape all the time habit and am having to teach myself to put the e-cig down...

I have surely increased my nicotine levels, but I crave an analog no more, as in not at all. I'm also getting better at vaping less and dosing myself.

It's learning process to learn your dosage and how to consistently administer it, just as it is when learning to smoke. Who didn't occasionally smoke too much and feel sick when they started smoking cigarettes? I certainly remember doing it, and probably did it a lot more than I remember considering it was 35 years ago.

 

[LaceyUnderall]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/us/02cigarette.html?_r=2&hp

This article is floating around here in a thread or two today...

It is interesting as they note the National Cancer Institute is doing a study here in the US on the nicotine processed by the user. Now that I think about it, it is kind of odd considering the NCI is doing a study on nicotine consumption vs. PG which would be what would lead to cancer if anything... but whatever...

It will be interesting to see how they publish the findings, especially if these findings do support what Dr. Laugesen has noted in his findings.

 

[MissVapor]

The only reason I like nicotine cartridges is b/c of the throat hit..Im not addicted to the nicotine b/c sometimes I skip a whole day without any vaping and I don't have withdrawls or miss it.. I use 12mg or lower..

 

[sta11mom]

Sta11mom, yes the percentages are known. A 36 mg nic liquid (which means 36 mg per ml) has 3.6% nicotine content. A 16 mg liquid has 1.6% nicotine content. And so on for all the strengths - eg, 24 mg/2.4%, 8 mg/0.8%.

Thanks, yvilla, that's a relief. Thought I'd traded the mule for the cart there. 8-o

Still, I think the faster I get to 0 mg for my recreational vaping, the better. Right now, 11mg is ok - maybe even a bit too harsh - for stress-vaping. I tried alternating the two today, and was pleasantly surprised that the 0mg did the trick 90% of the time.

Beginning to think SunVaporer is right about the addiction not being an addiction at all. For me it seems to be the hand-to-mouth ritual that needs to be satisfied.

 

[queevil]

I haven't felt any of the effects of nicotine OD since I started vaping. However, even though I only smoked a pack of analogs a day my tolerance for nicotine is very high because I used to also dip a can of snuff a day. So I pretty much had a constant dose of nic in my bloodstream. Hell, I could even dip at my job. I've been vaping 24mg regularly with no ill effects.

I would never advise anyone to dip because for me it was far more addictive than smoking. I wasn't right for 2 weeks after putting it down and I was still smoking. However, if you do ever dip on a regular basis as I did it is unlikely that you'll ever feel the ill effects of to much nicotine.