Propylene glycol inhaling?

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scottjamez

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Excellent! Spoken like a true statistician! :geek:

As far as the PG stuff goes--the only concerns my learned colleauges at the university hospital expressed to me were: [drumroll] possible increased leg cramps [/drumroll]... As our bods process PG into Lactic Acid, the increase in this might cause some cramping. newbie runners sometimes sometimes suffer this as a result of the extra lactic acid they develop as well... my response was; since our bodies process cigarette smoke into--> cancer i will live with any leg cramps.

Leg cramps huh? Do you have any reference links about that? Since I have started vaping the past month I have been getting mad charlie horses in my calves.
 

leaford

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Leg cramps huh? Do you have any reference links about that? Since I have started vaping the past month I have been getting mad charlie horses in my calves.

I don't have any studies on it to refer you to, but PG breaks down into Phyrric acid and lactic acid. Lactic acid is a fatigue poison produced by muscle exertion, and is what causes muscle cramps, so it makes sense that an increase in LA could cause muscle cramps. I have restless leg syndrome, and used to get it worse than usual for the first several months I was vaping. It stopped bothering me so often eventually though, so your body will likely adjust to it in time.
 

TropicalBob

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I have blood work done every six months, to check cholesterol levels, etc., and I've asked for checks on blood PH, the acid-alkaline balance that is critical to good health. If I had a regular build-up of lactic acid, for instance, it would register. Nope. No build-up. Apparently, my body handles PG's breakdown just fine. I've been testing for a year and a half now.

Your mileage may vary. :D
 

breakfastchef

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whimzkool

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There's a product that works excellently for relieving leg-cramps. Story has it that it was developed for folks with fibromyalgia (me). It is Solaray brand malic acid and magnesium. It also has an herb blend in it that makes you sleep deep and you feel refreshed upon waking. This stuff took my husbands snoring down to about 85% of what it was. I can always tell when he forgot to take it. I want the magnesium for my bones, and to relieve restless legs as well.
 

h8isgr8

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breakfastchef

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Theatrical smoke sometimes contains mineral oil, e-liquid does not. I think that needs to be considered when trying to apply the data from that study to e-cigs usage.

I cannot argue against your point, and I offered the online links as there is little else to refer to when we are talking about PG inhalation. The crux of the problem is a total lack of manufacturer-sponsored studies that meet current FDA guidelines. Until then, we tread on thin ice when we make statements about the relative safety of vaping. For years, big tobacco rallied against possible health problems of their product because not enough studies were done to prove there was a link between smoking and health problems.

I tend to remember their arrogance and not claim that vaping is totally safe. I believe it to be much safer than sucking on analogs, but I would not lead a movement that claims that second-hand vapor is safe nor that vaping is considerably safer than analogs. I am committed to staying under the radar and trying to reduce the personal harm I was doing to myself for the past thirty plus years.
 

voltaire

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I'm not going to read this whole thread to see if it's been said, but even if it has, it should probably be repeated based on some of the recent comments.

Regular cigarettes have BOTH propylene glycol AND glycerin in them, and they are completely combusted/incinerated, which (while I'm no expert) I imagine can only be worse than vaporization. Of course, a heavy e-cig smoker is probably exposed to higher quantities of the stuff than analog smokers. But the inhalation of PG and VG is not something unique to e-cigs, and it has been done for many decades.
 

cruisedoc

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If concerned, why use PG at all? Personally, I find it far more irritating than VG. Glycerine is a pretty natural product. What happens is it gets absorbed into the bloodstream via the lungs, that's about it. We ingest glycerin in foods and, again, it gets absorbed into the bloodstream via the GI tract. Glycerin metabolizes into glucose, so I wouldn't be near as concerned as with PG. Now nicotine isn't the greatest thing for your nervious system, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the harmful health effects of real cigarettes. The is where doctors and politicians differ. Docs welcome a viable alternative to tobacco and I don't know what politicians want, but they sure don't seem to like e-cigs, even if it's been a life changer (& life saver) for many thousands of people. Dr. E.G.
 

shannonekgs

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Now I'm even more confused! More order is literally sitting in my shopping cart at V4L. Don't know whether to get vg or pg liquid??

Vg seems the safer alternative but there is a lot more flavor choices for the pg.

I was really looking forward to my ecig!

I haven't read a lot about side effects using VG?? Anyone know of any?
 

voltaire

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You should try both and even a mix of the two. If you don't have any sensitivities to PG, then VG is not any safer or anything. In fact, heating VG can result in a byproduct called acrolein which is bad, but in such small quantities, probably trivial.

The consensus opinion is that PG has better throat-hit, and VG produces more vapor - which is why many people use a mix of the two to get the best of both worlds.
 
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