Question on Vaping and Cancer

[Heero]

I know this may not be the correct subform to post in but I mainly lurk/post here, and feel a bit more confidence in the responses I’ve gotten through the v4l subforum. Basically what I want to know should someone avoid vaping (I guess specifically nicotine) if they have had cancer in the past. I know that smoking is discouraged if someone has battled through cancer, because they have an increased chance to relapse even if they did not originally have cancer in the lungs, throat, or mouth.
My sister-in-law decided she wanted to start vaping instead of smoking. Ordinally this would be a great thing, however she only smokes when she drinks which is once maybe twice a week. I’m pretty sure that vaping all week long is still better than smoking once or twice a week, but as I said my main concern is affect of nicotine on someone who has dealt with cancer.

 

[maxx]

I am a cancer survivor....and I smoked before during and after that bout (not lungs). Guess I'm not the brightest crayon in the box.....

But anyway....I believe that nicotine has never been shown to be a carcinogen, nor has it ever been associated with it, except for the other cancer-causing agents found in cigarette smoke. Nicotine got tied to cancer because of the bad friends it was hanging around with in the ciggy smoke is the way i see it.

 

[Katattack]

I'm not a medical professional but from what I do understand nicotine patches are acceptable on a cancer patient or survivor and no ingredient in uncontaminated e-juice is carcinogenic as far as we know I'd guess it would not be horrible. That said an oncologist would be qualified to make the determination. I would venture if the choices were "this person WILL smoke cigarettes or vape" the choice would be vaping but likely the doctor would prefer neither.

 

[Adrenalynn]

I think a frank discussion with your oncologist is the only "right" answer here... I'm with KatAttack on that.

 

[TheBlueAdept]

I'm not a medical professional but from what I do understand nicotine patches are acceptable on a cancer patient or survivor and no ingredient in uncontaminated e-juice is carcinogenic as far as we know I'd guess it would not be horrible. That said an oncologist would be qualified to make the determination. I would venture if the choices were "this person WILL smoke cigarettes or vape" the choice would be vaping but likely the doctor would prefer neither.

I don't want to be pedantic, but I've read there are *trace* amounts of carcinogens in the juice, but having said that I believe them to be so tiny as to be of absolutely no concern (but I too am not a doctor!)

 

[Adrenalynn]

I believe that was a couple small samples from a vendor that is rarely used, correct? And wasn't reproducible outside of the initial test?

We need to be a little careful with subscribing blindly to reports we read, especially second or third-hand. There is a lot of spinning going on by very skillful political interests. We need to be inherently skeptical.

 

[Katattack]

Oh lol that's what I meant by "uncontaminated"

 

[Adrenalynn]

Nod. If we're not careful in reading between the lines, we're all vaping antifreeze.

 

[Drozd]

Also a cancer survivor...also not lung..and also smoked before, during and after..was wheeling my IV buddy out to the parking garage for a smoke as soon as I could after surgery (like hour and a half 2 hours).... so yeah not the sharpest crayon either..
heard the you need to quit smoking mantra from the docs for the next year after surgery..finally almost 2 years later after the surgery I saw my oncologist for checkup and bloodwork and told him I quit and started vaping and gave the demo and explained it to him and he was cool with it...but that will vary by oncologist..

 

[Drozd]

I believe that was a couple small samples from a vendor that is rarely used, correct? And wasn't reproducible outside of the initial test?

We need to be a little careful with subscribing blindly to reports we read, especially second or third-hand. There is a lot of spinning going on by very skillful political interests. We need to be inherently skeptical.

18 cartridges were tested (not the vapor, just the liquid in the cartridges) (from SE and Njoy) and it was trace amounts of 2 tobacco related nitrosamines that they said "could" be of concern (both are found in higher concentrations in the gum and patch by the way)... and 1 instance of trace amounts of diethelene glycol (hope I spelled that right...(DEG))..but the trace amounts were so low it was barely measureable..

 

[maxx]

Yeah Drozd...I will never forget the doctor telling me I had cancer and what I could expect over the coming weeks. And all I could think of....will ya shut up already, doc, so I can get outside for a cigarette.

To me, it's a no-brainer. You are getting less nicotine and no carcinogens with vapor when compared to cigs. Regardless of a cancer history or any cancer link to nicotine....you are better off.

 

[Katya]

We can only share our thoughts here, trying to give you any kind of advice would be tantamount to practicing medicine without a license, which constitutes a felony. As the previous posters suggested, only an oncologist can give you an answer and he/she will have to see the patient. Really.

Having said that, I don't understand why the choice is between smoking once or twice a week and vaping all week long? If she's a social smoker, what prevents her from becoming a social vaper? Once or twice a week?

She needs to talk to her doc.

 

[Drozd]

Yeah Drozd...I will never forget the doctor telling me I had cancer and what I could expect over the coming weeks. And all I could think of....will ya shut up already, doc, so I can get outside for a cigarette.

To me, it's a no-brainer. You are getting less nicotine and no carcinogens with vapor when compared to cigs. Regardless of a cancer history or any cancer link to nicotine....you are better off.

yeah well mine I had just got the go ahead to go back to work after a job site injury (some guy ran over my leg with a piece of heavy machinery and broke my tibia and fibia).. and I was switching primary care physicians so had to go for my first yearly with the new guy and I told him something felt a little off and he was like yeah go see this other guy which I conviently had a last minute opening the next day so I go and see him and he really no sugar coating it we was like "yep. you have testicular cancer".. then go here and have these tests cuz you're in for surgery in 3 days...Dec 15th 2007.. I don't think I really recovered from the shock of the news til after the surgery...all I could think of was smoking to calm down and calling all the family to let them know...that was a sucky christmas season..

 

[Joe Camel]

You're more likely to get cancer driving in traffic with the window down IMO

 

[Belletrist]

You're more likely to get cancer driving in traffic with the window down IMO

Almost exactly what I was going to say. Obviously, discussing with oncologist is a good idea. But if she's still smoking, hell, if *I* were *her* (which I'm not) the switch to vaping would seem to be a better option. While we don't know the long term effects of vaping, we do know we inhale a lot of stuff on a daily basis that's a whole lot worse for us.

 

[Kimmy]

I am not a medical professional, but I think any doc would advise to just quit smoking. If they are only doing it a few times a week, quitting seems like it would be the best option, or at least attempting to quit. None of us know the effects of vaping, we can assume, but we can't know for sure. To me it seems obvious, vaping is less dangerous then smoking, but at least trying to quit seems like a good option.

 

[JamBandPhan]

If there is concern about vaping PG, then use VG.

 

[nbourbaki]

From Wiki

The carcinogenic properties of nicotine in standalone form, separate from tobacco smoke, have not been evaluated by the IARC, and it has not been assigned to an official carcinogen group. The currently available literature indicates that nicotine, on its own, does not promote the development of cancer in healthy tissue and has no mutagenic properties. However, nicotine and the increased cholinergic activity it causes have been shown to impede apoptosis, which is one of the methods by which the body destroys unwanted cells (programmed cell death). Since apoptosis helps to remove mutated or damaged cells that may eventually become cancerous, the inhibitory actions of nicotine may create a more favourable environment for cancer to develop, though this also remains to be proven.[46]

46 ^ a b "Toxicology". Toxicology | eBasedTreatment. Retrieved 2008-10-05.

 

[Joe Camel]

I think recovering from cancer and using ecigs would be better for you than being irritable and miserable trying to quit. Being able to have a positive outlook helps a great deal.

 

[rugrat1965]

Nod. If we're not careful in reading between the lines, we're all vaping antifreeze.

I had a guy tell me last weekend that I should quit vaping because it contains an ingredient that is in anti freeze. I told him "well, there is corn in your s..t, did you quit eating corn"? People are silly.