Smoker or Non-Smoker; Question inside

[paise]

Okay, I know this is going to sound a bit crazy but for those of you who have been vaping for more than a few months or at least long enough to be completely analog free, when you go to the hospital, ER, or doctor (usually new doctor) do you fill out the form where it asks if you are a smoker with a yes or a no or do you use a question mark?

My doctor has me listed as a non-smoker with a notation that I am on an alternative nicotine device. Many of my other doctors have me listed as a non-smoker while others have similar notations as my primary doctor.

How do you list yourself? Smoker, Non-Smoker, or do you write in "Electronic Cigarette Vaporizer User?

I'm just curious. This has had me someone confused for a while now especially since I hit my 1-year anniversary without an analog cigarette and completely on the e-cigs. Technically, I'm not a smoker b/c I am not getting the crud and crap from the analogs. All I get is flavoring, VG/PG, water, and nicotine but none of the 4000+ cancer-causing carcinogens I was inhaling like mad before I learned about e-cigarettes.

Thanks for any responses. I just sort wanted to get the feel of how the e-cig community marks or refers to themselves once reaching nirvana and breaking free of the chain of tobacco analog cigarettes.

 

[CES]

I went to the ER and had a couple of follow up doc visits recently. I don't know what they checked on the forms- I told them that i don't smoke but that I do use nicotine.

 

[jj2]

Non smoker.
The alternative lets them know you are still getting nicotine, which, is some cases is used against you which is totally wrong.
I'm not sure what my doctor has on my chart since I don't do nicotine anymore.

 

[paise]

CES & JJ2: Thanks for the input. I wasn't sure how it worked since we are technically not smokers anymore.

JJ2, if I'm right, you're referring to health insurance companies. DH, our oldest daughter, and I couldn't get private insurance if our lives depend on it b/c of the extensive pre-existing conditions. Smoking or being a former smoker wouldn't hurt me as bad as the retinal disease, optic nerve defect, lupus (SLE), & Sjogren's does; same is true of DH w/his juvie diabetes of some 43 yrs, diabetic retinopathy surgery, which was successful but still a liability for health ins co's, not to mention he has a bad heart after having 2 heart attacks (mild then massive), a stroke, and had to undergo a quadruple bypass Jan 09'. He can't work anymore either way. Our oldest was born with severely crossed eyes that were surgically corrected but now has one eye that floats outward when she's tired or has eye strain from reading too much. The crossed eyes is called strabismus and the outward turning is amblyopia but her heart condition (paroxysmal atrial tachycardia w/ an irregular heart beat) is the biggest thing in her way along with a fractured hip and broken coccyx bone after she was t-boned in a car wreck on the driver's side by a cop of all people who was driving too danged fast on a road where the speed limit is 35mph yet he was going about 60mph. He hit her so hard it broke the seat off the frame of the car. She spent months learning to walk again, but I adore her physical therapist even today. We run into each other occasionally when I am at the hospital or doctor for appts or tests. She wouldn't let my girl give up. The coccyx bone, in case you don't know, is the little nib of a bone that resembles a bone like a reptile would have. It's at the bottom of the back of the pelvis on a skeleton.

I listened to a video from Brave New Films (you can google them) where this one woman had been healthy her entire life and when she got ill from a tumor that was cancerous, the insurance company dropped her without any notice or paying any of the bills. I think that should be illegal. The turds don't mind taking the money every freaking month or week but they are bound and determined not to pay a dime for a service people actually pay them for so they can have it when they need it but the ins companies do everything within their power to prevent doing what they are paid to do, which is cover medical expenses. If any other company in this country pulled that crap they'd go to jail and/or face a class action lawsuit and pay through the nose. I don't understand why the government lets them get by with it.

We severely need national health care for everyone. It works in Canada, France, England, Briton, Switzerland, and every other industrialized country in the world including CUBA of all places! There is no reason for it not to work here. And I wish someone could explain to me why a CEO of a company deserves 150+ billion dollars in bonuses after darn near bankrupting the company they work for yet they still get their bonus that should go to paying fair wages and covering employees with health care. The CEOs of insurance companies shouldn't get those bonuses when they should be paying the debts that people who buy their insurance from them expect to have when they become ill but are rejected and left with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt that drives most into bankruptcy from which they never recover. I want to know when the dollar became more important than a human beings right to live. The #1 problem in this country (USA) is outright GREED!

Who in this country could not live comfortably on $50,000 to $65,000 a year? And what the heck does any one person need with $150 billion a year on top of an over-inflated income? I am outright ashamed of the CEOs and top executives of companies like those on Wall Street who demanded bail outs then gave their execs who caused the demise of the companies in their care those over-inflated bonuses for running the companies into the ground and losing people's life savings. I'm especially ashamed of the insurance company CEOs and top executives. But enough of my rant. I'm stepping off my soapbox before I fall off.

Thanks for the info. I was curious and you helped cure my curiosity.

 

[tokengirl]

Great rant paise, I'm with ya.

Greed contributes to or is the direct cause of all our biggest problems we face as a country. Greed is embedded in our culture and it prevents us from moving forward in many areas.

 

[telsie]

I consider myself a non-smoker. Vaping looks like smoking and feels similar to it, but it's... not. I look at it this way: what would someone who is on the patch or using the gum or the lozenges check on a medical form? Non-smoker. They're not smoking and neither are we. So when I recently had a first visit with a new doctor, I checked "Do not smoke" on the form.

 

[xg4bx]

"Who in this country could not live comfortably on $50,000 to $65,000 a year? "

Pretty much the entire middle class struggling to keep afloat right now amidst the obscene taxation we face in this country.

Health care works in those other countries because their entire population is that of New Jersey. They also pay Vat taxes with quadruples the cost of everything including food, to pay for said healthcare. Canada is currently going bankrupt from their healthcare system.

The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care

The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care by David Gratzer, City Journal Summer 2007

"In fact, government researchers have provided the best data on the doctor shortage, noting, for example, that more than 1.5 million Ontarians (or 12 percent of that province’s population) can’t find family physicians. Health officials in one Nova Scotia community actually resorted to a lottery to determine who’d get a doctor’s appointment."

"n France, the supply of doctors is so limited that during an August 2003 heat wave—when many doctors were on vacation and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity—15,000 elderly citizens died. Across Europe, state-of-the-art drugs aren’t available. And so on."

 

[CES]

I don't think there are any easy answers (unless you happen to be lucky enough to be born rich ).

I don't have nearly the issues that you have to deal with Paise- I feel for you- so it's easy for me to tell the literal truth (i don't smoke and i do use nicotine), because there are fewer potential consequences to sort through. Until e-cigs are widely accepted, it's probably going to remain a minefield, with only your best guess as a guide to the *correct* answer for the bureaucracies.

 

[BlueMoods]

At least you have SOMETHING in Canada. Even at 75K plus income, we cannot affor insurance for both my spouse and myself and, we live off grid (self sufficient) as far as possible on one acre. 200 or more per WEEK for insurance per person is beyond our budget.

Fo crying out loud, it costs us 40.00 in gas every time we go to town, 50 if we go to a town that actually has a Wal Mart and a shopping mall. If we didn't raise fish, poultry, fruits and vegies, we would be hurting trying to buy all of it, pay the few bills we have (internet and cell phone plus required car insurance, fire and flood insurance.)

Good thing I am have no health issues and don't need to go to a doctor - haven't seen one in over 15 years. My spouse needs one due to hypertension that no ammount of diet and exercise will fix so, only one of us gets insurance. I do without any medical care other than what my college days as a vet tech taught me and what I can do at home.

 

[The Big Chief]

Im with Dave Ramsey on the personal health care acct. 200 a week will buy a lot of appointments. Major medical is whats required and drastic. The small checkups are a pain, but generally 100-200bucks. 200 a week is 10k/yr. Restructure those plans, and manage your money well, and you get some tax free benefits, and bigger bank acct. Check out daveramsey.com

But yes, Im a non smoker now, ESPECIALLY when it comes to insurance. (They generally ask- "Tobacco user" to cover chewing as well)

 

[paise]

BlueMoods:

That's exactly how I feel about countries like Canada and the others. Having SOMETHING is better than having NOTHING. Nobody in Canada, France, England, Briton, or even Cuba is going to die from not having access to insulin or other life-saving drugs.

XG4, for the record, Canada, France, England, and Briton have as many residents as the United States, which is far more than New Jersey. I've been to New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island. I have online friends on the two lupus support groups I subscribe to and they receive treatment for their lupus problems and Sjogren's as well since generally people with lupus have Sjogren's and those with Sjogren's generally have lupus. I will openly admit that the friends I have abroad do seem to have problems with their doctors being completely and totally up front with them over the effects of the diseases (any autoimmune disease & even retinal diseases like I have) but then again, the doctors here at the same way. It's as if they just don't want to take the time to explain the entire deal of what to expect from chronic, long-term diseases that will either leave you blind or leave you dead or even both. I had no clue that lupus will eventually cause blindness until an ENT told me. I had been going to a highly respected rheumatologist with hospital privileges at one of the most prestigous and high-tech hospitals in the state yet I had to learn from the ENT that lupus will eventually cause me to lose my sight, as if the retinal disease wasn't already doing a pretty bang up job of that on its own.

I believe the problems that are making waves in the Canadian national health care service is exactly what is making waves here in social Security. Too many government officials and executives are trying to get their grubby little paws into the health care piggy bank. If we chop those little fingers off each time they come close to our Social Security and do the same once a national health care program is put into place we will have no problems. Of course there will be the obviously needed discussion with doctors to remind them of their oath to 1: First do no harm, and 2: their job is to save lives not spend all day on the freaking golf course while stealing their patient's blind, no pun intended.

E-cigs has this big gigantic opportunity to remove the stigma away from nicotine and not be compared to tobacco analogs as well as taking away the arguing points with the talking heads who don't know any better. It could literally be the salvation needed to lower the chances of smoking-related illnesses in addition to giving the government who keeps taxing cigarettes to death but won't go after booze the same way since they get a major cut and kickbacks on booze that they don't get from cigarettes but it will allow us to send a major "up yours" to the tobacco industry who keep raising the prices on cigarettes because we DON'T need them anymore. We also have to work hard to keep their grubby paws off e-cigs and e-liquids. They are probably salivating from the desire to want to take over e-cig business but right now they can't and so far, it appears as though they won't be able to after the utter failure of the patch, the gum, and their fake inhaler that never worked.

I appreciate the information and the discussions here. I am of the mind that e-cigs are not truly cigarettes b/c they don't have the chemicals in analogs and as such, vapers should not have any cracks to fall through in the medical minefield or insurance minefield b/c e-cigs don't have the 4000+ cancer-causing carcinogens.

Thanks for reading and for commenting. It gives me a little perspective on where I stand with my doctors and my medical records.

 

[Ben Harker]

being a resident of the UK, i feel very lucky when I read about health insurance companies, and that we don't have or need anything like it in England [t least nowhere near as large as is found in the US].

Our free NHS [national health service] may be a massive unorganised behemoth at times, but it's only ever done me good and i really feel for anyone who's ever been wronged by large health insurance companies. Since getting with my girlfriend a couple of years back I've already had to rely on it two or three times for emergency callouts and the odd small op, we wouldn't know where to start paying for stuff like that - plus she's a pretty badly controlled diabetic so we'd no doubt get screwed over by Health Insurance bods if we were on your side of the pond. I'm sure they'd find a way!

As for what to write on a form, I've not actually had a doctor's visit in a while, i've been vaping a few months, but still have the odd analog. When I think about the analog/vaping ratio, i realise that I don't even vape as much as I used to smoke - so with the help of the ecig I've managed to hammer my smoking from *heavy* to *occasional* at least, that's the way I see it!

 

[paise]

Across Europe, state-of-the-art drugs aren’t available.

Sure, the US does have these major medical medications and treatments; however, what good does it do the majority of the population who do not have access to those state-of-the-art medical technologies? We might as well NOT have them because a good 90+% of the population cannot gain access to it.

This is an argument I used to have with my husband all the time. Well, he's finally seen the light. After working himself to death for many years, he finally found himself in a position where all those state-of-the-art medical advancements are not helping him over the long haul. Sure, he had the quadruple heart bypass he needed, BUT, it has put us in debt to the tune of over $300,000! This was just his treatment costs from the two heart attacks (a mild then massive - the massive is referred to in med-speak as a "widowmaker" b/c the person who has this type of heart attack usually dies unless they happen to be fortunate enough to be IN a hospital when this type of heart attack hits), a stroke, and the quad bypass surgery that's left us in more medical debt that we will ever be able to pay for b/c now he can't work without risking his life. Another heart attack with the severity of damage done to his heart will likely kill him. In order to keep his health in somewhat of a decent shape including now even more complicated juvenile diabetes, his life is in more danger than it's been during his entire 47 years old life.

I'd gladly accept a NHC insurance through the government b/c at least then every US citizen would have SOME access to health care that they do not have access to right now!

Nobody, not even the US government should be allowed to put a price tag on the life of a human body. Nobody should be sent home to die when there are drugs and treatments that can save their lives; however, those drugs and treatments are only available to the rich. It's wrong no matter how you twist, turn, or shake it up. It's just wrong!

 

[paise]

I have a little good news to share but there is some not-so-good-news to share also.

Earlier this week I went back to the surgeon whose been treating me after a series of mammograms and ultrasounds picked up some cysts in my breasts. It turns out the one in the right side is now two so I will be going to the hospital for outpatient surgery on Oct. 29th. It turns out the one cyst is now two so the surgeon is making the arrangements to have both the cysts located in the right side removed. There are still four, as of last physical examination and mammogram/ultrasound that will be watched to find out how they progress but the cysts that came back on the report I received on the mammogram and ultrasounds this time was different in that it said I needed to seek medical attention immediately due to the changes in the cyst, now cysts.

Once the surgeon removes the two cysts, they will go to pathology and hopefully I will learn whether or not I will be fighting breast cancer. I'm hoping with everything I have that the results on the cysts will turn out to be non-cancerous but if they are, then I will have to begin a medicine regimen of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. My only fear is that with no immune system to speak of because of lupus and Sjogren's disease, I don't know if my body itself is strong enough to fight the good fight. I hope it is possible but at the same time, I hope the ordeal turns out to be nothing more than benign cysts that simply need removal. Although, even if these two cysts that will be removed in a week from today do come back as non-cancerous, I still have the other four to worry about so we are discussing the option of biopsying the four remaining cysts to give me peace of mind and to find out one way or another so I can stop being afraid I won't be able to fight this off and instead end up in failure leaving behind a minor daughter who needs a mother as well as an adult daughter who is getting married as of this Sunday (Oct. 24th) and who will need her mother just as much as her younger sister as she is stepping into a whole new stage of her life where sage advice from parents, especially mothers can give since this is my daughter. She will need me just as much as her husband will need advice along the way from his dad & step-dad when it comes to being a new husband with a wife to worry over and vice-versa. I want to be here for both my girls as well as for my soon-to-be son-in-law should he need my help or simply needs to talk about his new life with my daughter.

If it were not for the combination of Medicare, Medicare D, and the state's program that closes that doughnut hole in coverage, I would not even have a chance at that b/c I am on disability for blindness initially but today I am fighting the retinal eye disease, optic nerve issue, lupus (SLE), and Sjogren's disease with the possibility of Fibromyalgia as well as all the problems and complications that come with the latter three health conditions. I cannot afford to pay retail for my medications that are keeping me semi-functional and with as little pain as possible; the medications for pain does not stop the pain completely; however, it does make it tolerable. But if I had to buy just my medications alone at the retail price vs my co-pays from Medicare D, I would be paying out twice to a little over twice what I draw in disability. There would be nothing left to cover the bills such as a roof over our heads, groceries, utilities, and other household bills.

I've probably said this before but I will say it again, the internet access I keep is not a luxury as one may believe. Because of my blindness, the internet allows me to remain in contact with school teachers regarding my youngest daughter's educational progression, staying in the loop on a support group for lupus, Sjogren's and other autoimmune diseases, as well as preventing me from feeling so alone out in this rural area b/c most of my friends are too far to visit, esp when you can't drive, and others have moved out of the state over the years. It allows me to keep up and pay bills as well as pick up some freelance writing work when I am physically, emotionally, and healthy enough to work to earn a little extra to pay on bills that my disability simply cannot cover alone. It's a necessity when you're blind and cannot otherwise do these things by simply jumping into the car and driving to where you need to meet. I can't do it because I can't see more than an inch or so in front of me and that's on a good day.

I'm extremely talented with budgeting money but budgeting and having extra remaining at the end of the month are two separate monsters. Not everyone can put back a couple hundred dollars each month because it's simply not there to put back.

I may disappear off the list for a few days to a week after my surgery. It will all depend on how long I have to stay in the hospital and how well I feel but I will be back. Just give me some time. I have to get through the wedding this weekend and then prepare for next week's pre-op run-throughs and lab work before going into the hospital on Friday, Oct. 29th. I'll be back online as soon as possible.

BTW, my surgeon's office put in my paperwork that I am NOT a smoker! That made my day...

 

[Automaton]

I'm in the process of getting insurance, and I plan to list myself as a non-smoker.

If my doctor asks, I will tell them I use nicotine. There are tons of ways for me to do that OTC, and at my age with my family history there is no reason that's a risk for me. And there are vaporized medications that contain many of the same ingredients in e-juice. There's no reason vaping should have a serious enough impact on my health that they need to know.

 

[ab357]

I think I would definitely list myself as a non smoker. However I would make sure it's included in my medical history that I smoked for 35 years. I think smoking that long will always be a factor.

 

[paise]

I smoked for 28 years. I know that's in my chart because after my last doctor retired, he sold his practice to another doctor, a younger one that's only a few years older than I am. Everyone had to fill out a new medical history for the charts. It's listed that was a smoker and over the few years I've been with this doctor, I was listed as a smoker of 28 years. He's been keeping up with the changes that are happening, good things actually, since I began using the e-cigarette. I've been off traditional analogs since July 7th, 2009. I made it past my 1-year anniversary without a cigarette.

This isn't in my chart but I have had access a couple of times to a small quantity of herb. I wish it were more b/c it really seems to help the lupus (SLE), Sjogren's disease, and the joint disease, osteoporosis, connective muscle tissue damage, further damage to my retinas though it's unknown if the cause of the last round of degeneration of my retinas is due to the retinal eye disease I have, the medicine I take for lupus that slows the progress of the disease (if taken in doses high enough to work, it will damage the retinas b/c it's an anti-malarial drug. Docs have no idea how or why it works but it has had promising results for more than 50 years; however, there is a new drug for Lupus that is in the hands of the FDA to make a decision to pass it or fail it but the results are great & the side effects of the new drug are less damaging to the eyes not to mention the nausea the anti-malarial drug causes). Then there is the chronic arthritis, chronic fatigue, and other issues that are all a part of living with autoimmune diseases. So far, it hasn't begun to damage my vital organs - again, as far as we know. There is no way they can tell which is damaging my retinas b/c they were already damaged before I was diagnosed. It was as if I got a double whammy, to quote my ENT doctor.

In the last year I've had the pleasure of nearly 2 full months (at different intervals during that time - it was small quantity) where the pain was not just tolerable, it was gone. The fentanyl patches help as do the lorcet; however, it only makes the pain tolerable and nothing more. In that time I also didn't have any issues with the nausea or the time I normally spent "praying to the porcelain gods," even when there was nothing on my stomach. I could actually eat food without getting sick during a flare and the few flares I had in that time were no where near as bad nor as long-lasting as they are without it. I would give anything for my state to have a medical ......... exception like all the others. The relief it provided was so great. I could sleep despite chronic insomnia, eat despite the nausea I seem to keep much of the time, and I was able to keep the food down without taking anti-........ medication. It seems that since I had my gallbladder removed, despite a vegetarian diet including seafood (many other vegetarians don't eat seafood but I do) I still have a problem. Others I've spoke with, including a close friend, said she had problems and still does some 10 years later, when she eats afer having her gallbladder out.

I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired if you know what I mean. The giving up on analog cigarettes has helped plenty though. I'm not winded as quickly when I walk or do something strenuous or as strenuous as I can be with a bad left knee and left hip... I don't have any crackles, franks, or thrills (indicators in med-speak for the sounds of the lungs of someone who is a smoker of analogs). The Snap, Crackle, Pop boys with their milk left the building along with the smoker's cough about 3 weeks after I stopped smoking.

 

[Zeroi]

We are (non-Smoker) indeed but we do call our-self (Vaper), Or maybe we are consider a (Ex-Smoker).
If you are vaping Nicotine, than maybe you can write there (Vaper-Nicotine addict).
If you are not Vaping Nicotine, than Don't bother to Write much, just Tick (Non-smoker).

Okay, I know this is going to sound a bit crazy but for those of you who have been vaping for more than a few months or at least long enough to be completely analog free, when you go to the hospital, ER, or doctor (usually new doctor) do you fill out the form where it asks if you are a smoker with a yes or a no or do you use a question mark?

My doctor has me listed as a non-smoker with a notation that I am on an alternative nicotine device. Many of my other doctors have me listed as a non-smoker while others have similar notations as my primary doctor.

How do you list yourself? Smoker, Non-Smoker, or do you write in "Electronic Cigarette Vaporizer User?

I'm just curious. This has had me someone confused for a while now especially since I hit my 1-year anniversary without an analog cigarette and completely on the e-cigs. Technically, I'm not a smoker b/c I am not getting the crud and crap from the analogs. All I get is flavoring, VG/PG, water, and nicotine but none of the 4000+ cancer-causing carcinogens I was inhaling like mad before I learned about e-cigarettes.

Thanks for any responses. I just sort wanted to get the feel of how the e-cig community marks or refers to themselves once reaching nirvana and breaking free of the chain of tobacco analog cigarettes.

 

[nita980]

I had a surgery recently (nothing serious), so they asked me if I was smoking. I was kinda felt weird as normally I'd have said Yes..but that time I told the doctor that I'm no longer a smoker but I told her about the e-cig and my nicotine intake. She put non-smoker on her report. I totally consider myself as a non-smoker.

 

[fallon74]

I told my doctor that I vape instead of smoking he likes that I'm using a pv.
I mark myself down as a non smoker if I go to the hospital or any other place where I have to see a doctor because it's true I don't smoke.