so what do you tell your health care professional about vaping?

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YKruss

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The one concern that physicians might have concerns the effects of nicotine. Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, which means that it makes your arteries more narrow.

I am not saying that nicotine is not a vasoconstrictor but this issue might be a little bit overstated.

Following is a Kate51 quote:
When a person is vaping nicotine, of course a very high dose would cause BP to rise, but on the opposite side of that is the fact that vapers are absorbing only 10th the nicotine and none of the other chemicals listed commonly in cigarette ingredients. So to say nicotine can cause cardiovascular harm, that would be an extreme that is not really substantiated by plasma testing in moderate nicotine users, of which I have done numerous, showing my plasma cotinine level at 100-200 ng/l, using 12mg/ml juice @ 1.5-2ml per day...about the same reading as passive 2nd hand exposure. Significantly, no CO2, no tar, no carcinogenic or toxicity at these levels.
 

glowgirl

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I told my doctor and she just asked me how long since I smoked, wrote the answer on my chart and didn't say another word. I had brought my PV to show her but she wasn't interested. However my blood pressure is way down, my lungs are clear and I am as healthy as a horse! I did think all my nicotine usage would increase my blood pressure but it has been 100/60 for months now.
 

lmrasch

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I told my Osteopath that I quit smoking via vaping and he was very intrigued, asked a bunch of questions and I gave him the e cig forum info. That was 2 weeks ago and he's already told quite a few patients about them. He said the main problem he's having with those he has told is they say they've already tried them and they didn't work :(. Sad, cause I know they probably got them from a mall kiosk or some radio ad vendor....I reiterated to him the importance of this forum, it has been incredibly helpful to me.
 

QE2

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I had an emergency appendectomy about a month ago. Since I was all over the hospital, I got the usual barrage of questions from several different people. I would start out by telling them that I use nicotine. If they pried, I would tell them vaporized nicotine. My surgeon didn't say anything, but did act a little indignant. My nurse thought it was interesting. Everyone else just checked the box and moved on to the next question.
 

pwrstrk02

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dr.s are there to help, not hynder. the more they know about your life the better off you will be. if you are in a serious accident, the er will find out who your regular practitioner is, get the records, and there you go. not that taking nicotine or not will determine life or death, but you get my point. also if you go under for operation, the "drug dr"? (anistesiologist) will need to adjust your meds for going under. dont be afraid to tell them anything. mine is cool as ...., he will usualy ask me what im crying about now.
 
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pyrocat

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My Dr is great and allows me to email him health questions. I wrote him a very long email yesterday outlining my change to e-cigs and how they work, along with some health questions about e-cigs. He said that the long term safety is still questionable but that he was very happy to hear I'd been of cigarettes. And encouraged me to work my way down to 0 nic.
 

doubleganger

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Aug 6, 2010
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My guess is that any doctor will be very unhappy with me. My wife's response was "Are you insane?" Also I'm the PR nightmare for the vapeing community. You see, I was a total non-smoker. For years I'd envied the benefits people at work got from smoking but I just wasn't willing to smoke. When I learned about e-cigarettes (from an anti-e-cigarette article) and a little research indicated that not only might nicotine help my ADD, but it could also half my chances of getting Alzheimer's or Parkinson's I was ready to try it. So after a month of vapeing I'll say that I feel the benefits though they are more subtle than I'd hoped for. I'm definitely more productive both at work and at home and more alert too. I believe it helps my concentration. My research indicated and my experience has confirmed that nicotine alone is not especially addictive as I recently skipped a day and had no noticeable withdrawal symptoms other than missing the buzz. My wife has cooled off and we've been trying unsuccessfully to get her mother to ecigs instead of analogs.
 

Satharra

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My new PCP wasn't too thrilled with the idea of e-cigs. She basically told me that nicotine was carcinogenic and I needed to get off it. I told her that if she could provide me any studies showing that nicotine 'caused' cancer and wasn't merely correlated with cancer (without considering all outside variables including the carcinogenic properties of cigarette smoke), I'd get off the nicotine. I gave her my email address to send them and then followed up with her.

She later rescinded her opinion that nicotine caused cancer but still was of the opinion that I needed to get off it since it is heavily associated with heart disease. I told her that'd be a distinct possibility in the future but that I'd also have to lower my vegetable intake since tomatoes are one of the main sources of veggie servings for me (right now I'm eating from 5-6 whole tomatoes a day) and those also have measurable nicotine in them.

If nicotine is the cause of higher blood pressure, I wonder what my blood pressure would be without it. I sit around 90-95/50-55 with nicotine. I'd probably be dead without it.
 
if she could provide me any studies showing that nicotine 'caused' cancer and wasn't merely correlated with cancer

I have seen solid research that has convinced me that the only-to-date proven relationship between nicotine and cancer is this: nicotine DOES alter the way that the immune system notices and addresses already pre-cancerous and cancerous cells, in a negative way, (how much, currently unquantifiable in any precise sense), with the net result that the odds that pre and already cancerous cells will have a "head start" to avoid timely interception by the immune system are increased.

There is no current evidence that nicotine CAUSES cancer per se, just that it interferes negatively with SOME aspects of the immune systems early detection of pre and already cancerous cells.

So, I'd say that it has a technically net "pro-cancer" effect, without being technically carcinogenic PER SE; in context, there are many many many OTHER chemicals which have exactly the same effect, nicotine is hardly unique, or even especially powerful in this regard, as the amounts that had to be used to even measure this "anti early detection effect" in mouse studies were pretty high.
 
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oettinger

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Jun 29, 2010
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There is no way on earth I would ever quit smoking analogs without the use of the e-cig. After 35 years, I have totally quit smoking and have reduced my nicotine with each e-juice bottle I purchase. The patch didn't work nor the drugs. How could any doctor not be please with these results.

Only the ones that get a kickback for prescribing CHANTIX. I am sure that SOME, see it as us reducing their income by not needing tests, medication, and fewer doctor's visit. These types of doctors would be opposed, and if mine had a problem, I would straight accuse them of wanting me to die from smoking cigarettes. Then I would find a new doctor.

The doctors I go to at the VA will not prescribe CHANTIX due to the high rate of DEATH among it's users, but are VERY pleased I vape instead of smoke, and classify me on documents as a "non-smoker".
 
I would say that you should be completely honest with your doctor. How far you go into detail depends on your relationship with your Dr. But how can your doctor look after your health if you withhold information? NOT telling him/her could potentially be life threatening. My opinion is derived from 10 years working as a Nurse.
 
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