Still Confused

[Opinionated]

Hi Everyone,

First I would like to thank everyone who has given me such good advice on my beginning journey to vaping. There is so much to learn and everyone has been overwhelming nice and so very kind. Thank you very much.

I am 64 with COPD and have been vaping about 3 weeks. I have 2 Mods, 3 MTL tanks and one DL tank. I purchased the two Mods, one being a SMOK G150. The others were so kindly and generously donated to me by fellow members. The problem I am having is that for the last week I have been coughing a lot more and wanting to smoke cigarettes more frequently than when I first started vaping. I am afraid of aggravating my COPD instead of helping it. I desperately do not want to go back to smoking cigarettes. The juice I am using is a low ml of nic and I am currently using the MTL tanks. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am feeling quite dumb that I just can't seem to get it right.

I would also like to tell all my fellow Floridians to please be safe during this hurricane and Good Luck.

Even with vaping your still going to have the cravings in threes. 3 weeks, then again at 3 months or an approximate time frame.

You should increase your nicotine to a comfortable level however. Too low and your cravings will be more intense. When vaping mtl you can easily vape at 24 mg/ml. (24 mg per ml of ejuice). If your cravings are too much for you can try using some wta, or some net flavorings.

Naturally Extracted Tobacco : Heather’s Heavenly Vapes, Top Quality Custom E-Liquids

Whole Tobacco Alkaloid WTA Eliquid Ejuice

Hopefully this will help you. It's just a matter of finding the right nicotine amounts for you, as well as getting through the worst of the cravings.

As far as your COPD, I have never been diagnosed with COPD, but I've never gone through the testing either. When I first switched to vaping I could not breathe.. I had to take rest breaks to get to the mail box..

I also coughed a lot, a lot when I switched to vaping.. I was coughing like I had pneumonia, and it lasted some time. The first two weeks I was coughing til I threw up, and was getting lots of stuff out of my lungs.

After about a month it calmed down, and after about three months it was over, if memory serves me correctly. (It's been three years ago though).

However, I was hand in hand with my doctor for the switch to vaping, and had that comfort of knowing this was normal etc etc. You might like to tell your doctor your switching to vaping etc.

That said, I'm a million times better now than when I smoked. You will like to get some physical exercise every day as well, get your lungs in good shape at the same time as it helps you get over the coughing fits faster.

In the end, it may depend on what kind of shape your lungs are in how long it will take for you to feel like you can breathe again... Mine were absolutely toast. But now, I can't remember a day in my life where I could breathe as well as I can while vaping. It just takes a bit of time to get your lungs healed and working properly again..

 

[fifamymaingame]

Increasing the nic will help

Find a vape shop with a tobacco licence they can add nic to juice you already got for you! Throw them a tip most do it free

 

[fifamymaingame]

Also the nic causes the throat hit thus coughing pg i believe causes the throat hit too

 

[PJReid]

Didn't you say in an earlier post that you still have Ego batteries and tanks? You didn't say what the donated equipment was. The SMOK G150 is one that you should put in a drawer until you have fully committed to vaping and are over the effects of quitting the analogs. Using an Ego pen, an Evod pen, or something along that line would allow you to raise you nic level which is VERY important initially. I don't think I could have quit so easily had I tried to drastically lower the nicotine in my vape right off the bat. I quit on 12mg of nicotine in 80PG/20VG juice.

I hope that if you keep it simple, you can experience a much easier time. For me, it was so easy but I know that isn't the case for everyone. I do think that a pen type device with higher nicotine will ease you into the vape life.

 

[Katya]

Hi Everyone,

First I would like to thank everyone who has given me such good advice on my beginning journey to vaping. There is so much to learn and everyone has been overwhelming nice and so very kind. Thank you very much.

I am 64 with COPD and have been vaping about 3 weeks. I have 2 Mods, 3 MTL tanks and one DL tank. I purchased the two Mods, one being a SMOK G150. The others were so kindly and generously donated to me by fellow members. The problem I am having is that for the last week I have been coughing a lot more and wanting to smoke cigarettes more frequently than when I first started vaping. I am afraid of aggravating my COPD instead of helping it. I desperately do not want to go back to smoking cigarettes. The juice I am using is a low ml of nic and I am currently using the MTL tanks. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am feeling quite dumb that I just can't seem to get it right.

I would also like to tell all my fellow Floridians to please be safe during this hurricane and Good Luck.

Hi, Jamie and welcome.

First of all, I would like to know what kind of MTL tanks you have; some of the older ones (1st generation) are no longer recommended as they overheat, do not provide enough airflow and tend to produce all kinds of undesirables like formaldehyde and such. Stay away--whether you have COPD or not. Stick to the newer, better designed ones.

If you're worried about your COPD:

Have you considered other ways of getting your nic fix? Swedish snus is the best and the safest--it's been studied for ever. If you can't get Swedish snus locally, American snus will do, but it's not as good. Using snus is best for ailing lungs, of course, because there's no inhalation involved--you just park a small pouch of purified tobacco under your lip and you're done. You can also try using it in conjunction with vaping--when the cravings hit.

I'm not a pulmonologist so I can't tell you if vaping is safe for people with COPD/emphysema, but one study conducted by Dr. Polosa from Italy seems to be encouraging:

Dr. Polosa, Italian vapor and tobacco expert, reviews e-cigs in BMC Medicine - American Council on Science and Health (ACSH)

"Among people with asthma and/or COPD (chronic obstructive lung disease, bronchitis and emphysema), improvement in symptoms was noted in two-thirds of smokers who switched to vaping. According to Dr. Polosa, taken together, these findings provide emerging evidence that e-cig/vapor product use can reverse harm from tobacco smoking."

You may also want to read this post by Smokey Joe, the founder of this forum:

My emphysema and vaping. Attention dual users. | Page 2 | E-Cigarette Forum

In addition--vape defensively. Here's what I would suggest:

1) With vaping, you don't have to inhale at all to get the benefits of nicotine. Try vaping like you would smoke a cigar or a pipe. I do it often to give my lungs a break. It's fun.

2) If you must/want to inhale, avoid flavored eliquids--stick to unflavored base (just PG, VG and nicotine, I like 70/30 PG/VG ratio) or choose very lightly flavored, clean, clear eliquids. Avoid juices that are dark, sweet, and potentially irritating flavors like cinnamon, and NETs,

3) Vape at lower wattages and use mouth to lung vaping technique--avoid DH vaping. You may want to increase your nic--12-18 mg/ml is usually effective with MTL vaping.

And stay safe!

 

[PJReid]

I found an article on a site called DiscoveryMedicene with "Advise for Respiratory Patients." I am sure this is the same article that @Katya quoted from above. Their stated goal is:

"The goal of this article is to provide healthcare professionals with appropriate interpretation of common safety concerns and with the emerging findings about potential benefits deriving from the regular use of ECs. This concise evidence-based guide is likely to improve counseling between physicians and their respiratory patients using or intending to use ECs." The article is interesting, yet inconclusive as to the effects on COPD patients. The authors do think that vaping is very much preferred over smoking for all respiratory patients.

Link to the Article

As to @Katya's comments above, I agree that 1st generation cig-a-likes are not recommended. The vape pens I recommended are 2nd generation. For reference, I am including a graphic below. It is still my opinion that you will be much happier, initially, with an easy to use vape pen using a higher level of nicotine. A sub-ohm device is not going to provide the nicotine level that will keep you satisfied as you get off the stinkies.

 

[PJReid]

 

[X7victory]

I remember the first 60 days of quitting I was coughing and hacking up all kinds of nasty stuff especially in the shower it got so bad and scared me so much that I went to the doctor..Turns out my lungs were just getting rid of some of that crap I've built up on them over the years. For me personally vaping menthol really helped.

 

[Katya]

Link to the Article

As to @Katya's comments above, I agree that 1st generation cig-a-likes are not recommended. The vape pens I recommended are 2nd generation. For reference, I am including a graphic below. It is still my opinion that you will be much happier, initially, with an easy to use vape pen using a higher level of nicotine. A sub-ohm device is not going to provide the nicotine level that will keep you satisfied as you get off the stinkies.

And of course there's also the epic thread on the subject started by Mikepetro --very interesting read. I really liked our resident chemist's @Kurt video and his findings (see quote below):

The old tootle puffers CE4s are not safe at any power level.

Our own Dr. @Kurt who also attended:

Start watching about 20 minutes into it:

 

[homeuser6]

safe is relative . a crappy 901 or ce4 is better than smoking.(they are temporary)

 

[Katya]

safe is relative . a crappy 901 or ce4 is better than smoking.(they are temporary)

And more on the subject--from the same thread I mentioned above:

I'm playing last night's episode of #smokefreeradio on YouTube so havent had a chance to read it yet but just saw this article while scrolling FB. Same article?

New Research Puts the Final Nail in the Coffin of the NEJM Formaldehyde Study