Throat Problems, had to quit, hate that, looking for support...

[plasma800]

Almost 5 years vaping, and I just set it down Sunday.. and it sucks big time.

It's been a rough bunch of days, I can say that for sure.

This is on par, if not worse, than quitting cigarettes.

So check this out,

I've been happily vaping for years. I have everything down to a science. Favorite battery, nautalis tank, Halo cool mist - down to 3mg of nicotine, and I LOVE MY DEVICE! I just love everything about it...

until the problems started.

They started and mounted slowly, like over the last two years, but worsening quickly over the last 6 months.

It started with just some swelling in the throat, tightness. That turned into a lump, or a nodule.. felt like a chunk of a nut might be stuck in your throat. That turned into a distinct clicking when swallowing. That turned into having some difficulty swallowing while lying down. That turned into absolutely not being able to swallow while lying down. You want to talk about panic? It's truly freaky. As if the muscles in your throat just don't work.. like you've had a stroke or something,, it's terrible.

If I sat up, or put water in my mouth, I could swallow fine.

That turned into a situation where water and food started not going down the right pipe as often, and I started having to be very careful when swallowing food or water cause it would easily redirect into my windpipe. We've all done that by accident here and there, but this was different.. like.. just very different, and happening daily, at every drink, and every meal, and getting worse.

I've had GERD in the past, so at first I chalked it all up to just a burnt up esophagus, and that could very well be the case, or at least a factor.

I've seen doctors, barium swallows, taking medication, very careful about what I eat, but the problems kept mounting...

so I quit.

My throat swelling seemed to immediately get better, not perfect,, but markedly better.
Sleeping improved over the course of a few days.

The withdrawal was terrible, still is. Much depression, anxiety, freaking out, miss my e cig... and i realize now just how much that thing lived in my hand...

I flipped out if I left the house and forgot another battery, or was low on juice.. I mean truly addicting! So in some ways, I'm looking forward to being free of the e cig monkey, but man.... what in the world are we or have we been smoking!?

I just wanted to vent. To let it all out to people who understand.

And to see if anyone else developed any throat problems or issues from vaping.

And leave a flag for discussion for anyone in the future who feels their symptoms are similar.

 

[plasma800]

a couple of things i meant to add..

throat fatigue.. like actually sore and tired "sucking/inhaling" muscles
swollen glands...

I'm freaking out thinking I have throat cancer or some such non sense...

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Glad to hear that you're on the mend, and it's great to hear that you're under the care of a physician. We have had a number of members join ECF to tell us all about what they suspect to be vaping related medical problems. Yet when asked if they've seen a doctor about their condition or symptoms... crickets.

 

[PaulBHC]

You didn't mention your mix so I will tell you about mine. I started having mouth problems like a chemical burn. End of story I started mixing my own VG and distilled water. 10ml of 60mg nic in VG, 10 ml of DW and 80ml of VG for a 100ml of 6mg 90/10 unflavored. I have also used menthol crystals for occasional use but it doesn't like to stay suspended in VG.

 

[plasma800]

Yeah, no kidding! I've noticed the same in my own research... that no one seems to ever come back and fill in the blanks...

Glad to hear that you're on the mend, and it's great to hear that you're under the care of a physician. We have had a number of members join ECF to tell us all about what they suspect to be vaping related medical problems. Yet when asked if they've seen a doctor about their condition or symptoms... crickets.

 

[plasma800]

You didn't mention your mix so I will tell you about mine. I started having mouth problems like a chemical burn. End of story I started mixing my own VG and distilled water. 10ml of 60mg nic in VG, 10 ml of DW and 80ml of VG for a 100ml of 6mg 90/10 unflavored. I have also used menthol crystals for occasional use but it doesn't like to stay suspended in VG.

Halo, Cool Mist, 3mg... I've smoked that exclusively for 4 years now... I don't know what the Ratio is, but it's somewhere.

Also, I have no idea what all that means... I get vegi G, distilled water... but i've never mixed anything,, I'm a total novice there.

 

[plasma800]

Also, check this out, I added up all of the money I spent at Haloecigs.com just buying juice since 2015....

Added up to just over $5600 .. wow..

 

[plasma800]

Ok, one more ramble, then I'll stop for the night.

Quitting vaping is frigging hard! I think it might have something to do with the "way" we vapes...

With cigs, eh.. you always smelled, went outdoors, it was just different.

With an ECIG, you can do it ANYWHERE, and ANYTIME>.... in the bathroom, outside, inside, in the car, at your computer.. it becomes ingrained into your everything you do...

I found 'getting all of my stuff together for travels' as a MUST DO, smoking was a MUST DO, get in bed? MUST HAVE IT NEAR BY.. go to the bathroom and leave your ecig in the kitchen.... oh noooooo.. you'll pinch it off just to go get it...

It's super addictive psychologically... and I LOVE it, I don't want to stop, i love chain vaping, it stayed in my hands always.... it's literally 2 feet from me now.. all I have to do is connect the tank, and push the button...

BUT Alas, I have challenged myself to 21 days... if I can't go 21 days without, I have a serious problem. Today is day 4, and it sucks right now.... ya know, plus that idea of your throat closing on ya and you die in your sleep.. that's pretty motivating, however unlikely.

The nagging throat clearing every 5 minutes went away almost immediately though. Woke up Monday morning with none of that,,, I suppose that was a win.

So I guess I want to compare my experience with that of others... maybe MY coils, MY juice, MY frequency is the problem, and I just need to expand my knowledge over all... or maybe I just need to stay quit... I have a 5 month old at home, and so much going for myself.. how important is vaping, really?

life.. and stuff...

 

[englishmick]

Earlier this year I had a short nasty flu. After that cleared up I had a chesty cough for a week. The chesty cough cleared up but I was left with an itchy throat from the coughing. It made me dry cough a lot, especially when I lay down.

I noticed that when I vaped it immediately fired up my itchy throat and coughing. I stopped vaping and my throat calmed right down. Started vaping again and it came back. Then I quit vaping for around a week. Now I'm fine again. I had a similar flu last year and carried on vaping. It took 2 or 3 weeks for my throat to get back to normal. Same stuff happened when I was a smoker.

My takeaway is that vaping probably isn't going to mess up your throat. But if you have a sore throat it might be a good idea to give the vaping a rest until your throat has a chance to recover.

Maybe you will be able to start vaping again when your throat gets back to normal. Worth trying Paul's suggestion on the VG too. That's helped me in the past. I use VG nic anyway, I just stopped using flavoring to lose the PG.

Unlike you I didn't have a problem putting down the vape for a few days. I did have a tube of lozenges though for when the urge struck me.

 

[classwife]

I am sorry you are going through this
Reflux is a bear to tame.
Laryngopharyngeal Reflux/Silent reflux (what I have) is a sneaky devil, you don't know you have problems until they are severe.
I didn't know until my throat started closing on me, I could breathe out but not in.
Some of the 'symptoms' are the same as allergies - explains why allergy meds never worked for me - seems I have been battling this for years and years.
Vaping ? I don't think so...it's more to do with canned/processed food, fast food and acidic foods.
Now, nicotine does relax the lower esophageal sphincter so if you have reflux problems you might want to avoid it.

 

[plasma800]

I am sorry you are going through this
Reflux is a bear to tame.
Laryngopharyngeal Reflux/Silent reflux (what I have) is a sneaky devil, you don't know you have problems until they are severe.
I didn't know until my throat started closing on me, I could breathe out but not in.
Some of the 'symptoms' are the same as allergies - explains why allergy meds never worked for me - seems I have been battling this for years and years.
Vaping ? I don't think so...it's more to do with canned/processed food, fast food and acidic foods.
Now, nicotine does relax the lower esophageal sphincter so if you have reflux problems you might want to avoid it.

Likely I've battled the same thing.

I used to be caviler about it, but not anymore.. I'm pretty strict with myself these days. I also work hard to eat like a champ... I'm talking solid, home cooked only, chicken and broccoli and carrots, in appropriate portions and at appropriate times of the day.

My reflux used to be such that it would burble up my throat and right into my lungs while sleeping... talk about crappy! that's crappy. Not nightly or anything, but if i over indulged... here it came... it trained me to not over indulge so much (or EVER --- Hot wings? Sounds great, but no thanks).

NOW, I love beer... so.. that might have something to do with it, but I've been limiting myself to only a couple of beers, and early in the day... like 2 beers at 5 Pm, or 4 beers between 2pm and 5pm... instead of the old getting sh*tfaced drunk every night that I used to do.

I've also tried allergy medicine with no results.

But yeah, episodes in the middle of the night that make you think you need to call an ambulance is pretty rattling.

I also have sleep apnea... so a CPAP machine is on hand.. wow, I sound really messed up...

 

[plasma800]

I also have a hernia... a hienal

 

[Asbestos4004]

Sorry you're having problems....
Just so I understand...you've been vaping for 5 years and you quit 4 days ago due to health issues, high cost, severe addiction....so you decided to join a vape forum TODAY? That's sorta strange.

 

[AXIOM_1]

Removed

no

 

[plasma800]

Hence the phrase "need support"

I'm looking for conversation on the subject with fellow vapers..

I'm looking for either

A: People who have experienced any sort of similar symptoms, and what their outcomes and discoveries may have been..

B: Possibly some information that would selfishly allow myself to talk myself to return to vaping.. such as "try this liquid" or " mix something like this" or "hey these new coils allow you to change the vape like so and that helped my irritation and inflammation"

or

C: Hey man, I quit too, and it did suck. Total empathy and many Ommm's for your journey.

And at the very very least, leave a marker for future people who either A: feel over addicted, or B: have some odd symptoms going on and would like to know they aren't alone, and here's a chain of conversation on the subject.

And, I'm not the only person on the planet who has discussions about how hard it is to quit.
How I Quit Vaping | The Fix (my addiction is very similar to hers)
How I Finally Quit E-Cigarettes Along With The Rest of Those Super-Addictive Vaping And Nicotine Replacement Products
http://..................com/threads/how-hard-is-it-to-quit-vaping.179619/
so forth...

What kind of person thinks this line of conversation, or the fact that I'm finally fed up enough to ask fellow vapers about it thinks this is "strange" or "trolly"... I'm a little offended. It's pretty obvious I'm not cranking this stuff up out of no where for some funny reason to trick you into typing words on a keyboard.

Check this out, a screen shot of my account at halo... and that list keeps going all the way back to November of 14 when I started order halo online instead of buying it local stores. I copied the entire list to excel, and at halo alone, it added up to just over $5600. That, of course, would not include any money spent prior at local stores, or all the money spent on batteries, coils, tanks, BROKEN tanks from dropping them (whoops) and so on. I'd hazard a guess, that between my wife and I (who quit vaping when she got pregnant) have spent likely around 8000 dollars on the habit. This is on par with, if not more than, the cost of smoking cigarettes, and no matter which way you slice it and dice it.. 8 grand is 8 grand. That's 8000 dollars not in my IRA or 401k. That's 8 grand I could have put down on a new car. That's 8 grand I could have put in my daughters college 529. That's 8 grand I could have used to pay down my mortgage. That's 8 grand I could have used to buy more power tools. Do that for another 5 years, and that's 16 grand! That's half a car man! or a whole car to some young people.....

(see my avatar.. don't know if you recall that episode when Fry says "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" over something totally frivolous - which is sort of my view on vaping at this point.. I'm old enough to know vaping is sort of a first world, frivolous kind of thing.. while at the same time, incredibly gratifying and delicious and amazing... and that can be a problem. )

Think about it like this... let's say a 25 year old started vaping at 20, and that 25 year old spent a measly 5000 dollars over the 5 years on vaping.

Had that same 25 year old instead invested that 5000 in an IRA, and received a measly 6% compounded return for 35 years, that 25 year old would have an extra 40,000 dollars in retirement. That's significant enough to me to mention. I was literally shocked when I added up the numbers. Cause I don't know about you guys, but I'm very serious about not retiring on cat food. Do that for another 5 years, miss out on 10,000 grand of savings, and miss out on even MORE compounding interest.. ya know.. math and all...

Further, as I've read around on the forum... I'm not the only one who thinks none of us really know what we don't know.. we have no idea what the future medical complications will be for our bodies, or WHEN those problems will start to manifest.

So don'tcha think it would be normal, and ok, for folks like me to start to open those lines of questions, based on direct experience.. or is that a little too trolly for you... possibly shattering some fragile state of being ??

I also don't feel that frank talk about the costs are weird or out of line either, although I never see anyone comment on the actual cost of vaping.. so I might as well.

Yeah man, this is real life.

Sorry you're having problems....
Just so I understand...you've been vaping for 5 years and you quit 4 days ago due to health issues, high cost, severe addiction....so you decided to join a vape forum TODAY? That's sorta strange.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

Ever considered your problems might be aggravated by the halo liquids.

Something about their flavorings, sweeteners, pg/vg ratio or Nic.

 

[Asbestos4004]

Hence the phrase "need support"

I'm looking for conversation on the subject with fellow vapers..

I'm looking for either

A: People who have experienced any sort of similar symptoms, and what their outcomes and discoveries may have been..

B: Possibly some information that would selfishly allow myself to talk myself to return to vaping.. such as "try this liquid" or " mix something like this" or "hey these new coils allow you to change the vape like so and that helped my irritation and inflammation"

or

C: Hey man, I quit too, and it did suck. Total empathy and many Ommm's for your journey.

And at the very very least, leave a marker for future people who either A: feel over addicted, or B: have some odd symptoms going on and would like to know they aren't alone, and here's a chain of conversation on the subject.

And, I'm not the only person on the planet who has discussions about how hard it is to quit.
How I Quit Vaping | The Fix (my addiction is very similar to hers)
How I Finally Quit E-Cigarettes Along With The Rest of Those Super-Addictive Vaping And Nicotine Replacement Products
http://..................com/threads/how-hard-is-it-to-quit-vaping.179619/
so forth...

What kind of person thinks this line of conversation, or the fact that I'm finally fed up enough to ask fellow vapers about it thinks this is "strange" or "trolly"... I'm a little offended. It's pretty obvious I'm not cranking this stuff up out of no where for some funny reason to trick you into typing words on a keyboard.

Check this out, a screen shot of my account at halo... and that list keeps going all the way back to November of 14 when I started order halo online instead of buying it local stores. I copied the entire list to excel, and at halo alone, it added up to just over $5600. That, of course, would not include any money spent prior at local stores, or all the money spent on batteries, coils, tanks, BROKEN tanks from dropping them (whoops) and so on. I'd hazard a guess, that between my wife and I (who quit vaping when she got pregnant) have spent likely around 8000 dollars on the habit. This is on par with, if not more than, the cost of smoking cigarettes, and no matter which way you slice it and dice it.. 8 grand is 8 grand. That's 8000 dollars not in my IRA or 401k. That's 8 grand I could have put down on a new car. That's 8 grand I could have put in my daughters college 529. That's 8 grand I could have used to pay down my mortgage. That's 8 grand I could have used to buy more power tools. Do that for another 5 years, and that's 16 grand! That's half a car man! or a whole car to some young people.....

(see my avatar.. don't know if you recall that episode when Fry says "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" over something totally frivolous - which is sort of my view on vaping at this point.. I'm old enough to know vaping is sort of a first world, frivolous kind of thing.. while at the same time, incredibly gratifying and delicious and amazing... and that can be a problem. )

Think about it like this... let's say a 25 year old started vaping at 20, and that 25 year old spent a measly 5000 dollars over the 5 years on vaping.

Had that same 25 year old instead invested that 5000 in an IRA, and received a measly 6% compounded return for 35 years, that 25 year old would have an extra 40,000 dollars in retirement. That's significant enough to me to mention. I was literally shocked when I added up the numbers. Cause I don't know about you guys, but I'm very serious about not retiring on cat food. Do that for another 5 years, miss out on 10,000 grand of savings, and miss out on even MORE compounding interest.. ya know.. math and all...

View attachment 681519

Further, as I've read around on the forum... I'm not the only one who thinks none of us really know what we don't know.. we have no idea what the future medical complications will be for our bodies, or WHEN those problems will start to manifest.

So don'tcha think it would be normal, and ok, for folks like me to start to open those lines of questions, based on direct experience.. or is that a little too trolly for you... possibly shattering some fragile state of being ??

I also don't feel that frank talk about the costs are weird or out of line either, although I never see anyone comment on the actual cost of vaping.. so I might as well.

Yeah man, this is real life.

First of all, don't confuse me with anyone calling you a troll. I was simply trying to understand why someone would join a vaping forum AFTER 5 years of vaping and AFTER quitting. I stand by my statement that it seems strange.
Had I not spent the money I spent on vaping, I'd most certainly still be smoking. I've spent far more than $8000 over the last 5 years. Had I not done so, I'm fairly confident that I'd have spent much more on cigarettes and doctor bills. I've had no health issues since I quit smoking and have had many instances where I couldn't vape for long periods of time. No hair pulling or skin picking.....I just didn't vape. Thanks to vaping, I feel like I've recovered from any addictions related to smoking.
I appreciate your detailed response, but no need to get defensive....with me, anyway.

 

[plasma800]

Ever considered your problems might be aggravated by the halo liquids.

Something about their flavorings, sweeteners, pg/vg ratio or Nic.

Absolutely, I've had that thought...

 

[plasma800]

First of all, don't confuse me with anyone calling you a troll. I was simply trying to understand why someone would join a vaping forum AFTER 5 years of vaping and AFTER quitting. I stand by my statement that it seems strange.
Had I not spent the money I spent on vaping, I'd most certainly still be smoking. I've spent far more than $8000 over the last 5 years. Had I not done so, I'm fairly confident that I'd have spent much more on cigarettes and doctor bills. I've had no health issues since I quit smoking and have had many instances where I couldn't vape for long periods of time. No hair pulling or skin picking.....I just didn't vape. Thanks to vaping, I feel like I've recovered from any addictions related to smoking.
I appreciate your detailed response, but no need to get defensive....with me, anyway.

I hear ya man.. sorry, it was like 4am, I couldn't sleep again.. I'm exhausted.. I don't know what's up, maybe My CPAP machine has a problem, but I've been waking up every hour... kinda feels like my old apnea did before I had the machine, but not nearly as bad.

 

[stols001]

Hi Plasma800,

I am supremely sympathetic to your problem. You've talked about reducing/changing a lot of habits due to this issue, and one thing I'm wondering about is that (granted, I DIY I don't buy Halo's juice so I don't know how expensive it is) you seem to have spent a lot on juice and so I am kind of assuming you are a DL vaper? You also talk about vaping habits that seem to indicate that you vape a fair amount during the day, and that you find it "addicting" in that you can vape anywhere? I'm wondering if maybe your system has been oversensitized to vaping as you do it so much. For example, I don't carry my vape into the bathroom at all, or the kitchen if I'm cooking, just as with smoking there are times I don't do it.

I wonder if, after checking with your doctor, you might try a small, MTL device, perhaps with higher nicotine or not, and consider isolating your juice factors, which might mean a small bit of DIY. I'd try vaping unflavored VG and see what happens to your symptoms. Then unflavored PG, to see if that's an irritant. Finally, I'd try adding in nic, at low amounts, if you can tolerate either PG or VG, and then finally, one, simple flavor that isn't an irritant and at lower percentages than storebought juice. I would only do ANY of that with your doctor's approval, knowledge, and with someone else there if you need rescue. I'm thinking that vaping heavily over time *could* cause irritants and etc to build up over time, and that may be what is triggering your symptoms.

WITH that said, I'm not a doctor and I wouldn't try it personally without some doctor supervision, hopefully someone familiar with vaping and your condition.

Also, 5 beers a day, while surely better than getting wasted, could also be playing a role here if it's GERD. You may be noticing it more as you're not passing out through the worst of your symptoms... Possibly. IDK. But you have my heartfelt sympathies and I do hope you can get to the bottom of your problems.

Best of luck,

Anna