Trying Vaping After 45 Years of Smoking...Questions

[Debbie Gifford]

Howdy everyone!
My name is Debbie and I’m new here.
My lungs are in horrible condition, after smoking for 45 years and being left with what is now very severe Stage 4 COPD. I’ve been at this stage for going on 6 years now. I have many exacerbations and infections with difficulty breathing. Sadly, I’m only 62. So, I’ve recently been vaping and began the first part of November 2021. I had about 14 cigarettes in November, about 4 in December and 1 this month. At one time, I smoked over 2 packs a day for many years. But, when I started vaping, it was around a pack a day. I’ve been mostly ill since vaping and would like input from other users. Is it possible that vaping is harder on my lungs than smoking or is there something I may be missing; something I’m doing wrong? Thank you all so much! Hope you’re all having a great evening!

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Hi Debbie, welcome to the ECF!
36y 2+PAD (Pack a Day) former smoker here. Switched out over 9 years ago.

Vaping will probably not be any harder on your lungs, it's just the transition can be a pain. You are use to the smoke and the vapor is not smoke. You also have to deal with all the side affects of quitting smoking. So it can make you sick, or at least feel sick.

I make my own eliquids, build some of my own mods now and them and I use mostly rebuildable devices to hold my eliquid. However, I do enjoy VooPoo tanks (even if they call them pods).

Have you found devices that suit you? A coil type or mod that works for you? Something that satisfies your smoking cravings?

 

[smacuser]

Welcome to ecf @Debbie Gifford

30 year pack a day smoker, 10 year vaper here.

As long as vaping is not uncomfortable for you, you should be fine. Do you vape mouth to lung, or inhale direct to lung?

 

[somdcomputerguy]

Welcome to ECF, Debbie.

 

[Daniel Forsyth]

Welcome to ECF

 

[Richard Winter]

Howdy everyone!
My name is Debbie and I’m new here.
My lungs are in horrible condition, after smoking for 45 years and being left with what is now very severe Stage 4 COPD. I’ve been at this stage for going on 6 years now. I have many exacerbations and infections with difficulty breathing. Sadly, I’m only 62. So, I’ve recently been vaping and began the first part of November 2021. I had about 14 cigarettes in November, about 4 in December and 1 this month. At one time, I smoked over 2 packs a day for many years. But, when I started vaping, it was around a pack a day. I’ve been mostly ill since vaping and would like input from other users. Is it possible that vaping is harder on my lungs than smoking or is there something I may be missing; something I’m doing wrong? Thank you all so much! Hope you’re all having a great evening!

Welcome to ECF @Debbie Gifford, sorry to hear about your condition but good that your trying to get off the cigarettes.

I smoked around 40 a day over a 40 year period and was beginning to show signs of breathing difficulties. I transitioned to vaping nearly 7yrs ago and have not had a ciggy since.

In my case I was smoking and vaping at the same time to help cut down the amount of cigarettes I was having for about 3 months until I reached the point I didnt want to smoke anymore.

I can honestly say switching to vaping was the best thing I could of done. After a short while my breathing improved and I feel a lot healthier in myself.

It does take a while for all the toxins in your body caused by smoking to reduce/clear and to find the right vaping device and e-liquid and nicotine level to help you transition successfully.

There are a lot of goog guys and girls on here that will help you. Stick with it Debbie.

 

[ppeeble]

A diagnosis of COPD would make me think very carefully about inhaling anything other than air into my lungs. Have you tried not inhaling ?
Draw vapour into the mouth/throat and release through the nose. I do this on occasion to give my lungs a break.
If you HAVE to inhale something to get your nicotine fix then i would suggest that vaping is preferable to smoking.
Good luck

 

[borno]

welcome

 

[jjcordone]

Welcome Debbie. I'm in the same boat. 45+year smoker, pack a day.
Diagnosed with emphysema five years ago. It still took me a year to stop smoking.
I had vaped and smoked for a long period, but once I found Juul, it ended my cigarette use.
For whatever reason, Juul worked for me. Just last week I began supplementing Juul with an Innokin MVP pod system (thanks Innokin Timmy!). It is much cheaper to use than Juul is and I really like it.
Anyway, as others have said, at first inhaling the vape felt terrible and I went about a month or more not inhaling, just holding the vape in my month. You do absorb the nicotine in this way. I did finally hit a point where it was comfortable to inhale, I inhaled by accident one day and it suddenly felt smooth.
Keep trying. I've been blessed with my emphysema having stabilized since I gave up cigarettes. It will never cure itself, but so far it hasn't gotten worse and I have no doubt it would have continued to get worse if I had continued smoking... Keep trying!

 

[SlowTalker]

Another COPD 40+ year smoker here. Asthma as well. When you first start vaping you may have difficulty breathing for some time as your lungs begin to heal/clear. If you have been prescribed any kind of inhaler use it. Make sure you drink enough water. Breathing exercises for increasing your lung capacity will help as well. Progress will be a lot slower with COPD over what other new vapers experience. Hang in there, and welcome to ECF

 

[thanswr1]

Welcome, Debbie

You came to the right place for information. You'll find the people here friendly, well informed and always willing to help.

Good luck with quitting cigarettes.

 

[dsites]

Welcome ... You're in the right place.

Read up on this forum and try the suggestions. You'll be glad that you did.

 

[BrotherBob]

Howdy everyone!

Welcome and glad you joined.

Is it possible that vaping is harder on my lungs

Mike like to take a look at:
https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette/comments/3w38zx/vapewilds_diacetylap_testing/

 

[jjcordone]

With all of the COPD suffers posting - question for you. What inhaler are you using?
I switched to Trelegy about two years ago and love it. It's the most effective one I've tried, but the when I'm off my employers private insurance and onto Medicare, the cost is threw the roof!
There's no way I can do $350 to $550 a month to stay on it.

 

[Debbie Gifford]

I finally got to read through the posts but now my iPad is about dead and need to charge. I’ll reply after while but wanted to thank you all for being so warm and friendly in welcoming me here!! I really appreciate that! I also really appreciate all of your input!
Thank you all!
Be back later!
God bless!

 

[Hawise]

Hi Debbie, and welcome to ECF! While vaping isn't ideal, especially with COPD, all the research so far indicates that it's better than smoking (at least in my non-expert understanding). That said, one possible problem that comes to mind is a sensitivity to some of the ingredients in e-juice. E-juice is generally made of:

• VG (vegetable glycerin)
• PG (propylene glycol)
• nicotine
• flavourings

It's possible to be sensitive to any of those substances. For example, if I get too much VG, my chest feels heavy and can get tight. There's a fairly simple solution for me - sticking to MTL-style vaping and using juice with no more than about 60% VG eliminates the problem.

You might want to try experimenting with different juices. You can find juices with all sorts of VG/PG ratios to see if reducing one or the other makes a difference for you. Also try different flavours in case there's an issue there.

@ppeeble's suggestion is also an excellent one. Much of the nicotine you get through vaping is absorbed by the membranes in the mouth and nose, not the lungs, so vaping without inhaling can be surprisingly effective.

Good luck!

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

With all of the COPD suffers posting - question for you. What inhaler are you using?
I switched to Trelegy about two years ago and love it. It's the most effective one I've tried, but the when I'm off my employers private insurance and onto Medicare, the cost is threw the roof!
There's no way I can do $350 to $550 a month to stay on it.

Yeah but is that just straight medicare? If so, you need to look into a Medicare supplement plan or medicare advantage plan with Part D coverage. Also, if you're poor enough, then get on the Extra Help program and your prescription costs are minimal - you won't need a part D plan as that is your part D plan.

 

[englishmick]

With all of the COPD suffers posting - question for you. What inhaler are you using?
I switched to Trelegy about two years ago and love it. It's the most effective one I've tried, but the when I'm off my employers private insurance and onto Medicare, the cost is threw the roof!
There's no way I can do $350 to $550 a month to stay on it.

I was diagnosed with COPD. They put me on Spiriva and another one. Soon after that I quit smoking. Then the insurance company at work stopped covering COPD meds and the full price was most of my take home pay. I had to stop taking them but that was after I quit smoking and I didn't really notice any difference.

 

[englishmick]

I did a pack a day for 47 years and I have less advanced COPD.

With more severe COPD I really don't know. As someone else said above maybe not inhaling would be a good idea. You are in an unstable place with having just quit smoking, there will be a lot of changes from that whether you vape or not. It could be a few months before you stabilise to where you can tell what effect vaping has on you, right now anything that happens could be from quitting or from vaping.

One possibility would be to use something with a high nicotine level like Juul. Advantage there is you wouldn't have to vape as much to meet your nicotine needs. Or even use nic lozenges for while.

Good luck.

 

[jjcordone]

Yeah but is that just straight medicare? If so, you need to look into a Medicare supplement plan or medicare advantage plan with Part D coverage. Also, if you're poor enough, then get on the Extra Help program and your prescription costs are minimal - you won't need a part D plan as that is your part D plan.

I've got a lot to learn about Medicare - thanks for the advice!