Vaping and High Blood Pressure

[Trill]

Forgive me for posting this in multiple places (i posted in a few fb groups also), but I want to reach as many people as I can with this information. Lately, I developed high blood pressure and headaches. Because of genes and the fact that I'm a bit overweight, we figured the dice were loaded against me for that, even though I mostly have a decent diet. So, I worked harder on the diet, and that didn't help. Tried some BP meds, and that was BAD, because my BP dropped way lower than it should be. I got off that med real fast. Anyway, I decided to drop my nic level to see if that may be the issue, so I dropped from 24mg to 18. Mind you, when I smoked, I smoked ultra lights. I used 24mg to make sure I wouldn't be nic'ing when I was withdrawing from the other crap, and just stayed with it. So, at 18mg, my BP has gone almost back to normal (it ran a little low most of my life, and it's still a few points high), so I'll be dropping to 12mg soon.

The point of this is that, when I went to the doctor today, we looked at my charts, both the doctor's, and the ones I've kept in my BP machine, and my BP went up at the exact time that I started vaping, and came down the exact time I dropped my nic level. So, what I want to say to you guys is: check your blood pressure regularly, and if it has spiked since you started vaping, try lowering your nic level to see if that helps. We can't absolutely say that the nic was causing the high BP, cuz I am just one person, and who knows, and we can't say that lowering my nic level is absolutely what caused the high BP to go away, but I just wanted to pass on this info, because, well, everyone needs to check their BP on a regular basis anyway, cuz ain't nobody got time for no strokes. I'm just very happy to know that I was able to fix this problem myself and not have to take BP meds for ...however long.

 

[myyrkezaan]

Nicotine is a stimulant, all stimulants raise your blood pressure.

 

[Trill]

Right. And I was advised by folks on this forum to go straight to 24mg, even though I smoked ultra lights. The main point I was making is that folks should check their BP regularly, whether or not they vape, but especially if they are new at it and have no idea how it's going to affect their bodies. I'm not trying to say "don't vape, it raises BP" or anything like that. I'm a hardcore advocate for vaping, and my entire family is now a non-smoking family because of that.

I figure we are all guinea pigs, and the more info we can share with each other, the better. Kinda like when I posted the info about my dental health not long after I started vaping.

 

[myyrkezaan]

My comment was just commenting that nic will raise your BP as does caffeine, I'm not sure everyone realizes it.

Getting check ups is a good thing with any major change in your life. Its funny how people will give cars scheduled maintenance but not themselves .

More information is always good.

Good for you on getting the family off cigarettes, my mom is hesitant and I'm not going to push it (too much).

 

[Trill]

Yep, and remember, everyone, you can check your own BP for free at many pharmacies! Good luck with your mom. My uncle was the last of us, and he was defensive from the beginning. We all knew that pushing him would NOT work, so my aunt just vaped and didn't say a word to him about it. My cousin (his son) had started vaping, and he came over one day, and he and his mom were vaping and talking about it in the kitchen, and when my uncle came in, they changed the subject, but kept vaping. That's when he asked to try it. It had to be his idea with no pushing from anyone. My aunt sent me pics of them from xmas and he's sitting there with an ego/clearo in his hand and I grin ear to ear every time I look at it. I hope your mom will decide she wants to try it, and end up kicking the analogs. <3

 

[Heavyrocker]

Good job informing us all.

 

[myyrkezaan]

50+ year habit is hard to break and dad say she is sneaking a few in the basement, not sure how much she is doing. He was the one that said I should talk to her about it. They saw me vaping at Thanksgiving and on Christmas he asked how it was going. I said I haven't touched a cigarette since I started and then he asked me to talk to mom about it.

My biggest problem when starting out was the bigger sizes, felt a little conspicuous at work. But then I realized that I shouldn't care because it is helping me and jumped into the mods. Haven't cared since but I doubt I'll get the Destroyer.

I'm thinking about getting my mom a cig style one since I don't think she is smoking that much and it's an easier adjustment than handing her a club .

 

[Trill]

I like the cig style when I'm drinking and I lovvvvvvvvve the barflys from vapage.com. Before I found those, I sent a couple friends some bloogs and kits from smokeless image, and they love those. So, those are 3 places I know of that have good pre-filled cartos with the kit/disposables. They're pricier than doing it the ego/juice way, but if that's what it takes, so be it. Maybe something as simple as getting a cute one that's her favorite color will work, just a surprise gift. I did that with one of my friends and she freaked out and sent me messages in all caps about purple and not ever ever smoking again. I think that's what she was trying to say lol.

 

[babyk1352012]

Trill I am so glad you posted this! I have recently started having issues with high BP and pulse rate. I have been vaping for almost 3 years and would consider myself an experienced vaper. In fact sometimes I'll have to visit my local e-cig shop if I run out of something , and can't wait for the mailman, and I usually end up teaching the store associate something instead of them teaching me lol. But even with that being said, it never dawned on me that e-cigs could affect my health negatively. I know nicotine is a stimulant (thats a no brainer lol), but I've never had issues so I never thought about it. It just goes to show no matter how much knowledge you think you might have about something, there's always something new to learn!

I've just made the switch as of yesterday from 24mgs to 12 mgs, so I hope it helps. I love vaping, and am hoping I can still do so with at least a little nicotine, I've also within the last week had my doc put me on BP medication and agreed with him to cut my nicotine intake in half.

I am curious to know how many others have this issue though. I feel like this is something people should be aware of as new vapers or veterans like myself lol. We need to look out for each other. When i got my 1st e-cig i was told to use a high mg because i would use it less, it was never brought to my attention that such a high dose might have a negative impact on my health. I in no way think e-cigs should be regulated EVER! But I do think people need to be aware of the affect it could possibly have on bp and heart rate.

Thankfully there is such a place like this forum to help make others aware!Anyway that is my 2 cents lol, Trill I hope you bp continues to do well, and I hope mine does too. I have 15 month old twins, I need to be healthy for them, they are my world!

 

[hazarada]

I also went from ultra lights to vaping (all through i went straight to 12mg) but on my case my regular bp went from 140/80 to 110/70 which was actually pretty scary since because im also underweight for the last few years i've been able to hear every single hear beat i had and when i no longer couldnt.. well it took some adjusting to be more normal again

 

[Trill]

Good luck, babyk! I dropped down to 12, but am struggling a little bit. I got my daughter to make me some 14 to help out with that, but I haven't reached for it yet, so I'm not struggling THAT much. I'm kind of stressed out right now, which might be why it's a little rough with 12mg, but I'm hoping that will just clear up after a while, and I can start thinking about going lower. Maybe do smaller drops from here down, like go to 10 next, or even 11. I honestly wouldn't mind eventually getting to 0 one of these days. I have no intention of quitting vaping, though.

hazarada, that is interesting. How is your BP doing now? I did have a spike at my rheumie's office the other day, but I just get SO angry at him + pain, so that it's to be expected lol.

I do need to keep a closer eye on it, though. I've gotten lazy since it got better. If I'm having spikes like that on a regular basis, I need to know.

 

[hazarada]

Still holding there, interesting side effect - i used to have an issue with standing(walking, running or anything else is fine) in the same place for long periods of time (last year at my great grandfathers funeral we had to stand for like a hour and i nearly passed out). Now though its like i could stand forever so i've been standing everywhere like in queues and in the bus and just vertical planking the crap out of everything.

 

[Trill]

Well, I'm going to have to retract this info, really, and call it disproven, at least for me. I'm down to 12mgs now (which has been pretty easy, surprisingly), but my bp has gone back up again. Le sigh. I guess it's meds now. Have tried everything else, diet, exercise (to some extent, anyway. almost passed out the other day). Anyway, the original message still stands, have your BP checked regularly! Ain't nobody got time for no strokes and such!!! <3

 

[mostlyclassics]

When I switched to vaping, my BP dropped 10 points on each number and stayed there. I'm now 110/60. I guess everyone's different.

 

[josie wales]

Bumping to see if anyone else has an observation on this. I have high BP, but I don't think it's any worse from vaping compared to analogs. I'm not sure.

 

[Iron Molly]

My BP has dropped since starting vaping as well. I vape 18 mg. At one point when I still smoked (and had a stressful job) it was high enough to require meds. I don't remember exactly what mine was at last check, but very much in the normal range.