Vaping and seasonal allergies?

[whadup]

I never have been affected by allergies very much during pollen season but this year has been different. I have been sneezing a lot and have the usual allergy symptoms. The only thing that is different this year is, I don't smoke.

Has anyone else experienced this the first year they stopped smoking?

 

[DarwinUser]

Yes. I have been sneezing up a storm lately since I started vaping. Not sure why. Also, I rarely get cold, but got one today. It's been like 10 years since I had a cold. I wonder if it's related to giving up the analogs.

 

[hairball]

I've noticed my nose wanting to drip alot lately but I have mild spring allergies. I had them when I smoked as well. Sneezing more seems to be the norm since everything in our noses are working properly again.

 

[Stownz]

Yah, my sinuses are a wreck this year. Right now my eyes are watering and I have been sneezing like crazy for weeks now.

 

[pAth77]

This is my first "smoke-free" spring, and although I've never had seasonal allergies before, I've been suffering pretty badly this year. The thing about allergies is that they can come out at any time. You can be allergy-free for half your life and they can still pop up. It doesn't have anything to do with not smoking anymore; that's just how our immune systems work.

 

[Rainbowz]

I used to have terrible seasonal allergies, but last allergy season I didn't have my usual sneezing, itchy eyes and runny nose at all. I broke out in hives all over! I'll take the sneezing over that. However, I have not been sick in the 15 months since I started vaping, and I only vape PG...

 

[Mael$†я♂m]

I am famous around these parts for walking around the house this time of year with two rolled facial tissues jammed in my nostrils . A regular snot faucet . The tree pollen has yet to fall but when it does is so thick it will change the color of houses, cars & sleeping dogs . So far my allergies,if not on hold, are much less than normal . I am usually miserable .

 

[Ghetto_Cowgirl]

I have never in my entire life had allergies..up until 1 week ago, I haven't stopped sneezing and sniffing and it's driving me nuts But I can't say that's because of vaping, I'm coming up on my 2nd anniversary of vaping.

 

[mcmillin]

it might have something to do with vapeing drying out mucus membranes. which is probably why most recommend drinking lot's of water.

 

[fray]

I have severe seasonal allergies that went away when I was a teenager (started smoking). They are back with a vengeance this spring. I am thinking the cigarette smoke left tar covering my nasal membranes. Now there is no tar I am sneezing my head off.

 

[pAth77]

it might have something to do with vapeing drying out mucus membranes. which is probably why most recommend drinking lot's of water.

Vaping does dry out mucous membranes, but this won't really have any effect on allergies. Allergies are a result of the body perceiving allergens (i.e. pollen, pet dander, etc) as foreign. This leads to mast cell degranulation and a release of IgE and histamines, all of which result in local vasodilatation. This vasodilatation promotes an efflux of intravascular fluid and results in the typical symptoms of seasonal allergies (i.e. runny nose, sinus congestions, itchy & watery eyes). All allergy medications work by stabilizing mast cells and preventing vasodilation. In essence, they dry out your mucous membranes. If you take a look at the side effects of all antihistamines (Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra), you will notice that dry mouth is one of the most common ones. The dry membranes may increase antigen absorption, but if your immune system does not view the allergen as foreign then you will not have an allergic reaction. In the same respect, non-vapers with "normal" (moist) mucous membranes still get allergies. It has nothing to do with vaping and everything to do with your immune system.

 

[whadup]

Well all I know is I haven't suffered with allergies this bad since I was a child. When I was 11 it was so bad I had to take meds for it. I grew out of it in my teens, I didn't start smoking until I was 21.

 

[n2xe]

For me, it's itchy eyes more than anything else. Naphcon A from Alcon is a god send...

 

[caged]

I never have been affected by allergies very much during pollen season but this year has been different. I have been sneezing a lot and have the usual allergy symptoms. The only thing that is different this year is, I don't smoke.

Has anyone else experienced this the first year they stopped smoking?

I'm much more sensitive to allergies when I'm not smoking.

 

[txtumbleweed]

I vape mostly PG and I haven't had a cold in 16 months. No allergies or anything. I have a little dry mouth when I wake up in the morning but a big glass of water takes care of that.

 

[Maiahmae]

So far, no allergies presenting but the weather has yet to warm up worth creating any. The exception was today and yesterday (which were down right beautiful). I won't know if there's any difference to may. In which case, I'm looking forward to the lavender blooms

About a year ago, I quit cigs cold turkey. We have lived here for a few years before that and because I wasn't smoking, I smelled the lavender for the first time... that is to say that our neighborhood ~wreaked~ of it. In a good way! I even asked the roommate if the neighborhood always smelled like that during the blooms and pointed out that I never noticed/smelled it. I'm looking forward to the lavenders again this year. Like a heady perfume I could only wish to bottle as a room spray LOL.

Hopefully, like the non smoking time, allergies will be only minor. No lingering cough from phlem (eww). I can live with sneezing and itchy eyes but I'm determined to smell the lavenders again.

 

[bjannr]

I have hay allergies, and also am allergic to horses, cats and dogs. We own around 25 horses, have two indoor cats and one house dog. Last year was the first year I had to take prescription medicine for my allergies. I did not start vaping until the middle of July, two months after my first prescription. My allergies are starting already this year. I do not think vaping caused them to get worse.

 

[wdave]

My experience and what someone told me who knows more than I do, is this:

Whether vaping causes less respiratory problems vs. ecigs depends on the severity of the respiratory problem. A person with serious asthma or emphazema will suffer trying to vape just as much as they suffer trying to smoke. My ex-wife coughed like crazy when she vaped--she has emphazema.

HTH,
Dave

 

[player30]

Try a netipod nasal rinse. It will moisten & rinse out the sinuses.

 

[daisyd]

Dh made it 28 years with no spring allergies. For the past couple of years he's had them. He used chewing tobacco at the time it started, smoked for the last year, and now does a combo of vaping and smoking.This being his third year of allergies, *for him* I don't think it has anything to do with vaping. I have had severe grass alergies my whole life. I had to go get allergy tests as a child. For those that don't know, they draw a grid on your back and stick a needle with a different allergen into each square and wait to see what reacts. Not fun, but at least I wasn't allergic to the cat. It was the grass he brought in on his paws.