Vaping, Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

[Massachusetts]

Here's something interesting. I've been vaping for 9 months after not having smoked for 15 years and really missing it. I had seen more and more videos about e-cigs and decided to give it a try and absolutely love it. My blood pressure had been running borderline high (140-50/90). At my last physical I asked my doctor to put me on medication to get it lower. I've never told him that I am vaping. Anyway, he did and my pressure dropped to a very good 120 or so over 70. My cholesterol is 149. When I vape, I would think that that would tend to raise it temporarily, but it actually has the opposite effect. It goes down to as low as 105/60-65 and my heart rate stays at 55-65. I must have a high tolerance for nicotine because I regularly use 36 and 48 mg liquids and have even spiked these with unflavored liquid to get more of a pleasing kick. I never get even slightly dizzy nor have any type of a head rush or headache. It just gives me a nice relaxing feel without all the negative health issues or nasty smell of tobacco. I remember that, when I smoked, especially if I smoked two in a row I would almost always get a headache and feel like crap afterwards (I smoked Camel Filters or Camel Wides, maybe a pack a day at the most). I am wondering if anyone else out there is tracking blood pressure and whether they have experienced similar positive effects.

 

[skyward]

i was about 6 months into ecigs and was told was pre hypertensive when i took my 2yr dot physical. they gave me a one yr extension and offered to put me on drugs till i could see my regular doc. i didn't want to do this as these are hard to get off once you start.at the time the ecig (pre 510) weren't very satisfying so I'd sneak a couple marlboro everyday. long story short all i did was cut the cigs out and everything dropped to normal.

 

[unsure]

Mine rose when I went from 0mg back to 24mg...not much but a little.

 

[Starspecks]

Here's something interesting. I've been vaping for 9 months after not having smoked for 15 years and really missing it. I had seen more and more videos about e-cigs and decided to give it a try and absolutely love it. My blood pressure had been running borderline high (140-50/90). At my last physical I asked my doctor to put me on medication to get it lower. I've never told him that I am vaping. Anyway, he did and my pressure dropped to a very good 120 or so over 70. My cholesterol is 149. When I vape, I would think that that would tend to raise it temporarily, but it actually has the opposite effect. It goes down to as low as 105/60-65 and my heart rate stays at 55-65. I must have a high tolerance for nicotine because I regularly use 36 and 48 mg liquids and have even spiked these with unflavored liquid to get more of a pleasing kick. I never get even slightly dizzy nor have any type of a head rush or headache. It just gives me a nice relaxing feel without all the negative health issues or nasty smell of tobacco. I remember that, when I smoked, especially if I smoked two in a row I would almost always get a headache and feel like crap afterwards (I smoked Camel Filters or Camel Wides, maybe a pack a day at the most). I am wondering if anyone else out there is tracking blood pressure and whether they have experienced similar positive effects.

What? Resting heart rate of 55-65? Thats equivalent to an athlete..... Do you exercise?

Sent from my Evo

 

[sam.8]

I've never had high blood pressure, I'm mid 30s. I have treatment every six weeks at a hospital for something unrelated to smoking. I do exercise. I'm there for 5 hours and have to use the washroom. Decided to have some puffs and see if it would do anything to my blood pressure as the nurse takes vitals every hour. I timed it so that after six puffs I'd be back in the chair for the nurse. 120/62 55 bpm. 24 mg

 

[Hoosier]

Way back when I went to a doc about something sticking out of my gut, he got all excited about my BP. I was pretty excited about the thing sticking out of my gut. He told me the thing sticking out of my gut wouldn't kill me, but the BP would. Granted, I left that office with the thing still sticking out of my gut to see if I could find another doc that was as concerned with the gut issue as I was, but the next doc was pretty much the same. Thus my journey into trying to lower my BP through pills began. (Yeah, got the thing out of my gut at some point, but only after I agreed to be treated for high BP.)

I ended up taking lots of pills. About as many pills a day as cigs I smoked a day, so it was an even trade.

I've been vaping well over a year and no longer have to take the BP meds that cost so dang much.

I don't know why, but I do think it's a good thing. Blood panel a couple months ago was the best I've ever had and they seem to be continuing the trend toward being better that started when I switched to vaping.

I believe you, but can't fully explain it.

 

[Starspecks]

Wow I'm very surprised with these responses of lowered bp amd heart rate. I am so excited to see what happens to me personally! I'm only on day 5 of no analogs. I have been working out for 9 months. Never could get my resting heart rate below 70. I wear a heart rate monitor when exercising. Yesterday I was roughly 10-15bpm below my usual rate at any given point of my routine. But get this, the best part was how quickly after bursts of cardio my heart rate returned to resting! I felt like superwoman! I'm starting the insanity workout next week!

Sent from my Evo

 

[stillalive]

I'm 22, never smoked an analog, and have low to normal blood pressure. Usually all is well, but when I go vegetarian my bp tends to get a little too low and so I pass out more often on standing up. vaping seems to stabilize my bp so that it stays just high enough to keep me from passing out when I'm veg and just under "normal" when I'm eating a little meat like now (unfortunately, not buying your own groceries makes it hard to eat how you'd prefer). I thought it was pretty interesting.

 

[Starspecks]

I'm 22, never smoked an analog, and have low to normal blood pressure. Usually all is well, but when I go vegetarian my bp tends to get a little too low and so I pass out more often on standing up. vaping seems to stabilize my bp so that it stays just high enough to keep me from passing out when I'm veg and just under "normal" when I'm eating a little meat like now (unfortunately, not buying your own groceries makes it hard to eat how you'd prefer). I thought it was pretty interesting.

You are missing iron! Take a supplement or eat more iron rich foods when not consuming meat. You are making yourself anemic.

Sent from my Evo

 

[Massachusetts]

I walk six to eight miles a day, average is 200 miles a month. Belong to the YMCA and use a lot of the strength machines, plus do some swimming (elementary back stroke is the only one I can really make any headway with).

 

[saucyminx]

I've been charting my BP and heart rate since I started. (All normal, but I'm obsessive about this stuff, my mom has hypertension from smoking - long after she quit).

My BP started to go down by as much as 10 points, compared to when I'd have an analog (127/78 instead of 140/90).... but then my pulse jumps by at least 10 points. I didn't feel like I was overdosing myself so I don't know what happened there.

 

[stillalive]

caffeine will do the same thing. as long as your heart rate first thing in the morning is decent you should be okay.

 

[Beans]

I wonder if the nicotine is treating an underlying anxiety disorder. Let face it when were stressed and anxious we smoked and we felt better, but the tobacco was still killing us. Now were tobacco free and the nic just keeps us straight and relaxed. Therefor good for your health. That's my justification anyways

 

[Critter Man]

Analogs increase your BP and heart rate a lot more than nicotine alone ever could. A lot of doctors are aware of this phenomenon when comparing cigarettes to nicotine replacement products. It's hard to see the difference there, since nicotine gum chewers are pretty stressed. Vaping will bring most smokers' BP down.

@stillalive: if you have issues you think may be related to your diet, try a daily multivitamin. Don't spend a lot of money, though, you're just supplementing what you get through food. You certainly don't need more than your RDA, even though you don't absorb 100% of the vitamins. That or vape more to keep that BP up

 

[stillalive]

Yeah I have some diet-related issues like anemia, but they were fixed last time they were checked (a couple of months ago). Not sure why I have problems.

 

[Critter Man]

Yeah I have some diet-related issues like anemia, but they were fixed last time they were checked (a couple of months ago). Not sure why I have problems.

Well, you know doctors: They only worry about symptoms. It's very hard to do any real diagnostics unless you have a symptom unique to a specific disease.

 

[FelixDelacruz]

I usually have high blood pressure. Had to stop eating anything with salt and it went down. Now it's up cuz I smoke but the one day I had it checked I was hitting off my friend's e-cig and it went down quite a bit. I was using it for maybe 16-20 hours (with charging) and my blood pressure didn't scare my doc.

 

[FeistyAlice]

My DH, 75.5, resting heart rate around 70, and sedentary except for going to and from work, spurts of sitting and getting up, every 10 minutes or so, at work, and doing the grocery shopping ( 3 times a week), general shopping at Costco (once a week). He works one day a week, out of town, with a 3.5-4 hour drive, each way, in one day (drive is actually relaxing for him and is his favorite day as he listens to audio books driving). He, also flies out of town for three days, to work, so gets in some waking at airports.

Any way, occasionally his heart rate will drop into the 40's when he vapes but returns to normal after a few minutes. He is a physician. He does have a golf ball sized benign tumor, that is not increasing in size, in one heart chamber, and it does not cause turbulence or clots, so they are not going to remove it. It really doesn't have any symptoms and was caught a few years ago when he had his first physical in 30 years. So who knows how long it's been there.

He won't discuss this drop in pulse rate with his heart doctors because he doesn't want to let them know he uses any tobacco products. He vapes 24 mg but only about 1 ml a day.

Alice

 

[Critter Man]

@westamyx: I wonder if his drop in heart rate is due to an interaction between one of his medications and nicotine. If I were to guess, I would say maybe a beta blocker like a nitrate (although that's just a guess). It may be helpful to determine which drug it may be and hold off vaping for a time after he takes that drug. 40 BPM as a resting heart rate is risky for anyone not sitting down as there is likely going to be a drop in BP.

 

[FeistyAlice]

@westamyx: I wonder if his drop in heart rate is due to an interaction between one of his medications and nicotine. If I were to guess, I would say maybe a beta blocker like a nitrate (although that's just a guess). It may be helpful to determine which drug it may be and hold off vaping for a time after he takes that drug. 40 BPM as a resting heart rate is risky for anyone not sitting down as there is likely going to be a drop in BP.

His BP is shockingly great. Usually around 110/80. He only takes one medication, a statin, Lipitor, in a low dose, 40mg a day. Lots of vits and supplements, researched well, and doesn't take recklessly, he has an occasional aspirin or acetaminophen or Releve. We eat low fat, mostly fish, lots of veggies, sprouts and loads of cooked spinach and cauliflower, cabbage slaw almost daily, rarely anything fried. He's a "carb nazi" so the only sugar we keep in the house is for the humming birds. (I sneak in chocolate.)(There's sugar in my white wine and V8 Fusuin Lite but he doesn't consume those. He rarely drinks; maybe one glass of wine per month. He's been doing his blood work yearly, himself, and, if you saw the results you would think it was result for a 20 something in prime shape.

He goes to the heart clinic every six months for testing and he passes all the test with flying colors. Every couple of years they do a Transtracheal Ultrasound, to keep tabs on the size of the tumor.

The only thing he consumes in quantity is very strong black tea. A quarter cup of that in 24 oz of water would be strong tea for most people. He drinks it straight over ice undiluted.

I've tried to find info on internet but haven't found much.

Alice