@Vwls, just wanted to add, best of luck with it all and please let us know how things turn out for you 
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Hi everyone - checking back in to offer some follow-up. The surgery itself went fine and I am healing well and back on my feet. The month before surgery, I dutifully vaped only zero nic juice (because of the known problems nicotine causes with healing) and refrained from drinking alcohol. I was so good! (I thought). It should be noted that I was under anesthesia for 6 hours during surgery.
A couple of days after I got home, I developed pneumonia. Now that can happen when a patient is under anesthesia for that length of time (aspiration and a couple of other factors can cause it), but the pre-vaping may have had something to do with it also, even though there was no nicotine.
It took almost a full month of antibiotics and bed rest to beat the pneumonia. I am now still coughing up a tiny amount of sputum and have a stuffy nose, but all the other symptoms (gallons of mucous, weakness, not enough oxygen, etc) have fully passed. The most recent chest x-ray showed my lungs are clear of mucous. Of course I have not vaped even a single time since the surgery. But I would like to know if I can ever vape again. And how long I should wait before I do, if I do... And that's where the data gets even murkier than the pre-surgery data.
Doctors and researchers don't fully understand yet to what extent vaping interacts with pneumonia / susceptibility / airway / lung damage. Some studies have shown vapers are more likely to get pneumonia and bronchitis than non-vapers. Also of note, once you have had a case of pneumonia, your lungs are never truly the same; the likelihood of getting it (or other nasal / bronchial problems) is dramatically higher than those who haven't had it.
There's still so much we don't know. Even within the recent outbreak of serious illness due to vaping bad THC cartridges, 11% said they exclusively used nicotine-containing products (no THC). They may have lied of course, so who really knows? And no one is saying what kind of apparatus or juice they used if it was just nic.
I will say that over the last 7 years of being a 3 mg non-salt, slightly sub ohm on an RDA vaper, I had a nasal infection at least once a year. And never had one previous. So surely there is some connection, at least for me. But how much? This story "ends" with me staring at my favorite mod and wondering if I should take a puff, wait another month, or just sell everything and never vape again.
If you are dealing with a surgery, pneumonia, bronchitis or a sinus infection, please feel free to share your advice / experience.
Some reading:
https://www.statnews.com/2019/09/06/vaping-cases-rising-dont-know-cause
Vaping may disrupt immune cells in the lungs, mouse study finds
https://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessa...between-e-cigarettes-respiratory-infections#1
pretty sure vaping is causing some pretty serious sinus infections and esophagus issues
A couple of days after I got home, I developed pneumonia. Now that can happen when a patient is under anesthesia for that length of time (aspiration and a couple of other factors can cause it), but the pre-vaping may have had something to do with it also, even though there was no nicotine.
It took almost a full month of antibiotics and bed rest to beat the pneumonia. I am now still coughing up a tiny amount of sputum and have a stuffy nose, but all the other symptoms (gallons of mucous, weakness, not enough oxygen, etc) have fully passed. The most recent chest x-ray showed my lungs are clear of mucous. Of course I have not vaped even a single time since the surgery. But I would like to know if I can ever vape again. And how long I should wait before I do, if I do... And that's where the data gets even murkier than the pre-surgery data.
Doctors and researchers don't fully understand yet to what extent vaping interacts with pneumonia / susceptibility / airway / lung damage. Some studies have shown vapers are more likely to get pneumonia and bronchitis than non-vapers. Also of note, once you have had a case of pneumonia, your lungs are never truly the same; the likelihood of getting it (or other nasal / bronchial problems) is dramatically higher than those who haven't had it.
There's still so much we don't know. Even within the recent outbreak of serious illness due to vaping bad THC cartridges, 11% said they exclusively used nicotine-containing products (no THC). They may have lied of course, so who really knows? And no one is saying what kind of apparatus or juice they used if it was just nic.
I will say that over the last 7 years of being a 3 mg non-salt, slightly sub ohm on an RDA vaper, I had a nasal infection at least once a year. And never had one previous. So surely there is some connection, at least for me. But how much? This story "ends" with me staring at my favorite mod and wondering if I should take a puff, wait another month, or just sell everything and never vape again.
If you are dealing with a surgery, pneumonia, bronchitis or a sinus infection, please feel free to share your advice / experience.
Some reading:
https://www.statnews.com/2019/09/06/vaping-cases-rising-dont-know-cause
Vaping may disrupt immune cells in the lungs, mouse study finds
https://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessa...between-e-cigarettes-respiratory-infections#1
pretty sure vaping is causing some pretty serious sinus infections and esophagus issues
So glad you are finally on the mend! Pneumonia is no fun, I had it a couple times in the past along with many bouts of bronchitis when I smoked. I haven't had either since vaping for 8 years. I did stop inhaling Vaper and just do mouth to exhale. It is working great for me since I wanted to give my lungs a break. I get the flavor and little nic 3 mg and I am happy where I am at vaping that way. But if you want to quit that is totally up to you. I personally could never vape only VG because it gave my lungs that heavy achy feeling. I can do 50/50 but since I don't inhale my lungs feel great 
Best of luck to you!
Best of luck to you!
I have vivid memories of waking up and realising I had been abducted by aliens. They had me strapped to a bed and were pretending to be nurses but I knew it was a scam. Clearly they were doing Human experiments. I decided I would rather be dead so I tried convincing these ''nurses'' to untie me, so I could kill one of them. My hope was they would then kill me. What I didn't understand was they appeared to have me, not in a lab as such, but on 'bridge' of the ship. I was surrounded by some pretty high tech equipment. I would have killed one of these aliens at the first opportunity. That was a very scary time, trust me.
Meanwhile back on Earth I realised I had been hallucinating. I spent three days in the critical unit with Pneumonia, two days on life support. That was pretty heavy. They had me restrained because I had a spinal injury and prior to the pneumonia I had been trying to get out of bed.
Meanwhile back on Earth I realised I had been hallucinating. I spent three days in the critical unit with Pneumonia, two days on life support. That was pretty heavy. They had me restrained because I had a spinal injury and prior to the pneumonia I had been trying to get out of bed.
Yeah I got away with it. The brain does mad things when the body is trying to die and the doctors are trying to keep it alive. Not that I'm complaining mind.
Thanks for this reminder! I forgot this was an option... tried it this morning, and after a few puffs just holding the vapor in my mouth (no inhale into lungs) with 3 mg liquid, I did feel the nicotine. It's definitely not as satisfying or enjoyable as inhaling, but an almost-harm-free way to get a little nic sensation.
I had finger surgery about a month ago and an ankle open reduction operation about 4 years ago. You can vape before it. I even asked them, well actually, first they asked if I smoke, I said no, but I do vape. I said is that okay? they said yeah that's fine. Just don't vape while fasting. With the surgery of my ankle I was a smoker and literally couldn't breathe after it and had to have one of those oxygen masks on for the next 2 hours and pretty sure that's because I was a smoker. With the finger operation (yeah it's not as serious) while as a vapor I had no issues at all besides a bit of fatigue.
I'd like to add something here. A lot of doctors and surgeons do NOT KNOW what the makeup of eliquid is.
Metronidazole, tinidazole, and benznidazole cannot be used with propylene glycol.
Hazard is listed as *severe*.
Medical warning:
Severe.
So be careful when taking any nitroimidazoles because it is in the literature you get with your prescription, and propylene glycol is listed in there.
I had to find a local eliquid maker (not easy in rural arkansas at the time) to make me something with VG only. (after specialized colon surgery I had)
ALso, nicotine *can* impact healing, but not *as bad* with bones, etc. as with anything heart related, vein related, or skin related (skin has all those little blood vessels). I know any kind of SKIN healing is a big deal with plastic surgeons, i.e., breast reduction would be one such thing.....I was unable to find any doctor who would do this surgery on a smoker until they had quit for at least 6-8 weeks. They have too many problems on their books and I was part of a support group for women undergoing this back before I found vaping.
Cutting down blood supply to extremely fragile tissues is NOT something you want to do ..... esp. if it is your face, or something that will really show. Some surgeries do leave large scars so there is less to do about it, but anything where you need the best skin healing possible, well you do NOT want to mess around with nicotine.
Metronidazole, tinidazole, and benznidazole cannot be used with propylene glycol.
Hazard is listed as *severe*.
Medical warning:
Severe.
So be careful when taking any nitroimidazoles because it is in the literature you get with your prescription, and propylene glycol is listed in there.
I had to find a local eliquid maker (not easy in rural arkansas at the time) to make me something with VG only. (after specialized colon surgery I had)
ALso, nicotine *can* impact healing, but not *as bad* with bones, etc. as with anything heart related, vein related, or skin related (skin has all those little blood vessels). I know any kind of SKIN healing is a big deal with plastic surgeons, i.e., breast reduction would be one such thing.....I was unable to find any doctor who would do this surgery on a smoker until they had quit for at least 6-8 weeks. They have too many problems on their books and I was part of a support group for women undergoing this back before I found vaping.
Cutting down blood supply to extremely fragile tissues is NOT something you want to do ..... esp. if it is your face, or something that will really show. Some surgeries do leave large scars so there is less to do about it, but anything where you need the best skin healing possible, well you do NOT want to mess around with nicotine.
I recently had broken hip surgery and was told the same thing. However, I ended up just vaping as usual. I’m not sure if it delayed the healing or not. The problem was I really didn’t have any way to mix up 0 mic juice since it was emergency surgery. If it was a planned surgery I would’ve gone w the 0 nic like the surgeon suggested. I did go for almost a week without vaping and didn’t notice much physically although I was pretty doped up.
good luck w your surgery.
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Oh my, you broke your hip? That is one of my biggest fears........I have to be much more "conscious" and in the moment now as I've gotten older, to step carefully, etc. It's amazing how much my balance in general is just not as good as it was 20 years ago. Did you heal up well? I hope!
A little more follow up - after the surgery I was diagnosed with pneumonia (as mentioned), and I’m still struggling with symptoms almost a month after completing the antibiotic treatment. Still no idea if my vaping contributed to the pneumonia to begin with, but I will say that I was feeling a lot better about a week ago and went ahead and had a small vape (inhaled it)... cough and sputum came back shortly after.
This is frustrating - what if I can never vape again?
Abstaining now until I can get in to see a pulmonologist.
This is frustrating - what if I can never vape again?
Abstaining now until I can get in to see a pulmonologist.
Can you vape and not inhale now after you tried it ? I don't inhale at all anymore and I still enjoy itA little more follow up - after the surgery I was diagnosed with pneumonia (as mentioned), and I’m still struggling with symptoms almost a month after completing the antibiotic treatment. Still no idea if my vaping contributed to the pneumonia to begin with, but I will say that I was feeling a lot better about a week ago and went ahead and had a small vape (inhaled it)... cough and sputum came back shortly after.
This is frustrating - what if I can never vape again?
Abstaining now until I can get in to see a pulmonologist.
So much easier on the lungs.I can, but I don't get any real enjoyment from it... It's a worthy approach in a pinch if you are really craving nicotine, but for me the joy of vaping has more to do with the inhale-exhale piece. That's why I was able to quit smoking and switch to vaping so easily - it completely satisfied that craving.Can you vape and not inhale now after you tried it ? I don't inhale at all anymore and I still enjoy it
One month from now I will be 3 years smoke-free. When I was still smoking 16-17 normal cigs per day my susceptibility to bronchitis kept gradually deteriorating over the years until finally I was getting severe cases of bronchitis, about twice per year on average, taking 3-4 weeks to fully recover each time. I haven't had bronchitis ever since I switched to vaping. Not once.
I am a typical high wattage flavor chaser some claim doesn't exist, and, I make my own advanced coil builds like, e.g., staggered fused clapton (SFC) coils, alien coils, staple staggered fused clapton (SSFC) coils, framed alien (fralien) coils, stapled helix coils, etc., with various spools of Nichrome 80 wire and a cordless drill. IME the clogged up lungs kind of feeling from inhaling large quantities of high (i.e., 70% or higher) VG juices is simply not there.
Only after I don't adequately fine tune all the variables like coil positioning versus airflow, airflow hole adjustment, the strength of my draw, the wicking it up part, and the wattage setting (or the resistance, as I am pretty much mech-only now), that's when I do get that discomforting heavy feeling on my chest, almost immediately. I vape between 2.5mg/ml and 3mg/ml, usually around 12ml per day, occasionally a lot more (like double that amount, or almost).
Both MTL and heavily restricted DTL vaping styles all grate my throat and windpipe so these vaping styles are what I describe as "too harsh for me". Even, if I lower the nic strength of the juices─I tried multiple different ones to verify my conclusions─down to just 6mg/ml, it still feels rather harsh. Below 6mg the problem gets shifted more towards cravings due to me not being ale to get enough nic into my system fast enough with these kinds of small clouds the inhalation of which feels like inhaling just air with a bit of flavor added so that actually worsens the craving for more. In addition, these slow drags that last several seconds longer than my normal (2-3 second) drags always tend to make me feel seasick.
My conclusion is twofold. Firstly, high VG juices at high wattages done right, can help, profoundly, to tame harshness and the inflammation/irritation that occurs from a harsh vape, and, secondly, I am living proof that it can improve health conditions, as I used to get bronchitis about once per year before I became a smoker, whereas vaping has effectively reduced this to ZERO times per year, even. Is it any wonder that Big Pharma are supportive of the anti vaping crusade? They're losing boatloads of money to people who, like me, managed successfully to stop smoking by vaping. So they resort to all sorts of scaremongering propaganda, smear campaigns against vaping getting repeated a million times over through every news channel and self-defined health oriented tabloid. Organized crime against humanity for big profit is what this is about.
I was just a freak thing inside my house on carpeting no less! It happened on Oct 7th and had surgery the next day. It’s been one of the worst experiences health wise in my life. The pain was excruciating and I’m still not anywhere near fully recovered. I’m in pain every day. I’ve just started outpatient physical therapy too.
I’m in my mid 50s and the idea of possibly breaking my hip never entered my mind. So my advice especially to women is make sure to do balance exercises (lots on YouTube) and have your bone density checked.
Appreciate this detailed response. I too vape (well... vaped) high watt, low nic, smooth (non harsh) DTL, airy style, craft my own coils, and completely customize everything including coil placement, wicking, air, etc. I’m glad you found something that works for you and agree about the core motivation of lawmakers who rely on big tobacco money.
All that aside, it seems that once you’ve had pneumonia, your lungs no longer respond the same way to inhalation of vapor, no matter how smooth / airy / low nic. It’s possible that the lungs never fully recover to pre-pneumonia conditions. Jury is still out but so far, I have not been able to vape.
All that aside, it seems that once you’ve had pneumonia, your lungs no longer respond the same way to inhalation of vapor, no matter how smooth / airy / low nic. It’s possible that the lungs never fully recover to pre-pneumonia conditions. Jury is still out but so far, I have not been able to vape.
*Waves at Vwls* I remember you! Glad to hear you're recovering, if slowly from the pneumonia. As far as your lungs, give it some more time. Hubby is neither a smoker nor a vaper, and got it around this time last year. It was April before he really started felt like himself again.
BTW, hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) is the second most common infection to originate in the hospital setting, the first being urinary tract infections. Most HAPs pop up 48 to 72 hours after being admitted which means there's a pretty good possibility that you got it from the hospital, not as a side effect of vaping.
As far as studies talking about vaping being hard on your lungs, although I haven't been keeping up like I used to, the only one I remember seeing is the recent drivel by Glantz. And remember, this is the same guy whose "vaping causes heart attacks" study included people who started vaping after they had their heart attack.
Oh, and those 11% who swore they had only vaped nicotine? Most tested positive for THC, some were misdiagnosed. Here's a sample study done on 51 patients from 19 states:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1916433
And though not relevant for you now, here's a recent write up about a large scale study on surgery patients and NRTs:
Nicotine Replacement Therapy Does Not Drive Post Surgery Risks
BTW, hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) is the second most common infection to originate in the hospital setting, the first being urinary tract infections. Most HAPs pop up 48 to 72 hours after being admitted which means there's a pretty good possibility that you got it from the hospital, not as a side effect of vaping.
As far as studies talking about vaping being hard on your lungs, although I haven't been keeping up like I used to, the only one I remember seeing is the recent drivel by Glantz. And remember, this is the same guy whose "vaping causes heart attacks" study included people who started vaping after they had their heart attack.
Oh, and those 11% who swore they had only vaped nicotine? Most tested positive for THC, some were misdiagnosed. Here's a sample study done on 51 patients from 19 states:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1916433
And though not relevant for you now, here's a recent write up about a large scale study on surgery patients and NRTs:
Nicotine Replacement Therapy Does Not Drive Post Surgery Risks
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