VG Caused Stroke?!?! I don't think so.

[LowThudd]

My friend(who recently switched to e-cigs) has been vaping for a couple months. All VG, usually low to no nic. On friday he hada mild stroke. I just found out that not only himself, but several others I convinced to switch to e-cigs have stopped vaping because the doctor told my friend that the VG could have caused the stroke. WTF?!?! I have never read anything like that anywhere, and I doubt it's true. Can anyone confirm or deny the possibility? Especially doctors. Please. I need your input quick.

 

[Kate51]

No ~ probably was the Flouride in the water that did it!\

There is no possible way Vegetable Glycerin could cause a stroke: Tell the Good Doctor he'd better start checking his prescriptions and medical procedures, some of those also use VG preparations!!
I would also question my friend, obviously he has something mixed up with the truth; really, I would be quite concerned that he also suffered some brain damage from the 'stroke'. I'd rather guess he had second thoughts about giving up his cigarettes. He could have elevated blood pressure from trying to find a good excuse to go back to 'smoking'. Like that would be a good thing.
Honestly. I would not have posted such an atrociously ridiculous comment.

 

[mi528hz]

A guy at work today told me that, his friend started vaping when it first came out. Now he has cranium fluid leaking into his spine. I am pretty sure he is lying.

 

[Kate51]

Gosh, hope that's not catchy!

 

[Southern Gent]

Gosh, hope that's not catchy!

LOL!! That was my first thought as well. I do hope the guy will be ok though.

 

[LowThudd]

OK, this what happens when you don't get it right from the horses mouth...I end up looking like a Jackass. I originally got the story from another friend who had quit e-cigs because she had heard from the doctor that friend #1 got said stroke from glycerin. Nope, I just talked to him. The doctor said nothing of the kind. It turns out there is this idiot in our building that has been spreading rumors that my friend was abusing his medication. When that lie fell through, he started saying that the doctor told him that the glycerin was responsable. This guy is kinda like a Superintendant w/out all the responsability. He is also on my spitlist for life. That is the last lie I'm gonna take from him. If I had known he started the rumour, I never would have believed it. Man I hate that guy. Sorry for the trouble, I should have gotten the full story. I was in a rush and posted before I was able to talk to the man.

 

[Sardonic]

Is there any actual sound, empircal medical advise on this issue or just speculation on both sides?

 

[LowThudd]

Is there any actual sound, empircal medical advise on this issue or just speculation on both sides?

Please read the post above you. All I can say is the rumour mill SUX! And sorry for the confusion.

 

[Sardonic]

I read your post, I posted just as you did almost at the same time but my question isn't directly related to your particular statement. I mean in general, all over this forum there is everything from the sky is falling to e-cigs cure baldness and everything in between. As people like the one you're dealing with are just one side of the extreme, I wondered if anything has been really carved out as to harmful or undesirable side effects attributed DIRECTLY to e-cigs by a (and I shudder at typing this) credentialed medical professional with no allegiances to either school of thought.

 

[Seabrook]

Hi there LowThudd,
Glad everything got solved for you. Sounds like the rumour starter might not be the brightest crayon in the box, LOL. Nowdays the media has pretty much singled out the SAD (standard American Diet) for contributing to ALL degenerative disease. I just read an article this afternoon on Google News that most Americans are still side-stepping around their vegetables. Such a shame that ppl shun the healing foods. I'm sorry you had such a scare, and I hope your friend has a speedy recovery.

Sardonic: Hi there. Yes, there is an "undesirable" effect atributed directly to e-cigs. It's called gas or farting or whatever you want to label it. If you want to see some hilarious posts, and some get kind of detailed and graphic, just do a search for the words gas or fart. I kid you not. Welcome to ECF and happy vaping.

 

[Kate51]

LowThud, I didn't think you look like a jackass, but I'd love to see the guy speading the stroke rumor!! That would be a stroke of a different sort...there's one in every crowd isn't there, dumber'n a box but baffling eveyone with BS all the time. Does he now know what VG is?? Tell him to stop brushing his teeth, I hope?? If VG causes strokes I'd hate to see what would happen to those!

 

[toothboy]

I'm a dentist, and an older colleague of mine once said, "your patients don't know ...., and their family, friends, and neighbors don't know double ....."

This was in reference to patients often saying stuff like, "well, my friend said X", or "my brother told me Y" about various things they have no business pontificating on. And then they look at you like you're a ..... for thinking otherwise. So many people today act like they are experts about everything (especially with the advent of the internet), and in addition are so quick to believe any bull.... story that falls into their lap.

And then there are the experts. Or "experts". Even though the doc in LowThudd's situation didn't say that VG caused the stroke, it wouldn't surprise me if he did. So many medical professionals today (MDs, dentists, nurses, etc.) that I come in contact with are under so much pressure (be it self imposed or otherwise) to have an answer, they'll talk out their asses before they'll admit they're wrong. I see it every day, unfortunately.

Even in today's increasing reliance on science and evidenced based medicine, so many studies are funded by drug companies, product manufacturers, and what have you. Everyone seems to have an agenda. It's very difficult to know who and what to believe.

It's good to be on a forum with a group of generally open minded people. It doesn't happen very often these days!!!!

 

[sjohnson]

A guy at work today told me that, his friend started vaping when it first came out. Now he has cranium fluid leaking into his spine. I am pretty sure he is lying.

The fluid has a name: cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebro because it originates in the brain (and is ultimately reabsorbed there) and spinal because the same fluid circulates through the spinal canal. Your friend indeed has fluid "leaking" into his spine. Thing is, he (and most of us) have had the same "condition" since birth. Any other condition is abnormal.

 

[Xanax]

A stroke is something that takes years to develope. Not spontaneous usually.

 

[NinetyNine]

I read your post, I posted just as you did almost at the same time but my question isn't directly related to your particular statement. I mean in general, all over this forum there is everything from the sky is falling to e-cigs cure baldness and everything in between. As people like the one you're dealing with are just one side of the extreme, I wondered if anything has been really carved out as to harmful or undesirable side effects attributed DIRECTLY to e-cigs by a (and I shudder at typing this) credentialed medical professional with no allegiances to either school of thought.

Both PG, VG(to a lesser extent), and nicotine have been shown to be reasonably benign. The problem that I see when reading this forum is that A)no individual experience is statistically significant, and B)it's incredibly hard to gauge the health effects of replacing an amazingly damaging habit with an questionable habit by having people self-report. Symptoms may be vaping related, may be smoking cessation related, or may be of the "My lack of wheezing/chest pain/general sense of poor health is no longer distracting me from my leg pain being my primary concern so I now report having leg pain after I started vaping." Then there's the people who's health issues are unrelated to both smoking or PV use and just happen to crop up shortly after they start vaping.

I suspect that the FDA, having a number of years of PV use to look back on, could have come up with something beyond "smoking chocolate flavored antifreeze to attract minors" as their rational for an attempted ban if people were reporting serious short to mid term usage issues. Long term is a different issue.. Nobody's going to know that for a while. Cigarette use and lung cancer weren't linked until a spike in lung cancer was seen nearly 20 years after they were added to care packages in WWI, which hooked millions of GI's. But, if there's no harm at all in short term usage, there's minimal risk in long term.

 

[LowThudd]

In this case the answere to my friends dilema was to take asprin daily. It was a very mild stroke, and the 'story' of the doctor telling him it was PV related was a total falacy told by an idiot on lithium. lol

 

[rolygate]

As far as I am aware there are only two 'symptoms' of vaping:

1. Sore throat.
2. Light phlegm.

Both are widely reported but not universal, are not serious, and are avoidable - and hardly compare to the possible symptoms of tobacco smoking.

All other unusual symptoms experienced by e-cigarette users are symptoms of tobacco withdrawal or otherwise unrelated health issues - as nicely described by NinetyNine just above. In very rare cases - one in 100,000 or greater as they are reported so infrequently, with so many millions of users - a person may have some sort of allergic reaction to an eliquid ingredient such as a flavoring or preservative, as might be expected. In fact the interesting thing is how rarely such cases are reported.

The biggest problem is that forums are a rumor mill and people are prepared to post anything as fact.

It needs to be stated again: there are millions of ecigarette users, who have been using ecigarettes in some cases for many years; but nobody has EVER gone into a hospital anywhere in the world and been diagnosed by a doctor as having a vaping-related condition OF ANY KIND. Rest assured we'd know about it if it had occurred. It's why the authorities are having such a hard time banning ecigs: they don't hurt anyone.

Or to be more correct, since that statement is hardly likely to be precisely true: they are likely to be proved much better than 'acceptably safe' or GRAS, the measure of a new drug's acceptability.

 

[Seabrook]

Very good post. I had a third symptom of sore tongue/lips I got until I learned how to keep juice out of my mouth by correctly inhaling, LOL. My tongue hurt a little, but my lips really burned for about a half a minute.