Word of warning from a relative newbie.

[stuvix]

I'm now 3 months into my new life as a non smoker and an avid vaper. So far I've been free of 1,350 analogs.

To make a long story short, this is what happened. I moved about a month after switching to my e-cigs. This new apartment is way over heated for my liking at 21˚C/70˚F (not within my control) and my only option is to have windows open when it's 6˚C/43˚F. This causes me to be sweltering hot one moment, and freezing cold the next. This will be relevant soon, I promise.

I started off with 36mg, moved to 24mg and now I'm at 18mg. I vape constantly during my waking hours. Over the past month and a half I've been vaping more, but at the lower dose of 18mg. I've been experiencing extreme symptoms, and my doctor couldn't make any sense of it. Mind you I failed to inform him of my switch to e-cigs because I didn't want to deal with his lecturing of how that is worse for me.

For the past 3 or so weeks, I've been getting severe hot flashes (and I'm a 25 y/o male). I'll be freezing cold one second, and then sweating buckets the next. There will be times when I feel my heart is racing, but after checking my pulse, I'm well within my norm. I've been in a particularly bad mood, and very irritable and have been getting headaches. My hot flashes don't occur when I wake up, only after an hour or so of vaping and then it lasts ALL day until I go to sleep. I'd say at my worst I'm vaping ~3-4ml a day (again of 18mg). Which, if my arithmetic is correct, makes for me receiving ~54 mg of nicotine a day and theoretically absorbing 10% of that, so 5.4 mg a day. Since I smoked a pack a day of analogs, this is nowhere close to the amount of nicotine I would have been receiving (theoretical 20mg a day). My doctor said it was the flu, but I had no other flu like symptoms.

I really find it hard to believe that it's nicotine causing this. Could I be developing an allergy to PG? I'm going to order 0 mg and 9 mg and see if those make any difference. I don't want to waste money though. Does nicotine free juice differ in flavour significantly from low-medium strength? I'm really trying to cut back on my vaping as well, but it's harder than quitting analogs. I just enjoy is so much.

I know this is a little lengthy, so thanks to all who are still bearing with me. I know none of you are doctors, but I know that as soon as I mention any of this e-cig business to a doctor who has no knowledge on the subject he will immediately say it's the nicotine. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experience anything like this.

 

[Myk]

You could try VG w/nicotine. You could try PG without. It could also be a problem with flavoring.

My problem with PG (I assume) progressed slowly over a month. That was 3 years ago. When I just picked the e-cig back up I was messing with 0mg PG I had left and it didn't take long at all before it made me feel terrible.
I haven't be using PG free for long yet but I'm feeling much better with it.

And 18mg is still kind of on the high side. That could depend on you.

 

[juicejunky]

I get hot and sweaty (flash) if I have too much nicotine and that is usually my indication to stop vaping or I'll get a headache. If you have the windows open and are sweaty that could give you the chills. I have never experience the cold part and don't get to the point of sweating buckets. I regularly vape 12 or 18. If I chain vape 18mg, it doesn't take me long to get the sweaty flash.

That 10% is just a guess on absorption, it probably depends how you vape. If you are vaping 100% PG, you could try a 70/30 or 50/50 mix.

I get irritable with certain flavors. I've learned to stay away from Colas, Cherry, and many other fruits. I start grinding my teeth and get really uptight. MSG does that to me too.

Since you are in Canada you could look for food grade Vegetable glycerin at a local store (Whole Foods (NOW brand in cosmetics), pharmacies, Michael's Crafts (near frosting flavors) in the US) and vape that. Unflavored VG is a little bit sweet and you could add a little bit of your juice to bump it up. Unflavored pure VG is fairly inexpensive.

 

[Centurion]

Well, when I get too much nicotine in me, which I haven't ever done from vaping by the way, and that includes really trying to get a buzz like I could from a cigarette, that I simply cannot approximate and don't try to... anyway, I'd get sweaty, clammy, wanted to puke, felt faint and typically laid down. Time passed. No problem.

With vaping, I feel as though I'm chasing a dragon that can't be caught in some ways in that I just don't get that rapid spike in blood levels that I used to get from smoking. I was a pack a day smoker of full strength cigs and I typically use 24 mg juice now. I run through about 3-6 mL a day, though I'm thinking a bit of that gets blown out the bottom of my cartos into my sink or soaked up on paper towels as I'm making sure my carto's fully saturated.

TL;DR : Although it sounds close, it doesn't sound the same as what you're fearing, and if it were I think you'd likely notice a correlation, not be taking guesses now in which you say you don't think it's the vaping even. I simply haven't found the ability to spike nicotine blood levels fast enough to get a buzz let alone to get sick from it. My two cents.

 

[MickeyRat]

First, since you didn't tell the Dr. to avoid a lecture, I'm going to lecture you. Your Dr. needs to know of any significant changes in order to make an informed diagnosis. You withheld information that was needed to help you. That wasn't a smart thing to do.

Second, why on earth do you think the Dr. would have lectured you? Many people on this board started vaping on the advice of their Dr. Here's a thread where I discuss my own recent experience. My Dr. now lists me as a former smoker.

A lot of people when they first start out think the rest of the world considers vaping the same thing as smoking. It's not and most people don't consider it the same thing including Drs.

I think you are still getting too much nic. I had a similar problem. Here's what to do. Take it to 12 but, keep some 24 around and a means to drip. You're going to either vape like a fiend or get cravings. When you find either one of those is happening drip 3 drops of the 24. It takes longer for the nic to hit when vaping so wait 10 or 15 minutes and see if it's subsided. If it hasn't do it again. I still will do that a couple times a month. When I started, it was 5 or 6 times a day.

 

[stuvix]

First, since you didn't tell the Dr. to avoid a lecture, I'm going to lecture you. Your Dr. needs to know of any significant changes in order to make an informed diagnosis. You withheld information that was needed to help you. That wasn't a smart thing to do.

Second, why on earth do you think the Dr. would have lectured you? Many people on this board started vaping on the advice of their Dr. Here's a thread where I discuss my own recent experience. My Dr. now lists me as a former smoker.

A lot of people when they first start out think the rest of the world considers vaping the same thing as smoking. It's not and most people don't consider it the same thing including Drs.

I think you are still getting too much nic. I had a similar problem. Here's what to do. Take it to 12 but, keep some 24 around and a means to drip. You're going to either vape like a fiend or get cravings. When you find either one of those is happening drip 3 drops of the 24. It takes longer for the nic to hit when vaping so wait 10 or 15 minutes and see if it's subsided. If it hasn't do it again. I still will do that a couple times a month. When I started, it was 5 or 6 times a day.

I did tell my doctor I quit smoking analogs, but I just didn't mention the e-cigs because he's really old school. He was very proud that I quit analogs and I'm sure he wouldn't mind e-cigs...It's just there's many, many other factors that could be related, and so much happened in a one month period that it's going to be hard to pinpoint exactly what it is. I don't want him to jump to the conclusion that it's only the nicotine. You're right though, and I'll definitely bring it up if this doesn't stop.

To narrow down these factors, I'm going to start with the nicotine. It seems like the easiest to rule out. If I can suck it up for one day (even half a day) and not have any nicotine, and my symptoms subside, bingo. If not, I'll take out the PG and try that. I've tried making my own 100% VG juices but they don't taste anywhere near as good as the 70/30 mix I buy.

So thanks everyone. I really needed to hear that from someone else other than myself. Once I have some answers I'll let you know.

 

[tj99959]

Everyone reacts the way they react. When I lowered the nic level all I did was vape three times as much. So in essence I upped my nic level instead of lowering it, and I started having symptoms like you are describing.
So the answer for me was to raise the nic level to where it satisfied and vape less.

 

[Tiny]

First, since you didn't tell the Dr. to avoid a lecture, I'm going to lecture you. Your Dr. needs to know of any significant changes in order to make an informed diagnosis. You withheld information that was needed to help you. That wasn't a smart thing to do.

I have to agree with Mickey on this. If you felt the situation was serious enough to go to the Doctor you need to give him full disclosure on what your doing. Especially since you think your vaping is what's causing the problem.

I hope you get this worked out, adjusting nic levels may help. I didn't have your symptoms but I had a few problems with headaches and nausea that went away when I dropped from 24 to 18 mg.

Best of luck, and take care of yourself.

 

[John D in CT]

As others have said, I think it's very important that you tell your doctor exactly what you're doing. He is your healthcare computer, and needs input to calculate meaningful output.

Second, get yourself a blood pressure monitor. I have an Omron HEM-780 that I got for just under $100. Thanks to it, I know that I have to start bringing my nic levels down. 18 mg is too high for me, and I'm going to start ordering 12mg starting immediately. My BP has gone from "near perfect" to the high 140's. I've verified this over an extended period. Nicotine raises your blood pressure, I don't think that's up for discussion. I think vaping involves a trade-off between throat hit/nic pleasure and health, where health should be given all the priority that you can muster.

This might have little to do with the symptoms you're having, but it's something that I think you, and everyone else, have to address.

 

[AttyPops]

I vape 2 - 3 mg per day. Also, relating mg/ml & #ml to cigs per day is real iffy. Cut down the nic, or the vaping, to see if it helps. The absorption is a bit different and somewhat variable by person (true for smoking too). Sounds like you're vaping up a storm to go through 4 mg per day.... Different hardware vaporizes nic more effectively than others. So the mg/ml is a measure... but absorption can still vary. True with cigs also... "full flavor" vs "medium" or some such. But HOW you smoke a cig makes a difference... how long you inhale it, etc. True with vaping also.

The USA Tobacco Co execs have been through all this with congress lol. OK, so it differs. Vaping and smoking.

And fix the heat issues (How the heck do we know if it's heat/cold from furnace/window vs nicotine?) What kind of "setup question" is that? I mean really.... "My heat is too high, and I keep a window open, and I get hot/cold flashes...oh, and nicotine use....oh, and I might have the flu.". lol.

Safest thing to do, cut the nic or vape less. Tell your doctor. If you think it's other ingredients get some unflavored juice samples. Maybe one PG and the other VG. If you're cleaver, get some PG and VG to go with it then you can cut it down to various mg levels to experiment with lowering it.

Just a guess, 2 cents.

 

[star4024]

I agree with tj even though we are the minority.. You lowered the nic, started vaping way more and now all that vaping is making u sick. I use 36mgs,( should cut it down, I know), but it works for me. I never get sick. I just haven't wanted to quit vaping. that's why I haven't lowered my mgs.. It could be something else in the juice that is bothering you. You will have to go with the trial and error thing. good luck

 

[stuvix]

Two days later and I feel 99% better. I've willed myself to cut down considerably. I found some 0mg juice that I made a while back and when I feel the need to chain vape I use that. It has the same 30/70 ratio, so I don't think it's the PG. I definitely should have told my doctor about the nicotine, because that could have been much more serious than it was.

Cutting back on vaping was more difficult than quitting anologs. But I did it, and I couldn't feel better. Not only have all those crazy symptoms gone away, but I actually enjoy vaping SO much more. Taking a break really lets the flavour return, and there is actually a TH again.

 

[LeDean]

It kind of sounds like too much Nic. When I get too much, my heart rate increases and I tend to feel hot. (Normally, I freeze.) I would lower my Nic. Sometimes, people have allergies to PG. If you lower the Nic and still have these uncomfortable symptoms, switch to VG. Be careful, some "VG vapes" still use PG flavors. Most vendors disclose that openly though.

MickeyRat, you are so wise.