Hi all,
Here's my experience so far with some thoughts at the end.
Background: I'm male/34/6'1''/225lbs. Hardcore alcoholic/drug addictin recovery. Smoked cigs and marijuana on a daily basis for 12 years from 1999 to 2011. Pack a day smoker. In April 2011, I got clean and sober. No marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, benadryl, robitussin, pills, or any other mood/mind altering substances in the 5 years since then. Even quit drinking anything but water 5 years ago because I am a caffeine addict and was getting anxiety from all the caffeine in soda, coffee, red bull, etc, I was drinking when I got sober.
Day 1:4/21/16 - Bought a Kangertech Subvod kit and a house mixed Blueberry 0 nic ejuice. It says 80/20 on the bottle, but since then, I've compared it's viscosity and I'm now certain the lady at the store wrote it as VG/PG, not PG/VG, which seems to be most common. Took a few draws and was surprised at the harshness. Then watched a youTube vid and figured out the air intakes were totally closed. Opened those up and it was much smoother. I liked it a lot.
Day 2-5 - Continued to use the Blueberry ejuice. Vaped about 3 ml a day. On day 2 began to notice some shortness of breath developing. Not bad, just that I needed to take an extra deep breath every hour or so throughout the day. Figured it was just me getting used to the vape and didn't think too much of it. On about day 4, I began taking deep straight lung inhales, which was a little different because I had always taken mouth to lung inhales 5 years ago and before.
Day 6 - Went to a new vape store to try some different flavors. Tried a bunch in the store and eventually got #ThatThaiTeaTho 0 nic. I can't find it now, but I remember seeing it was 30PG/70VG. Began vaping this instead of the Blueberry.
Day 7-9 Vaped about 2ml a day of Thai Tea. Straight to lung inhales. Began noticing some more shortness of breath. Needed to take more deeper breaths more often to get a full breath of air. Still figured I was just getting used to it. It was annoying, but I was not too worried.
Day 10 - Went to vape store and got Cuttwood's Mega Melons 3mg nic 30PG/70VG. Began vaping this the night of Day 10.
Day 11 - Continued vaping Mega Melons. Noticed increased shortness of breath. Took very deep straight to lung inhales. Figured the shortness of breath was that I was may be overdoing it a little, even though I was still only vaping about 2ml a day which seemed much lower than "heavy vaping" status. Also chalked up some shortness of breath possibly to "throat hit" as I read I would have more throat hit when vaping nic.
Day 12 - Vaped Mega Melons very lightly around lunch time and noticed much more serious shortness of breath. Needed to take deep breaths every couple of minutes and the deep breaths were rarely to never full and only felt unsatisfying. Began to get scared at how horrible my breathing was. Began the inevitable google search of vaping and shortness of breath to try and figure out what was wrong with me, which provided some info, but mostly increased my anxiety. Noticed a marked increase in anxiety as I began thinking I may have to go to the doctor or urgent care of something. That evening, I did nothing but sit in my recliner and try to focus on my breathing. On a scale of 1-10, this evening was probably a 7 on the scale of most miserable moments of my drug use career and I've had a lot of them.
Day 13 - Horrible breathing continued, but perhaps slightly better. Vaped Mega Melons, but did my best not to inhale. Probably vaped a third of a ml if that. Figured the shortness of breath was just me overdoing it on Day 11. Figured it would quickly clear up and I would just vape sparingly and lightly, but not inhale until then. Continued to take deep breaths every few minutes as if I had just sprinted a mile and was trying to catch my breath. Continued my google search and found many threads on this forum. Began to learn more about PG/VG sensitivities and such (not that this was the first I heard of them since I did some research before starting, just the first I studied them more carefully). Even though I only drink water for the past 5 years, I usually drink Perrier so figured I should up my regular water intake to try and hydrate more. Began drinking at least 1 gallon of regular water per day and have been doing this ever since.
Day 14 - Decided I had to put down the Mega Melons and got one bottle of unflavored 100% PG and one bottle of unflavored 100% VG (both 3mg nic) to start testing which I was sensitive too. The breathing had gotten bad after vaping VG so I tried the 100% PG first. The 100% PG was very harsh and unpleasant to vape. I attribute it mostly to the incredible discomfort I was already experiencing due to the inability to breath. Tried it a couple times anyway. Couldn't have possibly vaped more than a third of a ml this day and did my best not to inhale.
Day 15 - Breathing improved some. Only needed those extra deep breaths every hour or so. The 100% PG was so harsh I decided to mix my juice into a 50/50 PG/VG blend (3mg nic). Began to again believe that I had just overdone it on day 11 and decided to just do a 50/50 blend and vape ligthly. Mostly did not inhale, but did take a couple straight to lung hits. Figured my lungs were clearing up and a 50/50 blend without inhaling would not be so bad. Vaped maybe half to two thirds of a ml this day. Total of about 15 draws today. About 4 lung inhales.
Day 16 - Did the same today that I did on Day 15, but my breathing began to get worse in the evening. Back to needing to try and take a deep breath every 10-15 minutes. While doing my google searches (which was a 2 or 3 time a day routine at this point), I found a much more recent thread by someone describing my exact symptoms and attributing it to the VG. More people came in to the thread proclaiming that they had the exact same experience. Apparently, this was becoming more common as more people vaped cuz this thread was from 2015 and was specific, while the others I read were more vague and from 2012 and before. Became 95% convinced that the high VG ratios were what had caused my breathing problems based on the similarity of my symptoms to those symptoms by others who knew it was VG causing it. Total of about 15 draws today. About 4 lung inhales.
Day 17 - Went to the vape shop and got a bottle of unflavored 80/20 (PG/VG) 3mg nic and a bottle of Grape 80/20 (PG/VG) 3 mg nic. Went home and vape it very lightly (5 draws) and tried not to inhale. Though my breathing has improved since day 12, I'm still needing to attempt to take a deep breath every 15-30 minutes. Sometimes I get a satisfying breath and sometimes I don't. At this point I began to think "What's the use?" and decided to put my vape pen down till my lungs recover fully. Then try to vape the 80PG/20VG and see what happens.
Day 18 - Did not vape at all. Breathing seemed to improve. Decided that since I'm messing around with nic I'd try some nic gum for kicks cuz I never tried it before. Got some CVS brand 2mg nic gum and chewed it on two occasions today.
Day 19 - Today! Breathing is about the same as yesterday. Maybe some slight improvement, but still struggling to get full breaths. Attempting to take a deep breath every half hour or so. Some are satisfying, some aren't. Continued to drink regular water all day as I have drank at least a gallon everyday since day 13. Getting some anxiousness worrying about wether I'm going to fully recover or not. Decided to take a bike ride to work out my lungs a bit. No vape or gum so far today.
Thoughts:
- I have read that it takes a week or so for breathing to return to normal. By my calculations, I should hopefully be breathing normally on or around day 24 - 25, which is about 5 or 6 days away.
- I've read over and over that vaping is a pleasurable experience and that people feel no ill effects from it. So far my experience has been pretty miserable. It surprises me to see some people vape heavily all day and seemingly have no issues, while I have been unable to breathe for 7 days and it seems it will be this way for 5 or 6 more.
- It's been helpful reading the threads in this forum, but it seems the thread starters begin a thread and then disappear without providing any updates on their condition, which suggests to me that it improved enough that it is no longer an issue.
So what are your thoughts/experiences?
Thanks,
Rob
Here's my experience so far with some thoughts at the end.
Background: I'm male/34/6'1''/225lbs. Hardcore alcoholic/drug addictin recovery. Smoked cigs and marijuana on a daily basis for 12 years from 1999 to 2011. Pack a day smoker. In April 2011, I got clean and sober. No marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, benadryl, robitussin, pills, or any other mood/mind altering substances in the 5 years since then. Even quit drinking anything but water 5 years ago because I am a caffeine addict and was getting anxiety from all the caffeine in soda, coffee, red bull, etc, I was drinking when I got sober.
Day 1:4/21/16 - Bought a Kangertech Subvod kit and a house mixed Blueberry 0 nic ejuice. It says 80/20 on the bottle, but since then, I've compared it's viscosity and I'm now certain the lady at the store wrote it as VG/PG, not PG/VG, which seems to be most common. Took a few draws and was surprised at the harshness. Then watched a youTube vid and figured out the air intakes were totally closed. Opened those up and it was much smoother. I liked it a lot.
Day 2-5 - Continued to use the Blueberry ejuice. Vaped about 3 ml a day. On day 2 began to notice some shortness of breath developing. Not bad, just that I needed to take an extra deep breath every hour or so throughout the day. Figured it was just me getting used to the vape and didn't think too much of it. On about day 4, I began taking deep straight lung inhales, which was a little different because I had always taken mouth to lung inhales 5 years ago and before.
Day 6 - Went to a new vape store to try some different flavors. Tried a bunch in the store and eventually got #ThatThaiTeaTho 0 nic. I can't find it now, but I remember seeing it was 30PG/70VG. Began vaping this instead of the Blueberry.
Day 7-9 Vaped about 2ml a day of Thai Tea. Straight to lung inhales. Began noticing some more shortness of breath. Needed to take more deeper breaths more often to get a full breath of air. Still figured I was just getting used to it. It was annoying, but I was not too worried.
Day 10 - Went to vape store and got Cuttwood's Mega Melons 3mg nic 30PG/70VG. Began vaping this the night of Day 10.
Day 11 - Continued vaping Mega Melons. Noticed increased shortness of breath. Took very deep straight to lung inhales. Figured the shortness of breath was that I was may be overdoing it a little, even though I was still only vaping about 2ml a day which seemed much lower than "heavy vaping" status. Also chalked up some shortness of breath possibly to "throat hit" as I read I would have more throat hit when vaping nic.
Day 12 - Vaped Mega Melons very lightly around lunch time and noticed much more serious shortness of breath. Needed to take deep breaths every couple of minutes and the deep breaths were rarely to never full and only felt unsatisfying. Began to get scared at how horrible my breathing was. Began the inevitable google search of vaping and shortness of breath to try and figure out what was wrong with me, which provided some info, but mostly increased my anxiety. Noticed a marked increase in anxiety as I began thinking I may have to go to the doctor or urgent care of something. That evening, I did nothing but sit in my recliner and try to focus on my breathing. On a scale of 1-10, this evening was probably a 7 on the scale of most miserable moments of my drug use career and I've had a lot of them.
Day 13 - Horrible breathing continued, but perhaps slightly better. Vaped Mega Melons, but did my best not to inhale. Probably vaped a third of a ml if that. Figured the shortness of breath was just me overdoing it on Day 11. Figured it would quickly clear up and I would just vape sparingly and lightly, but not inhale until then. Continued to take deep breaths every few minutes as if I had just sprinted a mile and was trying to catch my breath. Continued my google search and found many threads on this forum. Began to learn more about PG/VG sensitivities and such (not that this was the first I heard of them since I did some research before starting, just the first I studied them more carefully). Even though I only drink water for the past 5 years, I usually drink Perrier so figured I should up my regular water intake to try and hydrate more. Began drinking at least 1 gallon of regular water per day and have been doing this ever since.
Day 14 - Decided I had to put down the Mega Melons and got one bottle of unflavored 100% PG and one bottle of unflavored 100% VG (both 3mg nic) to start testing which I was sensitive too. The breathing had gotten bad after vaping VG so I tried the 100% PG first. The 100% PG was very harsh and unpleasant to vape. I attribute it mostly to the incredible discomfort I was already experiencing due to the inability to breath. Tried it a couple times anyway. Couldn't have possibly vaped more than a third of a ml this day and did my best not to inhale.
Day 15 - Breathing improved some. Only needed those extra deep breaths every hour or so. The 100% PG was so harsh I decided to mix my juice into a 50/50 PG/VG blend (3mg nic). Began to again believe that I had just overdone it on day 11 and decided to just do a 50/50 blend and vape ligthly. Mostly did not inhale, but did take a couple straight to lung hits. Figured my lungs were clearing up and a 50/50 blend without inhaling would not be so bad. Vaped maybe half to two thirds of a ml this day. Total of about 15 draws today. About 4 lung inhales.
Day 16 - Did the same today that I did on Day 15, but my breathing began to get worse in the evening. Back to needing to try and take a deep breath every 10-15 minutes. While doing my google searches (which was a 2 or 3 time a day routine at this point), I found a much more recent thread by someone describing my exact symptoms and attributing it to the VG. More people came in to the thread proclaiming that they had the exact same experience. Apparently, this was becoming more common as more people vaped cuz this thread was from 2015 and was specific, while the others I read were more vague and from 2012 and before. Became 95% convinced that the high VG ratios were what had caused my breathing problems based on the similarity of my symptoms to those symptoms by others who knew it was VG causing it. Total of about 15 draws today. About 4 lung inhales.
Day 17 - Went to the vape shop and got a bottle of unflavored 80/20 (PG/VG) 3mg nic and a bottle of Grape 80/20 (PG/VG) 3 mg nic. Went home and vape it very lightly (5 draws) and tried not to inhale. Though my breathing has improved since day 12, I'm still needing to attempt to take a deep breath every 15-30 minutes. Sometimes I get a satisfying breath and sometimes I don't. At this point I began to think "What's the use?" and decided to put my vape pen down till my lungs recover fully. Then try to vape the 80PG/20VG and see what happens.
Day 18 - Did not vape at all. Breathing seemed to improve. Decided that since I'm messing around with nic I'd try some nic gum for kicks cuz I never tried it before. Got some CVS brand 2mg nic gum and chewed it on two occasions today.
Day 19 - Today! Breathing is about the same as yesterday. Maybe some slight improvement, but still struggling to get full breaths. Attempting to take a deep breath every half hour or so. Some are satisfying, some aren't. Continued to drink regular water all day as I have drank at least a gallon everyday since day 13. Getting some anxiousness worrying about wether I'm going to fully recover or not. Decided to take a bike ride to work out my lungs a bit. No vape or gum so far today.
Thoughts:
- I have read that it takes a week or so for breathing to return to normal. By my calculations, I should hopefully be breathing normally on or around day 24 - 25, which is about 5 or 6 days away.
- I've read over and over that vaping is a pleasurable experience and that people feel no ill effects from it. So far my experience has been pretty miserable. It surprises me to see some people vape heavily all day and seemingly have no issues, while I have been unable to breathe for 7 days and it seems it will be this way for 5 or 6 more.
- It's been helpful reading the threads in this forum, but it seems the thread starters begin a thread and then disappear without providing any updates on their condition, which suggests to me that it improved enough that it is no longer an issue.
So what are your thoughts/experiences?
Thanks,
Rob
