Breathing Through a USB
You’ve heard of vaping. We’ve heard of vaping. Everyone has heard of vaping. It’s a cool new trend, right? But what’s the real truth behind this seemingly flavored USB stick? And how can it hurt you in the long run?
If somehow you haven’t heard of vaping, it’s a new way to smoke nicotine and other substances. It stimulates smoking, which is why it’s known as ‘e-cigarettes’ in some places. Vapes come in many different shapes and sizes, which is helpful to those who want to hide it. However, vapes also require a battery and a flavor cartridge of marijuana/tobacco. The liquid in the flavor cartridge is heated and transformed into flavored aerosol inhaled into the lungs.
A vape pod, on average, has as much nicotine as 20 cigarettes. This can cause addiction and behavioral problems. Inhaling too much nicotine can cause seizures, convulsions, nausea, and lightheadedness; over 62% of seizures and convulsions happen within the first 30 minutes of vaping. These side effects are most commonly known as ‘nic sick.’
Still think vaping is safe? You might have a literal bomb in your house. Vape devices are known to explode when their battery overheats. Plus, the nicotine liquid found in flavor cartridges is poisonous when swallowed or placed on the skin. The exposure effects are horrible: nausea, redness, and vomiting.
Vaping myths often teach young children false facts. Many people like to believe that vaping is better than smoking. This is completely untrue. Cigarettes may have different toxins, but vapers also inhale acetone (used as a solvent). Acetone may irritate the skin and eyes. And get this: other chemicals in vapes can cause cancer over time.
Vaping can also cause popcorn lung, which is a fancy way to say the disease bronchiolitis obliterans (BO). This illness is caused primarily by diacetyl. Diacetyl is an ingredient in vaping, and it’s added to vapes to enhance the flavor. However, diacetyl is deadly to the regular vaper and can lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airway. This makes breathing very difficult and causes coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest pain.
Another vape myth is that vaping is easy to quit. That’s quite the opposite. Vaping is just as hard to quit as smoking and delivers just as much addicting nicotine as 20 cigarettes. It’s been proven that teen vapers often become smokers later on.
Vaping isn’t just harmful to the average user. It’s also harmful to others around them. Secondhand vapor isn’t just ‘harmless water vapor’ (as the industry wrongly refers to it). It contains nicotine, ultrafine particles, and low levels of toxins that can cause cancer. Vapers cause harm to themselves and the people around them, usually involuntarily.
But what can you do if you or someone you know is vaping? First of all, you should inform them of the consequences of vaping. You can also seek help from your doctors. Surrounding yourself with supportive and positive people can help you choose to stop vaping more easily. If all of this isn’t available to you, try talking to a tobacco cessation counselor. 1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-877-44U-QUIT are a few phone numbers of tobacco cessation specialists. Let’s keep IKE safe!