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Tag: vaping side effects

  • Can Vaping Damper Taste Buds?

    Can Vaping Damper Taste Buds?

    Medical experts say there are a couple factors that can contribute to the loss of the sense of taste among vape users.

    Among the potentially-deadly consequences of vaping there is another affect that makes life a little less sweat: losing the ability to taste. 

    According to Insider, many people who use vapes regularly report that they can’t taste as well as they could before they started using.  Dr. Erich Voigt, New York University Langone Health clinical associate professor of otolaryngology, said that this is an often unrecognized consequence of vaping. 

    Voigt said losing the sensation of taste “isn’t something people come into a specialist’s office to fix because it’s a more mild symptom and they deal on their own.”

    What Contributes To The Loss Of Taste For Vapers?

    Voigt said that there are two factors that can contribute to the loss of the sense of taste among vape users. The solvents that are used in both nicotine and cannabis vape cartridges can coat the tongue with residue. That makes it harder for your taste buds to connect with food that you’re eating, so you experience much less sensation. 

    In addition, vape chemicals affect the nasal passages, which are actually very important for experiencing taste. 

    “We need sense of smell to have a complex enjoyment of taste, so if the nose is congested, it brings sense of taste down,” Voigt said. 

    Vape Tongue

    However, unlike other, more long-term consequences of vaping, so-called “vape tongue” can be reversed, Voigt said. Most people will see their sense of taste return to normal within days or weeks of quitting vapes. 

    There hasn’t been much research into how vaping affects taste. However, research has indicated that vaping can affect oral health overall. One 2016 study concluded that vaping can lead to “compromised oral health.”

    Another study found that vaping can change the molecular structure of tissues in the mouth, which could have serious health consequences, including increasing the risk for cancer. 

    “Molecular pathway and functional network analyses revealed that ‘cancer’ was the top disease associated with the deregulated genes in both e-cig users and smokers,” the study authors wrote. “We observed deregulation of critically important genes and associated molecular pathways in the oral epithelium of vapers that bears both resemblances and differences with that of smokers. Our findings have significant implications for public health and tobacco regulatory science.”

    Vaping-Related Illnesses

    People are becoming more cautious than ever about their vape use, after hundreds of people around the country have become sick with vaping-related illnesses. Voigt said that people need to realize that sensory and oral affects of vaping are dangerous as well. 

    He said, ”My gut instinct is there will be long-term health consequences with continued use of vaping.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Is Vitamin E Behind The Wave Of Vaping-Related Illnesses?

    Is Vitamin E Behind The Wave Of Vaping-Related Illnesses?

    The New York Department of Health is on the hunt for the cause of the recent rash of vaping-related illnesses. 

    As reports of respiratory illnesses—and at least six deaths—related to the use of electronic or e-cigarettes continue to mount, and while lawmakers work to ban flavored vaping devices, health officials in New York have found “very high” levels of vitamin E acetate, a thickening agent, in many of the cannabis vape products used by the individuals who became sick.

    The state’s Department of Health announced that the acetate is now a “key focus” of their investigation, and submitted more than 100 samples to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for testing.

    As Leafly noted, Vitamin E is the umbrella term given to several similar types of oils called tocopherols. They can be extracted from vegetables or made synthetically from petroleum, and are most commonly used as a dietary supplement or as an ingredient in food and/or cosmetics, such as face creams. 

    Highly Toxic When Inhaled

    Though topical application of tocopherols can lead to some skin reactions, inhaling them is highly toxic and can lead to serious health issues. When inhaled, tocopherols adhere to the fluid that lines the interior of the lungs, preventing oxygen from entering the body, and causing cellular death. That, in turn, causes an immune system reaction that resembles pneumonia, with reported symptoms including cough, chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, fever and forms of gastrointestinal distress.

    While testing in state-run markets can prevent additives from being used in vape cartridges, they are not specifically banned in legal adult-use markets.

    Alex Dixon, the CEO of Floraplex, which makes a chemical thickener called Uber Thick, told Leafly that tocopherols could be found in vape cartridges in “every store in downtown Los Angeles, [and] just about any online sales platform you can think of.”

    CDC director Robert Redfield said that while vitamin E acetate has been found in many of the samples used by the sickened individuals, “People need to realize that it is very probable that there are multiple causes.”

    “No one substance, including Vitamin E acetate, has been identified in all of the samples tested,” the FDA added in a statement. “Identifying any compounds that are present in the samples will be one piece of the puzzle, but will not necessarily answer questions about causality.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Fake THC Vape Cartridges Making Users Sick

    Fake THC Vape Cartridges Making Users Sick

    In the midst of investigation, the CDC has declined to say which brands of vape cartridges are the most compromised.

    An 18-year-old was admitted to NYU Winthrop Hospital six weeks ago, presenting with chest pains, nausea, fever, and shortness of breath. Doctors there diagnosed him with a condition related to acute lung injury before setting him up with a breathing tube and putting him in a week-long induced coma.

    The doctors were baffled as to how he became so sick so quickly, until his mom found something in his trash: a marijuana vape cartridge with branding from TKO Extracts, a California-based THC company. As it turns out, the cartridge in question wasn’t theirs, but a knockoff.

    Fake Cartridges

    The teen made a full recovery, but his case is not unique as doctors would encounter a similar patient just one day later.

    A 19-year-old who showed up complaining of coughing, rapid weight loss, and chest pain, was found to have nodules in his lungs. These symptoms had appeared within a span of two weeks, so fast that the doctors at first thought he may have a fast-moving cancer. However, they eventually figured it out—black market THC cartridges.

    The hospital’s chief of pediatric pulmonology, Melodi Pirzada, had never seen such young and healthy patients become so desperately sick in such a small amount of time.

    “It’s becoming very scary. Every day, new cases are adding up,” she said. “Because we didn’t have this problem three months ago.”

    Pirzada is far from the only health care practitioner who is concerned with the acute health effects of counterfeit THC vape cartridges. Across the entirety of the United States, there have been 193 cases of severe lung afflictions in 22 states that have been linked to vaping.

    28 Cases In California

    In California, where recreational marijuana is legal, hospitals have taken on at least 28 cases wherein patients suffered from acute lung damage as a result of vaping THC.

    The problem has gotten to the point where the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released a health alert regarding these counterfeit, black market THC vape cartridges.

    The problem extends beyond California as well, including the states of Wisconsin and Utah that have seen severe lung ailments come about as a result of questionable vape cartridges.

    “Within the last few months it’s amazing how many cases from around the country have come into the spotlight,” said Dr. Raj Dasgupta, the pulmonary and critical care physician at the University of Southern California.

    In the midst of investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declined to officially state which brands of vape cartridges are the most compromised.

    “The investigation is ongoing. We cannot provide this information at this time,” a CDPH spokeperson told Rolling Stone. The problem seems isolated to only counterfeit THC vape cartridges and not vapes in general, according to Pirzada. “E-cigarettes cause their own problems. But this is a totally new issue,” she said.

    For now, vape enthusiasts may have to depend on one another to protect themselves from these knockoff THC cartridges. The Instagram account Dankbusters Official or the Reddit community “cleancarts” offer tips on how to identify authentic products, but they admit that there’s no way for a home user to know for sure.

    “Unless you’re spending $800 on every cartridge to get it tested, there’s no way to 100% know,” said the anonymous administrator of Dankbusters Official.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Schools, Parents See Spike In Problematic Behavior Due To Vaping 

    Schools, Parents See Spike In Problematic Behavior Due To Vaping 

    Some schools have taken doors off bathrooms to limit the likelihood of students vaping in them. 

    As a high school freshman, Kristin Beauparlant began noticing changes in her son, Cade. During hockey games, he began to tire more easily, often having coughing fits. But Kristin says the onset of anxiety and mood swings was what really concerned her. 

    Over the next three years, the Washington Post reports, the Beauparlants eventually identified the problem: Cade had become reliant on nicotine via Juul, a type of e-cigarette resembling a USB drive. 

    According to the Post, the rise of e-cigarettes has sparked concern for young users, as pediatricians say they are seeing teens “who behave less like tobacco users and more like patients with [substance use] disorders.”

    Health Harms

    In addition to behavioral changes, nicotine use can lead to nicotine toxicity, as well as respiratory issues. In fact, Beauparlant was diagnosed with restrictive lung disease due to vaping. Beauparlant’s family is one of the few to try suing e-cigarette companies. Cade’s mother hopes it will lead Juul to fund treatment programs. 

    “We were thinking about vapes just like we thought about cigarettes,” Sharon Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, tells the Post. “Over time we realized no, no. This is something really different.”

    One potential reason for the teen behavior associated with e-cigarettes like Juul is their design which allows for greater intake of nicotine than normal cigarettes. 

    “With the Juuls, kids are able to get a much higher dose of nicotine—and dose matters,” Levy said. “These kids have behaviors that we often see in patients who have opioid or marijuana addiction, but we didn’t typically see with kids who developed addiction to traditional tobacco cigarettes.”

    In response, Juul has claimed their products are designed for adult use and claims that studies have shown nicotine from their devices to be absorbed more slowly than nicotine from cigarettes. 

    According to Jonathan Winickoff, pediatrician and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital with a specialization in tobacco cessation, products proven to help adults quit tobacco may not have the same effect on teens. 

    “We have millions of kids now, millions of adolescents who are using mostly Juul—and in some cases other devices—who are unable to quit,” Winickoff tells the Post. “It’s something we don’t have the infrastructure to deal with.”

    Schools Take Action

    The use of e-cigarettes has become especially problematic in schools. Some schools have even turned to forbidding the use of USB drives since they look like Juuls. Others have taken doors off bathrooms to limit the likelihood of vaping in them. 

    Once Beauparlant’s son was caught vaping, the athlete was no longer allowed to play hockey. This took away any chance of playing in college as well. But after treatment from Winickoff, Kristin Beauparlant says she began to see her son return. 

    “We kind of lost four years of Cade to this addiction,” she told the Post. She adds that now that Cade isn’t vaping daily, “He just seems like a different kid. You can’t help but say there’s a correlation.”

    View the original article at thefix.com