There is no doubt that “vaping” is one of the newest addiction trends to emerge over the past decade. But exactly how dangerous are the long term effects? That is something many have wondered…until now. Per recent stories on sites like NPR, it looks more chronic users are getting hospitalized and having severe lung complications.
The NPR piece dug into some local statistics from recent months, highlighting these types of hospitalizations. In a small Wisconsin region, for example, 15 cases of vaping complications led to ER visits since July. In that same time span, Illinois saw six similar cases and Minnesota had four.
The Wisconsin Hospital (based in Milwaukee) had one of the sharpest spikes, leading to a statement from its chief medical officer Dr. Michael Gutzeit.
“As the clinical team was trying to get a better understanding about what might be causing this, it became apparent that the one preceding factor was that the patients had been vaping,” Dr. Gutzeit told the site. “So far the only thing that’s been common amongst all these people has been the vaping.”
Even worse is the fact that a majority of the patients are teenagers and 20-somethings. As we’ve mentioned before on our blogs, vaping has become particularly popular with the high school set. Students have latched on to it as a new type of “high,” though it can be just as addictive and dangerous as cigarettes.
The actual medical issues can include chest pains (often seen when vapers use THC oil with their e-cigarettes), as well as severe coughing and lung fluid.
One young patient was interviewed for the article and described his harrowing symptoms. Dylan Nelson actually fell into a coma before being rushed to the hospital. Doctors told him that at one point, he was very near death.
“It was very uncomfortable. Every time I would cough with the tube in my mouth, fluid would come up out of my lungs into the tube and they would have to vacuum out the hose,” Nelson explained to NPR.
One of his biggest admitted mistakes was purchasing his vaping materials from street dealers. His cartridges were found to have included a significant amount of THC oil, which led to the averse reaction.
Now, as he told NPR readers, Nelson has an entirely new take on vaping.
“Life is short, don’t spend it chasing a high,” he concluded. “Also, if you are going to smoke just stick to the dispensaries. Don’t buy stuff off the street where you don’t know where it’s coming from.”
In the Hospital Sick Male Patient Sleeps on the Bed. Heart Rate Monitor Equipment is on His Finger.
