Richard Courtney is a 33-year-old man trying to kick the habit of smoking but when he turned to e-cigarettes and newest box mods on the market , he ended up getting a nasty surprise.
The £100 device is meant to turn the nicotine fluid into water vapour but instead it spat hot nicotine into his throat. As a result, he claims it burnt through his left lung.
I started vaping to try to give up after 16 years of smoking. I’d purchased a couple of Pax 3 Vapes to gift it to some of my friends. Little did I know that I should have gone for the same brand, and not this generic one which caused more harm than benefit. I can’t believe it put me in hospital.He told The Sun
Then it felt like I’d got a trapped nerve in my shoulder. In the morning I had a really tight chest and couldn’t breathe properly. I went to hospital. One of the nurses there put my vape on an oxygen tube and showed that it was spitting liquid out.
Richard claims his lung was working at just 25% due to the incident.
He has since returned to work and the makers of the e-cig are yet to comment on the situation.
The rising popularity of vaping has been dramatic, especially among teenagers. According to a recent study, about 37% of high school seniors reported vaping in 2018, up from 28% the year before. An estimated 2.1 million middle school and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2017; that number jumped to 3.6 million in 2018. Certainly, age restrictions — it’s illegal to sell e-cigarettes to anyone under 21 (18 or 19 in some states) — aren’t preventing use among teens and young adults. And nearly seven million adults 18 or older use e-cigarettes, according to a 2017 survey by the CDC.
E-cigarettes use a battery-powered device that heats a liquid to form vapors — or, more accurately, aerosol — that the user can inhale (thus “vaping”). These devices heat up various flavorings, nicotine, marijuana, or other potentially harmful substances. Nicotine is addictive, of course. And while that fact is prominently displayed in advertising, we know from experience with regular cigarettes that warnings don’t always work!
Recent reports link vaping to lung disease
You may have seen news reports of lung problems, including two deaths — one in Illinoisand another in Oregon— linked to vaping. According to the CDC:
- Nearly 200 e-cigarette users have developed severe lung disease in 22 states (and the numbers keep rising — a Washington Post story put the number at 354). Most cases were among teens and young adults.
- Experts aren’t sure if vaping actually caused these lung problems, but believe the most likely culprit is a contaminant, not an infectious agent. Possibilities include chemical irritation, or allergic or immune reactions to various chemicals or other substances in the inhaled vapors.
- Typically, symptoms have started gradually, with shortness of breath and/or chest pain before more severe breathing difficulty led to hospital admission.
- The lung disease has not been linked to a specific brand or flavor of e-cigarette.
- The FDA, CDC, and state health officials are investigating these cases to determine the specific cause(s) and how to prevent and treat them.
What we don’t know about vaping and lung disease
Most of the time vapers and smokers use to confuse a simple back pain with lung cancer, learn more about backpain treatment programs at MarketWatch. It’s not clear how often vaping might lead to lung trouble or who is at highest risk. For example, are lung problems more common among vapers who already have breathing problems (such as asthma) or who use marijuana? Is it more common among younger individuals? Does use of e-cigarettes cause the lung disease? Or is an added substance (such as marijuana) or another contaminant the culprit? Since the FDA’s regulation of e-cigarettes is still evolving, it’s particularly difficult to get answers.