Wednesday, July 20, 2011

So, this e-cigarette thing & vaping nicotine liquid. Contributor?

I know you must be wondering a few things.  What is an e-cigarette?  What is vaping? Nicotine liquid?  And why in the world did she choose a pina colada as the image for this post?

In order:  An alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes (or "analogs" as they're commonly referred to within the "vaping" community), an electronic cigarette, or e-cig, is actually a bit like a small fog machine.  It heats liquid - either with or without nicotine - to a vapor, which can be inhaled and exhaled like cigarette smoke.  We "vapers" refer to that act as "vaping."

Why the pina colada? Because unlike traditional cigarettes, liquid nicotine comes in many tasty flavors - as many as you could possibly imagine.  If you can think it, someone has probably added FlavourArt liquid flavoring - such as would be used in the commercial beverage industry - to a nicotine and vegetable glycerine base.  My favorite for several months was, you guessed it, pina colada.

The trouble is, I've learned two things since I first picked up an e-cig (and put down the cigarettes the same day), one is that while the flavorings are on the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) list for ingestion, several are definitely not safe for warming to a vapor and inhaling.  In particular, one compound called diacetyl, a diketone, which produces a buttery or creamy flavor and was very popular in several "nicotine juice" flavoring concoctions is also known to cause a disease called Bronchiolitis Obliterans, aka "popcorn lung."  Essentially, the warmed vapor is known to cause irreversible lung damage.  But vendors still used it, and buyers still bought it.  There is/was quite a bit of debate over whether the compound was safe in the minuscule amounts that e-cig users were probably receiving.  

Which would seem to have nothing to do with anything.  Except, after six months of vaping, I came down with my transverse myelitis lesion.  And in my research came across this article on b12 deficiency-related paresthesia and myelopathy (which may mimic or lead to TM-like lesions and was curable with b12 injections):  http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/77/3/291.full.pdf 

In short, what caught my eye was that hexanedione is listed as a known neurological toxin.  Hexanedione is in the same compound description as diacetyl, they are both diketones - it is also used as a flavoring which can produce a buttery or creamy taste.

So it begged the question - was there a chance that my TM was not actually idiopathic, but had a definable cause, right in my hand?  No flavoring vendor that I am aware of used hexanedione specifically.  But 2,3 pentanedione was used, and as you may have guessed by that "dione" suffix, is another diketone.  It would seem that direct inhalation of diketones wouldn't be the best idea under any circumstances.

Additionally, I came across information that nicotine inhibits b12 absorption, and wondered if in fact there is something about the way that e-cig users absorb nicotine that further interferes with b12 absorption.

And as if this isn't long and "what if?" enough... The e-cig itself uses what is referred to as an atomizer (or alternately, cartomizer) to actually heat the liquid.  And how are the atomizer parts constructed?  With solder, of course.  Everyone recognizes that using lead solder would be a very bad idea, indeed, and instead a common replacement is silver/tin based solder.  And you know what is also a neurotoxin?  Heavy metal poisoning, such as by silver.

Thankfully some "cartomizers" are coming out now that are solder-free, so perhaps that is at least one less thing to worry about.  But that's the problem with an idiopathic diagnosis - we just don't know what caused it, and all I can do is continue to guess.

In short, I feel as if I might be something of the canary in a coal mine, and am simply the first of others who might encounter neurological damage due to their desire to reduce the harm caused by cigarette smoking.

21 comments:

  1. Hello,

    Dec 2013 I was diagnosed with TM. I was basically paralized from my chest down. I was able to move my arms but not use hands well. I spent 2 months in the hospitol and had to learn to walk again and use my hands and body. I am up and moving ok but suffer with bladder/bowl issues still. I have a lot of pain in my neck and my hands and arms are often numb or in pain. I was using an ecig for over a year before this happened. Today just ramdomly I decided to google "ecig transverse" and came across this article you wrote. There has still been no reasoning or how I got TM. This really makes me curious how many other people who have TM were ecig users. Maybe a specific brand of e liquid is causing it? I'm curious where you bought your liquid from, maybe from the same place I did?

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    1. Hmmm, basically pre-coffee here so I'm not sure my reply posted. Basically I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry for your run with this terrible disorder. :(

      I'll always wonder, I guess.. liquid (I used a trusted internet supplier whose company initials are BWB if that means anything to you, and didn't use the obvious "buttery" liquids but those flavor profiles are in just about everything, really as a base flavor) to solder to maybe mold growth in the liquid or my setup.. And won't ever have an answer. Of course that's the worst.

      I go back and forth between smoking and vaping, largely because my brain won't let me fully trust ecigs anymore, which just stinks. :( But once you have an area of your spinal cord go missing it's pretty hard not to think about it happening again. :(

      Best of luck to you in your journey, truly. I am so glad you're one of us that had some improvement after the initial attack.

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  2. i got TM lesion at t4 after vaping for 6 months , this was on xmas day 2013 ... i havent been well since.

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    1. I'm so sorry to hear of your diagnosis and further issues. Vaping has caught on in such a huge way since I wrote this piece that we're probably at a point where the crossover is much larger. What I mean is that so many more ppl vape that the odds are "better" to have that vape + tm connection, and it may be nothing at all. But it may be. There's just no telling.

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    2. thanks for the reply shan..i stopped vaping last night when i read this and in that 24 hours my back pain has subsided substantially...

      there is deffo something to this, and i think its the concentration of the nicotine - in my case 24mg- robbing my body of b12

      time will tell what happens but for now all my vaping has been stopped , nicotine addiction is on hold. and taking b12 supplements util further notice. I will post back results over time.

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    3. Jim, that's truly fantastic, I hope for continued success. And yes, I keep coming back to B12 as a possible link, as well. You might want to consider injections as well. If they're covered under your insurance, they are generally quite cheap - mine were $10 a pop.

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  3. Hello Shan

    Thank you for writing this. I suffer from recurring paresthesia (tingling, pins and needles, itch, sting, burn - wearing clothes is hard and. The symptoms are most pronounced on my torso, but are also felt every other place in the body when it's a worst). I have good and bad periods - sometimes i have this for 3-4 weeks in a row. And maybe i get lucky and get 2 months of remission.
    I've been through a loong investigation by doctors. Have tried SSRI's, antihistamines, anticholinergics, steroid ointments etc. Also had xrays of thorax, MRI scans of back and brain. Alot of blood work. No medical reason located.

    I vape a lot (currently 6mg because I try to wean myself off) and been doing this for 4-5 years (also a heavy coffee drinker – what about you?). After reading this i thought i might suspect the vaping for contributing to my symptoms. I've just started with vitamin B12. The last time i did that, i had 2 great months before it came back again. Reading about nicotine as a possible B12-killer makes me want to quit vaping and continue with B12.

    I think my nervous system is on the edge. I have a past as a drug abuser (been clean and sober for 8 years) and now i'm easily stressed because of job, family etc. But i really don't think that vaping nicotine and possible neurotoxic drugs contribute in a good way.

    Actually i buy all my liquid from well known and accepted vendors. But i guess there is no guarantees, right? Actually a couple of years ago when i used alot of FlavourArt RY4, my paresthesia got very very bad.

    How are you feeling right now? Would be great to get an update from you (as well as from Jim Giraffe).

    Thank you for reading.

    Kind regards,
    Mads

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    1. Thanks, Mads. I guess I'll always have some level of paresthesia, but mine has generally settled down into a mild numbness/tingling in my left hand, as well as a slight reduction in function in my left hand (of course, I'm a lefty!). But my level of paresthesia is so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things I basically ignore it. I haven't had a full-on "pseudo relapse" in a while, which is nice.

      It's so funny that now and then I try vaping again, but I just can't commit to it, because there's always that tiny fear that it was, if not the culprit, a contributor.

      That's really interesting that you don't have any firm diagnosis, but have noticed a link between some of the flavors traditionally containing a diketone flavoring agent. (I loved a good RY4 too.) I would HATE to see anyone go back to cigarettes and generally still believe that the benefits of vaping outweigh the risks, but I can't help but wonder if your body isn't giving you a head's up and wonder also if mine did as well, but I ignored any mild b12 deficiency paresthesia until a full blown lesion developed. Again, yup, we'll never know.

      I wish you the absolute best, obviously. Paresthesia/nervous system disorders are so frustrating because by and large they're invisible, you seem "normal" so ppl forget that you've got some weird stuff going on, which I think we all know can set you up for depression in a hurry. Fun stuff, huh?

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  4. well i stopped vaping on 9th dec and i have been using the nicorette inhalators. What can i say..i am no longer in the debilitating pain i used to be in. My lesion was at t4 and im due for a new mri soon , so will post more info when i have it. Istead of having a firey red hot stabby pain in my back , i get an occasional stiff neck...i really think my body is repairing itself.
    vaping is dangerous kids...i was using 24mg tic tac orange flavour and 24mg cherry. Maybe it was too much.

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  5. Good to see more posts on here from others. I check back here from time to time to see if anything new. Last post I made up there was Sept 2014. So its been over a year since then. My condition has remained the same except my feet are slowly getting worse. I am currently vaping and smoking. Thought since I got new juice and tanks my normal cig usage has decreased a lot. Back when I posted this I wasn't doing either. My main issues when I wasnt smoking/vaping remain the same as when I do. Hands and feet get the tingle prickling numbness. More I use them more it intensifies. If I use my hands a lot they can go almost completely numb. Feet getting a lot of brown spots. I dont think any is related to TM though but who really knows.

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  6. my problem was due t mercury poisoning , and a rootc canal infection which was cause ms like symptoms.

    think back and try and remember your last dental treatment before your onset.
    get extration sites checked forcavitations / root canals removed / fillings replaced and any other metal or porcelain mixes changed for anyhing less toxic.
    search for hal huggins and all the ingo you need is out there.
    I hope you all get better..i am 2 weeks after getting my dental work redone and im back to nrmal

    jim_giraffe at outlook.com

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  7. e-cogs exacerbate the symptoms and are not the cause, as with mercury poisoning it reacts with the mercury a little giving you a double whammy.

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    1. Jim, that's really interesting, because I really wondered about heavy metal poisoning (which was much for fun when all those moms freaked out about it in the 80's, lol) due to the solder and such.

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    2. please do, the hg levels in my spinal cord fluid were excessive.
      Get amalgams removed ( they are 50% mercury)
      i do not eat fish and dont live near the coast so how do i have high mercury levels.
      get root canals removed - they harbour infection and you feel no pain. - the immune system cannot fight these due to not being able to pass through the periodontal ligament which holds the tooth in place - get the ligament removed also.
      get extraction sites checked for cavitations -ie the old periodontal ligaments which have healed over with infection in them causing a puss filled infection reservoir under the gum with zero pain.

      you will start to feel better and many symptoms will decrease.

      good luck shan

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  9. Don't know if anyone still commenting on here but 5 month ago I suddenly started with severe burning pain throughout body and numbness pretty much throughout body with bladder and bowel problems, I have been vaping for a few years and am currently having tests done, MRI scan has shown changes and inflammation am now awaiting lumbar puncture. I have just stopped vaping so will see if things improve I have a feeling all this is down to vaping but will see

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    1. Hi I too have suffered exactly same symptoms and had mri which showed changes and inflammation, I had also been vaping for a couple years on and off not vaped now for 10 month and nearly back to normal

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    2. I am SO glad to hear this, Sharon. Feeling well, still?

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  10. shan, did you have any teeth extracted befor eyou got sick ?

    dentists are not trained to remove the peridontal ligamment and this gets infected as it doesnt allow the jaw to heal - they are called caviotations or nico lesions

    get any extraction sites - especially molars or wisodm tooth opened up and get the infection cleaned out.

    A hollistic dentist will do this no problem.

    all the best

    I have been ms free now for 2 years and all my lesions and symptoms vanished - my neuro doesnt understand how it vanished.... your health or lack of comes from your mouth and people usually get sick with auto immune disease after a visit to the dentist.

    i hope you are well

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    1. Hi, sorry, Google has been bad about giving me replies. No, no extractions. I am SO DAMN HAPPY to hear that you are better!!!

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