E-Cigarettes - are they damaging to your health?

Obviously you are still addicted to nicotine when you use e-cigs. I would say it is still a bit worse than not smoking but a lot better than normal smoking. You should look into the effects nicotine has on the body like mood altering and increasing blood pressure and heart rate.

There not regulated in anyway, anti freeze was found in some liquids, nobody is addicted to smoking it's Nicotine is the problem, your boyfriend needs to give up nicotine and then he's free from smoking or any supplement like eCigs, nicotine patches etc.
Champix has worked for a lot of people I personally know even myself and plenty of people here on boards as well.

Second the Champix, my partner is off them 4 weeks yesterday without so much as a drag off a cigarette or any electronic crutches.

The problem with E-cigs is that people consider them an alternative, when they are absolutely not. They are meant to slowly wean you off the nicotine while allowing you to replicate the physical habits you have become accustomed to like inhaling deeply and holding something between your fingers, or going out to the beer garden with your mates.

You are not meant to quit smoking and then continue to pump yourself with the drug you are addicted to by another means because you think it is less damaging.

Getting run over by a cyclist is less damaging than getting run over by a motorist. But you'd honestly see that neither are a good option, as both are damaging. Smoking with an e-cig is no different.

Again, have to applaud the Champix, my partner said the only time he feels any cravings any more are when he is doing something that he always accompanies with a cigarette - driving long distances, watching the football and drinking beer, and *ahem* after fun-times :rolleyes:
He knows only rightly that the craving he has is pure habit, and not the drug itself now, so he has started having a cup/flask of tea on the occasions where he really wants to smoke, and it's gotten him thus far with no problems!

Green Hornet wrote: »

Despite all the Champix love in here, be wary......research it before you decide to go that route.....

Never used it but I know a few who have and it isn't as rosy as its portrayed here, at least for a percentage of people who used it.

No medication is. My partner also suffered vivid dreams, sometimes crossing into nightmares. He also felt extremely nauseous if he took a tablet on an empty stomach.
He still maintains it was better than the alternative, and that once he knew how to combat the issue, it was a painless experience.
Even panadol have unpleasant side-effects, but people will still risk it to get rid of a bad headache :P

Anyone wrote: »

Given its links to suicide as a side affect, I think comparing champix to panadol might be pushing it.

I find it hard to believe that doctors are still prescribing it.

Well our doctor said it was because they can't conclusively prove that the links to suicide are solely down to the medication, and not withdrawal symptoms from nicotine. In any case, they worked fine this end apart from the nausea and dreams, which is what my mother and uncle also experienced. I've not come across anyone with more harmful side-effects than that.

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There not regulated in anyway, anti freeze was found in some liquids, nobody is addicted to smoking it's Nicotine is the problem, your boyfriend needs to give up nicotine and then he's free from smoking or any supplement like eCigs, nicotine patches etc.
Champix has worked for a lot of people I personally know even myself and plenty of people here on boards as well.

1. Champix now carries a warning due to the high incidence of suicide as it was not anticipated that a mood altering drug (and in fact an antidepressant) would result in suicidal feelings) Pfizer settled for 175m in lawsuits and costs. You might have noticed those mood changes whilst on champix.

2. No, antifreeze was never found in e-liquid you are either confusing this with the fact that one of the ingredients in e-liquid MPG or monopropolyene glycol is used in the manufacture of antifreeze... non toxic antifreeze I might add. Or you are deliberately attempting to deceive the person you are talking to...either way that makes you an idiot. Water is also used in the manufacture of antifreeze both toxic and non toxic varieties... that does not make drinking water dangerous. Stop spreading rumours and nonsense.

3. To date from 10 years of research and thousands of studies...more studies I might add than most products you buy and eat from any supermarket not a single toxin has been found in e-cigs... not one. Moreover its not like the tobacco companies and pharmaceutical companies haven't done everything possible to try demonstrate such health risks since they pay for 'most' of the research. But thats pretty much obvious to everyone since million use them and nobody has yet presented themselves to a doctor suffering from any ill effect. You would imagine if there was antifreeze in it there would be at the very least someone sick...and likely a trail of bodies!

4. It is possible to buy e-liquid in reduction packs which reduce the nicotine level intake overtime. They are very cheap especially when compared to other NRT methods and champix (about 10% of the cost) and they also demonstrate efficacy above both pharmaceutical solutions AND other NRT method, which you would know had you looked into this at all but didn't.

I also notice in your other posts you seem to be specifically anti e-cigs and even refer to it at one point as smoking... didn't bother looking at all your posts ...but vaping is not smoking on account of there is no smoke... which you also know but don't seem to be able to reiterate.


So repeat after me 'vaping is safe (as demonstrated) champix is dangerous (as demonstrated and admitted by the manufacturers) gums and patches don't work (since if they did then they might have had at least some impact on the level of nicotine addiction) and you contradict yourself in some crazy holy war against e-cigs for what ever reasons known only to yourself at the moment... but I doubt it would take me too long to run a search and scrape for your posts across boards.ie and find out what you are up to???

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Well our doctor said it was because they can't conclusively prove that the links to suicide are solely down to the medication, and not withdrawal symptoms from nicotine.

The cry of 'the can't conclusively prove' applies to absolutely everything on the face of the earth... a bottle of milk is not conclusively demonstrated to be safe nor is it conclusively proven to be dangerous.... nor is chewing wrigleys...or walking to the park!

What is generally the case in this world is that something is used unless an issue arises and its addressed. Pfizer seem to have got off scot free there since an issue arose the available evidence demonstrated culpability and responsibility and they walked with a mere 175million payout!

The incidence of suicide with their drug is many times that of the people that simply quit cold turkey. So forget about the need to 'conclusively demonstrate' it...would you go along with that if it was blatantly obvious a car was coming towards you but it not 'conclusively proven' it will hit you? Just go with the body of knowledge you have and the the most likely story.

Your doctor being a doctor who sat through numerous classes in pathology would understand that. Clearly he needs to have someone in the HSE have a word with him about dispensing non medical and also inaccurate advice, using gaps in knowledge as some sort of excuse to give a dangerous drug a 'pass' and prescribe it to patients just to make a few bucks on Champix.

MickelRants, so you have a vested interest in e-cigs?

I really don't understand people's resistance to ecigarettes, I had smoked for 40 years and tried everything over the last 15 and nothing worked until I tried ecigarettes, tried a tester at a booth in a shopping centre and I liked it so bought it.

I have no interest in smoking cigarettes again as they now taste and smell awful to me and am getting into the whole vaping thing and looking forward to trying new eliquids and better vaporisers. Never felt better, and I envoy vaping, whether I will ever give that up....well recent research suggests that nicotene is good for older people as regards memory etc....:)

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

MickelRants, so you have a vested interest in e-cigs?

No I have a vested interest in health... but unlike some other folk here I do not dispense medical advice over an open forum. NOT because its against the rules but rather because its just plain dangerous.

But that okay because e-cigs are not medication...and can't be because they contain the very substance a medication would NOT have to address the condition refereed to as nicotine addiction. And also don't fall under the IMB's definition of medication either... so theres no need for anyone to worry about them being classified as a medication.

However having said that I've personally used an ecig for more than a year now and researched precisely what I was doing because I smoked for 25 years.

I've now made 15 posts and you are the second person to imply I work for the electronic cigarette industry... Its probably likely that since I've read a lot of medical journals, papers and studies of e-cigs that I magically seem so educated on the matter... My vested interest in the e-cig business is making sure others don't make it the EX-E-cig business... because from what I see its a tobacco killer.

dePeatrick wrote: »

I have no interest in smoking cigarettes again as they now taste and smell awful to me and am getting into the whole vaping thing and looking forward to trying new eliquids and better vaporisers. ..:)

Don't mention where or if you buy your e-liquid thats all I'll say... the stazi will be in like flynn to drag you off to the big house where the 'massa' will whoop your ass with a baseball bat!

MickelRants wrote: »

1. Champix now carries a warning due to the high incidence of suicide as it was not anticipated that a mood altering drug (and in fact an antidepressant) would result in suicidal feelings) Pfizer settled for 175m in lawsuits and costs. You might have noticed those mood changes whilst on champix.

2. No, antifreeze was never found in e-liquid you are either confusing this with the fact that one of the ingredients in e-liquid MPG or monopropolyene glycol is used in the manufacture of antifreeze... non toxic antifreeze I might add. Or you are deliberately attempting to deceive the person you are talking to...either way that makes you an idiot. Water is also used in the manufacture of antifreeze both toxic and non toxic varieties... that does not make drinking water dangerous. Stop spreading rumours and nonsense.

3. To date from 10 years of research and thousands of studies...more studies I might add than most products you buy and eat from any supermarket not a single toxin has been found in e-cigs... not one. Moreover its not like the tobacco companies and pharmaceutical companies haven't done everything possible to try demonstrate such health risks since they pay for 'most' of the research. But thats pretty much obvious to everyone since million use them and nobody has yet presented themselves to a doctor suffering from any ill effect. You would imagine if there was antifreeze in it there would be at the very least someone sick...and likely a trail of bodies!

4. It is possible to buy e-liquid in reduction packs which reduce the nicotine level intake overtime. They are very cheap especially when compared to other NRT methods and champix (about 10% of the cost) and they also demonstrate efficacy above both pharmaceutical solutions AND other NRT method, which you would know had you looked into this at all but didn't.

I also notice in your other posts you seem to be specifically anti e-cigs and even refer to it at one point as smoking... didn't bother looking at all your posts ...but vaping is not smoking on account of there is no smoke... which you also know but don't seem to be able to reiterate.


So repeat after me 'vaping is safe (as demonstrated) champix is dangerous (as demonstrated and admitted by the manufacturers) gums and patches don't work (since if they did then they might have had at least some impact on the level of nicotine addiction) and you contradict yourself in some crazy holy war against e-cigs for what ever reasons known only to yourself at the moment... but I doubt it would take me too long to run a search and scrape for your posts across boards.ie and find out what you are up to???

I've tried champix and everything else to try and quit smoking and none have worked so far, champix made me feel very unstable and I wouldn't recommend anyone trying it, as for e-cigs I've tried a few but I keep going back to my good old friend Amber Leaf, I'll keep trying because one day they'll give me up.

Some people cant put 2+2 together.
e cigs have 3-4 ingredients in the juice that are listed on the bottle,better quality juices have even more info like what nicotine was used % of all ingredients.
Now read up contents list and go to wikipedia or google them.
After this compare it to the list that goes into single cigarette 200 chemicals that cause cancer alone-used in $**8t loads of stuff to produce petrol,antifreeze,carcinogenic stuff,and another 600-800 ingredients that keeps cigarette to taste and keep burning,since tobbaco alone doesnt burn if no air circulation and heat/compression is present and tastes like $hit.
Now e-cigs aren't proven to be healthy nor harmless,as no one is bothering to fund any serious research.

But if person really wants to quit best way to go is cold turkey,if no will power to do that then e-cig is safer option considering that you dont inhale burnt stuff like tar and avoid another 896 chemicals.

I also changed to e-cigs over five months ago. I have gradually reduced the strength liquid I use and the frequency I use it. That to me is a win.

Cold turkey is grand if

A. you can hack it...and lets be honest very few can.
B. You want to give up for the right reasons.

If you want to give up cos it costs you money and you cough up three tadpoles and a frog every morning then eventually the cravings (IMO) will win.

If I was being sarcastic I'd say cold turkey works great... I used it 10 or 15 times in the past 25 years and it worked every time...up until I started smoking again.

I liked smoking... but I didn't like the empty pockets and a lung full of crap that would kill me... not to mention the damage I know I've done myself where its too late now even though I don't smoke any more.

But I get best of both worlds now... cheap nicotine habit... no crappy lung stuff, no known damage to my health...a more pleasurable experience in a flavour I can choose from thousands of flavours ... at something like €5 a bottle and rather weirdly (and I'm buggered if I know why) but the dose of flu I used to get once a year is gone...every year like clockwork in September I used to get a ose of the flu... not any more... and I also used to get repeating strep ...and I haven't seen that now in 2 years.

For me its vaping all the way...

now yeah I suppose you could argue it will be discovered in 40 years time that vaping leads to your balls dropping off and a dose of something or other... but I'll be an old man by then so I couldn't care less really, and being the academic and nosey sort I read up on these things too.. seems perfectly okay to me. I stil have a nicotine habit though... but I have no intention of addressing that.