Allergic to vaping

[mackimm]

Hi all,

Today is a sad day for me. I've been vaping for 5 weeks and I'm afraid that I'm allergic to one of the substances in the e-liquid. Can't really tell for sure but what happened was that after about 2 weeks I started vaping I got a very mild common cold. All's well and good. Later I started coughing and i attributed it to the cold, but the coughing hasn't subsided since. It's been 3 weeks now and it's getting worse and has all the indications of it being an allergy where usually I never had any.

So I have to stop vaping for the time being to make sure that vaping is what's causing it. Today is day 1. If the allergy subsides I can tell for sure that it was caused by vaping. Probably it's the PG (as I've heard that some people do develop allergies to PG). I might consider to switch to 100% AG mixes, but when i tried it, I really missed the throat hit and couldn't get my fix no matter how much nicotine I put into it. Well, for now I just have to wait and see and check and test which ingredient is actually causing the allergy. For all I know it might be the AG and not the PG that's causing it...

I'm really sad about this as when I got my first order.  Till now I'm doing fine without vaping and no analogues. Will have to see how it goes.

Apart from that, since I was really enjoying vaping last week I made an order and got a couple of extra batteries, extra atomisers, some red label flavours etc etc. I've spent a total of £200 in goods and now they have to lay there untouched. Trading does not make sense to me if I have to give up vaping altogether.

Well, I just would like to say thanks to all those that helped me here when I had questions about mixing and all the stuff. It has been a pleasurable experience and am grateful to all in this forum. Thanks to all :-)

post edited to comply with forum regulations -  http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussions/legal-advisory-and-revised-terms-of-forum-use/

[WHITEE1987]

Have you tried adding vodka to the 100% VG mixes. It can improve throat hit. Maybe that will keep you going?

[Lettie22]

Additionally, if you wait about 1 second after pushing the button on the battery before taking your inhale, you also get more throat hit.   I'm a TH type of gal!

Wishing you good thoughts and please keep us updated on this!

[tiddler]

Hi mackimm,
Sorry to hear your having allergy problems with vaping    You say your doing OK without vaping or analogues. Well if you can keep it up, that's no bad thing   
However if you end up struggling with that, you could always try using PEG 400 instead of PG. Not tried it myself,  but many others in your position use it with success apparently.

[mackimm]

Thanks all,

First of I have to see what is actually causing the allergic reaction (or if it just a coincidence) however, I haven't vaped for 20 hours now and am already feeling better. So I guess that after 2 more days I can tell for sure if it is caused by vaping or not.

Secondly I have to see what is actually causing the allergy. Is it the PG, the AG, flavour or nicotine?

If it is the PG, my options would be AG and vodka or PEG400. If it is not the PG, i would have to go without flavour or without nicotine... Will see when we get there.

Still a long way to go until we get there though. Thanks for all the support guys.

[tiddler]

Cant see that its likely to be nicotine tbh, not if you were a smoker before and didn't have an allergy to it then.
Flavourings. I don't know, but would have thought it less likely, and even less likely to be the VG.
And as far as I can make out, its far more common for someone to suffer an allergy to PG. So it sorta makes sense to start by taking that out of the equation first I'd have thought.

[Knoton]

Hello Mackimm

Sorry to hear about your allergic reactions  
I remember from another thread some time ago about someone being allergic there was this discussion
one could try what one was allergic to by applying for example a bit of PG to your underarm.
And If you got somekind of reaction you would know.
I am not so sure though if that actually is working.

Besides coughing do you get swollen in your throat and have somekind of a problem breathing?
If not it just sounds to me as a reaction to something irritating your "pipes"
If yes, I really think you should see a doctor, when It could be a astmathic problem due to some allergy.

Maybe you had a real flu and it got to your lungs causing you to cough when the vapour enter...

[mackimm]

Thanks Knoton,

Apart from coughing, no there's nothing swollen and no problem breathing. Now I haven't vaped for 36 hours and it does feel a bit better. Will give it a couple of days more now. If I find that it's the PG, I'll have to find other ways to get my throat hit. PEG400 and vodka seem to be the answer to my problems :-)

Thanks once again.

[Knoton]

Thanks Knoton,

Apart from coughing, no there's nothing swollen and no problem breathing. Now I haven't vaped for 36 hours and it does feel a bit better. Will give it a couple of days more now. If I find that it's the PG, I'll have to find other ways to get my throat hit. PEG400 and vodka seem to be the answer to my problems :-)

Thanks once again.

Peg400 doesnt give throat hit, it just add a kind of texture to the vapour. And have in my opinion a slight perfumary taste.
PG give throat hit
VG Gives sligth sweetnes and a lot of vapour.

I would go for a mix with high percentage of VG with some vodka added.

[mackimm]

OK thanks I'll take your advice.

One question though. Do I add Vodka to the AG I got from TW or should I buy (don't know from where) VG and dilute it with vodka?

[StevieD]

AG is already diluted and so adding vodka to that will make it too watery. You can get pure glycerine from Pharmacies and also Cake Decoration suppliers as it is used in icings. Make sure that whatever glycerine you get is either food quality of pharmaceutical quality and is not marked 'For external use only'

[mackimm]

OK will check out at my local pharmacy. Elsewhere I found that the ration should be 85% VG and 15% Vodka to get the right consistency. Is that right?

[StevieD]

Anywhere between 10 and 20% should be fine.

[mackimm]

Thanks... and btw... any particular kind of vodka that I should use? Does the percentage alcohol or anything I should take into consideration? If you can just suggest a particular brand that is ideal I'd me more than grateful (if forum regulations permit)

[Puff]

Hi mackimm
Sorry to hear of your plight, I hope you find a happy solution...so you can carry on vaping 

Tina

[mackimm]

Hey all,

Just a short update. After 2 whole days not vaping, this morning I woke up fine. No coughing and nothing. Therefore I can safely say that the allergy was caused by vaping. So, I prepared a mix 100% AG and vaped through it throughout the whole day. I'm still fine. No coughing and nothing. So the verdict is... I'm allergic to PG.

I've added some vodka to the mix just to try it out. The throat hit is OK, not that strong but good enough. The juice is a bit too runny and I'm getting some leakages, but I wanted to try it out before actually buy glycerine form the pharmacy. So tomorrow, I'm off to the pharmacy, get some glycerine and mix it with vodka and get back to enjoy vaping.

Thanks to all for the good wishes, help and advice. I really appreciate it.

PS my only issue now is that I just bought 4 titan tank atomisers and 2 of which are faulty (too hard to pull from)... That was quite strange to get 50% of your staff faulty. Hope that I'd get it sorted with TW soon. My only issue is that I'm Maltese and thus it's going to be quite expensive to ship that faulty attys back to the UK. Will wait and see.

[Soki]

hey mackimm, sad to hear about your allergy!
Personally im using a 80% VG 20%PG and its great so if the glycerin and/or vodka can give you sufficient throat hit then you wont even need PG. Also im not sure but if any of the experienced vaper's can give advice if the nicotine levels also contribute to throat hit. Ive noticed that the eGO-C gives me a better throat hit than the eGO, so maybe a different device or low resistance atomisers can compensate for the missing PG.
Hope you get your stuff replaced.
Soki

[efrenchy]

Another place to pick up the AG or VG is a health food store that is where I get mine.  Glad to hear you are feeling better.

[mackimm]

Just an update.

I've been experimenting a lot and found out that I'm not really allergic to PG. I've consulted a collegue of mine who is a chemist and told me that PG is an irritant and was probably iritating my trachea and drying it up, thus making me cough. So I reduced the amount of PG in my mix to a total of 60% of the whole mix. Been doing that for a week and no coughing whatsoever. So I don't really need to dilute VG with vodka and can make use of all the PG I bought.

Thanks to all for your concern and advice. All's well that ends well I guess 

[RichJr]

PG is G.R.A.S. No allergic reactions by any person in closed studies over many years. It CAN be harsh though and irritate your airways. I cut down on PG to only 50% and that's nice and smooth. Put a drop of PG on your forearm for a little while to see if it's really PG which I doubt. I don't want people avoiding things they don't have to aftr being falsely informed. I posted pics before of stuff that has PG in it and it's pretty much EVERYTHING in the bathroom cabinet. In most cases if you shave, use moisturizer or brush your teeth your using propelyne glycol. Either way I hope you continue vaping and stay feeling better.

[tez77]

PG is G.R.A.S. No allergic reactions by any person in closed studies over many years. It CAN be harsh though and irritate your airways. I cut down on PG to only 50% and that's nice and smooth. Put a drop of PG on your forearm for a little while to see if it's really PG which I doubt. I don't want people avoiding things they don't have to aftr being falsely informed. I posted pics before of stuff that has PG in it and it's pretty much EVERYTHING in the bathroom cabinet. In most cases if you shave, use moisturizer or brush your teeth your using propelyne glycol. Either way I hope you continue vaping and stay feeling better.

Does the delivery method change the situation. Brushing your teeth with something containing PG vs vapourizing then inhaling it?

[Astrecks]

This is just my thought, so there is no professional validation behind it The coil heats the PG until it turns it into a vapour, this vapour, when cooled condenses back to it's original state as we all see (either on the outside of the tank cartridges or in the central tubes of Smokymizers) however if the coil was able to run hot enough to burn the PG then I would say that it could alter the liquid in a less positive way, as far as I know it is not possible to get the coils to a temperature that would decompose the PG.