A 23-year-old woman in America has decided to quit vaping after her lung collapsed and is now warning others about the dangers of using vapes.
Grace Brassell spoke out about her terrifying ordeal which started when she woke up one morning with sore ribs and then started “coughing blood”.
In a series of TikTok videos, the university student explained how she was rushed to hospital and had to spend days there in “the most horrific pain” brought on by a spontaneous pneumothorax - meaning her left lung collapsed without any apparent cause.
Grace said that after emergency surgery, she had to get a tube inserted into her lung for three days to suck any fluid out and described the pain as “torture”.
She said the condition was mostly due to her genetics, being tall and thin, but she said vapes put her at a higher risk and the habit “could have killed” her.
“A lot of it has to do with being thin and tall but vaping does not help and I will never vape again, ever in my life,” she said in a clip.
Grace, whose TikTok video received over 5million views, is now sharing her story and encouraging other young people to stop using vapes, with one person commenting: “I am NEVER vaping again because of this [video].”
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Meanwhile, medical experts have warned about the health problems related to vapes and e-cigarettes, which have recently become hugely popular among teens in Ireland.
One respiratory specialist said that while a collapsed lung is not a major risk factor of vaping, it's possible to see how it could occur due to inhaling strange chemicals into the lungs.
Consultant Respiratory Physician Professor Luke Clancy, who is also the Director General of The TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland, told the Irish Mirror: “I know as a respiratory physician that when you inhale stuff into your lungs, it does damage.
“The problem with these e-cigarettes is that they are not well defined. We have an idea of what's in them, we know there’s no smoke in them but there’s a lot of chemicals in them.
“It’s plausible that these would get deep into the lung and dissolve the lung. People have pneumothorax [a collapsed lung] because little bleps [air blisters] form on their lung… so it’s more likely to burst.
“When you inhale particles, and especially if they have chemicals in them which dissolve tissue, then you can make up a theory as to why it could occur.”
After years of decline in the popularity of smoking in Ireland, a new study has noted an upward trend for the first time since 1995 with the rise with e-cigarette use among Gen Z.
The number of teens who use e-cigarettes regularly has jumped from 10% to 18% between 2015 and 2019, according to a study led by Professor Clancy.
While e-cigarettes were first marketed for adults who are trying to quit smoking, they have become increasingly popular with those who have never smoked.
A 2019 survey of Irish teenagers by ESPAD showed that nearly 40% of 16-year-olds have tried vaping at least once, compared to 32% who have tried cigarettes once.
Professor Des Cox, a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Children’s Health Ireland Crumlin, said many young people view vaping as a “harmless” activity and are attracted to the different flavours of vapes such as bubble-gum and banana.
But he said the long-term health damage caused by e-cigarettes is not yet known.
“We don’t know exactly what's going to happen in 10 or 20 years time to people who chronically vape,” he said.
“From the science that we have at the moment, it shows it can damage your airways and your heart and that’s likely to cause problems.
“It was 20 years before we figured out the long-term effects of tobacco cigarettes so this is evolving with time.”
Professor Cox said the big problem with vaping is that it is a gateway to smoking real cigarettes as many vapes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive.
“Vapes are being marketed towards young people and they are using it as a recreational tool… and they’re becoming addicted to nicotine,” he said.
“Because of that there is a three to five [times] more likelihood that they will move on to tobacco cigarettes.
“That’s a far bigger problem than the odd case where it causes a collapsed lung. There have been case reports [of this] but it’s not a frequent occurrence.”
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