I took up vaping as a ‘healthier’ alternative to smoking – but I was left gasping for air and staring death in the face
A MUM took up vaping as a ‘healthier’ alternative after her son was born.
But she feared he’d grow up without a mum after she was rushed to hospital gasping for air.
Jodie Hudson, 26, swapped cigarettes for vapes two years ago, never suspecting that the ‘less harmful’ alternative would leave her fearing for her life.
She quit smoking when she got pregnant with her toddler Dillon but gave vaping a go once he was born and quickly found herself addicted.
The council worker, who lives in Worksop in Nottinghamshire, said she began smoking her vape ‘anywhere and everywhere’ – and had no immediate plans to quit before becoming unwell.
After Jodie began experiencing intense feelings of breathlessness, she was rushed to A&E at Bassetlaw Hospital on September 24, where doctors warned her of the harmful impact vaping was having on her lungs.
While there, she worried she may never see her son again – while her own mum told her if she doesn’t quit vaping, she ‘might die’.
The health scare has led Jodie to swear off the e-cigs for good – and the mum is now warning others to steer clear of the ‘highly addictive’ products.
She said: “I started smoking cigarettes when I was about 18 and when I got pregnant with my son I quit.
“Afterwards, when he was born, my partner was vaping and I just thought I’d have a go because it seemed healthier because it doesn’t have all the tobacco in and I really liked it.”
To her surprise, Jodie really took to the flavoured pens.
“I actually found it to be a lot more addictive than smoking cigarettes,” she recalled.
“Vaping you can choose any flavour and you don’t have that residual flavour on you like cigarettes. I just got hooked on them.
“When I was using disposable ones I went from buying them two to three times a week to every day.
“I was just smoking it anywhere and everywhere. It was like a shisha bag, it was a lot more leisurely than a nicotine addiction, even though it was very much a nicotine addiction.”
But Jodie’s health took a turn for the worse as she soon developed tonsillitis and struggled doing daily tasks around the house without becoming out of breath.
Jodie said: “The weekend before I’d smoked a whole vape a day and then on the Monday, I thought I had tonsillitis and really wasn’t well. I couldn’t eat, I struggled breathing, I kept waking myself up snoring because my breathing was that bad.
“On the Saturday I really wasn’t feeling well and had a panic attack because I was so scared of how little oxygen I was getting, I just couldn’t function. I was walking around the house and completely out of breath.
Her concerned mum advised Jodie to go to A&E to get help.
Jodie remembered: “I was struggling to walk – I couldn’t catch my breath. Just walking from the car to A&E, I was shaking, sweaty, I had to sit down almost straight away, I felt so dizzy.
“I could hardly get my words out – I hardly had energy to talk. I just wanted to sleep.
“When you can’t breathe, you can’t do anything.
“I got there and pretty much straight away I got put into a room because of how low my oxygen was. I had low blood pressure and my heart rate was through the roof – it went up to 130 beats per minute.”
For reference, a normal heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute, according to the NHS.
Jodie underwent a number of tests including an ECG and chest x-ray, which confirmed a diagnosis of vaping-related pneumonia.
Jodie said: “I wasn’t surprised but I thought this could end up being something a lot more serious if I don’t stop it now.
“My mum said to me you really do have to quit, you might die.
“The doctors said it’s obvious vaping is having an effect on my lungs. They didn’t say whether there’s permanent damage or anything but I’ve got to go back for another x-ray to check that.”
What is vaping-related pneumonia?
Vaping-related lipoid pneumonia occurs when oily substances in e-cigarette vapour spark an inflammatory response in the lungs.
Symptoms include a chronic cough, shortness of breath and coughing up blood or blood-tinged mucus, according to John Hopkins Medicine.
Research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggests that e-cigarettes may cause a potentially life-threatening lung inflammation.
The 2019 paper outlines a case of hypersensitivity pneumonitis – a condition in which the air sacs and airways in the lungs become severely inflamed – in a 16-year-old boy, who developed respiratory failure thought to be caused by the fluid in e-cigarettes.
Professor Andrew Bush, one of the research’s co-authors and Royal Brompton’s consultant paediatric chest physician, said: “This case is very disturbing. We simply do not know the long-term consequences of vaping. We don’t know what is in these devices and liquids, therefore, how can we possibly say they are safe to inhale into our lungs? They should be kept out of the hands of young people.”
Jodie recalled being terrified her son would grow up without a mum.
“When they were considering admitting me, I thought I’m never going to get out of this hospital. I just wanted to see my son one more time,” she said.
“It was scary. I don’t want my son growing up without any parents.
“They just said you’ve got to stop because it can get so much worse from here.”
And the mum said she is ‘full of regrets’ over the impact both on her health and finances that vaping has caused.
Jodie said: “I’m now an asthmatic because of all this. I’m probably going to be on inhalers for the rest of my life.
“I have so many regrets – it’s just been a waste of money and it’s killing me. It’s money I could’ve spent on life and now I have to spend more money on prescriptions.
“It’s been such a wake-up call. Before I was staggering trying to quit vaping, now I’ve just done it cold turkey.”
The mum of two-year-old Dillon pledged to never smoke or vape again.
And she had advice for other people turning to e-cigs.
“People always think it’s not going to be them. It’s never you until it’s too late. This is definitely the wake-up call I needed, it’s going to kill me sooner than anything else.
“Now I tell everyone to just quit – you don’t need any other reason than your own health, save yourself. It’s a waste, you’re killing yourself.”
Vaping is also said to cause a condition called popcorn lung – a rare condition that causes the lungs’ small airways to become permanently narrowed, also known as bronchiolitis obliterans.
Abby Flynn, 20, who’d never smoked a cigarette in her life, was diagnosed with the condition after getting hooked on disposable vapes.
Doctors recently claimed that vaping can ‘barbecue’ your lungs, due to their temperature being ‘hotter than cigarette smoke’.
It comes as the UK government moots banning disposable vapes to prevent children from becoming addicted.