eCigs and Heart Disease - The Patient's View

Many of the MSM outlets have been spewing out headlines today saying that eCigarettes are as bad as smoking. The worse culprit was The Sun as this was their front page feature.

We all know that The Sun is not the most reliable (or factual) source of such information but their headline screamed out to be heard regardless. But even in their article there was almost no actual supporting evidence for their headline with most commentators agreeing that eCigarettes are far less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

And that is the key - 'Less Harmful'. Nobody is claiming that eCigarettes are risk-free. There is nothing in life that is risk-free. Even non-smokers risk their health with every breath they take due to carcinogens in the air - wherever you are on the planet. In Towns/Cities you breath in exhaust fumes from cars. In the home your breath in carcinogenic fumes from cooking and from your central heating. In the countryside, you breathe in pollen from the plantlife. At the seaside (or indeed in deserts) you will be breathing in sand.

It's all very well these 'experts' spouting out about something they have 'discovered' using flawed methodology (who the hell vapes continuously for 30 mins ?). What they need is REAL-WORLD evidence.

Fortunately, I can provide that real-world evidence - ME !!

My journey into vaping is not commonly known. Most especially, the reasons why I got into vaping is not commonly known. What is known is that I have been vaping for just over 5 years. Not as long as some, but much longer than your average vaper.

You see, almost 6 years ago I suffered a Myocardial Infarction. The medics amongst you will know what that is. For those that are not medics, it meant that the arteries feeding into my heart became clogged and starved my heart of blood and oxygen. The end-result was severe pain in my chest and left arm. If not treated, it would have meant my eventual (and painful) death. But of course, I was treated. Two stents later (a stent is a device placed in the blocked artery which is then expanded to relieve the blockage and allow the blood to flow to the heart), I was on the path to recovery.

In the aftermath, much attention was focused on various aspects of my lifestyle and diet, but of course the thing they focused on the most was the fact that up until that time I was a smoker. I had smoked for over 25 years and this, I was advised by the Cardiac Surgeon, was the main cause of my problem. They conveniently skirted over the fact that heart disease is a hereditary condition that had also afflicted my father (who never smoked a cigarette in his entire life), and actually killed his father (my grandfather) and his brother (my uncle).

The problem was, as soon as I was released from the confines of the hospital, all I wanted to do was smoke a cigarette. Eventually, it happened and I was soon smoking again. So I started searching for the best ways of quitting cigarettes and staying quit (having already, in previous years, tried and failed to quit through the nicotine gum, the spray, hypnotism and cold turkey). But this time I found the eCigarette. It was only a simple rudimentary device that I first got my hands on, but I knew that this time I stood a chance because this time I had found something I actually liked.

So, over the next 5 years I continued my vaping journey, upgrading and updating the devices I used, each time finding the experience improved. Now, here I am, a (relatively veteran) vaper of more than 5 years experience.

So what effect has vaping had on my heart and my health ?

A few weeks ago I had my annual checkup at the Cardio clinic. The results told me that my arteries remain clear and strong with no deterioration (which rather blows Professor Charalambos Viachopoulos claims out of the water). My heart is also healthy and working very well. My lung capacity is so good that the nurse administering that particular test was moved to make the statement 'Now there are the lungs of a non-smoker' ( I declined to correct her that I had once smoked for over 25 years, but now vaped).

I am not going to claim I am completely healthy as one of the valves going into my heart is not working correctly and requires an operation to be repaired. However, the valve problem is also hereditary (as, once again, my Father also had the same problems with heart valves at my age).

My Cardiac Consultant knows that I vape and he does not have any issue with it, especially as he visibly see the benefit to my heart and arteries that my switch to vaping has brought. He certainly does not attribute my disfunctioning valve problem to vaping.

The doubters and the ANTZ will no doubt class me as an 'anecdote'. Someone to be dismissed. I prefer to see myself as real world evidence of the benefits of switching to vaping. My experiences were not created in a Laboratory, unlike the observations made by Professor Charalambos Viachopoulos. I am a real person, I vape like a real person would vape. I live a day to day life which is not spent in a Laboratory.

Above all, I am living proof of the health benefits that can be gained by switching to vaping. I am living proof that vaping does not damage my health. Quite the reverse in fact because my health has improved immeasurably since I switched to vaping.

So Professor Charalambos Viachopoulos. Get out of your Laboratory and come and see REAL LIFE examples of the benefits of vaping. Vapers don't live in labs, they live in the real world. You should try it sometime !!