Vaping after collapsed lung surgeries

[thebakermannnnnnn]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long post but here it goes:


I'm new to this site and don't know a whole lot about vaping but here's my story and I wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar experience and then went on to start using vapes.


When I was 16-21 years old I smoked weed basically everyday multiple times a day with no issues other than an occasional smoker's cough. Then one night my right lung collapsed (spontaneous pneumothorax is the medical term). The doctor said that smoking probably didn't cause it to happen but that I should probably quit to be safe. I quit for like 2 weeks then started slowly smoking again and my lung collapsed again for a second time. After spending 3 weeks in the hospital and getting two surgeries on my lung I was released and they told me again not to smoke anymore.

Fast forward to a year and 10 months later (now) I haven't smoked since then and have strictly used edibles to ingest weed. I am considering the idea of getting a vape and using that as it seems to be a safer mode of inhaling and has a more immediate effect than eating a brownie and waiting around for an hour.

Has anyone had a similar experience with their lungs and then decided to use vaporizers? I am more worried about the paranoia after getting high than the actual vapor hurting my lungs, so if anyone has any insight into this please let me know.

thanks for reading

 

[shredder]

Man, that's a tough one. I love to vape, and my lungs are not great and I have asthma. I think about just eating it too, in fact im about 50/50 with vaping/eating right now. I take a canna cap each evening, and take vape hits during the day. But if I were you, I think I'd not push it and stick to medibles.

 

[HomeFree]

One of my buddies ended up with a collapsed lung and in the hospital for 3 weeks as well. He put down the cigarettes, the cannabis, and would not even vape the cannabis (had a vape, which he gave me.)

Edibles are probably the way to go if you can get some trim or some cheap hash to be safe. You can make a tincture which you can drop under your tongue or just eat a small meal which is high in fat about 30 minutes after the edible. I find this makes it kick in faster, which in turn makes it more predictable. Personally I LOVE edibles, and really like using just barely enough to feel a change in consciousness, and then I can bump it up with a few pulls on a vape.

Maybe your doctor would have some input?

So the only thing I know is a friend's experience, who won't touch cannabis with a ten foot whip.

Edibles are great though, at least in my opinion. Seems like they have some really good utility. Play around with different recipes, tincture and all of that good stuff. I like making little mini muffins with 50 mgs each of low grade hash/kief myself, with coconut butter. That way there is enough fat. 10-20 mgs thc per gram of fat.

 

[KeroZen]

I can feel your pain. This is an awful experience. I had the right one go first, they used vaccuum to fix it. Then I got the left one go a couple years later, this time requiring surgery to stick it in place. I learnt afterwards that my father had the same roughly at the same age, but he forgot to warn me it could happen to me too!

Apparently your shape and the lack of fat are more important factors (tall and slim) but smoke is said to create minute air bubbles inside the lungs, and when bubbles near the outter layer break they can release air between the lung and the surrounding layer and this can provoke the collapse.

I restarted smoking soon afterwards but I knew it was bad. Everytime I caught a cold and had stuck fluids inside the lungs, it reminded me the incident and I feared it was going to start again. That's perhaps the worst aspect: there is a high relapse rate, even after surgery you can't be 100% sure it won't happen again.

Needless to say that I'm glad I switched fully to vaporization and quitted tobacco completely in the process. I recovered all my lung capacity since. I never wake up again with a smoker cough, never feel weird sensations in my lungs. My skin tone improved, I look less tired.

Without vaporization I think I would have had to stop altogether eventually. It feels like a second chance to me. I feel the benefits outweight the little risk that is left.

 

[sativasam]

I'm not doctor. But personally I feel if you want an answer you should ask a doctor. Sadly due to the lack of scientific studies I doubt they can give you any concrete answers. They would most likely prefer to play it safe and tell you NOT to consume cannabis through absorbing it into the lungs.

I feel you should not be looking for someone else's individual experience or opinion to justify or excuse consuming cannabis in this way, as it is a form of self diagnoses. A doctor will always tell you NEVER to try and diagnose yourself through google - as for example, you could have a rash that is deadly but you may read something that leads you to think it is benign. And vice versa. Self diagnosing through the internet is no way to go about looking after your health. Get professional advice.

Your body and its experiences are individual to you, so I would not compare your condition to others (even if they have the same condition).

Vaporising is safer than smoking for sure BUT vaping although safer is not totally free from toxins. At different temperatures, different chemicals and toxins are released. There is also resin which will deposit itself into the lungs (although people argue that this does not sit in the lungs like tar and will eventually be absorbed by the lungs). As I said before there have not been enough studies to conclude how safe vaporising really is, especially over long periods of time and heavy use. People can give you their opinions or theories on the matter but that is all they are; Opinions and theories.

There is an argument that swapping smoking for vaping although better for your lungs, does not let the lungs FULLY recover. I would adhere to this argument somewhat. But who knows? Don't take anything at face value and don't risk your health.

I feel that if you took the plunge even with the most medicinal vape, with the intent on only vaping at the lowest temps and on rare occasions, maybe you would be fine; but this could be a slippery slope to multiple uses a day at higher temps with the unknown risk of causing you further problems. My personal opinion is not to put anything in your lungs that you can avoid. Your doctor would prefer you to vape than smoke for sure, but in your individual case would likely advise you to not to risk either.

Just my opinion. Get a professional to advise you.

I wish you the best.