OK guys, get this. So I am a veteran and go to the VA for my doctor. Today I go in for my annual physical and they ask me all the standard question (diet, exercise, alcohol consumption…) and come to smoking. Nurse asks if I smoke. I tell him “no, I quit three years ago using ecigs, vaping”. He (male nurse) answers, “well that’s the same thing”. I tell him, “no, no tar, no carcinogens, not the same thing”. He says that the VA considers it the same and asks if I want meds to stop smoking… Then when my doc comes in I tell her about it, she says, “well, it’s a little bit better but it’s still smoking”. I tell her too, “NO it’s not! I dont cough up a lung, I don’t wheeze when exercising, I feel a ton better!” She tells me it’s still not good for me and I should quit. While I tell her I still use nicotine, this is SO much better than smoking and ask her why she doesn’t recommend to her smoking patients to try vaping. Deer in the headlights look was all I got.
WARNING! - NEVER MENTION YOU VAPE TO ANY “PROFESSIONALS”
They have a strict set of guidelines that they follow, just dont mention it to them, they wont even be able to tell, they will tell you, “your in good health”, “well done for quitting smoking” etc
Yeah cause taking drugs is better than vaping, eh?
I went to my doctor (I’m in UK) he is an avid anti-smoker, has been telling me to quit for YEARS, he usually starts by asking “How many cigarettes do you need to avoid to quit for good?” and when you sit there trying to add up how many you smoke daily, how that equates into weekly, monthly and annual quantities, he says “One ! you only need to avoid the next ONE!” anyway I digress; After having used Zyban, and Champix, NRT & cold turkey each to limited short term success, he asked me last visit if I was still smoking, I said: “I Vape” …
“EXCELLENT” he exclaimed, and wrote down on the pad in front of him “NON-SMOKER !!!” (Yes he put all the exclamations) he then told me that he as a doctor has been trying to find out all he can about vaping, but that he has had limited success getting info through official channels, so had gone to a vape shop, and ear-bashed the guy behind the counter and various customers for over an hour, and had come to a tentative (non-conclusive) position that Vaping is the future for smokers wanting to live longer. and quizzed me for a long time about the ins and outs of mixing, and what I understood about the ingredients etc.
My Doc, (We shall call him Dr Faraway - because Faraway is his surname, and doctor is his title) is a legend who calls me a non-smoker, makes me proud to be one, and seems to be genuinely concerned about MY health and genuinely delighted that I am doing something that in his mind is positive !
Take a room and fill half of it with 45 year old smokers and take the other half of the room and fill it with 45 year old vapers and take a picture of the people in that room. The difference would be so obvious it’s insane and those idiots bloody well know it.
I will absolutely tell my doctor that I quit smoking through vaping. They aren’t going to hear the truth through any official channels and I frankly don’t give a flying rat’s ass if they believe me or how they classify me. It may take a few years yet but most doctors aren’t stupid (some are), eventually they will see a trend of how many people fail to quit with “approved” means and how many succeed with vaping.
My doctor seemed quiet happy when I told her I kicked the stinky sticks after 25 some years and started vaping. Was expecting her to tell me vaping was just as bad but just got that’s great which surprised me. I just realized that was over two years ago now!!!
That’s great news! A lot of doctors are aware enough to know these things. I don’t mean to sound so cantankerous about this but I’ve had some profoundly stupid doctors over my life time so I’ve become a bit jaded. Hopefully my next one will be more like yours.
My wife just had her physical two weeks ago. When asked if she smoke she told them no only quit a month ago. The doctor then preceded to do the exam. Said he could not believe how much better her chest had sounded and her blood count and heart rate had improved too, all within a moth of quitting smoking . At the end of the exam the doctor asked her how, what method she used to quit smoking. My wife said I started vaping. She claimed the doctor looked surprised. . She then claimed that she was told o, ok well every looks good. He told her according to you’re exam I had no idea you were still using a nicotine product. And that according to her charts everything has improved. (was not what I was expecting, I thought she was going to get the typical lecture)
I personally can’t account for what was said but my wife would not lie to me about that. She was so happy about her results.
She didn’t even tell him until the end, bet it did catch him off guard.
You misunderstood me, NEVER tell any “PROFESSIONAL” you vape, by this I mean anyone you know is going to have a “scripted” look at it… Doctors, Nurses outside any kind of smoking cessation…
When I gave up smoking I went to a Smoking Cessation nurse, she was impressed that not only did I stop smoking but using vaping didnt raise my carbon monoxide ouput by even 1…
You will be placed in the category “smoker” if thats fine with you, then ok but for the majority of people this is not a good thing, anything wrong with you… It’s Vaping…
It’s a double edge sword isn’t it? When my mom quit smoking she gained 50 pounds and became diabetic. That wasn’t blamed on smoking. Ten years after she quit, she developed lung cancer. The connection to smoking was obvious but because it had been so long since she smoked, they said it wasn’t a clear cause. Anything I come down with in ten years or more would now be connected to vaping, never mind the fact that I smoked for 40 years. I see the down side, not to mention that insurance companies will use the tobacco product classification as an excuse to still charge you the inflated smoking rates.
I guess I’m just confrontational when it comes to so called experts being so completely ill-informed that it’s harmful to the general public. I may not change their mind by telling them but at least I know I wasn’t complicit in their ignorance. That’s my choice though. I don’t fault anyone for making a choice they feel is best for them.
We had to get new Doctors at the first of the year due to the insurance company and one of the main hospitals in my area not being able to figure out how to agree on their fees. So when my new Dr. finally got around to a real physical last month he told me that I hadn’t told him that I used to smoke he would never know it by the sound of my lungs and everything else about my tests that were done including the treadmill I took. Just tickled the shit out of me. It will be three years this coming Feb 25th for me and Mar 15th for the wifey. But yeah it’s the same as smoking I don’t think so my Dr agrees and is interested in Vaping as a way to quite smoking. He knows we eventually want to go nic free, but that we both have said we are still going to vape 0 nic. and he is happy as a clam.
I was told by my cessation nurse that the NHS was looking at producing their own e-cigarette. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why there was so much study happening
When I told my doctor I had quit smoking by starting vaping, he was so pleased that he actually shook my hand. He reckons vaping is ok. Enlightened doctor!!!