I had been struggling with smoking prior to me getting back to DIY and now that I’m no longer working I’ve been focusing on vaping instead of smoking. 3 months ago I went to the doctor and my blood pressure was 160/110 and now I’ve been vaping for 3 months I went back and my BP was 136/95!!!
This is huge for me because I have an anxiety disorder and BP is one of my triggers and now I feel like I can drink 3 monster energy drinks back to back! Thanks Vaping.
Lets have you hold off on that… Congrats
Good to hear, congrats.
@anon44012888 it’s still going to take time…
it doesn’t mean fill the spa with coffee… or then again…
Seriously tho… Proud of ya… you really are doing just fine, small steps, you will get there! <3
Yeah, the doctors are leaning towards problems with my left ventricular valve which mean I’ll need hearth surgery and I’ve been waiting to see a cardiologist for months now… I just want to be able to walk more than a block without feeling like I can’t get enough air. I breath normally day to day, but throw elevations, stairs, or anything and I am struggling to catch my breath.
That’s all just speculation, I’ll never know until I can get tests down… For now I sit and wait.
It’s going to take time and patience, Joel… and until you are at least in a position of beling healthy, they dont want to waste a surgery on someone who isn’t trying to help themselves… Not saying you are not… do not take me that way… but there are certain risks for operating on folks like us…
Me, I refuse to go see a dr… I hate them… I had one in my family already… I figure if I am going to leave this world, Im leaving skid marks! 
Some advice… get your diet back in charge… go walking, collect rocks… live life now while you can, instead of sitting around waiting on other folks… This is the time You have… make the most of it…
You will get there… when you get fed up and sick and tired of it all… you will find your peace 
What the vaping community needs is publicity about stories like Joel’s. We’ve all read many anecdotes over the years about the dramatic and huge changes in people’s health after making the switch. Even if it isn’t scientific, it would still be something positive to put out there to combat the lunacy and lies being put out by the other side.
My problem with BP was the opposite of most. I’ve had low BP and heart rate for many years, mainly due to being a distance runner for ten years (I started smoking at the age of 33). I’ve been hospitalized twice because it dropped so low. I normally ran around 95/55 with heart rate at 45-50. I have my vitals taken every two months now and my BP has risen to 110-115/ 65-70 and heart rate up to 55. I feel much better, I’m exercising a lot and it’s because I stopped smoking.
Aortic valve, or mitral valve, in left ventricle ?
I had a dentist tell me he wouldn’t work on me because my B.P. was 193 over 129.
He told me to go to the hospital.
Through a few changes in diet, less drinking, bp medicine, and vaping instead of smoking, I’ve got it managed.
It took about 3 months of all that stuff, and I’m sure that the proper dose of bp meds is about 80% the reason. But I’m doing my part too.
Nicotine is a vaso-constrictor, shrinks your blood vessels. In short- not good. Vaping isn’t health food.
But I’m not going to spend the last of my days acting like I’m Amish or something.
So I vape instead of cigarettes.
And still listen to music loud.
And stuff.
Doesn’t the same apply to cigarettes? Only with vaping you don’t get all the other gunk in your blood vessels. Vaping is indeed not “healthy”, but it sure is a hell of an improvement over inhaling smoke.
these details escape me, it was initially found when I was 18 and I guess it was my previous doctor’s responsibility along with my own to get it investigated. Now I’m on a waiting list. Currently I can’t do anything overly physical without getting completely winded, that includes walking a stairs etc.
For example, I live on the second floor and if I walk up with a heavy load of groceries it takes me a good 5 minutes of deep breathing just to recover
Small bit on my story… I have been loaned out by my work as not just a flavor tester but I have tested for other labs and their nic salts… not to mention the hookahs at company functions and just sitting around on breaks. Yes chemists can get into some funky things! I will leave it at this. 
Over the years I too picked up blood pressure issues and I am on a few weeks now of zero nic. Had to. I feel somewhat better, but I have a ways to go myself… I do have to accredit the flavors I use help keep my attention on taste and that does distract me… but its working! 
Give it some time tho Joel… and start walking a bit more… park a bit farther to the grocery store…
You might be surprised, that in a few weeks you might feel a bit better and sleep better too!
It might take more than what you expect, but if you keep it up and stay determined… it will happen.
Until your GP manages to get you into some cardiovascular function tests, you might be wise to avoid physical exertions that so seriously tax and wind you - and stick with some steady but less intensive activities that do not send you into such severe “hypoxia”. Take it especially easy in the morning upon waking. It takes around 40 minutes for your system to stabilize in terms of hormones/neurotransmitters.
A large proportion of heart attacks (which are associated with rapid and significant increases in BP) take place within those first 40 minutes of waking, and a large proportion of those events occur on (for many, stressful) Monday mornings. I (myself) like to start slow with the Nicotine after waking, sipping slowly and gradually. Absorption of Nicotine is relatively slow when vaping (the free-base, anyway), which has a net protective effect (relative to a cig, which raises systolic BP by 5-10 points or so rapidly). Watch those salts.
Strokes, on the other hand, are associated with relatively rapid and significant decreases in BP. Blood pressure numbers as measured can vary significantly - usually reading higher when tested at physicians’ offices (the so-called “white-coat” syndrome). The “basal” (just after waking) reading can be the most instructive. BP gradually increases during sleep, is usually in the higher ranges upon waking, and typically (on average) decreases throughout the day towards a minimum when one is exhausted and initiates sleep.
Thanks for the info.
There were quite a few things in there that I did not know.
Great to hear Joe… Same here. My blood pressure also dropped. Since I’ve been vaping. What confuses me is I thought nicotine raised blood pressure? Oh well… At least I’m feeling better.