A woman in the US has been diagnosed with lung disease after just five months of vaping.
Lucy Turchin, 35, now can’t leave the house without an oxygen tank, has warned others about the dangers of vaping, saying she wishes she could “turn back time”.
She decided to quit vaping after experiencing a “chemical burning feeling” in her lungs.
She noticed some improvements when she stopped vaping, but, when she resumed seven months later, the pain began all over again.
After initially being misdiagnosed with asthma and anxiety, a high-resolution computerised tomography (CT) scan revealed Lucy was in fact suffering from hypersensitivity pneumonitis, an immune system disorder that causes inflammation of the lung tissue.
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Doctors have reportedly ruled out cigarettes as having caused Lucy’s hypersensitivity given that her lung issues began shortly after she switched to vaping.
The Mail Online reports that Lucy’s condition is now so serious that she’s had to drop out of her master’s degree programme and has even had to cancel her wedding.
The young woman also spent £24,000 ($30,000) on treatments, and has to go to the hospital every single week to get steroids to keep her condition under control.
Lucy, who lives in Washington State in the US, told the publication: “I hardly ever leave my house because of the risks of exposure to smoke and vape fumes while out in public. This is all terrifying to me. I am traumatised and have a lot of fear.
“I would do anything to go back in time and have made a different choice. I cry a lot and wonder why this happened to me. The world seemed to be at my fingertips before this.”
Lucy hopes to one day walk down the aisle and complete her master’s degree one day but can barely breath, and is in such pain that she struggles to contemplate the future.
In a bid to alert others to the dangers of vaping, Lucy, who dreams of one day qualifying as a therapist, has since shared her story on TikTok.
She reportedly receives around three to five messages each day on the social media platform from those who’ve also become ill after vaping.
The survey findings are sometimes revised after further analysis, and CDC is expected to release final 2021 data soon.
E-cigarette use rose to nearly six percent last year, from about 4.5 percent the year before, according to survey data.
The rise in e-cigarette use concerns Doctor Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health.
Nicotine addiction has its own health implications, including risk of high blood pressure and a narrowing of the arteries, according to the American Heart Association.
