• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

E-cig vs Retinopathy

Angelgirluk

Angelgirluk

Newbie
Hi

My boyfriend has been type 1 for over since the age of 10 (now 33). He's a heavy smoker, who both needs & wants to cut down as he has severe retinopathy & has regular laser surgery etc. He's wondering whether eCigs are the way forward to try & help him quit OR will the pure nicotine be just as bad for his vision as smoking normal cigarettes?

He's tried them before & his blood sugar levels were not effected by the eCigs.... like I said, his main concern is the pure nicotine.... does anybody know?

Thanks guys
X
 
In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals many of which are carcinogenic, these are the major dangers to health not the nicotine.
I have no idea if nicotine alone has any detrimental effect in regards to diabetic retinopathy but I would suggest that switching to ecigs to stop inhaling the 4000+ nasty chemicals can only be a positive move.
One thing that many people don't realise with ecigs is that it is very easy to reduce your nicotine intake once you have made the move away from cigarettes. The liquid used in ecigs is available in varying strengths - from high (36mg nicotine) to zero (0mg nicotine) - starting off on 24mg nicotine then gradually working down to weaker strengths is quite easy to do.
 
Hi
I am a stop smoking advisor so can offer you some advice on this.
Logindetails is correct that it's the other 4000 chemicals added to tobacco that are more harmful than nicotine.
In safe regulated levels nicotine is ok which is why you can by nicotine products over the counter i.e. patches, gum and lozenges
However, nicotine is a stimulant and will interfere with blood sugar levels.
There is a lot of issues with e-cigarettes as you might have seen in the media recently. The problems are that the medical health association has not concluded any clinical trials on them which has to happen to all medicines before they can be prescribed and used by doctors, nurses etc. Therefore no one can truly regulate what is actually going into them and as you might know there are lots of different brands and types of e-cigarettes out there to buy. Some might have no nicotine in them, some might claim to have more in than your cigarettes but there is no medical profession regulating these company's. They could be adding anything to them which in effect could be harmful. Lots of people use them/ try them as they like the concept and buy into the extremely modern, fashionable and convincing packaging. They are widely available but this doesn't mean they work and are safe.
He will need controlled safe amounts of nicotine to successfully quit with minimal impact on his diabetes. What I do recommend is you seeking professional advice from your local stop smoking service. Have a look on the NHS website for the national number. Most services offer free advice and support in your local area and can provide treatment tailored to his needs. I hope this helps!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
My brother in law was using one when he last visited. Says they're great, but he seemed to be smoking it if that's the right word like a normal heavy smoker. His had some sort of oil capsule and was rechargeable.

There seems to be so many different types sold from various sources, and He couldn't tell me how much nicotine he was getting each day compared to his normal cigs. Suppose you'd just need to be careful you bought it from a reputable source as I'm sure there's lots of fakes out there being sold with consumers not really knowing what they're getting or not getting.
 
In my opinion go for it, I changed from cigs to e-sigs 2 years ago and they do work, I started on 18mg nicotine and dropped every six months until I was getting no nicotine at all. by that time the "habit" had been broken and it was easy to pack in the e-cigs, Ok its still a bit "one day at a time" but I am proud to call myself an ex-smoker.................incidentally as far as I can find out nicotine is harmless in the doses one gets from an e-cig

Oh by the way..............Buy a good one the cheap ones dont work!!
 
I smoked 20-30 marlbro red for 15 years. Two years ago me and the wife (the wife mostly...) decided it was enough, waking up in the morning hacking up lumps, wheezing when washing the pots, house and car stinking...

So u went on the e-cigs at 36mg, after a month or so of ecigging and having the occasional sneaky fag I dropped the dose to 24mg where I stayed for almost a year, one morning my last battery failed and I decided that was it...

I lasted 3 hours before running to the chemist to get nicotinelle losenges at 4mg, over a year I dropped them down to the 1mg ones and finally last week had my last.

I've been nicotine free since last Monday :).

First 4 days were hell, it's getting better now though, this morning was the first time I woke up not gagging for my fix.
 
I was giving up for 30 years..the truth is..you give up when you really want to give up...it took a week in hospital to convince me ..I wanted to give up
when you are ready..anything works..from cold turkey to hypnotism
nicotine patches work ok too..e-cigs keep a habit going,,better to break the habit


http://www.icanquit.com.au/quit-guide/methods-to-quit
There are currently two non-nicotine medications available in Australia that help people stop smoking:

 
Back
Top