To tell those who lecture me on vaping to Fuck Off

[Dogsitterwoes]

AIBU. No, let them lecture you
YANBU - Yes, be rude to them

I'm in my 50s and was a long term smoker. I switched to vaping in January. I am considerate and only vape outdoors and move away from other people or into a smoking area. People sometimes
comment, there's a brief convo around my giving up smoking, and 9 out of 10 respond nicely in a 'well done you' kind of way.

The 1 out of 10 though start lecturing me on the evils of vaping. These can be complete strangers, or acquaintances. They go on and on.
Usual themes:

1. Just as bad for you or worse for you than smoking.
2. Children are vaping.
3. Environmental impact of disposables.

I respond politely. I acknowledge there is a concern around all of this, and
1 - I know they aren't exactly good for me but I think they are not as bad as cigarettes, and it's my intension to also stop vaping this year
2 - I agree the manufacturer's should stop targeting non-smokers with the sweet flavours
3 - I agree, I use a rechargeable, but there's probably a lot more all of us could be doing for the environment.

But they do not let it drop. I've literally been lectured at on and on.

YANBU to stop being polite after my initial response and tell them that if I stopped vaping today, I'd be back on the fags tomorrow so mind their own fucking business?

Tongue in cheek but yes, when you talk about a public health crisis - obesity is far, far bigger concern than vaping (or even second hand vaping, if there was such a thing)

Yeah this for me really, and I'd like to see regulations for disposables tightened up or banned. I think they're counter productive to the overall arguments in favour of vaping

Agreed! I think the lack of regulation certainly doesn’t help convince people that it can be a good thing, when not abused

@Mommyofvikings you don’t sound very AMAZING! Far from it! People are allowed to disagree with you!

This is awful news - wether people agree or disagree with vaping this news is just shocking and completely the reason why I have been advocating against vaping - this is why I feel so strongly because vaping just is so dangerous and this needs to addressed! I bet the pro vapers will go very quiet now or class this as fake news or even laughably blame me and say that I invented this news myself(!!) This is serious news - please take it as a warning of things to come - this stuff is so unsafe!

But being fat, physically unfit, eating a less than perfect diet, getting inadequate sleep or drinking too much doesn’t cause harm to other people - vaping does!!

I hate smoking and vaping, but I'm not here to have a go at you about that. Good for you quitting smoking - do you intend to quit vaping later or is this your go-to now? It cannot be easy. I've never smoked but I can't give up chocolate which is ridiculous.

Everybody has a view, like an a**ole, and mine on this is that I can't stand vaping or smoking but that isn't the point, you've done something good packing in smoking. It's nobody else's business that you vape, if they don't like it, let them clear off.

A worse problem is the stink of weed, it's disgusting.

But being fat, physically unfit, eating a less than perfect diet, getting inadequate sleep or drinking too much doesn’t cause harm to other people

None of us live in a vacuum. If you drink too much or you're morbidly obese or whatever, you're far more likely to need NHS resources. Most people try and avoid having to visit a casualty department on a Friday/Saturday night as they know it will be busier. The NHS is close to collapse as it is. So I would argue that yes, actually all those things can cause indirect harm to other people, as long waiting lists etc have resulted in people dying.

Whereas those who have switched to vaping are probably now less likely to need the NHS than when they were smokers.

This is a very good point.
I also remember reading somewhere that smokers are often net contributors in terms of tax. The tax is sky high on cigarettes and people often die of their addiction before they collect a decent pension.
Obviously, none of that applies to vaping but the point you make about nobody living in a vacuum is very valid.

I think you’ve articulated very well your thoughts here - you don’t personally agree with it, you would never do it, but you would never presume to tell someone else how to live their life or judge them for the choices they make.

I do disagree on your final point though, I quite like the smell of weed

@TidyHomeTidyMind you are being very quiet after todays sad news - nothing to say? That’s no surprise - maybe now you will start to believe how dangerous vaping is and believe that reports will come out in the next couple of months to prove this. Please don’t dismiss me again as an ‘anxious nutter’ because believe me I DO know what I am talking about!

I've looked for this in the news and can't find anything, does anyone have a link?

I'm not going to comment until I've read the report and seen the reactions to it. In the meantime I still think it's better for my health to vape rather than smoke.

It's not really todays news, it happened in 2019, he was just on TV today for some reason

From what happened

When scientists tested the two e-cigarette liquids Ewan had been using, they found one of them was triggering an immune reaction

So if he had vaped the other flavour it wouldn't have happened? What kind of liquid was it, where was he getting it from, was he diluting it down with vitamin E...

I don't know how many people vape but that's like my friend who died following a vaccine. It's horrific, but it's rare. And yes I still had the vaccine. It's on the news because it's not common

@humblemeep

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50377256.ampp*

Teenager nearly died after 10 weeks in hospital in a coma due to lung failure because of vaping!!

Thank you.

This is from 2019? They're dragging up old news again 🤷‍♀️ And it clearly states reactions like this are rare. I'll wait for more information and in the meantime I'm still happier vaping than smoking.

Does it matter what year it is from? It is still current and in my opinion a really eye opener? Even if reactions like this are rare it is still unsafe to do - those that have scoffed at me for being anxious because of vaping honestly be warned that this is what vaping does! I am constantly seeing patients that have reactions like this poor lad had

YANBU . We now have a product that radically reduces the social harms of smoking, yet people still can’t get off their high horse. Just tell them to stick it OP.

LMAO at the idea that vaping causes more social harms than alcohol 🙄🙄🥱

Even earlier - the article says this happened in 2017 (I thought it sounded familiar). They've been wheeling out the same case for the past six years. That's how rare this is.

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a rare immunological disorder - basically an allergic reaction which damages the lungs. According to the NHS there are more than 300 known substances which can cause it although some people never find out what triggers theirs.

https://yourhealth.leicestershospitals.nhs.uk/library/renal-respiratory-cardiovascular-rrcv/respiratory-1/926-allergic-reaction-in-the-lungs-hypersensitivity-pneumonitis/file

So six years ago this lad had a rare allergic reaction to one of the ingredients in one of his vapes. I hope he had more detailed advice than 'it was vaping wot done it' because the flavourings in vapes are also used in food and drink products and it's important he avoids the actual chemical which triggered his reaction.

I am constantly seeing patients that have reactions like this poor lad had

What you say here does not tally with MHRA yellow card reporting data.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1107701/Nicotine-vaping-in-England-2022-report.pdf
(page 82)

So if you are 'constantly seeing' patients like this lad then why aren't you reporting them?

No, you're right. Nobody was ever killed by a drunk driver or assaulted by a drunk person, and unhealthy people don't at all impact the NHS that most of us rely on.

Although, the government actually makes more annually from cigarette tax (circa £12bn) than they spend on smoking related diseases (circa £2bn) so fat people are probs more of an issue.

Science Media Centre is a good place to look when there's a medical study that grabs the headlines. According to two eminent scientists who had access to the full paper, it's not even clear whether something in the vape was the cause of this reaction:

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-case-study-linking-lung-inflammation-to-vaping-in-a-16-year-old/

Sorry @Mybusyday , some of us have a life that doesn't include watching whether our washing gets vaped on🤣
GMB 'feature' that lad/story every six months or so, I believe one poster already mentioned it happened in 2017....
I will wait for all of this 'new' research you keep promising us🙄

I think that using this incredibly rare case to ‘prove’ that vaping is harmful is like wheeling out examples of people who have died from water intoxication (that’s, drinking too much water for the people who are hard of thinking) as proof that drinking water is bad for you.

Or people that have died from anaphylaxis after eating peanuts as proof that peanuts are bad for you.