Vaping

[Karmaone]

Are any pd people vaping? I've been vaping for a nearly as long as I have had PD symptoms. I've tried to give up a few times and failed. When I have given up briefly my symptoms have got a lot worse. I'm not advocating vaping, and it's most likely increased anxiety because of withdrawal symptoms. But I wondered if anyone has had any good or bad experiences vaping and or smoking or quitting?

My neurologist said if it brings me comfort keep doing it. I also have a biased friend (a vaper) who's a pharmacist and he suggested that given the link between smoking, pd and Acetylcholine I should continue. Interestingly my new medication blocks Acetylcholine and nicotine is used as Acetylcholine and apparently causes you to grow more Acetylcholine receptors.

[park_bear]

What is acetylcon?

[Karmaone in reply to park_bear]

Acetylcholine sorry I dictated the message at night and my brain thought it looked ok.

[J0nstandard]

Hello Karmaone, I quit smoking 8 years ago with the help of e-cigarettes and was very happy to move away from the toxicity of tobacco. Since having a PD diagnosis I’ve used vaping to help me with anxiety and stress and although I don’t condone anything in the lungs other than fresh air I have to say that it’s a welcome fix for me.

As to whether the chemistry of vaping aids neuro transmitter activity I’d have to pass over to the scientists for that.

At one point I became concerned that vaping may have exposed my system to heavy metals (from high temperature coils made from nickel or kanthal) and therefore helped to trigger PD in some way!

Ultimately we have this condition now and managing life around it can be complicated and lacking in small pleasures. So yeah vaping helps me manage mood - and that’s pretty crucial in my view.

[Karmaone]

I've had the same fear of it being the trigger, because I'd not smoked for about 9 years and started vaping around the time I had my first symptoms. It's hard to know if it was a trigger or self medication.... I've also read that artificial sweeteners can damage dopaminergic cells

[gomelgo in reply to Karmaone]

" It's hard to know if it was a trigger or self medication." what if its both?