An Ohio woman says her vape habit left her in a medically induced coma after doctors had to suction two liters of “black and bloody” fluid from her damaged lungs.
Jordan Brielle, 32, started smoking in her teens but switched to vaping in 2021 – and was soon spending up to $500 a week to keep the habit going.
“I was completely addicted,” the Cincinnati woman told Kennedy News and Media, via The Daily Mail. “I drank so much that I slept with him, he went to the shower with me. I smoked too much.”
She continued this level of vaping for two years until last November, when she said she felt a “heaviness” in her lungs that was first diagnosed as a “respiratory infection”.
Jordan Brielle.
Kennedy News and Media
“I kept going to the hospital because of breathing problems,” said the nursing assistant. “I had a terrible cough and went to the hospital two or three times a week for help.”
She told the outlet that “it felt like she was 80 pounds. pressure that was just lying on my chest,” saying that her body was swelling and her skin was turning gray.
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However, she says, she continued to use her vape – until a medical emergency changed her life.
Her partner found her unconscious, she says, with “black mucus coming out of my mouth and nose.”
“He said I was panting, but I couldn’t catch my breath. I was unresponsive and had a weak pulse.”
Brielle said her partner called 911 and tried to suck mucus out of her nose and give her CPR while he waited for paramedics to arrive.
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Stock image of vape juice in store.
Getty
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“I don’t remember anything,” she says. “I was immediately intubated and taken to the hospital.”
Brielle said her lungs were full of two liters of liquid, which doctors said was “vape juice” – a liquid that a vaporizer turns into an aerosol, which is then inhaled.
“My body was trying to expel the vape juice in my lungs which were like concrete. It was pure black and bloody. In the hospital, they sucked it out of me.”
Brielle was placed in a medically induced coma for 11 days, she says, adding that she was told her lungs were damaged. She still lives with the possibility of crashing.
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And, he adds, “I suffered a minor brain injury from lack of oxygen to the brain.”
Now, Brielle says, “I haven’t touched a vape since” the incident. She shares her story to warn others to avoid the habit.
“I would tell anyone else to quit however they can. Do it for your health, your family, your life, your lungs — whatever motivates you, use that reason and stop. I wouldn’t wish what I went through on anyone else. I feel grateful to be alive.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education