Is Vaping Nicotine Dangerous?

Smoking can take a toll on your health and affect many parts of your life. 

Cigarette smoke is packed with 7,000 chemicals and 69 carcinogens, which can shave days off your life with every pack you smoke.

Nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes, makes it tough for smokers to fight cravings, even when they know the risks. 

Many people think nicotine itself causes cancer because it’s so closely linked to smoking, but that’s not quite right. 

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Nicotine doesn’t directly harm your health; instead, it keeps you hooked on cigarettes, which are full of harmful chemicals.

If you have a heart condition or other health issues, nicotine can lead to problems, so be careful. 

When trying to quit smoking, nicotine can help ease withdrawal symptoms if you can’t stop right away or if you’re going cold turkey.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products like lozenges, gums, inhalers, and patches provide a small dose of nicotine to help manage nausea, headaches, and irritability. 

You can also find nicotine vaping products (NVPs) at pharmacies, which offer a small dose of nicotine to help with withdrawal if NRT isn’t cutting it.

Now, let’s explore how nicotine affects your body and whether nicotine vaping is dangerous.

Nicotine Spikes Your Adrenaline

Do you have a heart or nerve problem? If so, nicotine can be risky for you because it makes your adrenaline levels spike.

When you take in nicotine, it quickly enters your bloodstream and reaches your brain. 

There, it connects to receptors on your nerve cells, releasing different chemicals, including adrenaline. 

So, every time you smoke a cigarette, you’re taking in nicotine that boosts your adrenaline levels.

Nicotine Increases Your Heart Rate

If you’ve got heart problems and you’re still smoking, you’re playing with fire. 

Regular smoking can be a dangerous game. Nicotine ramps up your adrenaline and gets certain receptors in your heart working overtime, speeding up your heart rate.

This adrenaline boost can raise your blood pressure by 10 to 15 beats per minute and keep it there. 

As your adrenaline goes up, so does your heart rate, which can be really risky, especially if you already have other health issues like high blood pressure.

Nicotine Is Highly Addictive

The most well-known and documented effect of nicotine is its addictive nature. It’s a substance that causes behavioural effects by stimulating dopamine release.

Dopamine is the ‘feel-good’ chemical integral to our natural internal rewards system that reinforces routines and activities. 

Nicotine can hijack this system by releasing dopamine for minimal effort – a combination that tempts even the most motivated smoker on the last leg of their quit journey.

While having dopamine levels hijacked won’t cause lethal problems, consistently high levels of it can lead to psychological issues, such as addiction and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), to name a few.

So, Is Nicotine Lethal?

Nicotine is highly addictive; there’s no arguing that. However, nicotine isn’t lethal unless you have a severe adrenaline-sensitive comorbidity. 

If you consume too much nicotine, you won’t die from it – but you may die from what it forces you to use. In the case of cigarettes, it’s the dangerous chemicals and carcinogens that are likely to kill you. 

Vaping for Smoking Cessation

While there are responsible and trusted vaping products available right now in your local pharmacy, any nicotine vaping product (NVP) you purchase outside of a pharmacy is illegal and a potential danger to your health.

Here’s a small guide about illegal and pharmacy-available options, and how to use the latter for smoking cessation.

Avoid Illegal NVPs

Illegal NVPs (such as those in convenience stores and tobacconists) are imported under the radar, just like illicit tobacco and drugs, and are made as cheaply as possible for maximum profits.

Laboratory tests have also shown they contain high levels of dangerous metals such as nickel and lead. They are made without any standards at all, with tests showing they can even contain human saliva.

With illegal vapes you simply don’t know what you’re inhaling. Plus, every illegal purchase continues to support a local blackmarket hooking children as young as 5 years old.

Only Use NVPs You Can Buy from Pharmacies

Pharmacies only sell trusted medicines made to high standards suitable for medical distribution, and the same is true for the nicotine vaping products (NVPs) they dispense.

NVPs sold in pharmacies are made under stringent pharmaceutical standards on the manufacturing process and ingredients, are toxicologically assessed for inhalation, are locally insured, and are specifically designed to help you stop smoking.

All pharmacy NVP manufacturers comply with high medical standards, such as GMP and international medical device manufacturing standards.

With trusted pharmacy vapes, you know exactly what you’re inhaling. Plus, your GP and pharmacist are right there to help you every step of the way.

How Can I Get Pharmacy Vaping Products?

Go Through First-Line Solutions First

As mentioned, you need a nicotine prescription before you can purchase NVPs. As a second-line solution, one requirement is that you’ve already tried and failed to quit smoking with a first-line treatment, such as NRT products. 

NRT products (like patches and gums) are the most trusted quitting option available for motivated smokers. They might not imitate cigarettes, but they contain a small dose of nicotine that may be enough to alleviate your withdrawals.

While NRTs can be effective, they don’t work for everyone. If these haven’t done the trick for you, you may be eligible for a nicotine prescription for vaping.

Chat to a GP

As mentioned, NRT products have worked for many successful ex-smokers. But, you might have ingrained behaviours and triggers that only something that mimics a cigarette can successfully address, such as the hand-to-mouth motion, and needing something to use while having a drink with friends. 

If your GP deems it necessary, they can write you a nicotine prescription for NVPs. 

You can chat to your usual GP more about this.

Visit Your Local Pharmacy

Once you have your nicotine prescription, you can pop down to your local pharmacy. Over 2,200 pharmacies across Australia hold these products in-store, but any pharmacy can order these in for you if they don’t currently stock them.

Both your pharmacist and GP can advise you on how best to use the product, such as the initial setup, and the number of puffs to take when you feel withdrawals.

Summary

It’s clear to see that nicotine is a highly addictive chemical that is the ‘magnet’ that keeps even the most motivated smoker thinking about lighting a cigarette. 

Any person with heart or other existing conditions may need to consult a health provider before they start using either NRT products, pharmacy NVPs, or any other nicotine-containing product to ensure their safety.

Otherwise, you can use nicotine as a suitable smoking cessation tool that helps during withdrawals.

We know you’re reading this to clear up the confusion about nicotine’s safety. If you’re also looking to stop smoking or vaping for good, we can help.

Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around! 

If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good.

Link Reference

• https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/smoking-and-cancer/is-vaping-harmful
• https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/parents-educators/lesson-plans/mind-matters/nicotine-tobacco-vaping
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4958544/
• https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/dopamine
• https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65614078
• https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/08/paddy-gower-on-vaping-shocking-facts-uncovered-about-the-known-and-unknown-health-risks-of-e-liquids.html
• https://www.iso.org/iso-13485-medical-devices.html
• https://www.tga.gov.au/good-manufacturing-practice-overview