By the time we are old enough to vape, it’s almost guaranteed you will have experienced nausea in one form or another. Unless of course you are some kind of super-hero that has never been under the weather – if you are the latter, well done, you might be very valuable to medical science!
For the rest of us however feeling sick is far from a pleasant experience and it can be brought on by any number of things. If you are feeling sick specifically after you vape however, there could be a few things going on.
We will explore these in this blog, but we must stress – if you are not feeling well before or after vaping, then you should stop immediately and speak to your GP, as only they are qualified to give you medical advice.
With that said, let’s explore the ways a vape might leave you feeling queasy.
Check Your E-Liquid Label For Allergens
One of the first things that could be causing you to feel unwell after vaping are allergens in the ingredients. In our own e-liquids here at LiQuid, we take every possible step to reduce the number of potential allergens in our products. Despite this, certain flavours simply cannot exist without them.
In these cases, we carry out special technical calculations to establish exactly how much of a potential allergen is present, and if this exceeds a level where it might cause a reaction, it is included on the label in bold and highlighted as a sensitiser.
If you have a known allergy, then it should be easy to check if any e-liquid you buy contains the thing you know to avoid. If your allergy is undiagnosed however, then you might be unknowingly inhaling something that is making you feel unwell, even if the reaction is very minor.
It is worth remembering that even in cases where an ingredient could cause an allergic reaction, this is typically only ever at very low levels – however the sensitivity of your allergy will dictate how big of a reaction you may have. HVG e-liquids however can sometimes include increased flavouring to complement the powerful devices they pair with – this could lead to a more severe reaction as more of the allergen will be present.
Once again, the best way to deal with this would be to approach your GP and ask them about allergies to see if they can help.
Check Your Coil and Tank
Even with the best efforts made, tanks and coils can fail. Coils in particular have a finite lifespan, and without understanding the warning signs telling you it’s time to change it, you may actually be making yourself feel a little unwell by using a damaged one.
The linked article above explains coil issues in detail, and you can learn even more here, but in short, a burned or damaged coil will result in you having a very unpleasant experience. When vaping with a burnet coil, you are not just inhaling e-liquid vapour but also smoke from the burning wicking material – this could very well be why you are feeling ill.
The best remedy is to keep on top of your coil health which the guides mentioned above will help with! If you notice the flavour change unexpectedly or the liquid turn a brown colour when it is not normally so, then you probably need to change your coil.
If you are using a pod device like the EDGE GO, then this is less of a concern as the coil comes built into the pod, making it far easier to keep on top of, once the pod is empty you will be replacing it anyway, which means a new coil too.
If you have an open tank, check it occasionally for anything floating in the liquid inside. Foreign objects, even little ones can get in when you refill, and while not common, could contaminate your juice and leave you feeling unwell after vaping.
If you find a foreign body in there, empty, clean, and then check the tank for any cracks.
Nicotine Overdose
Perhaps the most common reason you may feel sick after vaping is the nicotine itself. Most of us will be familiar with the concept of a “niccy rush”. It is a light-headedness that comes from taking in a big hit of nicotine either for the first time that day, or simply if we take a bigger puff than normal.
While it is the ingredient in vapes and cigarettes alike that we crave, nicotine is ultimately a poison. When we take such a substance into our bodies it has a number of effects that we have explored in our guide: Nicotine & Health.
One such side-effect is nausea by inhaling too much nicotine – while not necessarily fatal, dragging on your vape more often than normal, say during a stressful day, then this could be why you have been feeling sick after vaping.
A good way to combat this would be to observe the strength of your vape and tweak it accordingly. 18mg may be far too much for your system, and that overload could be expressing itself as feeling nausea. Try dropping down to a 12mg, or even a 6mg.
it is usually necessary to experiment a little to find a product that balances what you want with what you need. Don’t be afraid to try different strengths to see what works – if it’s too much, don’t suffer, just drop down a peg or two!
For more guidance about moving down nicotine strengths (it’s not always simple to do!) check out our other guide here!
Our Sources:
- https://www.healthline.com/health/nicotine-poisoning
- https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/nicotine/casedef.asp
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21582-nicotine-poisoning
- https://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/nicotine-poisoning-can-you-overdose
