A 37-year-old woman from California is warning teens and adults to stay away from e-cigarettes as it can prove to be fatal.
Julia Itzen started vaping in an effort to quit smoking and get healthier but after using it for more than five years, she collapsed on Christmas Day.
She was rushed to a hospital and was told she had ‘vape lung’ – a lung disease associated with the use of vaping products that can be life-threatening.
She spent two weeks in the hospital and struggled while breathing and speaking.
Julia has now warned teens as well as adults to stay away from e-cigarettes as it can permanently damage your lungs.
Julia is not fully recovered yet and has to do breathing treatments several times a day.
Talking about the time when she was in the hospital, Julia said: “I look dead. I’m gone. If you want to be like this, keep vaping.”
When she first started vaping, she felt it was going to help her quit smoking.
She said: “My sense of smell came back like, scar – like a bloodhound. My sense of taste came back.”
Eventually, she quit smoking but continued vaping for five-and-a-half years.
She felt good and was not worried about anything as e-cigarettes had been around for more than a decade.
She said: “It wasn’t just punk kids [doing it]. It was doctors and stockbrokers. It was adults trying to quit cigarettes.”
However, after vaping for more than five years, Julia collapsed and found herself in a hospital bed with oxygen tubes on Christmas day.
After her diagnosis with ‘vape lung’, she learned how dangerous vaping is.
She says she feels lucky to be alive and her story is a lesson for all those who use e-cigarettes.
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