Vaping And Diabetes

[Fawn]

Just something to watch out for. My neighbor has type 2 diabetes. She always has been able to keep it under control with diet and exercize, and never has used insulin.

Since she has been vaping she has not been able to keep her blood sugar under control. 2 days ago she asked me if there is sugar in vg. I went as far as to call the company and talk to the lab, no they dont add sugar or sweetner but vg is naturally sweet. (I make my own liquid and use vg and i share my liquid with her)

She quit vaping yesterday and her blood sugar level dropped from 248 to 147, not low enuff yet the dr said it needs to be down to 110, but 100 pt drop and all she changed was she stopped vaping says something.

I am not sure how pg affects blood sugar levels, and not even sure if the vg is doing it to her, just i can see what has happened to her, and how it dropped with the only change being not vaping ...

Vg is naturally sweet, i assume pg is also but i could be wrong, she would like an alternative something that wont spike her sugar, but is a bit scared now.

[vapemudgeon]

Just something to watch out for. My neighbor has type 2 diabetes. She always has been able to keep it under control with diet and exercize, and never has used insulin.

Since she has been vaping she has not been able to keep her blood sugar under control. 2 days ago she asked me if there is sugar in vg. I went as far as to call the company and talk to the lab, no they dont add sugar or sweetner but vg is naturally sweet. (I make my own liquid and use vg and i share my liquid with her)

She quit vaping yesterday and her blood sugar level dropped from 248 to 147, not low enuff yet the dr said it needs to be down to 110, but 100 pt drop and all she changed was she stopped vaping says something.

I am not sure how pg affects blood sugar levels, and not even sure if the vg is doing it to her, just i can see what has happened to her, and how it dropped with the only change being not vaping ...

Vg is naturally sweet, i assume pg is also but i could be wrong, she would like an alternative something that wont spike her sugar, but is a bit scared now.

Welcome to the forum Fawn !

Yunno, I think the problem could be with the flavoring not the VG.... I could be wrong. Flavoring can have a lot of sugar in it !

Walmart has a brand of VG called "Humco" (It's in the pharmacy section). I put a post in the DIY section that shows a breakdown of the make up of this product... done by a Pharmacist. It's apparently just vegetable glycerin and a little water... That might offer some info.

Also you may learn more about sugar content in that section.

[keenan]

I have type 2 Diabetes as well, and i havent noticed a peak in my levels. Hmmmm. Some people may just react to it differently. Yeah, 247 is not good. Your sugar level should be the same number as your systolic reading on your blood pressure, that is - between 100 and 120 is good. anything higher is not good, and anything lower is REALLY not good.

[Kmel]

Just something to watch out for. My neighbor has type 2 diabetes. She always has been able to keep it under control with diet and exercize, and never has used insulin.

Since she has been vaping she has not been able to keep her blood sugar under control. 2 days ago she asked me if there is sugar in vg. ....

VG is also called "glycerol" and glycerol is one of what are called "sugar alcohols", along with sorbitol, manitol and several substances. These sugar alcohols are often used in foods for diabetics because (in theory) "they are not supposed to raise blood sugar". There is however several big "but"s:

1. Although sugar alcohols are not supposed to raise blood sugar when eaten, in some people they do raise blood sugar. The author of the South Beach Diet talks about how consuming sugar alcohols can sometimes have a negative effect on weight-loss for some people, even when they aren't eating any other carbs, because it does raise their blood sugar.

2. The other "but" is that while theoretically glycerol isn't supposed to raise blood sugar for most people when you eat it, vaping is "inhaling", not "eating". Vaping VG completely bypasses the gut and goes straight into the bloodstream to the liver to be metabolized. Is the gut the filter that prevents VG from being absorbed into the bloodstream completely for most people? I have no idea. But it is worth some thought.

3. PG has chemical properties similar to glycerol and many argue that PG should be included as a "sugar alcohol", although it is not officially considered a sugar alcohol now. PG does have calories similar to glycerol and sugar, and is absorbed much the same way.

Husband is borderline diabetic, so I've had to do a little research on sugar & sugar alcohols, but I never put it together in my head re vaping before now.

[Fawn]

Welcome to the forum Fawn !

Yunno, I think the problem could be with the flavoring not the VG.... I could be wrong. Flavoring can have a lot of sugar in it !

Walmart has a brand of VG called "Humco" (It's in the pharmacy section). I put a post in the DIY section that shows a breakdown of the make up of this product... done by a Pharmacist. It's apparently just vegetable glycerin and a little water... That might offer some info.

Also you may learn more about sugar content in that section.

Hey thanks, Ive been on for a while, i just never talk lol, but that is the vg i get, i even called the lab that makes it, they dont add sugar or sweetner, and they said that it is not only pure vegetable glycerin, but also is kosher, my concern about that is natural sweetness. the lab did say it is naturally sweet. Not unlike lets say apples which are naturally sweet and not something diabetics can eat. If you put a tiny taste of vg on your tongue, it is veryyyyyyy sweet. I buy lorann's flavorings, which contains no sugars or sweetners, lol reading right off the box.

I am really worried about her. while her diabetes was so high she got a spider bite on her elbow, and it got infected .. she only went to the dr the other day, not knowing it was infected and the infection is in the bone, so the dr is sending her to an orthopedic dr, who may likely amputate if the antibiotics dont work.

If all this had not happened you may never had heard from me lol, im more of a reader than a writer.

But this is something that diabetics need to look for if they are vaping.

[Fawn]

I have type 2 Diabetes as well, and i havent noticed a peak in my levels. Hmmmm. Some people may just react to it differently. Yeah, 247 is not good. Your sugar level should be the same number as your systolic reading on your blood pressure, that is - between 100 and 120 is good. anything higher is not good, and anything lower is REALLY not good.

Hi Keenan,

do you have Pg or Vg in your liquid? and do you use insulin? .. she has always controlled it with out insulin, and we still are not 100% certain that the liquid is the problem, but so far that seems to be it. It would be interesting to see how she reacts to pg instead of vg, but she has always had the vg, since thats what i use, although i am considering changing to just buying my liquid now, this has me all upset. Im glad you havent had any problems and its true she may react differently to it. the dr told her he wants her bp at 110, lol right in the middle of where you said.

[Fawn]

VG is also called "glycerol" and glycerol is one of what are called "sugar alcohols", along with sorbitol, manitol and several substances. These sugar alcohols are often used in foods for diabetics because (in theory) "they are not supposed to raise blood sugar". There is however several big "but"s:

1. Although sugar alcohols are not supposed to raise blood sugar when eaten, in some people they do raise blood sugar. The author of the South Beach Diet talks about how consuming sugar alcohols can sometimes have a negative effect on weight-loss for some people, even when they aren't eating any other carbs, because it does raise their blood sugar.

2. The other "but" is that while theoretically glycerol isn't supposed to raise blood sugar for most people when you eat it, vaping is "inhaling", not "eating". Vaping VG completely bypasses the gut and goes straight into the bloodstream to the liver to be metabolized. Is the gut the filter that prevents VG from being absorbed into the bloodstream completely for most people? I have no idea. But it is worth some thought.

3. PG has chemical properties similar to glycerol and many argue that PG should be included as a "sugar alcohol", although it is not officially considered a sugar alcohol now. PG does have calories similar to glycerol and sugar, and is absorbed much the same way.

Husband is borderline diabetic, so I've had to do a little research on sugar & sugar alcohols, but I never put it together in my head re vaping before now.

wow great research, and i am sure that is what the problem is. sounds like pg would pretty much be the same as vg for her. Thank you so much for that info, i will pass that all on to her.

[seaspine]

Hey thanks, Ive been on for a while, i just never talk lol, but that is the vg i get, i even called the lab that makes it, they dont add sugar or sweetner, and they said that it is not only pure vegetable glycerin, but also is kosher, my concern about that is natural sweetness. the lab did say it is naturally sweet. Not unlike lets say apples which are naturally sweet and not something diabetics can eat. If you put a tiny taste of vg on your tongue, it is veryyyyyyy sweet. I buy lorann's flavorings, which contains no sugars or sweetners, lol reading right off the box.

I am really worried about her. while her diabetes was so high she got a spider bite on her elbow, and it got infected .. she only went to the dr the other day, not knowing it was infected and the infection is in the bone, so the dr is sending her to an orthopedic dr, who may likely amputate if the antibiotics dont work.

If all this had not happened you may never had heard from me lol, im more of a reader than a writer.

But this is something that diabetics need to look for if they are vaping.

My thought here is that the infection on her elbow may have caused her sugar to spike,that is a normal body reaction to infection.clear that up and her sugars may drop.While you may take some sugar while vaping I really don't think it would be enough to make someone's blood sugar go that high.

I see there are other diabetics here. If you are willing let's start a small Vapor talk study.Tomorrow I will do a fasting accucheck,before vaping.I will then vape for a few min and see if my sugar goes up substantualy.I will post my results in a new topic and if just a few others do the same we can see if there is a coorilation.Use PG juice and no coffee so it doesn't throw off any results.

[mergryphon]

wow great research, and i am sure that is what the problem is. sounds like pg would pretty much be the same as vg for her. Thank you so much for that info, i will pass that all on to her.

I'm a type 2 diabetic, controlled with several different kinds of medications. Which was another drive to quick smoking, its certainly not helping with all the other health issues diabetics can have.

I've only been vaping for a week, and I believe all my juice has been PG based, from 11-18 mg. I just finished an extensive vaping session on the new VP1 with some 24mg juice in it. I've not eaten for a few hours, but I just tested at 125 which is actually pretty good for me.

I haven't noticed any oddities in my daily testings since I've been vaping. Its been steady as usual, only going up or down after I eat, as is normal.

Hope you friend is okay, and that she too can keep vaping instead of falling back on analogs.

[seaspine]

Woke up this morning and did a fasting blood sugar it was 168 (I was bad last night and forgot to take my meds).Vaped like crazy for 10 min and got a reading of 161,vaped a little more and tried again and it was 170. These are true fasting blood sugars no water no coffee etc,For myself PG seems to have little or no effect on sugar levles. Would like to see more results though,Hate to keep using test strips.Lost my insurance a while back and they are pricey!

[mergryphon]

Woke up this morning and did a fasting blood sugar it was 168 (I was bad last night and forgot to take my meds).Vaped like crazy for 10 min and got a reading of 161,vaped a little more and tried again and it was 170. These are true fasting blood sugars no water no coffee etc,For myself PG seems to have little or no effect on sugar levles. Would like to see more results though,Hate to keep using test strips.Lost my insurance a while back and they are pricey!

I did the same kind of test this morning, no coffee, no food. Waking was 135, post vaping was 133. So little or no effect on me.

[Kmel]

I did the same kind of test this morning, no coffee, no food. Waking was 135, post vaping was 133. So little or no effect on me.

Curious, vaping PG or VG?

[keenan]

Hi Keenan,

do you have Pg or Vg in your liquid? and do you use insulin? .. she has always controlled it with out insulin, and we still are not 100% certain that the liquid is the problem, but so far that seems to be it. It would be interesting to see how she reacts to pg instead of vg, but she has always had the vg, since thats what i use, although i am considering changing to just buying my liquid now, this has me all upset. Im glad you havent had any problems and its true she may react differently to it. the dr told her he wants her bp at 110, lol right in the middle of where you said.

I use PG and do not use insulin. I take Metaformin to control my sugar.Have you talked to the Doc about her vaping ? My Doctor was for it 100 %, which surprised me. Of course, its a no brainer over analogs.

[mergryphon]

Curious, vaping PG or VG?

As far as I know all the juice I have is PG, and the cartomizer stuff is all PG.

I take Metformin and Actos, and follow a low glycemic index type diet.

I talked to my Doctor two days before I started vaping, she was all for it once I showed her the information and explained what was in the juice, etc.

It is possible the VG juice might have an effect on blood sugar, some vegetables are very high in natural sugars, such as peas and corn.

[JimMitchell]

Hi,

I'm an insulin dependant type 2 and I have also been experiencing trouble with bloog glucose control since switching from analogs to vapeing.

I test at LEAST 8 times a day and take from 4 to 6 insulin shots. Additionally, I'm taking 1000 mg metformin twice daily. I use Lantus as my Basil insulin, and Humalog as my bolus insulin.

Okay, all this was prolly TMI for some of you but for the others it will show where I'm working from.

Before I switched from analogs, My quarterly lab tests were in TEXTBOOK NORMAL ranges across the board. I work very hard to control my diabetes

Since I switched, my blood glucose numbers are quite a bit higher than they were before... I'm now mixing my own e-juice to figure out what is causing the problem and what I can do about it.

I've discovered that (for me at least) the amount of nicotine I'm vapeing has a MUCH larger effect on my levels than VG or PG or a VG/PG mix!

I found that I vape a lot more than I smoked... I was a 3 pack a day smoker, but since I quit I tend to chain vape all day.

So, what I've done is set up 2 or 3 different e-cigs to carry around with me all day. My Janty is filled with about a 40/40/20 mix of VG/PG/Loriann flavor with ZERO NICOTINE! This is what I chain vape most of the time.

The other e-cig or 2 has the same mix, but with 18mg nic. I vape a few drags off these if I feel the need for a nic fix.

Since I've started this ( almost a week now) my blood glucose numbers are still a little high, but getting closer to what were my normal levels...

As always YMMV but try and lower the level of nicotine and see what that does for you.

[keenan]

I do remember being told that nicotene will affect your sugar level. its been 2 and a half years since I was diagnosed, and I TOTALLY forgot about that. Nicotene is probably the culprit, NOT VG or PG. Definitly worth checking in to with your Doc.

[seaspine]

Just did a quick search here http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco_nic.shtml,seems the analogs brands most of us smoked have 1mg of nicotine a cigarette.For me that put me at 60mg/day the I have 30 mg and 24 mg juices so I would have to vape roughly 3 ml/day to get more nicotine then I was from analogs,Im probly pretty close.I plan on dropping juice strength with my next order before this came up.

While I still don't think it is the vaping that is causing the rises that some of us are seeing in our A1C's and

blood sugar levels.Many things can cause you sugar to rise,Just the stress of quitting can do it.Don't forget many of us have cut back on exercise just by not having to go outside to smoke.

Of the people reporting higher sugars on this thread 3 of them have had major stressors place on them.One had a infection, Keenan has been dealing with illness in his family,had a break in,a blackout and became a mod which may by causing him to be inactive more.MY job has been nuts,meaning more time driving as well as a sick wife,and major repairs needed on the house.All these things can cause high sugars. with out any reported spikes in fasting sugar levles right after vaping,I don't think vaping is the cause. more study is needed.

One of the Dr's I work with is active in diabetes research I will be showing him this thread,It sounds like a good topic for a study.

Until then watch your diet,try to exercise and take your meds.These are the most important factors in controlling sugars.Even if vaping does cause minor rises in sugars doing the right things should cancle that out.

P.s. I know I can't type or spell.

Edited November 16, 2009 by seaspine

[mergryphon]

Until then watch your diet,try to exercise and take your meds.These are the most important factors in controlling sugars.Even if vaping does cause minor rises in sugars doing the right things should cancle that out.

That's where I am with the whole issue. The benefits of stopping smoking far outweigh any small blood sugar spikes I might see. If I were getting rises like the first poster said, far into the 200s my stance would change.

[Speakeasy]

Just did a quick search here http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco_nic.shtml,seems the analogs brands most of us smoked have 1mg of nicotine a cigarette.For me that put me at 60mg/day the I have 30 mg and 24 mg juices so I would have to vape roughly 3 ml/day to get more nicotine then I was from analogs,Im probly pretty close.

Just a note about the nicotine you consume....Although an analog cigarette can in fact contain between 1-3mg per cigarette, numerous independant studies indicate that you actually only absorb 0.1-0.2mg through the act of smoking. Please see my post about nicotine in the health section for more info on this.

[Kmel]

I do remember being told that nicotene will affect your sugar level. its been 2 and a half years since I was diagnosed, and I TOTALLY forgot about that. Nicotene is probably the culprit, NOT VG or PG. Definitly worth checking in to with your Doc.

You are right on with that Keenan. Looked it up:

"...Upon entering the bloodstream, nicotine immediately stimulates the adrenal glands to release the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline). Epinephrine stimulates the central nervous system and increases blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate. Glucose is released into the blood while nicotine suppresses insulin output from the pancreas, which means that smokers have chronically elevated blood sugar levels...".

Nicotine, as the culprit, had never crossed my mind since vapers were all smokers (getting nicotine) to begin with, but it makes sense.

Must say that I find this thread absolutely fascinating because it shows how well we are able to research and take care of our own health, without the FDA's interference.

[Speakeasy]

Just a note about the nicotine you consume....Although an analog cigarette can in fact contain between 1-3mg per cigarette, numerous independant studies indicate that you actually only absorb 0.1-0.2mg through the act of smoking. Please see my post about nicotine in the health section for more info on this.

Lol, Seaspine. Please disregard EVERYTHING I wrote in my response to you. I got all the nubers messed up and retract what I just wrote. I just realised what I was saying was wrong. I will now go to my room and think about what I've done and try to think of ways to be a better person....

[JimMitchell]

It's been 9 days since I posted my theory that it's the nicotine that's effecting our BGl numbers more than the PG or VG...

(Reference post #15in this thread )

I am still chain vapeing zero nic as my main vape... But I have reduced my nic vape to 6mg and am down to 1 or 2 ml of nic juice a day.

My BGl numbers are back under my control as good as before! In fact, I'm starting to reduce my total daily insulin dosage, and I believe that's because I'm consuming less nic than before I started vapeing...

My goal is to eliminate the nic all together... I Do NOT however, plan to quit vapeing

I enjoy it too much... AND all the research suggests that PG vapeing might just make you LESS susceptible to colds, flu's and other bugs

Besides, If I'm making all my own juice, and I lay in a supply of attys The FDA can go screw themselves and I can vape away without worrying about it

[keenan]

Seaspine wrote

"Keenan has been dealing with illness in his family,had a break in,a blackout and became a mod which may by causing him to be inactive more."

Just to be clear here, I WAS taking care of a sick family with the flu, But it WAS NOT me who had the break in, or blackout.

[seaspine]

Seaspine wrote

"Keenan has been dealing with illness in his family,had a break in,a blackout and became a mod which may by causing him to be inactive more."

Just to be clear here, I WAS taking care of a sick family with the flu, But it WAS NOT me who had the break in, or blackout.

Sorry, thought that was you that posted that stuff about a break in and a black out. My bad.Another sad lesson taught about the dangers of drinking and posting.

[keenan]

Sorry, thought that was you that posted that stuff about a break in and a black out. My bad.Another sad lesson taught about the dangers of drinking and posting.

LOL ! No problem bud. Happy Thanksgiving !