Doctors are warning about the dangers of vaping during pregnancy after a Texas woman nearly lost her baby and died after a fatal reaction to the device.
The otherwise healthy 28-year-old had to undergo an emergency C-section at 36 weeks after severe bleeding in her lungs.
The internal bleeding is believed to be caused by repeated damage to the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to and from the heart.
Prolonged and regular use of vaping exposes the lungs to a cocktail of chemicals and volatiles that can wreak havoc on our cells.
Regular vaping can be disastrous for pregnant women, with numerous risks ranging from lung scarring and other lung injuries to asthma and cardiovascular damage
The woman was severely starved of oxygen and had a rapid heartbeat. When antibiotics failed and her condition worsened, doctors had to perform an emergency C-section to save the life of her unborn child.
Doctors at Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center in Amarillo, Texas, published the story in a case study in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
They wrote: “Despite their introduction in 2007, very little literature has been published on the adverse effects of electronic cigarettes.
“Vape use has overtaken standard e-cigarettes in our time, and understanding the health risks it poses due to rapidly changing designs and a lack of long-term tracking has been a challenge.”
The pregnant patient’s husband confirmed that she vaped “regularly” throughout her pregnancy and suffered from shortness of breath, although he did not say for how long.
It’s the latest case to highlight the dangers of vaping, which is now being linked to heart problems and cancer linked to regular cigarettes.
Vaping and using other smokeless tobacco products during pregnancy can have disastrous consequences even after the baby is born.
Researchers in Sweden recently found that pregnant women who use snus, a type of smokeless tobacco, increased the risk of their baby dying before their first birthday by 70 percent.
E-cigarettes are full of mysterious chemicals and volatile organic compounds that coat the lungs with harmful chemicals, causing irritation and potentially irreversible damage.
Vaping also carries many other health risks, from lung scarring and other lung injuries to asthma and cardiovascular damage.
Nicotine in e-cigarettes has been found to directly harm a baby in the womb by causing abnormal development of the lungs, heart, brain and immune system with lifelong consequences.
The pregnant woman, who was not named in the case report, arrived at the Texas hospital complaining of shortness of breath. The doctors did not disclose how long she suffered from her symptoms.
It is unclear whether her doctors knew right away that she was an avid vaper, or whether they only found out from her husband later.
Pregnant vape and snus users triple the risk of SIDS
Swedish researchers looked at data from two million babies over the age of 20 and found that snus was linked to a threefold increase in SIDS.
Doctors found that her heart rate was abnormally high at about 110 to 120 beats per minute. She was hypoxemic, meaning her blood oxygen levels were lower than normal.
In fact, their oxygen saturation, which is the amount of oxygen you have circulating in your blood, was between 80 and 86 percent in room air.
However, a normal oxygen saturation level for a pregnant woman her age is around 95 percent.
Her condition worsened and she eventually needed a caesarean section.
After the procedure, there was blood in the patient’s urine. She was also coughing up blood, which convinced doctors to perform a bronchoscopy, a procedure that allows doctors to look at the lungs and airways.
That’s when they discovered she had diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH).
DAH is a type of bleeding characterized by bleeding into the small air spaces in the lungs where carbon dioxide leaves the blood and oxygen enters. This type of bleeding can sometimes be associated with an autoimmune disease such as small vessel vasculitis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
But tests to determine if the woman had an autoimmune condition came up with nothing suspicious.
And her prothrombin time, the time it takes for a clot to form in a blood sample, was within normal limits.
At this point, they consulted with her husband, who told doctors that she was a regular vaper. They then concluded that the patient had “vaping-induced platelet dysfunction” and strongly advised her to stop.
They wrote, “Since our patient had a negative autoimmune test, normal platelets, and a normal coagulation profile, we suspect a direct correlation between platelet dysfunction and vaping.
“Although our patient may have suffered a direct inhalation injury from vaping that led to her DAH, this does not fully explain why she also had hematuria. There were no complications during her caesarean section, and the patient also had no abdominal or uterine bleeding to suggest otherwise.”
Despite claims from e-cigarette manufacturers and special interest companies that the devices are a safer alternative to smoking, doctors are urging pregnant women to stop using nicotine altogether.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
