Woman who 'vaped on and off for years' left unable to speak or read
A 34-year-old woman was hospitalised after a vape left her unable to 'speak or read'.
Lydia Ward confessed that she had been vaping on and off for years before a terrifying experience put an end to her smoking habit, having only started because it was something her friends were doing.
Although vaping was initially introduced as a way for nicotine addicts to quit smoking for good, electronic cigarettes have since overtaken traditional cigarettes in terms of popularity in the UK, and it also comes with some huge health issues.
While an individual vape is almost undoubtedly not as bad for you as a cigarette, it is also easier to smoke them more regularly, which can lead to serious problems such as popcorn lung and difficulty breathing.
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And after a few years of enjoying them, mum-of-two Lydia was suddenly put off for life, after her vision became blurry and left her thinking she was suffering from a stroke.
She said: "I was home one day I had taken a few puffs and all of a sudden I started having blurry vision.
"It was like looking through a glass, it was very blurry, I instantly put it down.
"I felt so weird. I called my mom because my kids were here at the house playing, I felt like I was going to pass out.
"I called my mom and said 'I feel very strange, something is not right'.
"She lives across the road and she came over. I told her 'I feel really light headed and dizzy'."
It was only when Lydia looked at her phone and realised that she 'couldn't read anything' that she started to realise that something was very wrong.
She added: "The words didn't make sense.
"I couldn't remember how to read, it was very weird. I couldn't read for a good 10 minutes.
"I said 'Mom I can't tell what this says', my brain wasn't working properly. I said I wanted to go to the hospital because I was scared. I've never felt this way before.
"I felt so fatigued and tired, I was slurring my words and having trouble forming sentences.
"I was so scared, I was like 'is this a stroke?' when I was having memory issues."
Lydia was also struggling with neurological problems and couldn't remember the names or faces of people she was close to.
At the hospital, Lydia was reassured that she wasn't having a stroke and that she could return home, although she was warned that vaping can cause a drop in blood pressure, which might have explained her temporary vision problems and memory loss.
After her incident, she's confirmed that she won't be vaping again anytime soon, and she's now urging others to be careful when it comes to electronic cigarettes.
She concluded: "People don't realise when they are simply vaping what effects it can have. You might not feel it one day but I feel like it can happen to anyone.
"I have to let people know this little thing really scared me bad enough to go to the hospital.
"Imagine waking up one day and just not being able to put simple words together. I was scared I wasn't going to be able to function."
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Vaping, UK News
James Moorhouse