About Just Chew Gum:
Our Why?
How Vaping Affects Our Lungs:
Why We Need Healthy Lungs?
Founded by Miss Teen Houston Latina, Amanda Marroquin, the #SaveYourLifeChewSomeGum Campaign was created to bring education about the dangers of vaping and access to the support and alternatives people need to quit vaping. We believe that everyone deserves to live a healthy and fulfilling life, and we are committed to working towards this goal every day.
Why We Need Healthy Lungs?
How Vaping Affects Our Lungs:
Why We Need Healthy Lungs?
You may not think about the importance of your lung health until you experience a breathing problem. Your lungs provide oxygen and keep every other organ functioning by removing carbon dioxide from your body. Genetics, disease, smoking, vaping and the environment can greatly affect the health of your lungs and cause respiratory problems and even death.
How Vaping Affects Our Lungs:
How Vaping Affects Our Lungs:
How Vaping Affects Our Lungs:
Vaping has been linked to a type of lung damage called bronchiolitis obliterans, or popcorn lung, which is caused by a chemical called diacetyl used to sweeten some vape liquids.
All Choices have Consequences :
What is Vaping?
Vaping is the inhaling of an aerosol (mist) created by an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or other vaping device.
E-cigarettes (often called vape pens) are battery-operated vaping devices that heat a liquid until it becomes an aerosol (mist), which is inhaled. The aerosol is not just water vapor. It usually contains nicotine, other harmful chemicals, and flavorings. Even e-cigarettes that claim to have no nicotine have been found to contain nicotine. Some might contain marijuana, herbs, or oils.
Some e-cigarettes are disposable and designed for one-time use. When the liquid is used up or the battery dies, the user throws the device away. Others can be refilled with liquid, recharged, and used over and over. Some people buy pre-filled cartridges for the e-cigarette. Others buy a bottle of liquid and refill the e-cigarette as needed.
Why is Vaping Addicting and What Are the Health Effects of Vaping?
The Vaping addiction is brought on by an oral fixation or the need to be doing something with your mouth and the body’s feeling for the “need” of nicotine once hooked.
The health risks of vaping include:
- addiction: E-cigarettes contain nicotine, a drug that’s highly addictive. You don’t have to vape every day to get addicted.
- anxiety and depression: Nicotine makes anxiety and depression worse. It also affects memory, concentration, self-control, and attention, especially in developing brains.
- becoming a smoker: People who vape are more likely to start smoking regular (tobacco) cigarettes and may be more likely to develop other addictions in the future.
- impotence: There is some evidence that vaping can cause sexual dysfunction in men.
- sleep problems
- exposure to cancer-causing chemicals
- chronic bronchitis
- lung damage that can be life-threatening
Other health effects are possible that we don’t yet know about. Vaping hasn’t been around that long, so its health risks aren’t all known.
Why Should I Quit?
Wanting to be the best, healthiest version of yourself is an important reason to quit vaping. Others include:
Addiction: Addiction in the growing brain may set up pathways for later addiction to other substances.
Brain risks: Nicotine affects your brain development. This can make it harder to learn and concentrate. Some of the brain changes are permanent and can affect your mood and ability to control your impulses as an adult.
Use of other tobacco products: Studies show that vaping makes it more likely that someone will try other tobacco products, like regular cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, and smokeless tobacco.
Toxins (poisons): The aerosol made from e-cigarettes is not made only of water. It contains harmful chemicals and very fine particles that are inhaled into the lungs and exhaled into the environment.
Sports: You want to do your best in sports, and vaping may lead to lung inflammation (irritation), which can make it harder to do well in sports.
Money: Vaping is expensive! The cost of the cartridges over time starts to add up. Instead, you could spend that money on other things you need or enjoy.
To go against tobacco company advertising: Many e-cigarettes are made by the same companies that produce regular cigarettes. Their marketing targets young people by making fun flavors for e-cigarettes and showing young, healthy people vaping. They're trying to make you their next lifetime customer.
How Can I Get Ready to Quit?
- Decide why you want to quit and write it down or put it in your phone. Look at the reason(s) when you feel the urge to vape.
- Pick a day to stop vaping. Put it on the calendar and tell supportive friends and family that you're quitting on that day.
- Get rid of all vaping supplies.
- Understand withdrawal. Nicotine addiction leads to very strong cravings for nicotine. The signs of withdrawal are strongest in the first few days after stopping, but get better over the next days and weeks. At first, someone might:
- have headaches
- feel tired, cranky, angry, or depressed
- have trouble concentrating
- have trouble sleeping
- feel hungry
- feel restless
*Chewing gum, especially Spearmint, provides the oral fixation vape users seek in vaping. The Spearmint in the gum is shown to curb the appetite/craving for nicotine.
Chewing Spearmint gum is Safer, Cheaper and more accessible to all and overall the easiest way to put down the vape.
Other helpful tips to quitting:
- Download tools (such as apps and texting programs) to your phone that can help with cravings and give encouragement while you try to stop vaping. You can try:
- Truth Initiative’s This Is Quitting texting program
- free apps and other tools from Smokefree.gov
What Happens When I Quit?
Be ready for feelings, people, and places that make you want to vape. If possible, avoid places and people that trigger the urge to vape. If you feel the urge to vape, try these things instead:
- Chew sugar-free, Spearmint gum or drink water.
- Text, call, or hang out with a friend who will support you.
- Listen to your favorite playlist.
- Go for a walk or jog.
- Take 10 deep breaths.
- Keep your hands busy with a hobby, like drawing or making jewelry.
- Go somewhere where smoking/vaping isn't allowed.
When Should I Call the Doctor?
Call your doctor right away if you vape and have:
- coughing, shortness of breath, or chest pain
- nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
- tiredness, fever, or weight loss
What is Popcorn Lung?
Popcorn Lung Explained:
Over a decade ago, workers in a microwave popcorn factory were sickened by breathing in diacetyl—the buttery-flavored chemical in foods like popcorn, caramel and dairy products.
While this flavoring may be tasty, it was linked to deaths and hundreds of cases of bronchiolitis obliterans, a serious and irreversible lung disease. As a result, the major popcorn manufacturers removed diacetyl from their products, but some people are still being exposed to diacetyl - not through food flavorings as a worksite hazard, but through e-cigarette vapor.
When inhaled, diacetyl causes bronchiolitis obliterans - more commonly referred to as "popcorn lung" - a scarring of the tiny air sacs in the lungs resulting in the thickening and narrowing of the airways. While the name "popcorn lung" may not sound like a threat, it's a serious lung disease that causes coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath, similar to the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Even though we know that diacetyl causes popcorn lung, this chemical is found in many e-cigarette flavors. It is added to "e-juice" liquid by some e-cigarette companies to complement flavorings such as vanilla, maple, coconut and more. So, while diacetyl was swiftly removed from popcorn products since it could cause this devastating disease among factory workers, e-cigarette users are now directly inhaling this harmful chemical into their lungs. In fact, researchers at Harvard found that 39 of 51 e-cigarette brands contained diacetyl. The study also found two similarly harmful chemicals—2,3 pentanedione and acetoin—present in 23 and 46 of the 51 flavors it tested. And roughly 92 percent of the e-cigarettes had one of the three chemicals present.
How is this possible that many Americans are unknowingly inhaling chemicals that can cause traumatic respiratory harm? Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in July 2017 that it would delay until 2022 the requirement that e-cigarette companies submit their products, including all ingredients, to FDA for review. The American Lung Association and our partners filed a lawsuit against the FDA for this delay, but for the meantime, these products remain on the market until FDA begins to enforce the provisions.
This is an urgent issue for public health, especially given the popularity of e-cigarettes among youth. Just Chew Gum believes it's imperative that FDA act quickly to require that diacetyl and other harmful chemicals be removed from e-cigarettes.
Remember, we are here to save lives by providing health alternatives to vaping and improving your overall quality of life.
When you're ready to quit vaping for good, we're here to help.
Help Our Cause:
Donate Gum
Your support and contributions of Spearmint Gum will enable us to meet our goals and carry out our mission of education and prevention against the dangers of Vaping.
Join our #SaveYourLifeChewSomeGum Campaign Today!