黑料吃瓜网

Paul Lubell used to vape medical marijuana to manage his chronic back and neck pain, instead of using opioid medications. Now, after getting hospitalized for lung sickness, he doesn't vape. (Mary Fecteau/ideastream)

As vaping has grown more popular in recent years, the trend has been fueled by the habit鈥檚 pleasurable allure: Compared with smoking cigarettes or pot, vaping is discreet and less smelly. Vaping fluids come in hundreds of flavors. There鈥檚 no tar or other byproducts of burning. And vape pens are high-tech, customizable and sleek.

But none of that mattered to Paul Lubell when he decided to try vaping. He wasn鈥檛 thinking about pleasure; he was trying to avoid pain. The retired Navy veteran turned to vaping marijuana, hoping it would help him cope with his chronic, debilitating musculoskeletal pain.

Unfortunately, it wasn鈥檛 long before he became part of the national statistics tracking an outbreak of a vaping-related lung illness that has more than 50 Americans and sickened 2,400. Lubell ended up in the hospital, seriously ill from vaping an oily liquid containing extracts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Lubell, who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Beachwood, is older than most of those who have contracted what is now being called 鈥渆-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury,鈥� or EVALI.

Three-quarters of patients with the condition have been聽; Lubell is 59.

Lubell during his time in the Navy in the late 1970s.(Mary Fecteau/ideastream)

But like patients in the majority of those cases, he used THC. And the latest聽聽suggests that it鈥檚 some added ingredient in THC vapes 鈥� likely vitamin E acetate 鈥� that is causing the lung disease. The CDC is warning people to stop vaping altogether, given the risk of lung illness, which puts people who vape to manage pain in a tough position.

鈥楳y Pain Would Be Gone鈥�

Lubell suffers from pain in his back, neck and knees. He is not sure when his problems started, but he wonders if they are related to his days on a Navy helicopter rescue team.

鈥淚t was fun. I was indestructible and good at what I did. Everybody wanted me,鈥� he recalled, while looking at photos of his much younger self posing on top of one of the helicopters.

Lubell sometimes jumped out of the helicopter and smacked into the water during training and rescue missions. That could have been the genesis of some of his back pain, he said. Lubell has had two back surgeries, and he also suffers from serious neck pain. Every day is a struggle, he said.

Looking for relief, he has tried many medications, including opioids such as hydrocodone, but that drug is no longer an option. Lubell is a patient at聽, and in the wake of the national opioid addiction epidemic, the VA has revised its pain-treatment protocols.

鈥淚t leaves someone who is in chronic pain in a very tough situation, having to decide how to deal with it,鈥� he added.

Lubell started using an electronic cigarette device paired with prefilled THC cartridges. Medical marijuana is legal in Ohio, as it is in聽, plus the District of Columbia.

鈥淲hen I say it took away pain 鈥� it was almost instantaneous,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ithin the span of 10 minutes, my pain would be gone. 鈥� It made me capable of doing my daily activities.鈥�

Lubell described his old vaping cartridges as tiny sticks that screwed on top of the vaping pen. When he inhaled at one end of the pen, it pulled the THC extract and other liquids in the cartridge over a heating element. Vaping was different from when he had smoked marijuana, Lubell said.

鈥�It doesn鈥檛 have a stench to it. You could do it out on the streets. It doesn鈥檛 have that 鈥� what鈥檚 the word I鈥檓 looking for? 鈥� stigma,鈥� he said.

Hospitalized With Cough And Fever

Lubell purchased the THC cartridges from a friend at what he described as a below-market price. A few months later, in July, Lubell started running a very high fever and went to the Cleveland VA Medical Center.

鈥淗e had this cough that was persistent. He just looked very, very sick,鈥� recalled Dr. Amy Hise, who was on the team of physicians that treated Lubell.

鈥�He was put on very strong broad-spectrum antibiotics, and yet he continued to have fevers. He continued to feel unwell. He had very flu-like symptoms,鈥� Hise said.

Lubell waits for his doctor in an examination room at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.(Mary Fecteau/ideastream)

After a few days, Lubell seemed to improve and was released, according to Hise. But then, he grew ill again.

Hise said she was surprised when he came back to the emergency department in late August.

By then, however, she had seen a new alert from the CDC about the vaping illness. Lubell had also seen reports in the media about health problems related to vaping.

鈥淗e was forthright that he had been vaping, and indeed what had happened is when he was in the hospital before, he鈥檇 stopped vaping,鈥� Hise said. 鈥淗e stopped for a period of time until he started to feel better. And then he started it up again, and that鈥檚 when his lung disease came back.鈥�

The doctors at the VA switched tactics, taking Lubell off antibiotics and starting him on steroids, based on information provided by the CDC. Lubell was soon released and on the road to recovery.

No More Vaping

Even though vaping eased his pain, those two bouts of respiratory sickness were too much. Lubell said he won鈥檛 vape again, and his doctor endorsed聽that decision.

鈥淚 think there鈥檚 just too much that鈥檚 not known about what鈥檚 in these products to safely use them,鈥� Hise said.

But Lubell is not alone in having turned to marijuana for pain management.聽, a pain management specialist at University Hospitals, said many patients have told her they are trying marijuana to see if it will help.

鈥淭hat is probably something that I get from patients every day,鈥� Lawrence said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not just people who are young, in their 20s. [There are] people in their 80s who are telling me they are looking to try anything to help with their pain.鈥�

Even though some patients say marijuana helps their pain, there is not enough research to prove it鈥檚 broadly and reliably effective, Lawrence said.

鈥淧ersonally, I don鈥檛 recommend it for my patients. But maybe after we have more studies, it can be something in the future鈥� she said.

Lubell, who has an Ohio medical marijuana card, is still planning to use marijuana 鈥� but he won鈥檛 vape it. He turned over his equipment and leftover THC cartridges to health officials for analysis.