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Category: E-Cigarettes

E-cigarettes can still harm your health. Get help quitting your nicotine addiction with clinical hypnotherapist Joseph Giove. Call his office at 925-215-4017.

E-Cigarettes – One Million Times More Harmful Than Pollution?
According to a recent study by the Hong Kong Baptist University, e-cigarettes are one million times more harmful than breathing Hong Kong’s renowned air pollution. Let’s think about that for a minute. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with almost 7.2 million people in a city that is a little more than 1,100 square kilometers in size. The city frequently experiences extreme air pollution, and there are even travel advisories issued to tourists due to the severity.

Now there is a report that the chemicals in e-cigarettes are one million times more harmful to your body than breathing the air in Hong Kong.

Why Are E-Cigarettes So Popular?

Hypnotherapist and smoking cessation expert Joseph R. Giove has 25 years of experience helping people quit smoking. He knows that people who are desperate to quit will look for any means necessary, including switching to e-cigarettes, which are often marketed as a safer alternative.

In this article we will discuss the following topics related to the recent rise in e-cigarette popularity:
- What are E-Cigarettes? Battery operated cigarettes that heat tobacco and other chemicals into a vapor which is then inhaled.
- What the Report from the Hong Kong Baptist University Says about E-Cigarettes: One million times more harmful than world renowned Hong Kong air pollution.
- The Chemicals Involved in Smoking E-Cigarettes, By the Numbers: Many of the same chemicals found in conventional cigarettes can be found in even higher concentrations in e-cigarettes.
- E-Cigarettes and their Popularity amongst Youth: Young people are being targeted by aggressive e-cigarette marketing techniques.
- Public Knowledge of E-Cigarette Dangers: E-cigarette research is in its infancy and accurate information is scarce a best.
- Hypnotherapy and How It Will Help You quit smoking: How hypnotherapy and Joseph R Giove can help you quit e-cigarettes.
What are E-Cigarettes?

The ‘E’ in e-cigarettes stands for ‘Electronic’, and they are battery operated heating devices that deliver flavored nicotine and other chemicals to the smoker using vapor instead of smoke. In most e-cigarettes, puffing activates the heating device, thereby releasing the vaporized, flavored liquid. This process is called ‘vaping’.

It is the chemicals that are added to the e-cigarettes that are now being studied, and there are some surprising findings. e-cigarettes have only been on the market for a short time, and as such, not much is known about their long term effects. There have been many conflicting reports about e-cigarettes, but as more studies are done it seems the health risks are significant and troublesome.

What the Report from the Hong Kong Baptist University Says about E-Cigarettes

The recent report from the Hong Kong Baptist University states that e-cigarettes are significantly more dangerous to your health than had been previously thought. More and more tests are being conducted to examine the health risks of using e-cigarettes, which are often marketed as a way to quit smoking conventional cigarettes.

These studies have been yielding some troubling results. There is a significant amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAH’s, in the most common e-cigarettes. PAH’s are a byproduct of burning petroleum, which can be detected in the air alongside streets and highways and are measured as a way to determine a city’s pollution level. An assistant professor of biology at the Hong Kong Baptist University was quoted saying to the South China Morning Post: “(The Level of PAH’s) in e-cigarettes is at least one million times more than roadside air in Hong Kong.”

The Chemicals Involved in E-Cigarettes: By the Numbers

The health effects of e-cigarettes are only just now being studied, and because of their relative newness, their long term effects cannot be accurately projected. However, the studies that have been done are producing some alarming results. While “vaping” appears to make the smoke less concentrated, it is still full of nicotine and carcinogens.

A recent study by the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health analyzed 13 different types of e-cigarettes and found an array of dangerous chemicals:
- Levels of PAH’s ranging from 2.9 to 504.5 nanograms per milliliter
- Benzo(a)pyrene, a carcinogenic substance found in PAH’s, which, among other things, is a promoter of cancer cells.
- A chemical called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDE’s, which is a flame retardant.
The addition of flame retardants to E-cigarettes is because they use heat to produce the vapor, and therefore need a flame retardant to keep them from catching fire or even exploding. PBDE’s are more commonly used in furniture and electronics for the purpose of inhibiting fire, and were detected in e-cigarettes in the range of 1.7 to 1,490 nanograms per milliliter.

For comparison, conventional cigarettes were in the range of 5.6 to 6.3 nanograms per milliliter of PAH’s. This means that some brands of e-cigarettes have 250 times more of this chemical, which promotes toxicity of the reproductive system and disrupts the thyroid hormone, than conventional cigarettes.

E-Cigarettes and their Popularity Amongst Youth

One of the main attractions of e-cigarettes is that the consumer can choose one or even a combination of flavors. Some of these flavors include: Lazy Hammock, Afternoon Delight, Third Base and White Gold. If you have ever gone to a bakery or a cocktail bar you can imagine the amount of flavors there are to choose from. Because of the near endless combination of flavors with fun names, e-cigarette companies are able to market to much younger potential consumers than conventional cigarettes. Youth are able to choose from flavors such as: Cupcake, Cotton Candy and Fruit Squirts.

Here we can see clearly that the big tobacco companies are targeting a youthful audience, possibly even younger than 18 years of age. The University of Hong Kong found that smokers aged 15-29 used e-cigarettes nearly 8{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} of the time, which is significantly higher than users of any other age group.

Public Knowledge of E-Cigarette Dangers

In the same University of Hong Kong study, they found that 68{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} of people surveyed in a six month study had absolutely no knowledge regarding the chemicals they were inhaling into their bodies. More research about the long term effects of e-cigarettes needs to be conducted, and more government regulations need to be enforced.

So far 16 countries have banned the sale, advertising, distribution, import and manufacturing of e-cigarettes. Studies from the Harvard School of Public Health are now finding that e-cigarettes and their flavoring are causing severe respiratory diseases due to the harmful chemical diacetyl, which is found in 3 quarters of all e-cigarettes. Diacetyl is a flavoring chemical used in e-cigarettes and their refill cartridges whose purpose is to appeal to a broader audience by enhancing flavor.

The fact of the matter is that e-cigarettes are still very new, and not enough is known about long or even short term health risks. Nevertheless, they are extremely popular, especially among youth despite their potential dangers.

Hypnotherapy and How It Will Help You quit smoking

There are many options on the market aimed at helping people quit smoking, but it has not yet been proven that e-cigarettes are a viable alternative to smoking, or that they provide any help for those wishing to quit.

There are both psychological and pharmaceutical methods available to aid in this endeavor, but so far the method with the least side effects and highest efficacy is clinical hypnotherapy. Joseph R. Giove has been successfully practicing hypnotherapy for over 25 years, and knows that its power can help you quit smoking forever. It’s time to live a healthy, smoke-free life, and e-cigarettes are certainly not the way to accomplish this.
March 30, 2016
E- Cigarettes – Not Such a Great Alternative?
Everyone knows the health risks of cigarettes. Stroke, blindness, cataracts, macular degeneration, periodontitis, aortic aneurysms, coronary heart disease, pneumonia, atherosclerotic peripheral vascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, tuberculosis, asthma, diabetes, reproductive defects, hip fractures, ectopic pregnancy, erectile dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, immune dysfunction, overall diminished health and causes 15 types of cancer. OK, so you might not have known about all those risks, but these are the facts presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As you can see, it is a long list of diseases, illnesses and cancers that have serious, life-threatening health effects. For the people that want to reduce, cut down or quit smoking there are a variety of options on the market aimed at helping you quit, such as nicotine patches or chewing gums, e-cigarettes or hypnotherapy, which has proven to be incredibly effective method.

As a health professional who has been working in the field of smoking cessation for over 25 years, clinical hypnotherapist Joseph R. Giove is particularly concerned about the growing trend of e-cigarettes. He notes that he has seen a rise in clients coming to him for help after failed attempts at quitting smoking using methods such as switching to e-cigarettes.

In this article we will discuss the following points related to e-cigarettes and the myth that they aid in efforts to quit smoking conventional cigarettes:
- What are E-Cigarettes? Tobacco, flavor compounds and assorted chemicals that when heated become an inhalable vapor.
- ‘‘Popcorn Lung’ and other diseases related to E-cigarettes: Several studies have linked e-cigarettes to serious lung trauma.
- The Problem with E-Cigarette Flavors: Fun flavors such as ‘Cotton Candy’ attract a significantly younger audience than conventional cigarettes.
- Chemicals in E-Cigarettes: Potentially significantly higher concentrations than conventional cigarettes.
- Marketing E-Cigarettes: E-cigarette companies face few marketing restrictions.
- Health and Hypnotherapy Information: Studies and why Joseph R. Giove and hypnotherapy is a very useful tool to quit smoking
What are E-Cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are a nicotine delivery system, and function by heating flavored nicotine and other chemicals electronically, just enough to vaporize. Puffing an e-cigarette activates the heating device which vaporizes flavored liquid which the user then inhales. This process is called ‘vaping’. It is the aforementioned chemicals that have been added to the nicotine that are now being investigated, and the results are shocking.

The ‘Popcorn Lung’ Effect

One of the more serious side-effects of E- Cigarettes is something called the “Popcorn Lung.” It gets its name from the effects that first appeared in workers in microwave popcorn factories. In these factories they also produced the artificial butter accompaniment, and it was chemicals from this which led to workers contracting what is now known as ‘Popcorn Lung’. The link between ‘Popcorn Lung’ (also called bronchiolitis obliterans) and e-cigarettes was recently discovered by the Harvard School of Public Health.

Troublingly, e-cigarettes are perceived by many to be a safe alternative to cigarettes, and are gaining popularity. However, this Harvard School of Public Health report suggests that e-cigarettes are linked to the “Popcorn Lung” effect and are not actually a safe alternative to conventional cigarettes.

Popcorn Lung is a debilitating and irreversible respiratory disease. As previously mentioned, this disease is similar to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This causes small scarring in tiny air sacs inside the lungs that lead to shortness of breath and intense coughing. Basically, the chemicals that are found in e-cigarettes are restricting the blood and oxygen flow in the lungs.

The Problem with E-Cigarette Flavors

Another troubling problem with e-cigarettes is that they are flavored, often with fun and tasty sounding names such as Cotton Candy, Fruit Squirts and Cupcake. This is troubling for the following reasons:
- Big tobacco companies are targeting a younger market, perhaps even those under the age of 18.
- A source from the CDC illustrates that since 2011, e-cigarette smoker rates have skyrocketed from 2{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} of adolescents to nearly 15{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} in 2014.
- In that same time, conventional cigarette smokers decreased from 16{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} to 9{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} for the same age group.
It is not hard to see that the big tobacco companies have found a new way to get the youth of a new generation addicted to their product.

Chemicals in E-Cigarettes

The same Harvard study we previously referenced found at least one of the three extremely toxic chemicals found in regular cigarettes in over 50 flavors of e-cigarettes. The chemicals are diacetyl, acetoin and 2,3 pentanedione. In a quote from the report, author Joseph Allen says “the amount of diacetyl in 39 of the e-cigs exceeded the amount that was detectable by the laboratory.”

This is definitely a troubling statistic. If the amount exceeds what we are even able to measure, than how much of these chemicals are actually in these e-cigarettes?

The tests results regarding e-cigarettes are only just now becoming available, and they are showing the risks associated with e-cigarettes are at least equivalent, and in some cases worse than conventional cigarettes. Tobacco smoking is in fact less harmful than smoking e-cigarettes because of the additives that make their way into those e-cigarettes.

“Vaping” an e- cigarette may seem like a healthier alternative to a conventional cigarette, but they contain many of the same chemicals, as well as additional chemicals. One of these, which is found in the flavoring component of e-cigarettes, is formaldehyde, and will therefore not only cause addiction but also severe lung damage.

Marketing E-Cigarettes

There has been an aggressive attempt by tobacco companies to get younger people to buy e-cigarettes. Since the government has not put many restrictions on the sale and production of e-cigarettes, they are taking this opportunity to target youth. Teen use alone has tripled since 2014, mostly due to the flavors that are offered by e-cigarette companies. In April 2014 the United States Food and Drug Administration proposed banning the sale of e-cigarettes to people under the age of 18.

The problem is that because e-cigarettes are so new, there is insufficient data to sway lawmakers to take action at the federal level. At the state level, 46 States have enacted laws that will prevent the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and a further 12 now require childproof packaging.

Despite recent attempts by the United States government to curb advertisement of e-cigarettes to minors, websites like YouTube still host them. YouTube claims that at least 90{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577} of e-cigarette ad viewers are over 18, and will not take down their advertising unless that number drops below 85{cb12661b2b7fd86e618703ac3a1bf5df9897d897450d7668a57e7745cc225577}. Considering how many people use sites like YouTube, we can see that there are still an enormous number of youth that are being actively marketed to.

Health and Hypnotherapy Information

Youth and adults alike are not receiving proper health information regarding the risks associated with e-cigarettes. They are clearly not a viable alternative to conventional cigarettes, nor are they a useful tool to quit smoking.

One of the most effective tools for those wishing to quit smoking is the proven method of hypnotherapy. Posing no additional risk factors such as increased carcinogen or chemical intake, Joseph R. Giove and clinical hypnotherapist therapy gently rewire your brain so you are no longer falsely dependent on cigarettes, allowing you to live a healthier, smoke-free lifestyle.
March 23, 2016
E Cigarettes And Spitting Up Blood
Smoking has been part of this country for centuries. After all, tobacco farms were part of the earliest economy in the nation. But today, things are changing. Medical science has recognized the numerous dangers associated with smoking and most Americans have taken steps to stop smoking. Teen use of cigarettes is lower than ever, and the number of people using them in general is falling annually.

But along with the decline in smoking traditional cigarettes has come a dramatic rise in the number of people using electronic cigarettes. Also called e-cigarettes or e-cigs, these devices are marketed as a safer way to stop smoking. And thanks to the marketing and the various flavors offered, these trendy devices are growing in popularity among everyone – including teens.

But are they really safe? There are plenty of things you need to understand about these e-cigs including the fact that many users report spitting up blood after use. That’s just one issue, but it’s one that can be incredibly alarming. At Joseph R. Giove Clinical Hypnosis, I think it’s important to take a closer look at these devices and why when you’re ready to stop smoking, hypnosis is a better option.

What Is An E Cigarette And How Does It Work?

First, you’ll want to learn the basics of what an e-cigarette is. These units are either shaped like a cigarette, or shaped somewhat like a pipe with a large box-like chamber with a thin column coming out of it. Either way, they work with the same basic principle.

A chamber within the e-cig is filled with a liquid mixture including nicotine and a compound similar to water. Flavorings ranging from mint to cotton candy and beyond may be added as well. When the user takes a ‘drag’ from the electronic cigarette, a battery activates a heating element which vaporizes the fluid inside. The resulting vapor is inhaled like one would inhale smoke from a cigarette.

The idea is that since you’re inhaling only vapor and nicotine, these are a safer option than traditional smoking. But while there are fewer carcinogens found within the e-cigarette vapor so far, there are still risks that have been found – and more likely will be uncovered in the future.

E Cigarette Use And Spitting Up Blood

One problem that many e-cigarette users report experiencing is spitting up blood after use – whether short term or long term. This issue can also occur with traditional smoking, and some online forums suggest that the blood and phlegm being coughed up is actually caused by your body getting rid of the remnants of your smoking past, not by the electronic cigarette itself.

But consider some of the following reasons that an e-cig can cause you to spit up blood and you’ll see that it goes beyond just ‘I used to smoke’ as an excuse.
- The lungs and the mucus membranes within them and your airways are incredibly sensitive. Not only will they quickly absorb compounds that they come into contact with, but they can also be damaged easily. The chemicals in some vape mixes can cause damage fast.
- For many, the flavorings are a major draw of e-cigs. But there are some that can irritate the mucus membranes significantly, and some people may actually have allergies to the different ingredients. These irritants can cause the bleeding to occur as well.
- In some instances there have been reports of e-cigs overheating. If this occurs the vapor you inhale could be much hotter than normal, and may damage the mucus membranes of the lungs and airways. This may result in coughing or spitting up blood.
- Irritation from coughing due to vapor inhaled may also damage the airways and the lungs. This can trigger the problem of spitting up blood as well.
- The respiratory system is very delicate and as a result it can easily become infected. When you expose it to chemicals and irritants like those found in electronic cigarettes, you can worsen those infections dramatically. These infections can lead to significant problems as well.
All in all, your respiratory health is directly related to how you take care of yourself and your body. While e-cigs might very well be safer than cigarettes – and the evidence isn’t conclusive on that yet – the fact remains that every puff you take off an e-cig is putting your body at risk of damage. That damage can directly lead to spitting up blood.

The Problem With The Research

There’s a big problem when you start looking at e-cig related research that needs to be addressed as well. That problem is simple – the evidence is too new. There haven’t been nearly enough studies into e-cigs yet. However, the research that has been done has uncovered that they’re not as safe as once thought. In fact, just the flavorings used in them have been found to contain multiple types of cancer causing compounds.

And because electronic cigarette use is still so new, it’s too early to know about the long term effects of these products. There are ongoing studies happening now, but at the moment we’re just not sure how they will impact the health and wellness of users on a long term basis. Some additional research may uncover more reasons that spitting up blood could occur from e cig use.

Stopping Matters

Simply put, stopping smoking is one of the best steps you can take for your health. But that includes all types of smoking – even electronic cigarette use. As such it’s important that you consider taking the right steps towards a healthier you.

Spitting up blood is cause for concern for sure, and could be a sign of an even more serious problem. E-cigarettes can irritate the airways dramatically and as a result of this, they’re not a ‘stop smoking safely’ option. Instead, consider using natural and highly effective methods of putting down the smokes for good. Hypnosis is one option that is backed by decades of research, and one that’s much healthier than the e-cigarette can ever be – and you won’t have to worry about spitting up blood when you use it, either.
February 3, 2016

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