Page 10 - Ulupono December 2019

Newsworthy in October
Adventist Health Castle pulmonologist Takkin Lo, MD, MPH, was in the news in October and November to spread the word about the dangers of vaping.
Once touted as being safer smoking, vaping has now been proven to be extremely dangerous. KGMB TV’s HI Now host Kanoe Gibson, visited Castle to talk with Dr. Lo about the adverse effects of this harmful habit.
“Vaping is inhaling air aerosolized with chemicals,” says Dr. Takkin Lo said. “In younger patient populations nowadays, unfortunately, it’s actually becoming an epidemic. They are using is as a way to start smoking.”
Dr. Lo says he’s starting to see both younger and older patients coming in with symptoms of shortness of breath, coughing, chest pain, and X-rays show it looks like they’re suffering from pneumonia.
“I started hacking and hacking. Next thing I know I couldn’t breathe. I had to go to the emergency room,” says Ronald Barton, now a former vaper and one of Dr. Lo’s patients. “Then it came back because I think that stuff... it sticks to your lungs. I don’t think any of (it is) safe. Better quit while you’re ahead.”
“What is amazing is that once we stop the vaping, the pneumonia goes away very quickly,” Dr. Lo explains.
Dr. Lo advised listeners who have been vaping to visit Castle’s emergency room immediately if they experience symptoms of coughing, shortness of breath or chest pain for proper evaluation and treatment.
Dr. Lo was also on a segment of KHON2 TV’s Living808 to highlight the hazards of vaping such as lung injuries, and provided resources to help e-cigarette users quit. He reiterated that e-cigarettes are not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, and can result in serious lung injury and pneumonia.
Common symptoms include nonproductive cough, shortness of breath, chest pain. Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea; and nonspecific symptoms
10 | ULUPONO - DECEMBER 2019
fatigue, fever or even weight loss.
Symptoms usually start several days or weeks after starting to VAPE; some others have VAPED for several months before development of symptoms.
Dr. Lo adds, “Some of the patients that were treated aggressively required mechanical ventilation support (on full ventilator/ breathing machines to breathe for them); others required supplemental oxygen through the nose, as well as corticosteroids for improvement.
Dr Lo said that the CDC calls this a “multi- state outbreak” of severe pulmonary disease associated with the E-cigarette products, however it is still not known exactly what
is causing these lung damages; nor do they exactly know the long-term effect of these damages.
Adventist Health Castle offers a smoking cessation treatment program at the Weinberg wellness Center which helps with cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
The CDC is encouraging all clinicians to report any possible cases of e-cigarette associated pulmonary disease to the local or state health Department for further investigation.
For more information, contact AdventistHealthCastle.org, or call 263-5400.