Sydney teen issues vape warning after being hospitalised

Without warning, the teen began to feel like her lungs were full of water, prompting an unexpected diagnosis from doctors.

When Rose Hajjar first inhaled on a vape aged 18, she had no idea that a few months later she would end up hospitalised over the habit.

“It was a social thing. My friends would do it and people would at parties and gatherings,” she said.

“A lot of people did it, so [I thought] I may as well try it.”

Before long the 19-year-old Sydney woman decided to buy her own vape and it became “pretty much an all-the-time thing”.

“After a few times I was like, OK I want to buy my own now because I’m addicted basically,” Ms Hajjar said.

Teen shares vape warning. Picture: Supplied

Once she had decided to get her own e-cigarette, Ms Hajjar would vape “as often as I could”, consuming one disposable vape every three to four days for six months.

But on August 5, while on her lunch break at work, her chest began to feel extremely tight and painful.

“I just felt these stabbing pains in my chest and it was like a lot of pressure as well,” Ms Hajjar said.

“It was like water in there, [I couldn’t] catch my breath.”

The “scary” pain continued and Ms Hajjar called her mum, who expressed concern as it sounded “like a heart attack”, prompting the teen to go to nearby Canterbury Hospital.

Once there, doctors began running tests to figure out the source of Ms Hajjar’s unbearable chest pain, prompting her to pull something out of her pocket.

“They were initially looking to see if I had a heart attack or if I had a clot in my lungs, and then I pulled out my vape and asked, ‘Does it have anything to do with this?”’ she said.

“Then they did an X-ray on my lungs and came to find out I have pleurisy.”

Pleurisy is a painful condition that occurs where the two thin layers of tissue that separate your lungs from your chest become inflamed.

Fearing she could be having a heart attack, Ms Hajjar went to hospital. Picture: Supplied

Doctors attributed Ms Hajjar’s pleurisy diagnosis to her vaping habit, warning the teen she would need to stop vaping “or else I’d end up needing to get my lungs drained”.

“It was very painful, and I was given Panadol, Nurofen, Endone and Panadeine Forte, none of which did anything,” Ms Hajjar said.

In the weeks since she was released from hospital, Ms Hajjar continues to suffer chest pain and shortness of breath. It’s unclear whether she will suffer permanent damage from the incident.

Wearing a mask is also challenging and Ms Hajjar’s doctor is reluctant to vaccinate her against Covid-19 while she is still recovering.

“I’m a risk now because if I get Covid I might not have such a good chance, even though I am young,” she said.

While she was hospitalised Ms Hajjar shared a video from her hospital bed on TikTok, with the warning: “Stop vaping before you end up in hospital. I always thought, ‘It’ll never be me.’

Teen shares vape warning. Picture: TikTok/@rosehajjar_

“Here we are with lung inflammation and the worst chest pain I’ve ever experienced.”

It got more than 600,000 views, however, the reaction from many people was lighthearted jokes about their own vape habits.

“Everything is unhealthy these days so I’m a keep vaping because we are all going to die one day,” one person wrote.

“Who else was vaping while watching this?” another joked.

While “frustrated” by the comments the video received, Ms Hajjar hopes that by sharing her story more young people will be aware of the dangers vaping poses and quit.

She’s stopped vaping cold turkey, as have many of her friends.

USE OF E-CIGARETTES ON THE RISE

Ms Hajjar’s experience is not uncommon – the use of electronic cigarettes, more commonly known as vapes, is on the rise among young people.

According to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, 64 per cent of smokers aged 18-24 have tried vaping, up from 49 per cent in 2016.

Health organisations like the Australian Medical Association and Cancer Council Australia have expressed concern over their growing popularity, citing the lack of research into the long-term effects of cigarettes and the chemicals they contain.