A woman's habit of vaping led her in a medically induced coma for 11 days and doctors had to suction two liters of "black and bloody" fluid from her damaged lungs in the US. Jordan Brielle, who is 32 years old, said she started smoking in her teens but switched to vaping in 2021. "I was fully addicted...I was vaping so much that I slept with it, it went to the shower with me. I was vaping an excessive amount," the woman told Kennedy News and Media.
Last November, the woman said, she felt a heaviness in her lungs that was first diagnosed as a respiratory infection.
"I kept going to the hospital with breathing problems, she said, adding that she had a "horrible cough" and was going to the hospital two or three times a week for help. One day, her partner found her lying unconscious and black mucus was coming out of her mouth and nose. Her partner called 911 and tried to give her CPR.
The woman recalled that her lungs were full of two liters of fluid. Doctors said it was "vape juice", the liquid the vaporizer converts to aerosol, which is then inhaled. "My body was trying to force out the vape juice inside my lungs which was like concrete. It was pure black and bloody. At the hospital, they were sucking it out of me." the woman said.
Brielle was placed in a medically induced coma for 11 days, she said, sharing that she was told her lungs were damaged. She said she still lives with the possibility that her lungs could collapse.
"I wouldn't wish what I'd been through on anyone else. I feel grateful to be alive," Brielle said.