Texas woman was placed in coma after developing mystery lung illness related to vaping: 'Her lungs were full of fluid'
A Texas mother-of-three who was placed in a medically-induced coma because of a mysterious lung illness she contracted due to her regular vaping habits has come out to describe her horrifying experience.
Sherie Canada, of Abilene had never been a smoker, but when she tried out a flavored vape for the first time three years ago, she loved it. Soon, she had become addicted to it and was vaping every day, and this past June, its impact became apparent.
In the months leading up to June, Canada had been consistently losing weight. She also developed a bad cough and chest pain and found it difficult to breathe, with her breaths getting shorter as well.
June 9 was when things took a turn for the worse. She developed stomach-flu like symptoms, could not hold any fluids down, became severely dehydrated, and went into sepsis. Her heart rate shot up to the 130s the next day, and she was rushed to an express clinic for treatment, where she was diagnosed with pneumonitis.
The antibiotics and the intravenous fluids she was given proved to be a stopgap treatment. As soon as she left the clinic, she started throwing up and her symptoms returned. This time, the doctors told her she was in full ketosis, gave her a shot, and sent her back home again.
By this point, she weighed just 90 pounds, and in a desperate move, asked her mother to take her to the ER, where a blood test was positive for blood clots. A CAT scan then confirmed the worst: her lungs were full of fluid. She was put on Tylenol, but in the days that followed, her condition only became worse. On June 14, she was admitted into the ICU, and doctors started her on stronger pain medications and steroids in a bid to get to the root of the problem.
"I was in and out from the pain meds but I knew the day had come that I needed to go to sleep and rest!" she said. "I was absolutely terrified that I was never going to wake back up and see my boys, family, or friends again! I remember leaning over to my mom telling her just how tired I was of fighting and just couldn’t fight no more, all my family and friends telling me to keep fighting that I was strong and I could do it."
On June 18, doctors placed her in a medically-induced coma, and during surgery, removed four liters of fluid from her lungs.
"I am telling this story, not for attention but to let others know the risk of inhaling things into your lungs, you have no idea of how precious they are until they aren’t yours anymore and a machine is telling them to breathe for you!" she said.
"When I woke up and one of the doctors told me how bad the vaping was and the fluid and infection it puts on my lungs I knew the biggest problem behind my sickness and what nearly killed me!"
"I had so much shame, guilt and my anxiety was beyond extreme! I lost my independence and that too I had taken for granted! I couldn’t go to sleep for days after they removed the tubes because I feared waking back up and going through it all over again with tubes in me."