Vaporizers and Post-Nasal Drip/Allergic Rhinitis?

Hey guys;

So for the past 4 years, I have developed and dealt with a chronic post nasal drip. It started 4 years ago and up until 8 months ago it did not really bother me that much. 8 months ago it started to cause Ear/Eustachian Tube troubles (plugged ears/goop and liquid is always up there now) which apparently is something that post nasal drip can lead to or cause.

Now, I do not want to have to give up my precious MMJ, but this really scares me. I stopped smoking completely within the first months of my ears getting problems, and picked up a very nice vaporizer (silver surfer). Heres where it gets confusing; when I smoked I would feel the mucus or w/e that is in my sinuses and ears kinda get more plugged up and stuffy, and then the next morning it would all be drained or draining. Now that I vape (usually multiple times a day, through a waterpipe), whenever I use it, I get this runny/mucusy feeling, and its most noticeable probably 45 min to an hour after consumption. To say the least, it isn't really pleasant. I can feel stuff sliding and moving through my Ear tubes and sinuses/throat. There is also the matter of ear clicking and popping, which I can manually cause by the fact I've gained control of the muscles that flex my eustachian tubes (theres some term for this) which can be annoying as all hell when I get into a nervous bout and just sit there popping and cracking my ears from stress or out of habit. This happens even when sober, but when I vape theres a few extra pops or clicks added on occasionally, which I attribute to the fact whatever is stuck up in my head is now more loose and liquidy with the introduction of cannabis into my system.

This may be me just being a crack-pot, but I have a theory for why I feel more liquid and mucus when I vape and why I feel so runny when i do. Weed is a known expectorant, and vapor is warm. I have looked the subject up of vapes and respiratory irritation on the net extensively and the only stuff I could find was people either saying vaping caused no problems (which i'm not sure is true) or that it caused very minor irritation; I'm still worried though that inhaling something hurts my cillia bad and prevents the proper expelling of this liquid. So, disregarding the minor irritation that may or may not be there, maybe this hot vapor is already loosening/dethickening the mucus in me from its heat, while at the same time the THC and its expectorants are causing the mucus to get really liquidy and runny. I have used mucinex before too and honestly, unless its my mind playing tricks, I have felt similar effects from that as what inhaling cannabis does. Even edibles cause the same effect, albeit with minor differences I can't really remember or notice that bad from the fact there is no inhaled matter.

While it can be uncomfortable, I really want to continue MMJ use and I am really unsure as to whether or not what I'm feeling is a good thing or not. Im under the assumption that if I can feel mucus running out my ears and sinuses and being loose, thats much better than it just sitting there thicker and dried. I have tried stopping cannabis use for a couple weeks with no improvement too.

So anyone have any thoughts, suggestions or ideas to throw in on this matter?

The most important thing to take away from this is that you should stay far away from water pipes and bowls. Smoking raw plant material will do much harm. I had a roommate that had symptoms much like yours and would rip the bong before bed and every morning feel like shit with post nasal drip. When I went from the bong to the vaporizer my activity level changed and my stuffy noses stopped. I will say though that I began getting bloody noses almost regularly for awhile when ripping the vaporizer. Recently I have gone from vaporizing to BHO. I take only a few small hits to get where i want to be. and my sinuses have been perfect so far.

Don't stop cannabis. It has personally helped me conquer asthma and its use as an expectorant and a bronchial dilator has been much under appreciated.

Bayou bud said:

The most important thing to take away from this is that you should stay far away from water pipes and bowls. Smoking raw plant material will do much harm. I had a roommate that had symptoms much like yours and would rip the bong before bed and every morning feel like shit with post nasal drip. When I went from the bong to the vaporizer my activity level changed and my stuffy noses stopped. I will say though that I began getting bloody noses almost regularly for awhile when ripping the vaporizer. Recently I have gone from vaporizing to BHO. I take only a few small hits to get where i want to be. and my sinuses have been perfect so far.

Don't stop cannabis. It has personally helped me conquer asthma and its use as an expectorant and a bronchial dilator has been much under appreciated.

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At this point, I have no qualms with never smoking again. It was hard for me at first to get used to the notion when the issue first arose, but now I am completely fine with solely vaporizing. I just want to be sure I'm not prolonging/worsening/damaging myself with frequent vapor inhalation. I actually go to my physician tomorrow (who is one of the best apparently in my tri-state area) and she previously told me smoking weed was not a problem due to it being "just herb" unlike Tobacco, which regardless made no sense to me since I know smoking anything itself isn't good for the respiratory system. I'll bring up my concerns with her tomorrow, but I don't really have much hopes for anything being cleared up haha.

No no no, tobacco is much different. Tobacco is not just the plant, it has a whole slew of chemicals and addictive additives. Smoking tobacco, hookah, cigs, blunts...etc will continue to degrade your respiratory health.
-Smoking pot out of a bong- 240 different chemicals are offput.
-Vaporizing Cannabis- 4-7 chemicals offput

If I were you, and I'm not but if I were... I would vaporize and use OceanSpray nasal spray, its a salt water spray that helps keep them moist (i know stuffy nose is one of the issues but it can help if there is inflammation or damage)
I would stay way away from smoking bowls, blunts and bongs...especially bongs...
I would not smoke 1 or two days a week and just eat an edible that day.

A day of clear sinuses every few days of smoking may clean you out the way a good flush removes the salts after a few feedings haha.

Thanks for the quick replies! Without googling, I'm assuming OceanSpray is just a saline spray like Ayr (which I have in fact begun to use within the past 3 weeks). I believe saline sprays really do help me out, in that (while I do have to spray them rather frequently if I am inhaling a lot on the particular day) I really notice and feel my airways being open and smoother if that makes sense. If I forget to use the spray (like I did last night, which is what got me thinking again about the issue and prompted this thread) I can definitely notice there being a difference, which makes me glad that the saline spray does help.

Now, I find the chemical example you brought up very interesting; while I myself only vape till its a decent brown with some slight green left (I really like cooking with vape leftovers), I have friends that like to vape till you cant hit the stuff anymore; a very dark near tobacco brown. I don't make it a habit of doing this but last night was one of the instances where I was showing off to a large group my silver surfer, and many of them were amazed by the hits even when I myself would have stopped in half the number of hits we got out of a large load into the wand. I'm bringing this up because I was wondering how much of a difference the quality/purity/cleanliness of the vapor is at that point when its getting pretty dark. I know it releases more harmful stuff at that point, but is it really THAT much harmful, like comparing a nice clean vape hit to a big puff of dirty smoke?

Exactly! It is a great saline spray! Just use it in the am/pm with your normal wake up/go to bed routine. Don't smoke it as dark as your friends. They are burning/scorching plant material. If you tune your vaporizer to the right temperature you can bake completely without burning. 365 is what I use on my volcano. Specific terpines can be more pronounced at varying temperatures as well. Don't burn it past when its a light brown. I used to hit the brown stuff after vaping outta my bong back in college, but that always stuffed my nose up and gave me a headache. You want to bake the THC without burning the plant.

I've had 6 sinus surgeries, non-allergic sinusitis. Number one in my arsenal is http://www.neilmed.com/usa/index.php. I rinse my sinus generally 2 or more times a day. It is buffered perfectly so its gentle to use. It helps me when I'm congested and when I'm runny. Now you should ask your doc about it tomorrow to make sure this is what you should do.

When I started using MJ for my pain issues smoking it really irritated my lungs and sinus. I was coughing and sneezing up junk all the time. I got an Herbalaire Vaporizer and it really made a difference. Now I don't vape my weed past 365° - 370°. If I do then it begins to irritate my respiratory system. It does, however, dry me out which is already a problem.

Good luck Rob