EXCLUSIVE: Daily Star has chatted to one young woman to lift the lid on her vape addiction in light of Paul Danan’s death – the Hollyoaks star once admitted to having a ‘vaping obsession’ himself
Nicola Thorp recalls trip to hospital after vaping
A young woman admitted that she used to sleep with her vape after her addiction to fruity flavoured puffing spiralled out of control.
Sophie*,25, is alike many of her peers in the Gen Z age group – ambitious, adventurous and health conscious. It was driven into cross kneed classrooms of the early 00s that smoking cigarettes was bad and that you should never accept ‘special smarties’ off of strangers.
This messaging seemed to work as 18-25 year olds are bucking the smoking trend and are becoming more wellbeing focused, with sobriety and non-vices related activities on the up.
However, what public health messaging failed to predict was how vaping would become the kryptonite to many young people and, supposedly, their health too.
And Sophie is all too familiar with the grisly effects vaping had on her life. Despite rarely smoking cigarettes, the young woman, who works in Public Relations, was drawn into the murky world of disposable vapes back in 2022.
She was first enticed to puffing on-tap as her boyfriend at the time picked up the habit. Sophie thought a few fruity pulls would be better for her health than the ‘occasional’ cigarette on the weekends.
Although, she claims her health plummeted as she began to start on a close to three year path of addiction that saw her puffing up to 3500 times a day – whether that be in the work toilets or in bed.
At a time where the late Hollyoaks legend Paul Danan, whose cause of death is yet to be disclosed, admitted to a ‘vaping obsession’ that allegedly left him in hospital with a respiratory infection just months before his passing, we’re taking a closer look at your vape horror stories.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star, Sophie candidly shared: “The appeal for vaping was that it was advertised as ‘less harmful’ than smoking, you could basically smoke inside whenever you wanted – plus they tasted nice.
“It started off as one vape every one-two weeks and, before I quit, I was going through one vape every day or every other. I realised I had a vape addiction maybe six-eight months in.
“This was when I became very reliant on it. I started smoking it in the bathroom at work and – embarrassingly – kept it in bed with me.”
At the height of Sophie’s addiction she could have been puffing up to 24,500 times a week with her vape of choice and splashing £34 every seven days on the habit.
While vaping is deemed as “relatively harmless to health” in comparison to smoking cigarettes, according to the NHS, the amount of nicotine consumed in one disposable vape is 20 times greater than a singular straight.
That means one vape is the equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes, or 140 a week in Sophie’s case. Although the true effects of vaping are not fully understood, nicotine is known to cause a whole array of issues – especially hormonal.
And Sophie claims that vaping, through the amount of nicotine she was consuming, drove her to develop anxiety and cystic acne. She shared: “I didn’t think that it was related at the time, but at the end of 2023, I started to get cystic acne around my mouth and jaw which lasted for over a year.
“It wasn’t until I quit vaping and my skin improved drastically that I realised that vaping caused it. The amount of nicotine I was having was disrupting my hormones.”
It’s now been a couple of months since Sophie kicked her vaping addiction. Admittedly, she felt that her penchant for vaping was an ‘ick’ and ’embarrassing’.
But, the main reason she wanted to so desperately go vape sober was growing concerns for her physical and mental health.
And just month down the line, Sophie feels “so much better” – which she claims is down to putting a stop to the puff.
Sophie shared: “I wanted to quit because it was giving me the ick and I thought it was embarrassing. I also wanted to see if it would help my skin issues.
“I feel so much better. My skin is clear and I even feel less anxious.”
Figures published last year from Office for National Statistic (ONS) revealed that 5.1million Brits aged 16 and above use vapes, that’s about one in 10 people.
The report also exposed that vaping rates were the highest among the demographic of 16 to 24, with many people admitted they have never smoked beforehand.
So why does Sophie think a generation of health conscious women and rare smokers have fallen victim to the tight grip of vaping like she did?
Sophie concluded: “I think the appeal lies in the perception that it’s a healthier alternative to smoking, combined with the way it’s marketed: the bright colours and enticing flavours.”
*name has been changed for anonymity reasons
For more information of vaping, you can access the NHS website here