I started vaping at 15 because all the cool girls did – and now it’s left me disabled

A MODEL says she has been left disabled by excessive vaping.

Vanessa von Schwarz, 20, said she started at 15 and would become anxious and nauseous if she went without a puff.

She started experiencing muscle weakness in her legs and arms in 2017.

But it was not until she fell and injured her head that doctors linked the two.

Just two months after starting to vape she started feeling the side effects.

Vanessa said: "I got out of bed that morning and instantly took a hit. After that, I woke up on the floor and I hadn't remembered what'd happened.

"I'd clearly fainted, and I was fine, but it was so odd because that had never happened to me in my life."

From then on, whenever she used her vape, she would feel weak in the knees, her fingers and toes would go numb and her heartbeat sped up.

In 2018 she developed migraines and consistent nausea after just a few hours without a hit.

Her weakness got worse, but she managed to just shrug it off until she took up a stylist job and had to be on her feet for up to nine hours a day.

The filmmaking student at The New York Film Academy said: "On top of the consistent migraines and nausea, I suddenly was unable to bend my legs fully without being in an immense amount of pain.

"I would come home from work in absolute agony, crying because of how badly my legs ached.

"My upper body became weaker and weaker, and as my legs grew weak and sore, so did my arms and fingers.

"It began to hurt just putting my hair in a ponytail, or even holding a water bottle was too heavy for my hands.

"I couldn't lift my neck up when I was laying down, and when I'd fall because my legs would give out due to weakness, Ii couldn't get up from the ground."

WARNING SIGNS

Vanessa, from Los Angeles, has given up for good but still suffers from dermatomyositis, which can also cause swelling and a rash.

She said: "For some reason when I started vaping, naivety assured me my whole life was changing.

"I felt like it gave me something I didn't have before; I was thinner, more confident, and I was sure this new me was all thanks to this little metal device I carried in my pocket.

"I struggled with a lot of anxiety, and I would consistently look at the vape thinking it was the only thing there for me at all times. That was comforting for me and made letting go even harder."

“All the cool girls vaped. It tasted like candy.

"But my case is an example of how detrimental these legal substances can be.”

Vanessa added: “I hope there could be more awareness and action taken against teens vaping, especially in schools.

"My case is not the first or the last of this kind.

"Despite the intention, the effects on the body can be severe and my case is not the first or the last of this kind."

LEARN FROM ME

Vanessa remembers vaping for the very first time in the toilets of her high school in April 2017, when she was 15.

She said: "I started to realize every lunch break whenever I would enter the bathroom, there would always be groups of girls standing in a circle smoking a weird-looking thin black stick that would light up.

"All the 'cool' girls and guys in my school vaped, it was normal."

Vanessa said: "Anyone who may be struggling with any sort of addiction, please know there is help.

"It's a common misconception to believe nicotine is a small, minor addiction, and while that can be true for a lot of people, there are still those remaining that depend on the substance for their happiness, when it is incredibly short lived.

"I hope you will not let any addiction take over your body's health, because the effects are irreversible."

Vanessa's father, Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, 60, is a clinician researcher and has written a report on his daughter's case.

He believes her serious side effects are "most likely" attributed to her vaping.