Below Deck star Fraser Olender has revealed he suffered a life-threatening heart attack caused by his vaping habit at the age of just 33.
The reality star shared his story on Friday (5 December), in a series of pictures of himself in hospital to Instagram.
“I was rushed to hospital due to severe chest pains and difficulties breathing,” Olender wrote in the post, revealing that he had been seeing specialists in London for several weeks during his recovery.
He shared: “To keep it simple — I had vape poisoning, (an E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)) and I have never experienced fear or pain like it.”
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Fraser explained the EVALI caused him to have a coronary artery vasospasm, which is when 'the arteries supplying blood to my heart suddenly clamped down'.
"That spasm reduced blood flow enough to cause an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), better known as a heart attack — not because of a blockage, but because my heart wasn’t getting enough oxygen during the spasm," Fraser added.
Saying the situation isn’t ‘chic but very important’ to bring awareness to, he explained his pain was so bad during those 24 hours, that ‘two rounds of morphine didn’t touch the sides’, which led to him having to be administered the ‘strongest pain relief legal to administer in ER’.
Sadly, he said this only brought his pain down from a ‘10 to a seven’.
While vaping and heart problems aren’t well researched right now, e-cigarettes have been linked to being harmful to the entire cardiovascular system, as it can increase both a person’s heart rate and blood pressure.
With extended use, vaping strains the heart and poses a long-term risk, Michigan Medicine explains.
According to the institution, ‘long term use of e-cigarettes can also damage the function of your blood vessels’ and vaping daily can double your risk of having a heart attack.
In general, nicotine and nicotine products are not safe for the heart as they constrict the blood vessels.
Vapes have also been found to contain incredibly dangerous compounds, which could cause a range of different illnesses, per Vaping Exposed.
Fraser shared that he wanted to share his story because he didn’t know ‘something like this could happen’.
“If this experience can help even one person rethink vaping, it’s worth telling,” the star wrote, adding that he has now quit and has not ‘touched’ a vape in three weeks.
“I could have died for the sake of something so ridiculously stupid, so please do yourselves a favour and give it up too - cold turkey,” he urged his followers.
“We do not know enough about these horrific things but I can tell you one thing; that was NOT cute, not even for the plot.”
Topics: Vaping, Celebrity, Social Media, Health
Britt Jones