Lipoid Pneumonia From Vaping – The Aubree Butterfield Story

Written by Aubree Butterfield on Facebook
See original article here

07/16/19
The day I was life flighted to the University of Utah hospital to the ICU. The day that I realized my life could be taken from me so quick.

07/17/19
I was on high flow oxygen at 140% and was still unable to breathe fully. They didn’t know what was going on. Lupus?? Rheumatoid arthritis?? I had teams of doctors working on me and no one knew what was causing this. They did a bronchiole scope and took the fluid out of my lungs to test for several things.

07/18/19
I was getting worse even though I was in the ICU and was on intravenous antibiotics through both arms. The X-ray showed that my lungs had gotten much worse than they were when I arrived.

??? 07/19/19 ????
The day they finally diagnosed me with lipoid pneumonia. The day I finally got hope to have my life back. What causes this? Vaping. Vaping almost killed me. They found fat particles in my lungs from the glycerin oil that is used to make vape juice.

07/20/19
The day I was finally able to leave the ICU and go to a regular unit.

07/22/19
The day I was discharged from the hospital with the orders of 4 liters of oxygen while sleeping and 2 liters of oxygen throughout the day.

Three weeks ago I was worrying about the littles things in life like paying my bills, going to work, and starting school in the fall never thinking I would have to fight for my life. You never think that bad things in life will happen to you. I am living proof that vaping can KILL you. You know what the worst part is? Yes, I vaped, but I didn’t vape daily. Or even close to daily.

I’m still healing. The doctors don’t know how long my lungs will take to heal because this is such a new thing. There have been 3 other cases in the University of Utah Hospital and I am now the 4th. I’ll be on oxygen for several weeks to several months and steroids to help build my lungs back up. The steroids suppress the immune system so I’m on antibiotics and have to take calcium phosphate so my body doesn’t deteriorate. This has been the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life thus far.

I have been really nervous to share this due to the backlash I may receive, but it is worth it if I can at least save one life. Vaping has been around for such a short amount of time and isn’t even FDA approved meaning they can put anything they want in it and people are just inhaling that into their lungs. Please share this so that maybe you can save a life as well.

SYMPTOMS TO LOOK FOR:

• joint pain
• shortness of breath
• chest pain
• vomiting
• no appetite
• inability to lift light objects
• feeling of inadequate air
• night sweats
• difficulty swallowing
• coughing up blood

I would like to thank the University of Utah hospital MICU team of nurses, aides, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, the rheumatologists who crossed out autoimmune disorders, the ICU doctors who took such great care of me, and especially the pulmonologist team. You guys literally saved my life.