W

hen Jewish teen Leah was 
diagnosed with atten-
tion-deficit/hyperactivity dis-
order (ADHD) last year, she finally had a 
name for the debilitating anxiety, mental 
distraction and stomach aches she expe-
rienced daily. She said she missed a lot 
of school because of these emotional and 
physical symptoms. 
When her grades began to plummet, 
her mother asked school administrators 
what she should do to help her daughter.
“Having ADHD was awful,
” said Leah, 
15, a high school sophomore. “I had 
constant anxiety over everything. In my 
school life, it was paralyzing. The com-
petition at my school is insane. Basically, 
you’
re setting yourself up for the rest of 
your life based on your ACT and SAT 
scores.
”
Before she began getting professional 
help, Leah (who did not want her real 
name used) turned to vaping as a way to 
alleviate her feelings of crippling anxiety. 
“It’
s hard to stop vaping,
” she said. 
“It’
s just knowing you could use it” that 
serves as a comfort.
Leah is part of a concerning trend 
to those in the medical profession who 
have seen a significant increase in young 
people using e-cigarettes. According 
to the Centers for Disease Control, use 
of e-cigarettes — also called vaping — 
jumped 78 percent among high school 
students and 48 percent among middle 
schoolers between 2017 and 2018. 
Medical experts note that individuals 
with attention deficit disorder (ADD), 
more commonly referred to today as 
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 
are at an even higher risk of engaging in 
this health-threatening activity. 
Leah said that many of her classmates 
vape, despite flyers peppered on the walls 
of her school threatening suspension to 

anyone caught vaping. She also said it’
s 
easy to get e-cigarettes through friends. 

WHAT IS ADHD?
ADHD is a brain disorder marked by 
an ongoing pattern of inattention and/
or hyperactivity-impulsivity that inter-
feres with functioning or development, 
according to the National Institutes of 
Mental Health. NIMH reports that most 
children have the combined type of 
ADHD versus ADD. 
Because of a lack of impulse control, 
teens with ADHD are at greater risk 
of becoming addicted to substances, 
including the nicotine in vaping. 
“It’
s really staggering the numbers 
of teens vaping and how vaping has 
become so commonplace,
” said Dana 
Cohen, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist 
with the Beaumont 
Center for Human 
Development in 
Southfield. “Vaping is 
popular in general and 
when you add the ADHD 
component, primarily 
because of the poor 
impulse control, they 
tend to be risk takers.
”
Cohen said those with ADHD have 
three core deficits, including not being 
able to sustain attention to work tasks, 
hyperactivity and reduced impulse con-
trol.
“Whereas most people [have the 
strategy of] ‘
ready, aim, fire,
’
 those with 
ADHD are ‘
ready, fire, aim,
’
” she said. 
“They act without thinking things 
through.
”
Young people with ADHD struggle 
with social interactions, cope with inse-
curity issues, worry about the things 
they say and, in general, try to impress 
others, according to Brooke Weingarden, 

D.O., MPH, a child/adolescent psychia-
trist with the Birmingham Maple Clinic 
in Troy. 
“There’
s so much going on in their 
brain and they can’
t focus on one thing,
” 
she said. “It’
s like a marching band in 
their head.
”

VAPING DEFINED
Many types of electronic cigarettes are 
sold (legally to those age 18 and older) 
on the market today, including Juul and 
Eleaf as well as e-cigarettes sold in inde-
pendent vape shops. Manufacturers have 
marketed the product as a way for smok-
ers to quit the habit, but e-cigarettes still 
deliver nicotine, which is vaporized in 
a heated oil. Oils come in “flavors” such 
as bubble gum, candy and gummy bears 
as well as food flavors like chocolate, 
cheesecake and caramel. 
The oil itself, according to medical 
experts, contains harmful, cancer-caus-
ing chemicals, including butane, and can 
lead to lung disease.

“Somehow, when vaping first started, 
there was this misconception that it’
s 
safer,
” Cohen said.
One pod of oil contains the same 
amount of nicotine in a single pack of 
cigarettes, according to Daniel Schnaar, 
M.D., a general pediatrician with Child 
Health Associates, with offices in Troy 
and Novi. He is also a 
member of Beaumont 
Health’
s Department of 
Pediatrics. Schnaar said he 
asks all his young patients 
if they vape, though many 
try to conceal the fact 
they do.
“E-cigarette companies 
claim nicotine can help ADHD symp-
toms,
” he said. “The vaping industry 
has taken parents, pediatricians, health 
departments and the FDA flat-footed. 
These companies have been ahead of the 
curve with marketing the products. 
“We’
re worried about kids getting 
addicted to nicotine. Vaping makes them 

Dr. Dana Cohen

Dr. Daniel 

Schnaar

health

Signs of Vaping

Beaumont Health professionals provide these warning signs:
• 
Increased secrecy or an unwillingness to discuss or answer 
your questions.
• 
Increased irritability and mood changes due to a nicotine 
addiction.
• 
Disappearing money.
• 
An increased unwillingness to stay at home.
• 
Increased thirst — vaping dehydrates the skin around the 
mouth and throat. 
• 
A desire for flavor because of a dry mouth. Notice if your child 
is using more salt or requesting spicy foods.
• 
Nosebleeds. Vaping also dries the skin of the nose, which can 
lead to bleeding.
• 
Finding vaping paraphernalia around the house.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

ELIZABETH KATZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Vaping 
Dangers

Young people with ADHD are at greater 
risk for e-cigarette nicotine addiction.

42 February 28 • 2019
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