Sydney TikTok star Jill Clark reveals why she quit vaping

Vaping used to be the first thing a young beauty influencer did in the morning and the last thing she did before going to bed, until her addiction left her with a lung infection.

Jill Clark, 25, has told how her vaping addiction left her with fluid in her lungs, a nasty cough and difficulty walking up stairs.

Ms Clark vaped for about three years before going cold turkey in January.

When she resumed the habit in May, she was struck by an illness and found herself coughing constantly.

She quit vaping again last week after going to the doctor who told her she had damaged her lungs.

Ms Clark, who also works in corporate sales in Sydney, was given a two-week course of antibiotics and given Rikodein cough syrup.

She now also has to take an inhaler with her everywhere, even though she has never had asthma.

“I was an absolute chain vaper, it was the first thing I did in the morning, and the last thing at night and just all day,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Clark said that after a five-month break from e-cigarettes, she took up vaping again after a stressful week.

“Unfortunately, instead of dealing with the stress in a productive and healthy way, I went back to what I thought was a quick fix,” she said.

Mrs Clark said she had been suffering from a cough for about four weeks and it only got worse before she went to the doctor.

She said she was still vaping when she got the cough, but hasn’t touched it since.

“It definitely scares me to be honest,” she said.

“It might be one of those things that you don’t realize is so bad until your health is affected, like not being able to breathe.” One hundred percent I won’t go back there again.’

Although Mrs Clark is responding well to the antibiotics, she said if there were no signs of improvement she would have to go to hospital and have x-rays and ultrasound scans.

Her doctor is confident her lungs are not permanently damaged, but daily tasks are now much more difficult for the 25-year-old.

“It will take about six months for my breathing to return to normal,” she said.

‘It becomes difficult to have conversations and climbing stairs becomes difficult.

“I even feel now that this conversation is making my chest very tight.”

Ms Clark said any movement that requires a spike in heart rate is difficult and exercise is not possible.

The 25-year-old said she acknowledged her health problems were her “fault” but is determined to quit vaping for good.

In addition to being ill, she also suffers from nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

“Addiction is tricky because the intention to quit can be there, but if you had told me last time that I would have started vaping again, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said.

‘But I don’t think I’ll go back and if other people really want to quit, they have to really want it themselves.

“Take it one day at a time and remove the shame from it.”

Ms. Clark also shared her journey with her vaping addiction TikTok.

‘[Rikodeine] gives me about a 15 minute reprieve when I’m trying to sleep, giving me enough time to actually fall asleep before I start coughing to death,” Ms Clark said.

‘But then of course I wake up all night because it feels like there’s literally something pressing on my chest and I basically can’t breathe.

‘I’ve never needed it [an inhaler] Never had any problems before, never had asthma or anything like that. I have one. He goes everywhere with me because I can’t breathe.’

The influencer told her social media followers that she hoped her experience would scare them and urged those who vape to use her video as a sign to stop.

She added that people who vape have the mentality that “it won’t happen to me,” and admitted that she had once thought the same thing.

“If you’re looking for a sign to stop or if you’re looking for a reason to stop while you’re ahead, be it for God’s love,” Ms. Clark said.

‘I never thought it would be me. I never thought I would be the person who would make me sick [vaping]. Never.’