Featured Image Credit: Instagram/ fraserolender
Topics: Vaping, Health, Film and TV
William Morgan
A star from the hospitality on the high seas reality show Below Deck has shared how his vaping habit resulted in him suffering a heart attack.
33-year-old Fraser Olender has revealed to fans on Instagram that he was hit with a heart attack as a result of his use of e-cigarettes, and also shared the vital symptoms that told him something was seriously wrong.
'Chief Stew' Olender shared his health scare on Instagram this weekend, penning: “A few weeks ago I was rushed to hospital due to severe chest pains and difficulties breathing."
The star of at least four seasons of Bravo's Below Deck added: “Following this, I spent a week in London hospitals seeing specialists to identify the cause and possible damage of the incident.
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"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.”
Olender joined the Bravo smash hit series in 2021, first learning the managerial ropes as a second steward before climbing the rungs to chief steward for the following three series.
He said the sudden heart attack had caused him to experience 'fear or pain' unlike anything else he has known.
In addition to sharing his early symptoms of chest pain and breathing difficulties, he told his followers what medical experts had said to him in the aftermath of his heart attack.
"Whatever was in my vape caused me to have a coronary artery vasospasm," he explained. "Medically, that means the arteries supplying blood to my heart suddenly clamped down."
This 'vasospasm' caused him to have a heart attack, as it had "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."
Michigan Medicine explains further that despite limited research, 'nearly all available evidence points to e-cigarette use being harmful to the entire cardiovascular system'.
Vaping has been found to increase both heart rate and blood pressure, the outlet explains. This can put your cardiovascular system in a 'state of sympathetic activation', meaning it is basically in fight or flight, which poses long-term risks for the heart.
The reality star went on to explain why he had shared his story with fans, adding: "If this experience can help even one person rethink vaping, it's worth telling."
In the time since the horror health scenario, Olender has avoided vapes entirely and has said he will 'never' touch one again after his heart attack.
In part, this is not just because of his cardiac issue, but also the agony it put him through.
He explained: "The pain I endured for 24 hours was inexplicable, 2 rounds of morphine didn’t touch the sides and eventually had to be given the strongest pain relief legal to administer in ER - and that only brought my pain from a 10 to a 7."
Olender added: "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."