Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@fraserolender
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Netflix, Reality TV, TV And Film, Vaping, Social Media, Instagram
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Netflix, Reality TV, TV And Film, Vaping, Social Media, Instagram
A Below Deck star has opened up about being diagnosed with 'vape poisoning' after his shock heart attack aged just 33 years old.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend, Fraser Olender - who joined the hit Netflix reality TV show in season nine - shared a series of snaps taken from the hospital along with a lengthy caption updating his fans on the frightening health scare.
He began: "This is not chic but very important for me to share.
"A few weeks ago I was rushed to hospital due to severe chest pains and difficulties breathing. 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."
Fraser explained that whatever was in his vape caused him to have a coronary artery vasospasm.
"Medically, that means 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," he shared.
The Bravo star, who entered Below Deck as a steward and made history by becoming the first male Chief Steward in season 10, assured worried fans he was grateful to still be recovering now, adding: "I’m sharing this because I never realised something like this could happen. If this experience can help even one person rethink vaping, it’s worth telling."
He's since confessed that he hasn't 'touched a vape' since the ordeal happened and 'never will' again.
"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," Fraser carried on.
He finished up the heartfelt post with an extremely candid admission and a warning to any other vapers out there: "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.
"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."
Fraser concluded: "Love you all, be safe, put your health first and thank you for all of your well wishes.
"P.s.it’s been nearly 3 weeks off the vape - my skin has never been better, brighter and clearer, there MUST be a correlation. BEST skincare hack out there!"