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(CNN) - Adam Hergenreder's vaping habit almost kills him.
At the end of last month, the 18-year-old student and athlete in Gurnee, Illinois, was hospitalized after smoking electronic cigarettes for more than a year and a half. Now his lungs are similar to those of a 70-year-old adult, doctors told him.
"It was scary to think about that, that little device did that to my lungs," Adam said, remembering his doctors' news about his lung health.
Adam is among the hundreds of users of electronic cigarettes in the United States who have become ill with mysterious lung diseases related to vaping, many of them young. Researchers have not yet identified the cause of the diseases.
READ: A sixth person died of a lung disease related to vaping. This is what you need to know.
Amid calls for greater regulation, the Trump administration now plans to eliminate flavored electronic cigarettes, except the taste of tobacco, from the market.
"Why is it so important? We are seeing an absolute increase in middle and high school children who use these flavored products, ”US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday in a video statement. "Mint, menthol, fruit flavor, alcohol flavor, chewing gum."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday announced that more than a quarter of high school students this year reported using electronic cigarettes and the “overwhelming majority” reference consumes popular flavors of fruits and menthol or mint, according to preliminary data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey.
Adam said he is not sure that his lungs will return 100%, and he is worried if he will ever be able to compete again in fighting.
"I used to be a fighter of the university team and I may never be able to fight because it is a very physical sport and my lungs may not be able to withstand that effort ... It's sad," said Adam.
'We must act quickly'
There are more than 450 possible cases of lung disease associated with the use of electronic cigarettes in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC), which has described the increase in cases as an "outbreak."
Health officials have also confirmed six deaths, in California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Oregon and Kansas, in relation to lung diseases related to vaping.
While illnesses and deaths have occurred in both young people and older adults, experts have warned of an increase in vaping among young people.
"We must act quickly against flavored electronic cigarette products that are especially appealing to children," said FDA interim commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless in the announcement, adding that the FDA will take additional steps to address youth consumption of tobacco-flavored products still on the market, if young people start using them.
“The tremendous progress we have made in reducing tobacco use among young people in the US is in danger from this avalanche of electronic cigarette consumption. No one wants to see children become addicted to nicotine, and we will continue to use the full scope of our thoughtful and thorough regulatory authority to address this growing public health crisis. ”
Separate surveys also suggest that most teenagers think that electronic cigarettes are safe.
Adam certainly thought that vaping was safe when he started smoking electronic cigarettes, he said. One of his favorite flavors was mango.
"Knew well"
"First I started vaping just to fit in, because everyone else was doing it," Adam said, adding that the flavors appealed to him, especially mango.
"I didn't taste like cigarettes," he said. "It tasted good," and provided a slight sensation due to nicotine.
He began vaping about a year and a half ago, he said, and he bought electronic cigarette products, such as those from the Juul brand, at his neighborhood service station.
"They didn't ask me for identification," he said.
"He woke up in the morning and smoked with that Juul and then coughed," said Adam's mother, Polly Hergenreder.
“I aspired several times during the day. My son was consuming for a capsule and a half every two days, or a day and a half. ”
Experts say that a Juul capsule, a nicotine-rich liquid cartridge that users connect to the dominant brand of electronic cigarettes, delivers the same amount of nicotine to the body as a pack of cigarettes. "That's smoking a lot of cigarettes," Polly said.
Eventually, Adam said he went from vaping over-the-counter electronic liquids to vaping THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the main psychoactive component of marijuana. Adam obtained the THC from "a friend" or distributor.
Over time, Adam said he developed chills and couldn't control them. Then, the vomiting began.
"I was nonstop vomiting every day for three days," he said. "Finally I went to the pediatrician."
At first, doctors did not relate Adam's symptoms to his vaping. He was given anti-nausea medications, but said his vomiting did not stop. After visiting several doctors, he finally saw someone asking him if he was " Juul-ing " and if he was using THC.
"I responded honestly," Adam said. "I said yes".
The team that monitored Adam's attention performed a CT scan of his stomach and noticed something unusual in the lower part of his lungs. The doctors then took an x-ray of his lungs.
"It was then that they saw all the damage," Adam said.
"If I had known what I was doing to my body, I would never have touched it, but I didn't know it," he said about the vaping. "I was not educated."
'If we had not admitted Adam ... his lungs would have collapsed'
Adam was admitted to the hospital at the end of August.
"If his mother hadn't taken him to the hospital in the next two or three days, his breathing could have worsened to the point that he could have died if he hadn't sought medical attention," said Dr. Stephen Amesbury, a pulmonologist and doctor of critical care at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Illinois, who was one of the doctors who saw Adam.
“It was a serious lung disease, especially for a young person. He was short of breath, breathing hard, ”said Amesbury. "It was very worrying that he had significant lung damage and possibly some residual changes after he recovered from this."
Adam's mother, Polly, spent the next six days in the hospital with her son, who was connected to an intravenous line and who was given oxygen through nasal tubes.
"The doctors told us that if we hadn't taken Adam when we did, his lungs would have collapsed and he would have died," Polly said.
However, he added, "you should always try to find the positive side," and for his family, that is to use Adam's experience to educate others about the risks of vaping.
Adam is now at home and “it is still difficult for me to do normal activities, such as climbing the stairs. I still run out of breath, ”he said.
Although he is still recovering, including breathing treatments, Adam has focused on sharing his story. Through his voice, he said he has even convinced some of his friends to stop vaping.
"I am getting better every day," he said. “I don't want to see anyone in my situation. I don't want to see anyone in the hospital for the time I was. ”
Federal research on the link between vaping and serious lung diseases is ongoing and has not identified a cause, but all reported cases have indicated the use of electronic cigarette products and some patients have reported that they use electronic cigarettes that contain products. cannabinoids, such as THC.
There are also separate investigations that are carried out in separate states.
New York health officials said last week that extremely high levels of vitamin E chemical acetate were found in almost all cannabis-containing vaporization products that were analyzed as part of the investigation. At least one vaping product containing this chemical has been linked to each person who became ill and sent a product for analysis in the state.
Laboratory tests at the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health in Albany showed "very high levels" of vitamin E acetate in samples containing cannabis, the state health department announced.
Vitamin E acetate is now "a key focus" of the state's research on diseases, said the New York Department of Health. Some of the products that contain vitamin E acetate are caramel-flavored vapes.
"There really isn't enough vaping history to say what's going to happen."
Juul has maintained that his products are intended to convert adult smokers to what he described in the past as a less harmful alternative. In other communications, the company says it cannot make claims that its products are safer, in accordance with FDA regulations.
Scientists point out that they are still learning about the long-term effects of electronic cigarettes on health. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in May found that the flavors of electronic cigarettes can damage the cells that line blood vessels and perhaps the health of your heart in the future.
Another study, published in the journal Radiology in August, states that vaping temporarily affects the function of blood vessels in healthy people. Using magnetic resonance imaging, he discovered, for example, changes in blood flow within the femoral artery in the leg after a single use. The researchers were unable to determine which chemical could be responsible for the changes they observed.
According to Amesbury, many questions remain to be answered.
"We are very early in the stages of discovering what problems can arise from vaping," he said. "We are finding these acute and serious diseases now, but there really isn't enough vaping history to say what will happen in 10, 20 or 30 years."
Michael Nedelman and Arman Azad of CNN contributed to this report.
Electronic Cigarettes Vaping