Many people switch from smoking to vaping for different reasons.

Synopsis: Join Natasha Ann Zachariah at The Usual Place every Thursday as she unpacks the latest current affairs with guests.

For Mr Muhammad Dandiar Rosli, he saw vaping as a cheaper alternative to smoking, so he decided to give it a try.

But it nearly cost him his life. Just a month after he started vaping in 2020, he ended up in hospital after feeling breathless and coughing up thick, yellow phlegm.

He thought he had contracted Covid-19, but a bronchoscopy revealed that he had pulmonary alveolar proteinosis – a rare lung disease where the air sacs are clogged with protein and fatty material, making breathing difficult.

That marked the start of a long recovery that included two hospital stays and four procedures to “wash out” his lungs. What he underwent is called a lung lavage, where sterile saline is used to wash away the abnormal build-up of protein from the lungs.

Five years on, the memory of the treatment – and the hefty medical bill – still affects him today. Mr Dandiar, a private-hire driver, drops by The Usual Place podcast to talk about undergoing the lung lavage procedures and the difficulty of quitting vaping.