Woman Says She Could 'Suffocate or Die' If She Lies Flat, Even During Sleep, After Vaping Habit

Loyda Cordero Faliero, 39, needed surgery after she says vaping caused her to develop air pockets in the walls of her lungs

• Loyda Cordero Faliero, 39, switched from smoking to vaping, but said the new habit caused her to develop air pockets in her lung walls, a condition called bullous emphysema, according to the Cleveland Clinic
• She was warned she had to quit vaping immediately as she awaited surgery to repair the damage, and was told she had to sleep upright or she could "choke to death on [her] own spit or suffocate and die"
• Faliero called her lungs a "ticking time bomb waiting to go off" — and says it's all due to vaping

A mom who switched from smoking to vaping says the habit caused fluid to build up in her lungs, where she developed dangerous air pockets, creating a “life or death situation.”

Loyda Cordero Faliero, 39, said she quit smoking 18 months ago, switching to vaping because she “thought it would be the healthier option,” according to Kennedy News and Media. But she quickly began vaping “24/7,” Faliero said. 

In March of 2025, the mom of two from Franklinville, N.Y., was rushed to the emergency room when she tried to drink some water and began choking. That’s when Faliero was diagnosed with bullous emphysema, a type of lung disease where pockets of air form in the walls of your lungs. The Cleveland Clinic explains that smoking is the main cause of the condition, which can be managed but has no cure.

“My doctor said that my lung collapsed because they were building up with the liquid from my vape and one of the pulmonary bullae [air pockets] ended up rupturing,” Faliero said, claiming it "could kill me instantly.”

She had to quit vaping while she awaited surgery to remove the ruptured sacs, explaining the condition is “causing a lot of problems." "If I lay down when sleeping instead of sitting up, I can choke to death on my own spit, or I can suffocate and die," she explained. "I literally have to sit up in bed or on a recliner when I sleep because I'm no longer allowed to sleep lying down until after the surgery — it's pretty much a life or death situation.”

To avoid further rupture of the sacs, she said she is "not allowed to be active at all, as in cleaning, washing dishes, or going up and down the stairs."

"They say that even lifting a gallon of my milk is overdoing it for my body because the way that my lung has collapsed," Faliero shared.

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"I can't even cook dinner or stand up to do dishes because, by the time I'm done with dishes, I'm literally crying in pain and gasping for air,” she explained.

She added that it's been a struggle, as she thought vaping was a "healthier" alternative to smoking.

"It really has taken over my life more than I ever thought it would. It's made me very emotional. I quit something thinking that it was going to be healthier, but unfortunately, it destroyed me more than it benefited me.”

Had she not quit vaping, Faliero says “within the next five years I would end up on life support and I wouldn't make it because of how badly this damaged my lungs and how badly the liquid has built up in my lungs.”

Even though her children are grown now, she says, “I'm still a mum. I still have responsibilities and I still want to be here for my grandkids.”

"Basically I'm on my deathbed and it's a ticking time bomb waiting to go off."