When you reach out to an acclaimed expert and scientist, its usually not under the guise of asking some incredibly futile question. But we here at VICE have an obligation to bring the people what they want, what they need, and what they desire. In this case its, Why does vaping make me want to take a big hearty dump?

Sometimes even the most disturbing questions need an answer and who said that you cant make dumb things smart? Not us.

So, we contacted newly-appointed Honorary Professorial fellow at The University Of Melbourne, Joel Borstein, who actually retired two months ago. Before that, he worked at the university's department of anatomy and physiology, his primary interest being the relationship between intestinal movements and secretion.

Heres what he said.

SOWHAT HAPPENS FROM THAT FIRST HIT OF A VAPE?

According to Bornstein with the assumption that the vape is inhaled orally your first hit of a vape will travel through the lungs and through the wall of the intestine. The nicotine will then excite the gut wall and the enteric nervous system a part of the body that controls motor functions, blood flow, mucosal transport and the endocrine system. Most of the neurons in that system will be sensitive to nicotine so they will be stimulated.

Then it will enter the bloodstream and affect a variety of areas of the body including the brain, where its main stimulant effect occurs.

WHY DO VAPES MAKE THINGS FEEL A LITTLE FUNNY DOWN THERE?

There are several different reasons why that could happen, Borstein says.

The first one is simply that the nerve cells that detect what's going on within the gut transmit to their target cells through terminals that relay acetylcholine (a chemical that triggers motor neurons and affects voluntary movement) to excite nicotine receptors.

Because nicotine activates these receptors, with continuous exposure this reduces the overall number of them. As a result, you're going to have dysfunction due to poor ability of your body to detect nicotine.

That's going to affect things like appetite and coordination of activity within the system (digestion etc).

The second one is that if you vape you get a rapid hit of nicotine, that's going to activate many of the neurons that would normally not be activated unless you were eating, he says.

According to Bornstein, there are three different control systems that use nicotine receptors as part of their normal functioning, which are activated by the presence of nutrients and stimuli inside the gut. Others lie within the brain and are indirectly activated through nicotine receptors somewhere along their pathways. They then go back to the gut and change its overall behaviour, especially in the upper gut. These include things like sight, smell and taste.

Nicotine will activate the neurons that cause acid secretion which is going to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable as you do after you've been drinking, says Bornstein.

Alcohol is converted to acid as part of its metabolic process. So it increases stomach acidity. Nicotine will also do that in a more minor way.

So that's one of the reasons why people who smoke and presumably who vape when they go to the pub they're combining two stimuli that are going to cause increased acid secretion in the stomach might feel uncomfortable down there.

AND SO HOW DOES THAT AFFECT POOPING? AND WHY DOES IT MAKE US WANT TO?

So I could make predictions, says Bornstein.

The nerves that are involved in generating a bowel movement live within the spinal cord in a special nucleus group of neurons, and they use acetylcholine to activate the nervous system that activates both the gut movements and defecation.

By taking a hit of a vape, youre producing a spike in the system which then decreases as the nicotine is cleared away. If youre constantly taking hits, the system will continue to spike and decrease.

So your system gets used to this up and down, and each time you take a new hit you will get a quick stimulus, he says.

That will start activating the region in the spinal cord that's involved in producing this whole process, you've got a descending pathway coming from the brain itself that either allows or prevents that activity. So, you might feel an urge to defecate, which is a whole reflex of its own.

This pathway is consciously controlled, thank God, otherwise youd be defecating whenever.

The nerves that run from the spinal cord into the enteric nervous system can be activated by the surge in nicotine. Then the adjusted system is going to be operating between surges.

If the surge coincides with an urge to go, then you'll likely get an increased response. Which basically means youll poo.

My prediction would be that the easiest way to go (poo) would be to take a vape just before you want to.

This can then be behaviourally reinforced.

SO THEN THE GUT RELIES ON NICOTINE TO WORK PROPERLY?

Everything adjusts to get it to work just the same as it does with opiates, heroin, and so on. The system resets itself. With nicotine addiction, it's the same thing, the system resets itself, so you don't get normal function without the nicotine, says Bornstein.

That's why people use nicotine patches, or vapes to get off cigarettes. The whole system re-tunes itself.

If you were to stop vaping, or consuming nicotine, you would probably become constipated. Probably, for a couple of days.

This article is not intended to encourage or promote the use ofvapingor othertobacco products. The consumption of tobacco is harmful for your health and can cause lung cancer.

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We Asked an Expert Why Vaping Makes You Want To Poo - VICE