DR. WALLACE: I'm 19 and dating a boy who is 21. We met at a friend's birthday party. My boyfriend is fun to be with most of the time, and he seems to be a reasonably good guy, but he has a serious flaw that bothers me deeply. He constantly tells lies! And these are not "little white lies" either. He truly fabricates stories out of thin air, and I'm shocked sometimes at the amount of detail he goes into with these obviously untrue tales.

If he's late, for example, he makes up a lie like, "My dog got out of the house, and it took me 30 minutes to find her. She took off running down the street, and I had to knock on 15 doors to find one neighbor who saw which way she went when she got down to the end of the street." I know that one was a lie because his sister was watching his dog that whole weekend!

He has told me that his father owns a big company. I found out later that his father owns a modest but charming coffee shop down by the interstate. I can give you dozens of other lies or fabrications that he has told me over the past several months. I have asked him many times to stop lying, yet he always insists he is telling me the truth.

Last week, he made up a story about a relative that was killed in a horrible accident, but I later found out this relative was in prison and is very much alive while doing 12 years for armed robbery!

How should I handle this frustrating situation? It's getting to the point that I don't want to hear any more stories from him, even the true ones — because I don't believe him now, even when he occasionally tells the truth. — Lied To Too Often, Suffolk, Virginia

LIED TO TOO OFTEN: Based upon your letter, your boyfriend appears to have a serious psychological problem. Spending time with him on a regular basis and expecting his behavior to magically change will cause you both frustration and anger. One option is to move on. The sooner you tell him goodbye and good luck, the sooner you can find a guy who is not this deeply flawed.

Think about this: If he is this comfortable lying to you now, think about how his lies may escalate if you allow this relationship to advance further and further over time with no change in direction. The other alternative I could suggest to you would be to sit down with him and explain that you are on the verge of ending the relationship but will hold off if he elects to seek help with this problem. Let him know that you will make no promises but will give him an opportunity to seek counseling if you feel he might be open to it.

VAPING CAN WEAKEN IMMUNE SYSTEMS

DR. WALLACE: I know there has been a lot of talk over the past year about the dangers of vaping. A lot of young people were having serious problems due to ingesting dangerous chemicals that some of the unauthorized vaping cartridges contain.

Now I'm hearing from one of my "smarter" friends at school that vaping can make a young person more susceptible to becoming very ill if he or she contracts the coronavirus. Is this true? I thought I heard that young people would only get mildly sick from the coronavirus. — Curious Nonvaper, via email

CURIOUS NONVAPER: It is true. This current strain of the coronavirus can cause great respiratory distress in any infected person, regardless of age, especially those with compromised immune systems. Vaping can indeed harm and compromise a young person's lungs, or anyone's lungs, and therefore create a much more dangerous situation if the COVID-19 virus were present on top of existing damage caused by vaping harmful chemicals.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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