Breathing worse after quitting?

[Shadowmancer]

Hello! Smoked 16 a day of late (much more earlier). I’m 43 started smoking sometime in my early 20s (yeah, I was that dumb).

October started having chest pains (more consistently) like needle stabs and underarm pain. Didn’t visit the GP. Went down to 1-2 cigarettes per day after new year.

After starting to smoke less I’m having asthma (if its asthma) attacks every week. The kind that you can’t sleep and sit on a chair just trying to breathe. I had asthma before and I have dust and pet allergies (I’m allergic to my cats). Till now it’s been maybe one attack a year, now it’s all the time. Last one lasted 3 days. Now I just decided to quit completely, it’s the 3rd day with no smoke. I still have difficulty breathing.

I’m aware I should see a doctor. Might be unrelated with the quitting I suppose. Just need to talk, keep calm...

[reader2019 5 Years Smoke Free]

I think you need to see your doctor. For most of us we think that once we quit smoking we will feel better. We don't realize that our bodies need time to heal from the nicotine. Also that we are all different. Some may feel better in six months while others may take a year or more. You need to stay strong for your health and kick this habit. Good luck

[Shadowmancer in reply to reader2019]

Thanks. I did go to see the doc after all cause It got real bad. Got an inhaler and antibiotics for the next week. X-ray came out ok. Let’s see. The worse bit is that you can’t know if it is related to smoking or not...

[Nozmo Valued Contributor]

It’s not unusual; my coughing got worse for a while after I stopped smoking. Your lungs clean themselves out so you can feel it’s getting worse during the cleaning process. I think you did the right thing going to see your GP though; just in case it was something more serious. Hopefully the medication will help.

It does go away, just takes a good few weeks. Well done for persevering.

[Shadowmancer in reply to Nozmo]

Thanks. Most places just emphasise how great I’ll feel and how your breathing will get better.

Meds seem to help though still feeling bad. Suppose I’ll just wait and see, doc (I ended up in the ER not the GP) said to give it a week. Day 5 of no smokes. I’m assuming that if this is cause of quitting it’s better to quit completely and get it over with...

[Nozmo Valued Contributor in reply to Shadowmancer]

It can get frustrating when all you hear is good things about quitting, but you’re not feeling it. Some people seem to feel the benefit straight away but I certainly didn’t. It took a few weeks for my cough to settle down and go away, and I know a few other people on here experienced the same thing. It isn’t an easy ride for a lot of us. I don’t think there’s a timeline when you can say, “After this long your cough will disappear, after this long you will stop craving cigarettes...etc” Everyone reacts differently so don’t feel like something is going wrong because you’re not feeling the way you’re “supposed “ to be feeling. Hope it picks up soon.

[Shadowmancer in reply to Nozmo]

Thanks Nozmo. Fingers crossed