Ok people im back and haven't posted in over a month. Well some of my stomach symptoms I had have gone away after quitting.

[jarhead1231]

Now I still have boughts of shortness of breath. I don't have asthma or copd and had a clean xray but I keep having this shortness of breath. Are my lungs still healing? Feels like someone stepping on my chest and almost panic sometimes which I take anxiety pills to help that now. Im 36 and smoked a pack a day for ten years and have always been in good shape. Can there be anything else wrong or do I just need time to pass because I hate this feeling that comes and goes. Oh and its been 3 months since last had a cig. Thoughts please and how much longer til I feel good at breathing.

[MMoo]

Hey jarhead,

Try not to worry I was the same and even now at 4 months I still occasionally get shortness of breath.

Smoking has caused a lot of damage to your lungs, but they are healing themselves. It can take up to a year for your lungs to fully reccover and heal.

I was like you, clean chest x ray my peak flow was over 800! But also I suffer with anxiety, which meant any changes in my body would make me panic.

Have you been coughing up much brown crud?

My doctor said it's this which gives you the shortness of breath as all that crap is being moved and cleaned from your lungs.

Make sure you drink plenty of water, boiled sweets are also good and if you can try a little exercise.

Also try not to panic, anxiety can also cause shortness of breath and tightness around the chest area , it can also make things feel more worse than they actually are.

Try and keep calm, stay relaxed, stay strong and try not to worry. Your going to be just fine

[jarhead1231 10 MONTH WINNER in reply to MMoo]

Well in first month I had this. I ended up with strep throat and then pneumonia after that due to being vulnerable from healing. During the pneumonia I seemed to cough tons of stuff up and rarely cough now. Now its just a random shortness of breath and takes about half hour to go away usually. Also I get light headed spells that come and go and I really hate this as well. So far every test has been normal. So I just keep telling myself itll pass but im just drained and get tired of feeling like crap and want to be normal again.

[MMoo in reply to jarhead1231]

What meds you taking for the anxiety?

If you ever need any support for your anxiety health unlocked have a anxiety support group which is really good.

I can't answer your medical questions but I know it can take a while to recover. And I'm still coughing and having days when I feel tight chest and shortness of breath even at 4 months.

But you've got hang in there, there will come a time when your fully healed

[yellowsnowdrop]

I'm quite a bit older than you & smoked 10-15 a day for around 37yrs !! I had much the same symptoms as you for the first 3 months & I know it's pretty horrible.Mine got worse & I was diagnosed with a chest infection but if you've had a clean X Ray then this isn't't the case with you I imagine.TRY some deep breathing exercises in a quiet place away from everyone, visualise your lungs healing and force the good clean smoke free air in.If it doesn't' pass see your G.P. Stay strong H