health problems after stop smoking

Well, I've quit smoking so many times I can't count. I quit for a year and went back, then I quit for 7 mo. and went back, so on and so fourth. Recently I quit again and when I quit, I got this horrible cough that didn't go away. I had a hard time clearing my throat etc. Then recently I picked up a pack of cigarette and smoked them this last week. The first cigarette within a few hours made my cough go away. Well, now it's a week later and I just quit again, and I have stuffy sinus problem, and cannot clear my throat and my cough feels like it's on it's way back. I'm already starting to cough..What is going on? Can someone explain this?

This is exactly whats happened to me as well! I smoked about a pack and a half a day for about 10 years, and suddenly stopped about 10 days ago; now i cough every 10 minutes, my throat feels "smaller" or "thinner", if that makes sense? The only answer I can think of is that the lungs are no longer overwhelmed, and are clearing themselves through the only route available to them - the throat. Thats just a guess though.

I've been sick almost every day since I quit 4 months ago and I've never been sick in the summer once in my entire life.

I hope this is normal. I guess my body is trying to clean itself out? I can say that the few days I was not sick I felt absolutely incredible and had so much energy.

Glad to see I am not alone !! Thought I was going nuts. I quit after 52 years and am going through hell. First I woke up in the middle of the night,30 days after quitting,and I could not breathe in. Scaird me to death.
Happened two nights in a row. I went back to smoking for a year. I quit again the first of November. Now trouble breathing,tightness in chest.
No coughing,no phlegm.
Went to lung specialist. He ran xray and Breathing test in closed in glass booth. Said it was emphyzema and the term of the day,COPD. Put me on steroids and inhaler and oxygen at nite. None of it is helping. I quit the Dr. I quit the medicines and today quit the oxygen. Maybe if I get bad enough to go to the emergency room,someone will know what to fix.
The strange part is I can take allergy,over the counter medicines,wait an hour and go for a walk. Breathing better for 4 to 8 hours. I am still experimenting with these ,as some work better than others. I am out of the one that worked best and will try to find more on my next trip into town.

I understand exactly what you are experiencing! I decided to get healthy last September so i quit smoking and joined a gym. I watched what i ate, hired a trainer and didnt smoke. I also started to get really sick. It started with sneezing and coughing. Then progressed to a tightness in my chest and finally not being able to breath. It was really scary! I went to the doctor, he tried allergy medicine and an inhaler. The allergy medicine helped some the inhaler was useless. We did a pulmonary test and the dr said i was looking at COPD, he gave me spariva. Within 48 hrs my breathing was worse and i began having severe chest pains. I stopped the spariva immediatly. I truly think the chest pains were caused by struggle to breath taxing my heart. Went back to the Dr and he sent me to a specialist. The Specialist has put me on Singulair at night and my allergy pill in the morning and my life has finally gotten back to normal. His explanation is that my immune system is busy trying to repair 20 years worth of smoking damage so i am more susceptable to everything else.
I'm glad i quit smoking but i sure wish someone would let you know these are some common side effects. All you ever hear and see are the benefits which are true but when you are struggling to breath and feel as if you are dieing it would have been nice to have a heads up. When i finally found this site i was so relieved to know it wasnt just me. I was very surprised to see so many people with the same problems. I thought i was the only one in the world to quit smoking and cant breath, go to the gym and get fat. LOL

I too quit and have the same exact symptoms breathing issues, and a terrible cough has been 3 weeks

Same problem here. I cought a horrible chest cold from my grandson. In turn, i have asthma which seems worse with the rotten chest cold. I found Zyrtec which really did the trick for my allergies. Now the zyrtec is not holding up for me like it did 2 weeks ago so i have had to go back to the inhaler which i haven't had to touch since January of 07.
I have not smoked for almost two weeks and all i do is hack and cough.
I am almost afraid to stop smoking all together for fear that i will get something else.
Many people that i talk to tell me the same thing. They quit smoking after many years and develop something else.
My friends dad quit smoking after 40 years. Now he has every ailment under the sun. He was doing fine, then after about 6 months he started having all kinds of issues.
I don't know what to do.

Hi there, I am 28 and am the same. Quit smoking 3 weeks ago and SO SICK still. It's terrible hacking up, breathing problems, chest is killing me from cough, why?!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a sign of healing and your body is trying to expel all of the black tar and what not in your lungs. When your sick and start coughing up phlegm and mucous it's usually a sign that you are over the hump of the sickness and are beginning to get better right ?. This is no different !!!

Don't worry about it will pass. I quit and I'm having racing heart and palpitations randomly which is not fun. I'm only 30 !!! I'm not coughing up anything yet (day 16) which concerns me as to why my body hasn't started clearing out yet.

We all quit smoking and that's what matters so know you've done the right thing and you will get better with time and again you've done the RIGHT thing.

It was april when this thread was started and I'm replying in october so how are your lungs now ?????

I quit smoking about 2 months ago after smoking casually for about 14 years ( a pack a week,plus weed) I also had asthma when I was younger.
Ever since I quit smoking I feel like I'm going to die, for the first time in 14 years I have gone back to using my albuterol inhaler because i feel like my lungs are closing up on me and this is the only relief I have.
There is also a taste of blood or iron when I cough which worried me so I went to see a doctor and she said bascially the same thing all you guys here have been saying.
Sometimes too though I have problems sleeping because i have trouble breathing.
This is terrible and I hope I get over this soon.