The doctor's assessed that the dull chest pain is likely due to depression/stress and productive cough is (unsurprisingly) due to smoking and will subside over time. The occasional brownish strands in sputum were not notable to him. The doctor explained that someone my age who doesn't smoke "4-5 packs a day" is highly unlikely to have lung cancer (taken with a grain of salt).
However, I have experienced an incorrect and serious "healthy" diagnosis in the past and do not consider myself "in the clear". Hopefully further assessment will provide more insight.
Relating this this thread, I again strongly recommend visiting a doctor at the first sign of any of the described symptoms. Also, smoking cessation (if only brief) could help rule-out serious illness, so I highly recommend that as well.
Take it from me, as someone who didn't know better: (1) get it checked out immediately and (2) take a break from smoking. Try to put everything in perspective; you can stop for a week- it might not be fun but just do it!
Hope the best for others and that my input may help someone!
We're all going to die and it's you're not your as in you are, you m***n.
You are so right about Inept/arrogant Doctors!! I was in Emergency 3 times in a month for the same pain and nausea. 3 Cat scans/a ultra sound and about 30 or more viles of blood = Couldn't find any thing that would cause my pain and or nausea. I looked my damn symptoms up and it keeps saying Kidney stones! I finally went to a Little urgent care Clinic and told a female foreign doctor that ER basically said it is in my head!! Yes the last Doctor told my husband it might be a emotional issue.. The Doctor in urgent found a kidney infection with just a urine sample. Gave me proper aniti biotics and called 3 days later to verify the urinalysis of mine that she sent out! Just before she called I started urinating blood. I was so pi**ed off I put the urine in a jar and went back to the ER room that insinuated I had nothing wrong..... They asked for a another sample of my urine and said Oh! We see now you need a urologist!!! So a small clinic did more for me than a Local Large Hospital. The Infection is back and I went to a urologist and the urologist said he would call me with results of another urine test.. I have been waiting 4 days... This Country is full of Doctors and specialists that are half baked. I am a private detective and should know how many Doctors in my career That I had under surveillance at one time or another.. (Usually divorce cases).. Every Doctor I ever watched was either an alcoholic, gambler, drug addicted and/just plain stupid. Many go to Med School to make big money and I think by a miracle of cheating passed their Exams to graduate. This Country is messed up more now than ever and Medical care with Doctors that are the poorest diagnosticians! They reach in their Doctor bag of Med 101 and if your symptoms don't meet the criteria for a common ailment or illness they can't diagnose a patient! and Doctors wonder why patients that are mis diagnosed or killed by poor medical care want to sue them!! All People need to know is doctors work under "Practicing Medicine" They do practice on patients.. Your Lucky if you get sick and the doctor has seen that same illness in his family or a friend and says Oh I know what you have.. and they know what tests to do... If you don't get a Doctor with good experience, you may as well diagnose your self and find a Country doctor that listens to their patients and orders the correct tests. Emergency Rooms make a lot of Mistakes, Hospitals make just as many but cover many mistakes up! This Country has allowed Doctors get away with practicing medcine and doing unnessary tests and also do not do background checks on doctors like they do to employee at that run cash registers! Good Luck to all sick people that need a good Doctor that has the ability to diagnose your problems. There are very few Dedicated doctors.
If you're inhaling burnt plant materials, you're going to get tar in your lungs. Plain and simple. Whether it's tobacco, weed or any other plant you're in large part inhaling many of the SAME materials. Pot CANNOT cause lung cancer or any other type of cancer. In the thousands of years humans have been smoking it, nobody has ever developed lung cancer from pot alone. In fact, do your research and there are numerous peer-reviewed scientific research papers stating that pot indeed DOES have carcinogens, however these cancer causing materials are counteracted by the substance itself. That being said....
I never smoke anything besides cannabis. I've been coughing up those little grey specs not long after I started smoking pot, but only when I slowed down on the habit. The reason for this which has been stated in this thread, is regarding the tiny hairs (cilia) that clear mucous in your lungs. Smoking constantly will damage these hairs and makes it pretty obvious as to why people are coughing up these specks only when they stop. Those little hairs are being repaired and can now expel the c**p that's been coating your lungs. This is a great thing!!!!! It means your cilia are not destroyed beyond repair and are now fully functioning and doing the job they evolved for.
I've smoked weed daily for about 3 years now. 99% of the time out of a big, expensive, glass bong. I grew it and at times was smoking a half ounce to an ounce a week. I watched my mother slowly die of liver failure from alcohol when I was 22, and had horrible nightmares after her death that were driving me into a mad depression. Cannabis stopped my dreams so I went at it like the world was ending.
Fast forward to now and I've had about 3 weeks of being completely sober which is FAR and away the longest since I started. It's embarrassing how much better I have felt since stopping. I can breathe a million times better, I am not nearly as lethargic, I am sleeping much better and my ability to recall simple words when conversing is finally coming back. Truthfully, you don't understand how much you are giving up until you stop.
I am not demonizing weed. It's a great substance and is not even in the same category as horrible drugs like alcohol or tobacco. But keep in mind, you've got to sacrifice important things to continue the habit. Remember, EVERYTHING in moderation.
PRO-TIP: Smoking out of a bong or vaporizer will INDEED cut down on the tar. This is just common sense. Notice how the stem or ashcatcher or percolator of your bong is coated with resin/tar and after it hits the water the tar is dramatically less after each water cooled chamber? It's not rocket science, people.....
To add on to my last post....
If you're coughing up black spots and don't smoke and nor ever have, you have a much more serious problem.
Either it's blood or it's garbage from something you've been inhaling. Get off the internet and schedule a doctors appointment!
Hi
I have been smoking weed an tobacco pretty much constantly for the last 5 years.
I have also been Coughing up black/ brown stuff for nearly as long. I finally have quit weed an ciggs (though its much harder to quit ciggs) about 4 weeks ago, went to to the doctors they listened to my lungs "lungs sound fantastic" I was told. I am still Coughing up black/brown stuff stuff I find after consuming a coffee with lots of coco in it I get rid of massive amounts of tar from my lungs (i can tell the difference between coco and tar if you are wondering if I think the coco is tar). Also after I consume high amounts of vitamin C i start to get rid of more it really starts coming out not just from my lungs but my sinus as well.
Oranges other fruits and fresh vegetables as well olive leaf extract and Alcar all seem to help me as well.
my conclusion (i am not a doctor so check with your GP before hand)
Eat as much vitamin C as you can consume many anti-oxidants as is safely recommended exercise (lots of cardio)
(I am the guest with the long post and the add on, just above the last comment)
I just wanted to add on to my last story. It's been about two months now of not smoking anything, and I am coughing up even more black tar than before! I'm not sure why this is, but when I eat fatty foods with a lot of sauce I will go crazy coughing up tar...every single time. This doesn't occur when eating fibrous or healthy(ish) foods, ever. I would guess it's because greasy/thicker foods and sauce cause more mucous to expel, which in turn brings up more tar. But that's just an assumption.
Just wanted to note that I've had tight chest and pains for a couple years now. These are completely gone after not smoking for two months. If I ever do smoke again, I can guarantee it won't be without taking long breaks.....
So for anyone reading this debating about stopping, quit temporarily and just see how much tar you start to expel a month from now. I can't even imagine the amount of tar I'd be coughing up if I ever smoked cigarettes. Yucccckkkk.
Look up something called MORGELLONS . Look at the images also. Don't focus soo much on symptoms as I believe it's very different feeling per individual. I purchased a $7 mini 60x power scope $45 USB microscope 200x power. When you see the images on the web and see what you have inside your body, it will blow your mind! More people need to ZOOM in 200x and see what has been done to Americans. This is no random thing you catch...