Dustin, I'm coming up on 14 months cigarette-free. My first 3-4 months were filled with stress, anxiety, and finding all types of things wrong with my body. I thought quitting was going to kill me. I had real, physical symptoms such as digestive problems and heart arrythmias. I realized that most of what was wrong was related to stress, and it took a few months but I learned how to release stress without cigarettes.
Once my stress went down, I started feeling better. By month 10 and 11, through a combination of changing my diet and making an effort to relax more, I started feeling better than I ever did as a smoker (mentally and physically).
You sound like you know your body well already, so you're on the right path. Good luck, to you and everyone. Quitting is hard, but worth it.
Hi Kumar... the right of torso and random back pains and discomfort is still present after completing 16 months... i think our liver kidney are also detoxing ..........this discomfort should be gone by now but still persist.... u cant call it pain ..its just discomfort specailly when i am driving....
Just a little FYI...if you have aches, check to see if bringing up any impacted phlegm from either side makes it go away....I don't know what this phenomena is called, but I find that if I have stomach pains and bring up phlegm, the pains vanish....
Hi dlmd.
How are you doing? Did you solved your problem?
I took quit a year back and have digestive issue and stomach cramps.
-kumar
Thanks for the reply. Exactly It is more of a discomfort. Soon after quit my tummy started growing sideways and I can clearly see more deposition along the right side. I can clearly see tummy is asymmetric along the belly button more deposition towards right. I can correlate the discomfort to that bulge on the right. When discomfort is more the bulge is more and when there is no bulge I don't see any discomfort. USG in April normal(I had this asymmetry then also). Doctor is not serious and don't like an unnecessary exposer. What you do to relieve the discomfort?
this is just slight discomfort which is bearable in my case...
First of all, i would check for external issues of cleanliness in your envirronment. The quality of the air you breathe, when sleep do you have enough fresh air coming in the room, too much dust, cat litters stinking up the place, water quality. Start clean and fresh.
That being said. I believe that your body suffers from bad nutrition. The body is really an amazing thing and can heal from a lot. But all the cigarette abuse has probably affected everything! And when i mean everything, i mean that it even goes to your cellular level meaning that your cells are starved, intoxicated and brused from the cigarettes.
The solution is really simple when you think about it. Reverse the process Of intoxicating hourself with cigarettes:
Shock the body with highly nutritive agents.
They are called "superfoods" (Google it!). Your objective is basically to overload your body with extremely nutricious elements, for a couple of months, that will provide you with an abundance of minerals, vitamins and omega fats. Why? Because these are what make every organ and gland function properly.
To provide you with proper knowledge on this, i recommend you watch: "Fat, sick and nearly dead". It's a documentary about sick people with inexplainable conditions that heal themself through hyper-nutrition (youtube). That means vegetables, fruits, herbs and fish oils. In the documentary, they juice everything, but i would only do that in an extreme measure of health issues. Because it's exausting ,gives you diarhea and really kick the heal out of your body. I suggest you eat your things whole or in a smoothie (for fruits).
My routine is simple, i focus on getting my MINIMUM 5 to 9 vegetables and fruits portions everyday. I fill up on that and If i am still hungry i eat what ever. Drink lots of water to lubricate the body with all the newly added vitamins and minerals. Plus it will help flush all the toxins in ya! Stay away from sodas or coffee and drink green tea in stead. Eat fish to get my joints and heart lubricated. Your are looking for the healthiest stuff you can get. So google "superfoods" to see what to buy at grocery store.
A good body can fight almost anythings. Even depression! All it needs is that you provide it with what it needs to function. After 1 week or 2, you will already start feeling heathier and a little more energized.
Good luck! And happy healing.
P.s. Don't forget a little exercise...a 30 min walk will do at first, then you'll naturaly gonna want more.
Hi, first off I want to congratulate those who sucessfully quit on this thread. I finally kicked the habit about 12 weeks ago after 5 years of a pack a day or more. It might not sound like that long but the withdrawal symptoms are disrupting my life and making it a living nightmare. For the majority of the time since my quit date i've been dealing with extreme depression that won't let up and anxiety that makes my days hell on earth. Plus I have a hard time getting a night of sound sleep. I'm thinking about going back to smoking just to feel like myself again but i'm not sure if that's the right idea. My relationship with my friends is suffering from this and I have no self- confidence and besides work all I do is just lay around and feel miserable all day.
I've tried a variety of things like eating a healthy diet and taking some extra vitamins but nothing seems to work. I guess if it weren't for my determination to quit I would've started up again, I just hope these feelings don't last forever and they start to clear up soon.
MWILLIAMS -
I come on here sometimes to see what's new.
In my case, the anxiety wound up tapering itself down over time, but I have to admit the anxiety can make the detoxing so much worse, simply because things are happening to your lungs/body and you instantly have to assume something is wrong. Im still having lung issues and I caught bronchitis 2 months ago. Been to 7 doctors. One trip to the ER by Ambulance...
And of course, with the anxiety, when you think something is wrong with your body, naturally you are going to seek medical help.
The only tip I can suggest (because I cant advise people NOT to see a doctor if they feel like something is wrong inside), if you do go see a doctor and go on the multiple test route, remember blood tests alone are accurate and those tests are designed to detect abnormalities which fall into the categories for most developing illnesses/health problems....try not to let the paranoia get to you. It is very very hard, but you just have to listen to the doctors and go from there...
but again, if it comes to the point where you have seen NUMEROUS doctors and they are all telling you the same thing, maybe you should consider what they are telling you. And trust me - once they start giving you anti-depressant medication, you should probably just let it go...
2 months in and the anxiety has lessened, but my right lung is still sticky and im more prone to catching infections than before...Which sucks. You just gotta hang in there, try not to obsess over your body all the time, start developing a hatred over cigarettes, and believe that you're better off without them - which you ARE, really...
Once you are off of them long enough, you will soon realize that the thing they offer isn't necessary at all, and not only that, but also MISLEADING - because for the price of what it offers, what you really pay for is pain, suffering, and ultimately death. They don't call tobacco "Deadly Nightshade" for nothing...
I feel the same way you do...Quit XMAS eve 2012, smoked about 10 cigs within a one week span back in April, and nothing since. Smoked for 13.5 years at an average of about 5-10 a day. Started at 21 back in summer 99. Now, today, 8/8/13....have bouts of nausea/gaggyness, anxiety, random choking dry coughs...to the point where I throw up sometimes. I wake up gaggy, have to drink a ton of water before going to bed and right when I wake up to combat the morning gaggyness.
What a vice cigs are!! And like you, had an "iron stomach" could eat anything and everything at anytime! Now my stomach is so sensitive. Only thing I've had the past 2 days is a protein shake. Scared to eat anything right now. I CANT STAND THE FEELING OF BEING NAUSEATED!!!!
Praise to all of us that have managed to quit and stay off this HORRIBLE habit.
Just something I noticed while observing my newfound sobriety from tobacco:
Has anybody ever considered any other addictions/drugs you might be using to maybe/maybe not substitute for smoking that may be causing these symptoms?
I say this because I've been a smoker but also a beer drinker for years...I overlooked the possibility of alcohol withdrawal, now that nicotine is no longer a part of my body chemistry, I'm sure taking one away might alter the other in terms of effect...
Just a thought...
OMG!! THANK YOU ALL!! Here is my story: I started smoking 30 years ago, with only two failed attempts in that time to give up! By the end I was smoking usually 20 a day! One day my step-son showed me his new e-cig and from that moment on I have been using e-cigs the majority of the time, with a few slip-ups here and there, but nothing like I was smoking before! I thought I had found a miracle cure, and to a degree I still think I have, I am basically taking nicotine replacement but without all the other horrible additives in cigarettes! At the same time as this we had a few life changes going on, some I liked, some I didn't and I also (I think) started the menopause!
I had a horrible illness over the first Christmas without smoking, this I put that down to a sickness bug and when it didn't feel like it had completely gone about 2 months later I went to my doctor for HRT as I was feeling absolutely awful! I had a feeling what I would call "flakiness", as if something was horribly missing in my body, I lost all my engergy, my legs ache, I have gained weight and have a general feeling of "can't be bothered with life in general". The HRT helped to a degree but I still felt awful and went back to the doctors, who suggested I might be "depressed", I totally dismissed this idea as I have been through many things in life and bounced back without a problem, so told her not to be silly and asked her to give me some stronger HRT. Again I thought this was working for about a week, but soon went back to that horrible flakey feeling and had to admit that I may actually be depressed, I was having horrible thoughts (as someone else has mentioned in this thread) of death and couldn't see the bright side to anything at all, above all I couldn't motivate myself to do anything. I had tried changing my diet to a more healthy one and cutting out certain bad foods, I had tried finding new hobbies and looking into spiritualism but none of this has had any long term effect and I always go back to my "can't be bothered" state of mind and losing all my self confidence. So I agreed to go onto a low dose antidepressant! That was 3 weeks ago and they are helping a great deal, although I do still have bad days!
I had considered a little while ago that all this may be due to giving up the cigarettes but thought that surely I should be feeling better, not worse and my symptoms were also menioned in websites dedicated to the menopause! So all I could do was come to the conclusion that all the life changes I have had in the past 2 years had got on top of me! My main troublesome symptom now is the pain in my legs that comes and goes, but I can completely see that I have in fact taken something away from my life that I possibly relied on for so many things; smoking got me up in the mornings for that first cig, it helped my socially, it gave me something to look forward to during my lunch break and after any stressful event .... I could go on!
It has been 14 months since I started the ecigs and I don't intend to go back to smoking so I am just going to have to find a way of feeling better until all the symptoms subside, and I am sorry to say, if that means antidepressants then so be it, I can't feel like I have been and run my general life! It is also true that none of this is written anywhere as a warning to people giving up tobacco!
So thank you all again for making me feel so much better (for today at least) in knowing its not just me and the menopause might not have affected me so badly afterall! I am trying to see it now, as "healing" my body and I hope this helps. Good luck everyone!
Sean S:
I was in the exact same boat you were regarding digestive problems after quitting smoking. I had horrible indigestion, and I did not have a solid movement for months. I changed my eating habits so I would eat 4 smaller meals a day rather than 3. I'd also make my dinner smaller, and never eat anything within 3 hours of going to bed. That helped a bit.
What really helped was taking a prebiotic fiber, and drinking kefir. Kefir is like a milk/yogurt drink that contains supposedly live bacteria that helps your digestive system. The brand I used was lifeway. The prebiotic fiber is a fiber suppliment that acts as food for the bacteria from the kefir helping them grow in your gut, thereby helping you digest food better.
If you're still having issues, I would suggest taking a prebiotic fiber suppliment twice a day, and drinking kefir before breakfast and right before dinner for two weeks, and see if that gets you anywhere. It worked great for me.
Hi Guys,
It's been 14 months now.
All has improved alot. I still have, just a bit, of digestive/stomach issues here and there but much less than before.
The anxiety has also been much better.
Keep on posting
IStop