Quit smoking a year ago - sick ever since!

I was the one who posted above 29y.o. who quit 29th April 2010.. posted [06/13/10 - 12:31 ]

I forgot to mention, My father was also a smoker for over 20 years, he quit smoking when he was wrongly diagnosed with lung cancer that was 14 years ago, he got the same symptoms too.


He is very fine as well after he quit. He fully recovered good health condition after 1 year.
Now he always gives me advise to go on with this quit smoking.



- Dare

jsloey wrote:

Hi all;
I stopped ... Cold turkey ... 6 weeks ago...In time I'll get stronger, and so will you. 3/18/2010

Now it's been 6 months and some things have improved. The hives have stopped except for an occasional flare up when stressed. Concentration has improved some and my blood pressure has gone back to normal. I gained 15 pounds but have lost 5 of them. I still want a cigarette at odd times. The craving after meals, morning coffee, conversation and around other smokers is gone but once in a while for no apparent reason the thought pops into my head that it might be nice to just relax with a smoke.
I’m not as happy as I remember being when I smoked but that could be due to external factors. I still have trouble with follow through and staying on task. The smoke was part of my rewards system (finish a task and get a break) so work seems more tedious and less fun.
Activities are easier. We biked 20 miles this weekend and a 4 mile hike takes about an hour now where before I would have been taking a smoke break and complaining after a mile. What I don't miss is the waking in the night or early morning with that c**p in my throat and the cough; also when I'm tempted I remember the dry mouth and stuffy sinuses. The tax on cigs went up again in NY. It's $10/pack at the corner store. Another reason to stay a non-smoker.

:-( How can it be legal to sell cigarettes? It has been 43 days since I quit after smoking for 38 years! Very, very infuriating is that I felt healthier when I was a half-a-pack a day smoker! Since I quit - I have had a gum infection, sore throat, hoarse throat, throat feels like its on fire, white patch at the back of throat, swollen tonsil. Doctor wants to put a tube down my throat - I'm putting it off.... I am now scared that I have throat cancer - especially after hearing about Michael Douglas - my very favorite actor. In June my older sister, a life time smoker, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer - she's the reason I quit! I'm scared - but at the same time I'm wondering if it's possible that quitting smoking after so many years can trigger cancer cells to activate. Is this a crazy thought? I want to be healthy, but I'm dissappointed that I don't feel better after quitting. HELP - please!

I have been smoking for about 16 years, never was a real heavy smoker, more when I drank, less when I didn't. I'm on day 58 now and I'm still unsure of whats going on with me. I've read a lot of what people said here and I'm also in the same vote that I did almost feel better smoking then not smoking. I stopped cold turkey and maybe I shouldn't have done that. Since then I have had to go on beta blockers because my blood pressure is now high and I don't understand that since you're blood pressure should go down after you quit, not up. In honesty though I never did check my blood pressure when I was smoking. Ever since then though my heart has been going nuts. I went to the doctor and they did an ultrasound and hooked me up to electrodes to check my heart and they said its fine. My blood is also normal. I was actually feeling alright for the first 12 days or so after I stopped but then one morning I woke up and my heart was beating so fast, I was light headed and thought I was about to pass out and die. My heart was pounding so hard I couldn't sleep because it was shaking my whole body. It still does it now but it's getting less and less so hopefully it will stop doing it. I also get heavyness and tightness in my chest every now and then. Hard to breathe sometimes. I don't have asthma when I checked myself out with the doctor but the walk in clinic wouldn't do any x rays to see if I have any other problems. I've been trying to excercise everyday for about 30 min to an hour now. Walking and running. Trying to get my lungs to work I guess. And despite all this I still miss smoking. I'm thinking I'm at the point now where I won't start up again. But still every now and then I get that hard to breathe feeling and light headedness that scares me and I always thinking I'm going to die when it happens. The palms of my hands also sweat when I start feeling strange. My heart is skipping and flipping over in my chest too. Not pleasant. On the bright side I think overall I am starting to feel better and these episodes are not happening as often as it was 4 weeks ago. I'm hoping I am getting better.

i've been reading this post for the past 6 months. sept 13 will be my 6 month anniversary for my quit. i've experienced many of the symptoms said here. one after the other every month something comes while the former goes. i suppose that's just how our body reacts as it attempts to fix itself. i'm 31 now and been smoking since i was about 15, heavily since 18.

all i can say is that at this point, things are finally starting to get better. no more anxiety attacks. my blood pressure is back to optimal. (after the quit it shot up) sleepless nights are gone. dizzy spells are very very rare now. i used to be able to ride the stationary bike for 2.5 hours and all of a sudden on month 3 i couldn't ride at all. simple everyday tasks all of a sudden became mount everest. i would just get so exhausted and would have to sit or lay down for a while. went to the doctor and felt insulted because basically i was given the impression that it was all in my head. also i started eating healthy. lowered my sodium intake because my bp going up scared the hell out of me. so 6 months in to this quit and i've lost 65 lbs. 250 in march to 185ish now. goal is to go back to 165.

i guess at this point the only advice i can give to people just starting their quit is to hang in there. it's tough but this is much better than slowly dying from some disease like cancer, right? my daughter is 9 months old. took me 3 months of going outside and having a smoke to finally realize i want to be around for her. find your motivation. at the end of the day, love yourself enough to do it for yourself.

good luck!

i think my symptoms are similar - i'm coming up to month 3. For me the symptoms are gradually reducing in their quanitity and intensity. It seems to be a slow process, and one i havent seemed to have on previous attempts to give up. i now wish i had stuck to one of those - would have been a lot easier.



Before when giving up i was constantly restless, surges of energy, aggression, paranoia. This time tiredness, heart palpitations, chest tightness, anxiety, cold sweats, shortness of breath. Funnily enough having a small drink e.g. some wine has helped with the symptoms in the evening. And like i said, month 3 has been much better than 2 or 1, so am also hoping each month will continue to be better. Will sign back in on month 6!

Hi All
I want to share my story and I hope that helps.

I started smoking when I was 16 and had a first go at quitting when I was 22. I had the same symptoms as everyone mentioned and I started again. The next effort came when I was 25 and again after a complete physical breakdown, I started again. This time around, after the birth of my son I quit smoking the third time 46 days back) and was experiencing the same problems at the start. I called up a friend who also quit smoking and he advised me to take a multivitamin without vitamin A ( I am not an expert so don't know why). At the same time, instead of reaching for food to deal with craving, I decided to drink a combination of green tea and plain boiled water with lemon and honey. I also added more fruits to my diet.
Its been two weeks since I started on this food pattern and I feel a lot better. I drink 3-4 cups of hot green tea everyday ( not more because I am concerned about too much caffeine intake ) and at other cravings i boil water and add a little lemon and honey and drink it again 3-4 times a day. That means my water intake is increased to around 20 glasses a day . I also take a multivitamin tab a day. In fruits I started eating pomegranates and drinking fresh orange juice and to be true ( and this is actually pathetic) not because I liked any of those but because peeling pomegranate is work and it would take me 30 minutes to peel and eat 2 of those and similarly peeling and making a class of orange juice would take some time too and that would take my mind of the cravings :-)
I am not sure whats actually helping me. But my body aches are gone. I have sputum with grey/black strands coming out but without lung bursting coughs and quite easily. I am breathing a lot better and SOB is gone and the fatigue is also a lot better. I also dont have constipation any more.

The only side effect is that I am peeing a lot more ( which is expected ) and some time i suspect that has something to do with it.

Also I want to make it clear that two weeks on i am not 100% but at my 50% physical ability but compared to two weeks before and my previous attempts at quitting I am feeling MUCH MUCH better. Also I have no idea why I am feeling better , but I AM. This is the first time i am not completely miserable after quitting and I feel that I have quit for good.

I am sharing it hoping that what worked for me may work for you.

I'm just on day 7 now and have felt pooh for the last week. I had convinced myself that i was soon to die! thankfully i now know that it's a normal thing to go through and i feel much happier about it.

Thanks All

Hi its been about 2 months now.
I ve been reading this thread about 1 month and its really helped a lot with coping with this horrible withdrawl.
I ve been smoking since i was 16 im 23 now so that 7 years. First time trying to quit and i have experience everything from nausea muscle ache head ache head cold anxiety (the worse feeling) the reason i dont go back is i dont want to go through this ever again.
right now i feel sick sore throat neck feels heavy. stuffy head. still feel like dieing but im fighting and im still better than before. i like to think so.

:-) I can't remember my Username!!!! Anyways, its been almost 2 1/2 months - it is getting easier and easier! I used the patch for the first 3 weeks - and that really helped. It took the edge off. I wanted to keep going from there on my own. So far so good! I do have moments every day where I think about smoking - just something triggers it. But if I change what I'm doing - the craving quickly goes away. My throat problems are all gone now, I'm breathing better. Overall I feel pretty good. The worst is past - I thing at least...... For all of you just starting out - please stick with it. It's worth it!

I don't have a username for this here website and dont want one. I just wanna say, hang in there everybody. Reading these posts and hearing about other peoples experience with quitting cigarrettes helps as much as any antidepressant or nicotine replacement aid out there. I quit on September 11, 2010. Weird that it was that day but it was. I had been dealing with gum disease which was partially caused by the smoking and my dentist suggested that I try to stop smoking "just for a couple of weeks" to see if that made the problem go away. She was so nice about it, she didn't even push that hard, and after that morning, I just said to myself, yeah, Ill do it. I had my last cigarrette at 4 o clock that afternoon and didn't smoke again until Monday the 13th when I bought a pack, smoked half of a Marlboro Light and couldn't take it, so I threw it and the whole pack away.
The gum disease cleared up, immediately but the withdrawal started and I ended up in a psych ward 5 days later because I tried tokill myself by getting drunk and taking a bunch of anti-anxiety drugs I had from before. It was the worst thing and the best thing that could've happened to me. 3 days of imprisonment with no access to cigarrettes. I was in an acute ward with schizophrenics, OCDs, manic depressives, heroin and oxycontin ex-junkies, and drunks trying to kill themselves, like me. 72 hours smoke-free is what I needed and it helped me. I am now experiencing less nicotine craving but am incredibly depressed and am on 2 anti-depressants which are sort of helping me out. I am not drinking alcohol either because it depresses naturally.
So my recommendation to ya'll is this: Give yourself 3-4 days, don't go to work, don't deal with family, just stay home, watch tv, buy lots of your own "comfort foods" and by this I mean some of us like Peanuts, so buy lots of peanuts, some of us like diet coke, so buy lots of those, have lots of water around too 'cause cold water helps a lot, and just watch a lot of TV. The first week is the worst so if you can make it the first 7 days, cold turkey, none of the step down BS which, when it comes down to it, just prolongs the agony.
Do it this way, and you will have beat the worse part. Week 2, make an appointment with a therapist or a counselor or someone you can talk to thats not your friend or family. You are going to need it. Talk about when you started smoking and get to the why. Why did you start? Why do you need it? Why is important? What is more important than cigarrettes? etc, etc.
Then Week 3, enjoy a perfectly cooked meal. Give yourself a present and eat a damn good dinner, with a little wine, with your loved ones and celebrate the 2 weeks you've been clean. And then continue. Go to work, Start living your normal routine again.
Yeah, when you get a craving, think about something else, the time your little one turn one or his/her first christmas; the time you shot a 79 on that golf course with your buddies at work, think of stupid stuff like what if I were rich, what would i do?
You are all going to experience depression, anxiety, shortness of breath due to panic attacks, sputum production due to your lungs getting cleaned out which leads to coughing and sometimes infection. You gonna feel bored as heck, I know I do, lost, lonely, lacking drive, lacking confidence, lackin safety, fearful of the future, all these things are normal when you quit BECAUSE you are making a HUGE change in yout body. Huge. Your mind is addicted to nicotine, it wants nicotine, it craves nicotine; it will do anything for a nicotine fix and believe me when I tell you, it will fool you into having one more cigarrette, one more fix, one more taste of that niccotine-flavored goodness. You will miss it, like I do, everyday but you will also find out that you don't need it to do what you have to do to live a happy life. No way. With time, it'll become a pebble in your show and then, a distant memory of what your mind will tell you was "the good old times."
I smoked for 27 years, had a cuadruple bypass at age 40, have diabetes, high blood pressure, clinical depression, and still thought smoking was part of my personality and I would never give it up. But the day came and I quit and it almost killed me but I am still here. So, eventually, ya'll will do it too. And I just hope they ban those filthy things once and for all, or just sell them at a price noone but the ultra-rich and decadent can afford. Cheers!R

SO GLAD I am not going crazy! I quit smoking 12 days ago, after inhalng for 17 years. 1/2--1 pack a day. Cigarettes just didn't taste good anymore and I was mad at myself for spending all that money on something that was no good for me. The 1st week was ok, except for chronic cravings---but the 2nd week I experienced severe nausea and could hardly brush my teeth in the morning, light chest pain, orbital headaches, unable to take a deep breath without coughing, vertigo, light fever/chills and a temporary sore throat. I feel a rattling in my lungs, but nothing will come out. I found that drinking water really helps and makes you feel better. I chew gum and drink water constantly.

I quit several years ago for 4 months and never experienced this kind of illness. I guess the longer I kept smoking, the more damage was done. Thank goodness for all of you here, because now I know that what I'm going through is nicotine withdrawal. How long does this last? I went grocery shopping yesterday and got dry heaves like Jim Carrey in 'Liar Liar'. I was so embarassed I got in my car and went home. I'm burping and had gas, I feel disgusting!

The pros---my skin is clearer then it's been in 10 years. I have more energy and sleeping better. My senses are more accute like taste & smell and my mind feels less fogged up, like somebody opened my brain and dusted it off. I still have cravings, but they are diminishing and there is no way I'm going through all this hell again. I hope to God I can stay smoke-free, because it was my stress relief for a very long time. don't want to gain weight, but better than cancer. Nobody tells you about the side effects when you quit, even some doctors don't want to address the issue. But it is VERY REAL!

So far I've had no major anxiety, but I was pretty depressed the first week. Now it has subsided. Never thought I would say this, but smoking should be illegal to save us from ourselves. I had no idea I was hurting myself like this. I figured I was grown and convinced myself there were worse things I could be doing. Man was I in denile!!! Thank U everyone!!!

Its almost 3 months for. The magic number apparently. I wrote an entry about a month ago explaining the symtoms i was having from nicotine withdrawal and right now i can say the worse is behind me. I use to feel depressed like i wasnt going or doing anything in life that was worth living for and i have a daughter so i have no idea how that thought came about i guess its the one of many symptons. Anxiety where everything is moving fast and the thought of some inevitable yet unexplainable end is near me is gone. I believe i do get anxious sometimes but everytime i do i think its an acute asthma attack that happens because of it so i take an inhale of my puffer and its gone. for the 7 years i smoked not once i needed an inhaler or had any signs of trouble breathing not to mention not being sick ever or if i was sick it lasted a day or 2, but since i quit my asthma kicked in oh i forgot before i smoked i did have asthma as a child. I ve been sick ever since i quit smoking, jaw hurts like its very heavy and sore at times. problem breathing, head aches im taking tylenol ( I never ever take any medication before especially for headache because i never had headaches ever!!) stress gets to me really bad, before i embraced stress it made me stronger i would use it to me advantage but now i cant even handle the tiniest stress or ill get a headache or asthma attack.
It might seem difficult but theres an end to all this you just got to remember and be prepared and also not to be shocked and overwhlemed by all your feelings and experiences you are going to go through quitting smoking.
My piece of advice is to always think about that light after a long dark tunnel. Just imagine the life you will have after these few months of hell its worth it. And also, Once you get over a symptom be prepared for another one taking its place it sounds annoying and could be all in your head, but i never heard of this site or about nicotine withdrawal untill 2 months in and for those 2 months i have gotten close to all symptoms mentioned on this site.
I have gotten over the cravings its just this feeling of never ending sickness. So keep strong think positive no matter how bad it gets right now think of how awesome its going to feel after its over. I know a lot of you wish they could feel normal like they use to and its on my mind everyday and it will happen, so for now just think of how happy you were before and just picture your future you being just as happy and happier. Oh and if your going through the deppresion stage be with people you love and talk about it cry it out, and if you are going through anxiety attacks and feeling like nothing matters talk to someone your mother your wife, husband hug them ask them to tell you everything is ok, go to the doctors, you need to go to the doctors and have them tell you themselves that everything is ok.. it'll help even if you know they might not do anything for you, you need that reassurance.
Oh and the cloudy mind feeling like you are loosing your intelligence that is also a big one, I had an exam and i had to post pone it because i couldnt study and i couldnt think properly, everything i wanted to say was missing in words and thought but i knew it was there i just couldnt get it, so keep that in mind that it is there but your fighting off something that requires a bit more focus, that it takes away from your reasoning and intuition.
Hope this helps because i know reading these posts did help me a lot.. i would have this site saved on my phone and everytime it gets bad i read this and it calms me down reassures me that everything is going to be ok. Don't go back to smoking because at some point you are going to quit and this will happen again and something like this doesnt get easier the second time or you can go the alternative and continue smoking till you get cancer and are force to quit and go through this again. your choice. either way i see it is there no getting around it. Just take the smarter way and quit now and stay a quitter.

Hi,
I quit 10 weeks ago today and have felt increasingly worse since then-chest/throat/ear/neck/stomach burning and pain. Now a red rash has started. I used to smoke 3 to 5 hand rolled cigs a day but stopped as smoking is stupid.
The depression kicked in last week and today I smoked 1 roll-up. I felt awful after. So mad with myself.
My Son quit last year to start boxing. he had a really bad year of feeling ill.
Seems like it is normal to feel ill after quitting. The depression is the worst-our docs in the uk don't give anything for depression so now I have smoked again and must try not to smoke again.

I love this post. I mean I really really do. I'm 30 years old, started when I was 16 and quit about three or four times throughout my life, the longest stint for 3 months. I never felt any of this... I quit finally after my little girl was born for good. I want to live for her. I don't even know what day because I was just done with it. (Probably about 4 months though). After the a while (don't even know how long cause like I said I was just done), my gums bled, bp is through the roof(so I exercise 5 days a week now), frequent anxiety attacks, tight chest, breakouts of "something" I can only associate with some kind of excema, among other things. The anxiety is the worst for me. I've always felt in control of situations and I fear nothing. But now I can be at the grocery store and start getting nervous for no reason at all. I've researched and researched to find what the hell was wrong with me never thinking it was that I QUIT smoking. Until, thats right you guessed it, this post about a week ago. I felt so relieved. I mean I really really thought I was going to die. Now I think its the body healing itself. I read this post several times and I don't know what will help either but I do know that a good diet and exercise (and this post) helps me. Both me and my wife quit. It's been one of the hardest things I've had to do but I will never go back. I don't know any of you but I just want to say that I'm proud of all of us. I don't know when all my syptoms will be gone but I know with every day I get better. Never give up the fight. Whether you think you can or you can't... you're right - Henry Ford.