Quit smoking a year ago - sick ever since!

Thank you for your input and advice. This thread has helped a lot. I was wondering if you or anybody else in this thread has experienced like an unsteadiness when you walk around or move your body in certain ways? I still have this symptom this this day and it's the only thing that's bothering me. It's very nerve racking. It's been happening for a while now. I actually felt great and felt nothing about 2 weeks ago for a good half a month...then it came back. I do stress and worry a bit but I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt this?

Hi skynetbball, I have got unsteadiness when I bend my upper body towards right. Usually noticed in evening while going home after work. While driving If I turn right to see the back of my car taking reverse... feel uneasiness.. if I continue to turn like that I get unsteadiness. It has started 2nd/3rd month after I quit and It still happens once in a while but not that intense. I have not found the reason for that. Once in a while I get this discomfort along the right side of my torso. Docs don't understand. How does your discomfort feel?

Hi skynetball
I hit my 6 months mark around 1 week ago. I too also feel the imbalance. If I try to stay still while sitting up ( for example having a 5 mins conversation) I noticed the feeling of falling gets worst. For example as much I wary still the feeling gets worst, until the moment where I have to start moving around again. Also it seems it gives me the shortbreath aswell.
I have experienced all the symptoms people are talking about on this forums, and this one is the only one still hanging at the moment (the one which so annoying and scares the sh*t out of me).
I didn't felt it for a while , but then about 2 weeks ago it came back.
I suspect it has to do with the digestive system. After I quit smoking I had all the problems with my stomach, then easy I succeeded to make it better by taking care what I eat and when.
2 weeks ago I had a crazy weekend when I didn't care what I had eaten and also consumed a lot of booze and other drinks. Since then I started again to feel bloated and feel aches in my stomach. As I said before the imbalance thing came back once with the stomach issues again, that's why I think they are related.

Hope we will get better in the end.

Do you take vitamins? If you are over 50 you should take centrum over 50 the best for you, plus 500 ml calcium and 500 ml magnesium for leg cramps . You have to eat healthy also , don't eat fast food , it will kill you. Like my mom used to say, your body is your temple and what you put in to it is what you will get. Please don't blame the cigarettes on how you feel. If you take my advice and take care of yourself and start exercising slowly until you start a routine, I know you will feel great. See your doctor before you start, and get a physical , because you never know , maybe you might be low on iron and that can also make you feel the way you do. I admire you for not smoking anymore and how hard that must of been for you. Good luck! I hope this motivated you to see a doctor as the first step to getting back your health.

Hi Kumar, I am into 15 month quit and over all things are much much better but this discomfort is still there on right side of torso and in different locations on my back... Has your insulin level came back to normal? Nowadays my uric acid is high which is again a common withdrawal as per google search so i am avoiding things which increase uric acid .. and i believe due to high uric acid my eyes burn a bit

Hello. I myself had to quit smoking because I caught the worst attack of bronchitis in my life. Of course, being sick is always a good springboard to get you to start the quitting journey, and I've been off for about 2 months and experienced much of what has been posted here.

Thanks for the info, I was about to shell out $1000 on a trip to the hospital...That would have been crippling for me, financially.

Anyway, I do have a question about the symptoms.

Obviously the lungs supply the body with oxygen...One thing I have always suffered from which no doctor has been able to detect (and which consequently may have something to do with many of these symptoms, in theory) is this phenomena:

(This is what how I visualize it, so if any of you recognize this, hopefully it will help, because this comes and goes and usually not only blows up the anxiety but also creates actual physical symptoms that can literally drive you insane with panic, or even in worst cases infection if it doesn't go away).

Phlegm impacts a specific part of the lungs. It gets stuck in there and doesn't want to come out. Drinking water doesn't work. Steam doesn't work. So in comes the onset of chest tightness and pain in the localized region - in most cases this would be felt somewhere in the chest or back (obviously where the lungs are located). It turns into a "sticky" part of ribcage - a pressurized area that when you move your ribcage it can kind of crack, much like you cracking your knuckles...  

The problem starts when pain is felt someplace else in the body....Be it the hand, or arm...calf muscle...neck...or whatnot. Sometimes it feels like nerves being pinched, a muscle spasm...Sometimes it may even feel like a heart attack is coming or your stomach hurts, or your kidneys hurt, etc. At this point I'm sure you can guess what comes next....The old panic game.

What's interesting to note is, in this case, once the phlegm gets miraculously dislodged and spit out, the pain goes away...

Has anyone ever had this issue? I'm no doctor, but I find it kind of silly to think that certain parts of your lungs control different parts of your body -  of course I could be wrong. But if this is true, and this kind of thing does happen to people, then it might explain much of the suffering being reported. And it all has to do with the lodged phlegm (at least to a certain degree).

I've had situations where I've been diagnosed with anxiety issues...And my situation above actually has all those symptoms...But how can it be anxiety if the feelings suddenly go away after passing a nice glob of brown phlegm? Totally weird...

 

Hi Skynetball! The only thing I had recently was symstoms of vertigo. I went to the doctor and she prescribed me some medication and it went away. It was my ears . If I would move certain ways , I would be dizzy. Maybe if you check your ears the doctor might find something.

Hi Alin! You need to take care of yourself because consuming all the booze will kill your brain cells and also mess up your liver. Maybe that is why you have stomach problems.I don't kmnow how long you have been drinking , but that sure cause the problem. Have yourself checked out , complete physical and you will see what's going on . You may also have vertigo and medication sure did help me.

Hi kumar4uefi, At the beginning of my quit it was really bad, I would feel like I was going to faint or fall down. It would usually only happen when i do certain things such as brush my teeth, sit in front of the computer, or when taking a shower. I would have to put one hand on the wall to make sure I wouldn't fall. It would also happen when the weather would change. I noticed when I would get really stressed out, the symptoms would worsen, and it would feel like I'm starting all over again when it came to quitting withdrawals. I'm at the 238 day mark without a cig and as time passes by it does get better, i do still have some unsteadiness issues but it wasn't as bad as before...still feel it though. I also noticed if I drank alcohol it would worsen, and I only drink a beer once or twice a month. I'm thinking it's a trigger for dizziness and unsteadiness. To combat the unsteadiness or dizziness, I drink a lot of ginger and green tea, decaf. I also took a lot of walks and played some rigorous pickup and league basketball, I didn't care if I messed up on the court or fell down. I would just run and go all out with a I don't give c**p attitude. I didn't care if a heart palpitation would come up or if the dizziness would make me collapse. Be strong, were all in the same boat and trying to make ourselves better. We can't let this cigarette BS consume our lives.

Completely agree with you. I had ear problem for couple of month after quit. I feels it is all from mucus movement. I used to get ear pain. Now that my breathing is back to normal(Before I quit) like 90%. I don't have ear issues. I remember one day I had bad dizziness from morning and I took up jogging after running for a mile or so I got bad cough and I coughed up some good white mucus believe me my dizziness was gone at that moment. Dizziness, breathing ear problem all related to mucus movement. If it is too much an ENT doc can help.

Hi Smokefree, Congrats for the 15 month mark.
I am on medication for my sugar levels. My sugar levels where at higher end even before I quit. My dad got DM2 at the same age as I am now. My discomfort along the right side of torso comes and go mostly with heavy meal. I have not had a check on uric acid.

Concerning the Light-headedness/dizziness...

Anxiety related, perhaps. Your body is getting used to the oxygen while its cleaning out your lungs...Probably true, too. But could also be something else, as well?

I was also recently diagnosed with having a mild vasalvagal attack, which was probably brought on by a combination of drinking 25 ounces of beer, walking around in 106 degree prime Las Vegas desert heat, and the Strip itself, which can stress you the hell out with all the tourists milling about (nevermind the fact that they are smoking and drinking freely - but I didn't really concern myself with that).

Now I've done this before with a cigarette in my hand and I'd never had a problem...  

I never had a fainting spell before in my life - the dizziness, light headedness, feeling off-balance, sweating, blood pressure drops -  but then again I've been off the smokes since Memorial Day, and nothing has been right ever since. 

Could the absence of tobacco combined with the withdrawals/anxiety also play a part in the stimulation of the Vagus nerve to create these kinds of sensations? Luckily for me I never fainted...But since the feeling still lingers on and off it makes me wonder.

 

Obviously, since everything else is being thrown out of whack after quitting, I suspect the main nerve that controls breathing, heart rate and blood pressure would also be involved...

 

Anyway it's something I've been thinking about, considering all the symptoms posted here about being dizzy and off-balance....   

(Yeah, looks like now I'm gonna have to get an Xray and MRI done because of this...And Here...We...Go...)

 

Just an addendum concerning anxiety attacks...Now that smoking no longer numbs your respiratory tract, all the phlegm and tar either coming in, going out, or being stuck in there might be a reason for the bad anxiety/further illnesses/painful complications...

In my case, for some reason it can cause pains to occur in other places of my body, which will create a mountain of medical bills and make doctors happy...

Ex:

I just brought up a bunch of tar that's been causing me near vasovagal responses and high anxiety attacks  for the last couple of weeks...and after it finally came up, the anxiety instantly vanished. And here I was going through everything from blood clots to infection to heart problems to brain problems...Quitting smoking is truly madness.

Apparently the "night watchmen" of your body is waking up from his coma and he's going crazy with sounding the alarms, if you catch my meaning...

The Anti-Anxiety drug is just a hijacker holding him at gunpoint, telling him to shut up...Those drugs are definitely not a solution to the problem, when the problem is your body trying to right itself. But I'm wondering why doctors never point this kind of scenario out when you mention you quit smoking and are having breathing issues/chest pain after an illness? They just nod their head and do something else to ease your symptoms?

I think what I'm trying to say here is, if the price of quitting/healing causes this much pain and illness, you would have to be pretty dumb to go back to it...I know I'm not...I now know what a living nightmare feels like. 

But at the same time, I can also see why people actually do go back to smoking after suffering - sometimes it's better for some to stand there til they die, keeping the cracking dam plugged up with their finger...This is some suffering, alright.

 

Good luck everybody.

 

 

 

I have stopped smoking for a month, and in this time have had every ache there is, neck and shoulder, back and around the waist area. I hope this will soon stop. There would be no way that I would start smoking again, its great not coughing when going to bed, and getting up in the morning.

Hi Smokefree, I have completed 14th month mark. Still have anxiety from discomfort on right side of torso. How your right side discomfort feels like? To too get the back pain along the mid/lower back at random locations. right side discomfort from liver to the lower right pelvis. I am eating healthy and have shred some weight. I have almost reached my ideal weight (may be 1/2 lb more) but this right side discomfort is recurring and it comes with constipation. Feels like I get back pain from constipation. How does your right side discomfort feel.