Quit smoking a year ago - sick ever since!

I feel the same exact way and I'm going into my 7th month except my anxiety will only last a few hours or so and comes maybe a few times a week and of course brings on the shortness of breath. It use to make me panic and would make me want to go to the hospital. Since the 4th month I have learned to accept it and it got better each week which is why it no longer sticks around. Things will get better it's all in your head. I had all the tests as well and they all come back fine which tells me it's all in my mind. I take fish oil daily along with vitamin B and D. Also look into Inositol in powder form, it really works for anxiety. See the reviews on Amazon. I have a friend who took 12 months before it all went away and no longer as any symptoms from quitting.

Keith

Update!
I have been feeling much better this last week!
Palps are almost non existent, the tingling in my hands and feet are gone for the most part too. This has resulted in my anxiety is on the decline.

At the same time I know that I'm not out of the woods yet. This sh*t comes and goes, but I'm happy that I made it through this time.

Stay strong!

That is great to hear. I'm in my 7th month and have really good weeks then bad for a few days with the anxiety. Makes me wonder should we be really feeling this way from just quitting smoking? last night and today is a bad day the anxiety for now reason is high causing bad shortness of breath. I hate feeling this way and not sure how much more I can take of this? I know this sounds strange but I want to feel like as good as I did when I smoked.There will be a week or so when I feel like that and then it hits me again.

Hang in there mate! This too shall pass. I know exactly how you feel man..

How long has it been for you? My doctor said I should go on Zoloft which will help all the anxiety I am feeling. I feel better now in my 7th month than I did in the 4th month but how long do I have to feel like this?

I've been smoke free a little over 6 months.. the anxiety has been better lately but it comes and goes...
Try to keep yourself off the anxiety pills as long as you can! Those pills have some nasty side effects.

It's good that it's better now than a few months ago for you, right? It's obviously going in the right direction..

I agree and feel that now I will have to get off another addiction. The doctor told me that if I start them it will have to be 1 year before coming off of them because that is how long it takes for the brain to rebalance. I would think the same applies even without the meds which is why so many of the posters here were feeling almost 100% after 12 months.

Well...When I quit I suffered anxiety/panic attacks SO BAD that it cost me $5000 in medical bills....

And now, after all of that. Now that I am finally on medication for MENTAL (not medical) reasons and they seem to be working....

I'm smoking again.

My mind is SO screwed up...And it must really be hard wired to cigarettes to have caused me so much life torment over the last 6 months that now I am lost....   

 

 

I don't understand, you were placed on Meds which started helping the anxiety why would you go back to smoking when you started to feel better? I would think going on the Meds to make you feel better would help you to stay on track of quitting? I will never go back after what I have been through the first few months of my quit. I will never want to go through those feeling again ever. It was not pretty. Good luck.

It all depends how you quit. If you quit convinced the cigarettes are taken away from you, of course you're gonna feel anxiety. However, if you quit understanding that your cravings are dictated by the nicotine addiction, and if you develop hate for that addiction, you most likely won't feel anxiety or that anxiety will be on a low level.

Hello, last night I threw the cigs and lighter away.

Good for you and stick with it. For me it was a tough ride and still is on some days and I'm 8 months in. The first few months were the toughest for me. Keep posting.

Keith

Thanks to your post, "searching for your symptoms on the internet" added nervousness

Im only up to reading page 19 of this thread but wanted to reply before Id finished. 

I quit 8 weeks ago after smoking for 26 years. I smoked 20 a day until about 8 years ago when I stopped for a few weeks, then when I started again I reduced to 10 a day. I have been quitting for 15 years. I got to the point where I was thinking about it all the time, worrying, hiding it from people. 

Then last year my dad died from lung cancer - the most horrific thing I could ever have dreaded to imagine. I cant even think about it now, & I quit as I wanted 2014 to be different, I was constantly worried about smoking, and it was ruining my life. 

Since quitting, the most annyng symptom has been constant cold sores. I have had about 15, all very small but its really getting me down. I now apply zovirax daily as a prevention. This week my gums started bleeding. 

For a few weeks I had nausea and sore throats but those symtoms seem to have gone now. 

I have seen a lot of posts about anxiety. My anxiety was while I was smoking, but on reading about the dopamine hits you get from smoking, i realised one thing thats REALLY helped me this time. 

Instead of the smoking dopamine release, I actively found other ways of dopamine release to replace the cigarette releases. Ten or 20 times a day, I would do a big inward breath and say 'ahh' as I released it, like i was really happy, or as if I was standing on my hotel room balcony overlooking an azure sea.

I was faking the happiness to get the dopamine, and it worked. I also drank a ton of water, and after each sip would do the exaggerated 'ahhh', exaggerating the genuine dopamine hit you get from a glug of cold water. This helped a LOT. It's kept my mood pretty stable and reduced the amount of anxiety i have felt in past quits. 

Good luck everyone. 

Not sure if you still check but how are you these days? Did all the symptoms go away?