Quit smoking a year ago - sick ever since!

Hi Jess, (page 25) I am wondering how are you feeling by now. Will be really supporting to hear an update from you. It’s been for me 1.5 year mark and I still go through brain fog and elevated levels of stress, poor stress tolerance, low energy levels and mild mood disorders. However big improvement since day 1 of my quit. Hope to see more people comments who passed 1.5 - 2 year smoke free.

Hi Keith! Thank you for your updates, they are very valuable to us. Please update us how are you feeling as of March 2018 in terms of anxiety, mood, motivation, and if there are still things to be improved. I have searched tons of information on internet, and found out that recovery process after smoking for more than 10 years takes up to 7-10 years for full recovery with proper lifestyle adjustments. However big quality of health and life improves after 1 year, 3 years, 5 years. Will be glad to hear from you.

Im sorry u r going through this, definitely anxiety, panic attack with chest tightness after quitting smoking cigarettes. These are the withdrawals and your body is healing. Best advice is to try to do slow deep breathing exercises. Will definitely help. Dont give in

This is exactly how I feel after a little over a month, it sucks, and very hard to explain to anyone. Hoping this is going to go away sooner than later.

I quoted 7 months and I feel the same as u .. Brain fog and elevated levels of stress, poor stress tolerance, low energy levels and mild mood disorders

Thanks for the reply, If starting smoking does not make you feel better right away rather takes months before u feel normal then I think its not related to smoking. You should start feeling better right after starting smoking again if its smoking related

That's not true actually, it takes many, many cigarettes(packs) to stop the detoxing process again and desensitize your immune system to the allergens in smoke..You'll usually feel even worse after the initial cigarette if you haven't smoked in months.

So don't make people believe that they are one puff away from eliminating all of their pain - it's not that simple.

I quit 3 years ago, 3 years and still i suffer from soo many things if anyone eants to hear it do let me know but i really do feel like i shoudnt have stopped smoking. Iv feld nothing but miserable sinc i wuit smoking. Atleast when i had an excuse as to y i felt terrible, now i feel even worse with nothin to put it on.

Sorry to hear this. I quit almost 2 years and was hoping the nightmare would end. I would appreciate anything you can tell us. Have you considered smoking again? I think the only reason I have not started again is because I am worried it will NOT fix the problems that quitting caused and I will just end up worse than I am now. Thanks.

I was only guessing that if quitting smoking causing problem then starting it fix the issues right away. In my case I quit smoking 6 years ago , I have been reading this forum for the last 6 years and almost all of the post quitting issues have been fixed except anxiety. I never had any anxiety when I was smoking and since I quit smoking 6 years ago I have been dealing with anxiety. I was wandering if starting smoking will again hide the anxiety so might start again but definitely this is not the advise for anyone ,quitting smoking is best thing and don't start it again.
Rational approach is even if smoking masks the anxiety we should consider taking anxiety medication rather then smoking again or may be smoking is better then medications, too much confusion

Yes please! I find it comforting to understand what others go through.

The person who needs to seel you products tells you your stupid for not using his products?!? I would ensure i was never stupid enough to visit them again. :( After trying for 15 years, cold turkey and change of diet.has been the only time i have succeeded as it stops it dragging on. Good luck and stay away from pharmac... they are not yoru friend.

Hi to all,

Just woke up and I felt like coming back to this site. I was here almost 6 years ago exchanging with some members about our condition after quitting smoking. I'll write my story and I hope it will help some of you. I was hard at the time!

In early June of 2012 (44 years old) I cough a cold that turned into a bronchitis. At the time I was smoking 25-30 cigarettes a day for 28 years. So I go to a clinic and see the doctor hat I don't know. I tell her that my lungs feel bad and I'm coughing alot and all. Without looking at me and just taking notes she tells me " How many cigarettes you smoke a day?"...I say 20-25 top - You guys know what I mean- She turns around and says "I guess you know how bad it is? and continues by saying " I diagnose people with cancer at the hospital, today I'm at the clinic to help". Guys, I lost it, her words really got to me I got scared. Forget the all the adds about smoking picture of lungs, etc etc,etc. Her she got me. So wile waiting for my lungs scan (6-7 hours) I though I would have cancer...It really got to me. The actual result was bronchitis and gives me anti-bio and a prescription pour nicotine patches. She looked at me and said I hope I scared you enough so that you will quit smoking... and she left. I started crying because I was relieved and promise myself to quit in 48 hours...I don't remember why I decided to quit after 48 hours.

I go to the pharmacy and get my anti-bios and a box of Nicorette. I say to myself I will do this. By the way, during the 28 years of smoking I never tried to quit. So I put the patch on and quit. During the first 4 weeks, everything goes well. I have small urges but I've changed my routine, I'm having much more water. I avoid alcohol and coffee as much as possible. But all in all, It's going well, I'm happy, by then the bronchitis was over.

On week 5, I decided that I was fine and that I do not need the Nicorette anymore. THAT WAS A MISTAKE!

Week 6 and 7 we're ok but not as good as the first 4 weeks. Then week 8 and 9 even less good. This is where the nightmare start.

More than 2 months after quitting, I start waking up with a sore stomach. I would sleep well but between 3-5am the sore stomach would wake me up. It was so bad that I had to stand up. Nausea as well. Then Anxiety. So every morning from about 4am up to 11am I had either nausea, sore stomach and or anxiety. It was just hell, I would be scared going to bed and wake up with all this. I lasted about 3-4 weeks before going to the doctor. I didn't want to see the doctor as I was scared of another condition. Note at this point I'm 4-5 months after quitting . So I force myself and go see the doctor that all exams, blood tests and all. Result : nothing all good. I go home happy that I have nothing but yet I still wake up bad : Nausea, stomach, cry for nothing... every bit of pain would scare me...What's that pain on my left side? oh it's nothing it's gone...You know what I mean?

Anyways after 1 year, I still wake up (4 out 5 times about) with discomfort. Started with green tea, other natural stuff, etc etc... nothing works. So I go see another doctor and after discussion he tell me : You have withdrawals. I had stopped my Nicotine too drastically. Remember? But yet again tests and all are ok.

So, 13-14 months after I started to take the Vap but only before going to bed. I felt the nicotine just like I had with a cigarette. But I didn't want to start smoking again. I know some are saying Vap is as bad for you as the cigarette, bla bla. Well you know what the Vap helped me. I get a dose of nicotine and I have no more pain in the morning. I agree, the best would be inhaling neither of but again I feel good now.

This June it will be 6 years without Tar, yes let's call it Tar and not cigarette. If you 're feeling bad make sure to have nicotine. yes, I know it's addictive, but it does not harm like TAR. So yes I'm having nicotine everyday here and there.

I just woke up 30 minutes ago, I felt very good....none of these pain that I had in the first 13-14 months anymore.

I remember that forum, here, and said to myself that I had to write for you guys as I was in such distress at the time and like you coming on this site everyday to look for comfort.

We're all in the same team. keep it up and don't TAR…Nicotine if you want but don’t TAR

Fantastic advice thank you for posting

Thank you for the follow-up and sharing. I am glad you found something that works for you.