Quit smoking a year ago - sick ever since!

Hi Nan, Are you doing better on the selenium and low carb diet? I hope so but have a feeling you are not. Selenium gave me headaches and low carb can wipe you out.

Sorry it took so long for me to update but my labs & doctor visit caused more problems than helped. Labs were "off". Doc considered increasing my dose of thyroid meds but wanted me to try insomnia meds first b/c he thought insomnia might be part of problem. He gave me RX for sleep but had BAD side effects. Now trying Melatonin and insomnia is cured but makes me groggy which defeats the purpose of dealing w/ brain fog and fatigue.

I have tried vaping and a couple other things AGAIN and still nothing helps. Tried stopping Melatonin and stayed up 25 hours straight which made me feel even worse. I am going to increase thyroid meds tomorrow and see what happens. I will keep updating when I have news. I am still thinking of smoking again to see if it helps. Please let me know how it's going for you. Thanks.

Hi Kathy, Good to hear from you....sounds like you're going through a lot right now....I've never had insomnia, but heard it's brutal. I sure hope you get some relief and some answers.

I'm on a gluten free diet and selenium...the gluten free is helping my stomach, but honestly what's really bad right now is I just started my first week of an anti-depressant. I've been feeling very depressed and anxious and not able to cope normally....hard to get dressed and leave the house. I had to take a few months off of work due to stress/anxiety and I'm calling on family members for support, as well as seeing a therapist. I'm hoping to feel some relief, but hear it takes weeks before feeling better. In the meantime, I'm feeling worse and more anxious.

I want to start smoking just to have my head feel right, but I don't think my lungs will like it and honestly, I don't think it'll help. I hope if you decide to try smoking again, that it works for you. I know it's not healthy. I'm wondering if once a person quits and then smokes again, if your brain chemically goes back to the way it was before you quit. Keep in touch, okay?

Hi,

Quit for near 3 year. Constant probs, an iety, headaches, cant focus, breathing heavey, over breathing u name it. After going to docs and everythin comin back as o k i started realising this would never change. So i decided to start smoking for a while and stop, only to notice if anything changes. At first the smell was enough to put me off and it was slightly as if im smoking for the first time again but stuck to it. It took a while but the effects started to work. Its as though everything starting to calm everything down. It got easier for me to breathe and slightly strangly but i felt better in myself even tho i knew what i was doing was not gud. I got off the fags and yet again a few days later i started gettin probs. When i quit i got better at a rediculously slow pace with other illnesses coming thru. So i think either dont smoke and ride it out without knowing how long it would take or start smoking feel better but its on u. Then again, i know a few who have quit smoking and not a sneeze in sight.

hello dear, u r the one few of us waiting for quite some time as we just want to know if starting smoking again give us that old relax self back or not. I am 6 years smoke free but more or less I have same issues which u have after 3 years, all doctors checks and blood tests are good. I am going to start smoking again anytime soon just to give it a try to feel normal again. Please please share some more details with us. such as
1. age? how much and long u smoked? how much u felt worst after quitting and how much u felt better after starting again?
2. R u any old user of this site, share your old nick name. i have been coming to this site for 6 years
3. R u planning to continue smoking? Did u try nicotine in any other form and felt better?

I am desparately waiting for your response.

how many cigerrets u smoked again to see the positive affects?

Hi,

im 33 and smoked for 14 years. After i quit it was ok for a few weeks then all of a sudden i had what appeared to be the flu chills, headache and pains. Slowly from there it got really worse over the years. It has subsided but never really gone. I tried smoking again to see if i could get back to being myself, i probably smoked for a few weeks till i started to feel betta.
Im not planning to smoke again but i just wanted to see if all the pains were to do with me quitting smoking and it does seem so. I tried vape and that worked for a bit but bought on problems of its own.

These are my own experiences so take that as u will. Dont assume because i started to feel better u will too. It is a horrible road and i feel for you if you have had these probs for as long as me. Slowly i am getting better even tho its taking ages.

I don't know what to think about all of this I am 7 days in on quitting and they have me on every steroid known to man including nebulizer for my lungs iv had a upper raspatory infection for two weeks I quit because they told me the bronchitis wont go away unless I do so I'm a week non smoker everything is getting worse the mucus the soar throat I have horrible wheezing in my chest I have been in and out of the ER they finally told me there's nothing they can do and there sending me to a lung specialist that they have no clue what's wrong with me I literally feel like I'm dying I am 34 single mom of three girls I smoked since I was 13 and like two packs or more a day ever since I'm freaking out

Hi Jessica, Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble w/ quitting. I wish we all had a magic pill to "make it stop and just feel human again". I hope it gets better for you.

Hi Jessica,

So sorry to hear you're going through physical problems and the emotional problem of dealing with everything. It can get overwhelming and is especially difficult if you're not feeling well. I hope you get some answers soon. I have not been through what you're going through, but a lung specialist will hopefully be able to help you and give you some relief. I researched and sought out blogs like these to help me. If you haven't done so already, go back to the beginning of all of these posts to see if others have been through what you're going through now. Best of luck and don't give up :)

Hi Kathy,

How are you doing? I hope you found some answers. Just wanted to keep in touch......I posted a while back about me having a Hashimoto's diagnosis. Had many endocrinologist labs done and he didn't see anything wrong with me other than the Hashi's....I like the doctor, but he wasn't much help with options to help me feel better. Decided to see another Osteopathic-type doctor and she diagnosed me with Adrenal Fatigue. Getting fasting blood glucose test this week because I'm dealing with bouts of reactive hypoglycemia. In the meantime, she prescribed some bioidentical hormones to help and so far, so good. It is a better option for me than anti-anxiety/depression meds which made me feel worse. I'm sure all of this is related to stressors in my life and not related to my stopping smoking. I will say though, that if I had continued smoking, it might have helped me deal with all of the stressors. I am still really glad I quit.

Hi Nan,

It sounds like you are doing better. I am so glad for you.

I am in the middle of an experiment for my brain fog. So far, it is going good but I wanted to wait to post until I am sure.

Yes, thank you....doing better because I finally know what I'm dealing with. Okay, well let me (us) know how it goes.....I think I over-shared in my last post, but you never know who else might be going through the same thing...take care :)

Brandon back again, been a little while since an update. about 21 months quit now. Im doing ALOT better now. Ive noticed the longer its been since ive quit, the game has changed, in that the beginning was all about time. Time having been quit. make it a month, make it 3, 6, etc. after 6-8 months, I was cured of nicotine. That's when I noticed a shift. It then became about how I was feeling, and my body. I was hyper sensitive and vigilant about every little ache or pain, and each of those was cancer, or some other made sure in my mind disease, convinced by the all mighty google. That went on for months. I literally make myself feel ill because I BELIEVED I was truly ill. I realized that I was hurting myself by doing this, and retrained myself to simply get back to living. I started focusing on getting back to doing the things I love, building cars, fabricating, painting cars etc. and I slowly realized that I felt 100 percent until I got to thinking about how I feel, and then I would decline again. The key for me has been to keep busy living, doing what I love, and make myself not worry about this c**p. And literally just now I had to stop and count on my fingers how long its been since I quit. The quit was my number one focus, and I thought I had to make it all about my quit. and for me, I was all wrong. I had to stay quit, but let the quit go, and not let it control my every move. 6 months ago I could tell you how many hours itd been since I quit, now I don't look back, I don't crave, and mostly.... I don't feel like sh*t. Shove it up your ass cigs!

So glad you are doing better. It sounds like you are "over it". Congratulations. I wish I knew how to "let go". Too many health issues for me to have a life. That is the worst part b/c I want to get back to normal but can't. I am better the last few weeks so maybe I am close. Best wishes for a happy smoke-free future.

Why do i have palpitations and hyperventilation problem 2 years after quitting cold turkey ? Anyone know ?