I was smoking 20-30 cigs a day since i was 16 i was 42 when i decided that i wanted to stop,i had been smoking 26 yrs and, because everyone was telling me how it was going to kill me one day, and that it was full of chemicals and the rising prices of a packet to nearly £10 a pkt was enough to say id had enough. Well i really enjoyed smoking cigs i was healthy, and fit and my weight was in the normal range, i was rarely poorly from anything, rarely went to the doctors exept for my three yrs routine smear check up, allways the life and soul of the party, even looked young for my age, and i am not exagerating when i say all this, but smoking was not effecting me at all only my purse,. My breathing was good i wasnt out of breath, if you saw me and how healthy i was you would have bet your life on it that i was not a smoker, so anyhow i decided to stop purely because i couldnt afford how much they was, well i have never been through so much sh*t in my life, first off i i had the normal withdrawal symptoms, cravings, mood swings, irritable, in the first few weeks, i thought this was going to be a breeze i just had to master the fact that i could never hold a cig again in my hand or mouth, well that conquered, after the first month things really started to go wrong, i will just list the things i got in the 6 months since i stopped 1) constipation 2) irritable bowel syndrome 3) irritable leg syndrome 4)head aches 5) carpal tunnel syndrome 6) a bowel infection 7) chest infection 3 times, 8) sinustitus, twice 9) bronchitis 10)bloating  11) itchy ear and throat. 12) allergies. and many other little underlaying symptoms, so for me i wish i had never stopped, and im dammed if i will start smoking again, so their is truth in the saying " if its not broken dont fix it" or come on doctors at least have the balls to tell us we are in for a rough ride and that it really is not going to be easy, and someone should tell us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel about a 1yr to 18 months after quitting befour any side effects begin to subside, which they have for me only just slowy subside, i think i can honestly say if my doc would have told me all this would go wrong, then i could have mentaly prepared for it, but as he didnt all i can say is that it was the hardest thing i put myself through ever, and i have gone through child birth 6 times, so that really is saying something, so i totally understand where you all come from.