Shortness of breath after stopping smoking

That last post made me laugh. Oh what we have to go through. I've heard the coughing/gagging/choking-on-phlegm can be quite severe. Boy, I can't wait till that starts up. My SOB (that always makes me say "son of a bitch" in my head) has gotten worse in the past day or so, stood panting at the top of the stairs yesterday after bringing up laundry-YIKES.  I started a bit of a cough yesterday, but it was dry and made my chest hurt like hell!! I was running for the first two weeks to try and combat the SOB but since it makes me suck wind so bad I've gotten self conscious about it. I think it's important to power through the SOB to strengthen lung capacity, so I've got a rowing machine on the way. It's two fold; keeps me from gasping bent over on the side of the road, and keeps me conditioning my lungs through this coming winter. I would imagine ANY form of cardio conditioning is invaluable right now. 

Totally forgot the whole reason I decided to post. I'm going on a road trip later today, first one since I quit. As I was gassing up and driving to get things ready earlier I had one of the first strong craving I've had. I think being on the road for a couple of hours is going to present quite the challenge. That's called a trigger, right? Well, I think road-trippin is going to be a huge trigger for me. I wonder if I should take my e-cig, I can grab some juice with no nicotine. I wonder if that'll make cravings worse by mimicking the action. I wonder if I'm over thinking this...

Got some new research coming soon stay tuned, doing reasearch on it now will post soon.

Today is day 60 of my quit, after a month my breathing started to inprove, but day 45 it started getting really bad again. and now i am waking up a couple of times during the nite,trouble breathing, taking .50 mil zannex but it want keep me asleep have to take a hit on my combivent. then i fall back to sleep.cant take a shower anymore cause i cant stand up that long without running out of air. Today is Aug 20 2013, my quit date was June 21 2013.

I am the same, it's a little scarey, I find shortness of breat and heart palpitations !! I can not determine if its a real issue or anxiety??? Don't want to go to dr as I may look like a hyperchondriac !

It is 2 months for me today, I woke up this morning coughing my head off , dry cough then it got wet and then i almost passed out be so glad yo reach the 3 month mark where its suppose to ease up some, good luck to all.

Hope you are feeling a bit better today Hplar. I'm feeling pretty horrible these last few days as well, I was even getting worried about passing out in the middle of a field on my daily 5 mile walk today. Have stopped running and cycling for the time being, it was too much too soon. I still don't know if this is all anxiety related or not and its driving me crazy. It's been 3 months and a week since I quit smoking. After the clean results of my spirometry/blood work & chest x-ray I told my doctor I wouldn't come back unless I felt any worse as I had a hard time accepting that it was anxiety related and didn't want medication for that. I'm starting to have serious doubts now though and I'm thinking about making another doctors appointment.

Thanks Arthix , Please do and get some inhalers, they make a world of difference, your breathing in the next few weeks will inprove alot. this is not anxiety.

I went to the doctor again today. I was prescribed Citalopram (anti-depressant). I agree with him that my symptoms are probably anxiety related and are a result of me thinking about them all day every day. I probably had anxiety issues before I quit but smoking calmed me a little. Good luck to you guys.

Im 25 and I quit smoking 3 months ago after smoking about a pack a day for 8 years. While I smoked I had a "smokers cough" that was very wet sounding but not alway productive. The reason I quit smoking was because I was getting SOB and chest congestion. For the first couple weeks after i quit my breathing was great. Then I started having SOB and Chest tightness constantly, with a couple good days where I can breathe easier. I feel as if I have mucus stuck in my lungs that blocks airways. I'll feel like i can't get deep breaths and feel like I'm going to pass out from being oxygen deprived. I don't really have a cough now that I quit but I do force myself to cough because of the feeling of mucus and CT and occasionally cough up the smallest pieces of thick sticky phlegm. Most of the time i cough i cant get anything up , and then feel like i cant breathe because of the couging. Could it be the thick mucus causing my difficulty breathing? Anyone else go through this? I had mild childhood asthma and pretty much grew out of it. My breathing problems started showing up not long after I started smoking. After a few years of smoking I was hospitalized for my lungs being in terrible condition from smoking. Since I quit smoking I've been to the doctor and of course when I have my appointment, I feel the best that I have felt in weeks, breathing easier and not having CT or SOB...go figure haha. So he couldn't find anything wrong with me, causing me to believe the problem is that thick mucus clogging up my airways. I hope my lungs heal fast because I have been miserable and haven't been able to do anything!

Today is day 70 for me , 10 weeks. seems like a lot more and its been very very hard for me. was getting better, but at day 45 all hell broke loose once again, yesterday and today seems a little better, just be glad when it gets over with. I miss life . Good luck everone please dont go back to smoking .

Same here! with panic attacks and its going this way at 6 monts. It could tock over one year to heal, Do you have truble whit your eyes? (fog, duble vision or ligt sensitivity), use salt inhalator it makes your breathing easier. tar stuck on your air ways, and paralized cilia , thats the reason why you cant take a deep brath, when gobelt cells start too produce muchus it wili come down , wee we start to feel : more terrible, salty mist or salt inhalation loosen up muchus and more easi to cough it up.

My eyes have been sensitive to light ever since I got pregnant a few years ago..but that's about it with my eyes. When I saw my dr 3 weeks after I quit, back in June, my breathing was fine and passed the spirometry test. When I saw him last week all he could do for me was to put me back on pulmicort and keep taking my albuterol inhaler(which doesn't seem to help that much) I have panic attacks too which makes everything out of control. Do you still get dizzy/lightheaded?

I was a light smoker for 10 years and was surprised to experience the same shortness of breath that you all are describing.  I am also a runner-  was when I smoked and still am-  running helps A LOT.  It helps to regulate your anxiety, flush out the toxins, and get air deep into your lungs which will assist in cleaning them out.  Running is a very empowering activity that you can take on as a coping skill in order to combat cravings because you will get a healthy dose of serotonin, which is the molecule of will power, so increased levels will make a huge difference if you experience difficulty finishing things,are feeling a little down, are getting annoyed easily, or feeling unable to control your impulses (craving nicotine, for example). 

Yes all the time, and strange sensations in my legs, pluss muscle twitches, for my panic attacks y used frontin, xanax, rivotril, and som ssri serotonin stuff, but nothing seams to work, the main reason for this is because the problem is not neurological or psychological, and the same applied for the anxiety two. The lungs ,or the tar in the lungs causing it , or tar comes down of the wall of the airways and blocking them and a big and fast o2 drop happens, and the brain reacts with panic attack. and a nother thing what y found is, that y cant fall a sleap during the day ! But i have a horror time with sob, and y hate it , y hope wee all get bather soon.