Shortness of breath after stopping smoking

sorry that would be 95 and 89..50 would mean you're dead

You are going nuts with this stuff!  So am I !!!!!   I was wonderring why they had me at breathing at 60% capacity and my oxygen saturation was reading in the low 80's....I thought that was good...until I just learned that the saturation is different from the breathing capacity....ugh...its just too much to take in....so, apparently, the saturation indicates how much oxygen the blood is carrying...the breathing capacity is something different...ugh!!!!!!!!!

I do believe 50 would mean your dead!  Yikes...  I am way to young for this crap!....And to think...I quit to be healthier!   

Just got out of the hospital. in there for 4 days, with pneumonia. Had chest X-ray, cat scan with and without contrast, major blood work. I just came back for rheumatologist and was told I now have Lupus because the inflammation I am experiencing is affecting 2 areas, my lungs and my joints. Too coincidental, I quit smoking in January, maybe the smoking masked other problems I had that I didn't know I had. Drs don't agree, but when you have never been really sick, hardly ever got a respiratory cold, and now this, it's too coincidental. I never took a lot of meds, and now, I just can't keep up with them and the new meds they are going to be putting me on will suppress my immune system. not going to read the side effects. - Frances

The doctors never agree. I do think it masks problems. Is that bad or good? What if we never quit would we be symptom free? I quit and suffer from sob and anxiety which I never had. I'm at 11 months so I have to just wait it out. I will not go back to smoking after what I have been through. Hang in there I hope you feel better soon . Keith

Well hello you nice sick people, I am glad to find this forum. I thought the devil had finally come and got me. anyway I smoked about 2 and a half pack of Marlboro cigs for 60 years and I quit about 2 months ago, cant breath very good and some times I pass out I see the bright white lite and I think its over at last, just to wake up 2 hrs later feeling good Im pretty old now just 87 i got maybe 10 to 20 good years left and the dam devil is trying to beat me out of them, any way I know from reading this board that there is no advise you people can give me , you dont even know what to do for yourselfs thanks anyways

Hello Frances...sorry to learn about your sickness...I often wonder if I would have gotten sick had I not stopped smoking....had my cigarette smoking masked my inevitable SOB....who knows...Do you really have Lupus, an autoimmune disease which I have heard are hard to diagnose because most autoimmune diseases mimic each other...who knows....There just can't be all of the coincidences out there....Anyway, feel better.

Well, I s/w one of my brothers last night who told me he quit smoking 3 weeks ago. He said that he feels great. He smoked much longer than me as well. Go figure why I developed SOB an anxiety? When I tried to explain what I was going through he just did not understand and said it was all in my head. Exactly what the doctors say. Maybe they are right? If that is the case, then it still takes time to correct this. ~Keith

Check into hyperventillation. So used to not getting enough air for so long, your body had to adjust. Now that you dont smoke you are getting too much oxygen in your system. A good clue is if you yawn alot.

Keith...I got that a lot at the beginning from family members saying it's all in my head...to just stop thinking about it....How crazy is that...stop thinking about BREATHING!  Yeah...easier said than done....they made me think maybe it was all in my head until I found this forum and realized it wasn't in my head that there are a lot of people just like me going through the same thing....

Who knows anymore? How is your breathing doing? This pollen is not helping. Never had issues with pollen either until I quit. I refuse to let this get to me. When I get SOB and my anxiety kicks in I just keep going I refuse to bow down to it. I read stories where people won't go out or get out of bed. That is not good you can not be afraid. Keith

And thats the key, to force yourself to get over it. At my worst, I WAS AFRAID of walking anymore than 200 yards and had to take my BP afterwards if i did which just escalated everything. It turned me into a hermit for a while. Go do something you have or hate to do and before you know it you will catch yourself feeling ok. But of course sometimes symptoms are real and sometimes you have to tell the doctor what the hell to do..

Hello everone I am 69 years old woman and I quit smoking over a year ago and I still have sob pretty bad , I have to use a inhaler to get through the day, I have read this board many times in the past year and it seems normal to have this problem for a very few people I use to smoke about 3 packs of cigs a day for 45 years , does anyone think that this sob of mine will go away? it is alot better now than it was in the begining. but I cant walk very far with out having to stop and get my breath I am 5 ft 5 inches  tall I weight 124 lbs

Being that you smoked for so long I guess it can take years to clear up. Have to had tests to see about COPD or emphysema? I'm at 11 months today and my SOB has been getting better but when it's off then starts the anxiety. Some days I have anxiety which kicks off the SOB. I feel much better now than I was 3 months ago so I just wait it out and hope for the best. I applaud you for quitting after smoking for so long. I think Ralph is about your age and smoked for a long time and going through it as well. I do think smoking masks issues and when quitting they come out but who knows if you just continued to smoked if they would have appeared? You may want to get a Deep Breathing Exerciser(Voldyne). You can get one on Amazon for under 20.00. Here is the model of a good one. 8884-719009 Place this in the search and it will come up. Read the reviews. Good luck. Keith

Thank goodness!! Not that you are having this problem, but that I am not the only one!! Everyone tells you about the benefit of quitting but they all leave out ALOT!! I smoked for 32 years and quit 2 months ago and quite frankly have felt worse than I ever did as a smoker. Sometimes the shortness of breath scares the crap out of me and then there are times I can't seem to get the air out!! My skin behaves as though I am going thru puberty all over again too. I sure hope over the long run this is worth it all. Michele