Shortness of breath after stopping smoking

Why would they think you have cancer? That's pretty disturbing. Have you been to the doctor for a full work up?

Its the 23rd of December 2014 2 days till christmas, and my anxiety is still the reason for my suffering, its been 550 days of no smoking, you would have though my anxiety would have gone away by now, but it hasn't.I think the reason being is my sleep has been terrible lately, the other day i slept a full 8 hrs without waking up during the night, and that is when i awoke my anxiety was gone. Dont want to do no more drugs for sleep, they make it worse. so when i start sleeping well I think my anxiety will go away and the feeling of sob will disappear. THANKS RALPH MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

sob is the only symptom....i'm trying to not give doctors my small income to tell me i'm fine

Ok. Give it some more time. my SOB lasted 12 months before it started to get better. I went for a full exam for my own peace of mind. Everything turned out fine but if there was an issue, I hope it would have been caught in time to do something. You never know after smoking 30 years what is going on in your body. Good luck

Give it a year to go away if its not gone by then go get an xray.

I also quit smoking six months ago. I am on an asthma inhaler now and still caughing up tar tasting stuff about once a wk.

"COPD is a slowly progressive disease — you start out with two good lungs, and you can lose about 50 percent of your lung function without having many symptoms, especially if you are not very active physically, says Kathrin Nicolacakis, MD, a pulmonary specialist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. "If you get diagnosed with COPD early, you can save most of the lung function that you have left." THANKS RALPH 12/28/2014

Everybody starts to lose some of their lung capacity as they age," says Umur Hatipoglu, MD, also a pulmonary specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. "A non-smoker loses about 30 cubic centimeters of FEV per year, starting between age 30 and 40. COPD smokers lose about 100 cubic centimeters per year. But if a COPD smoker stops smoking, that loss drops down to almost the same rate as a non-smoker."

Today is December 31st 2014,I would like to wish to all of you that follow this board a HAPPY NEW YEAR,and I hope the new year will bring to all, the end of this terrible SOB AND ANXIETY that has caused you so much fear and pain THANKS RALPH

To all on this board. The shortness of breath that you all are experiencing as well as myself (quit 10/20/14) is caused by the bronchodilator that cig manufacturers have added to the cigs you smoke. The bronchodilator (a drug that dilates or makes bigger your airways in your lungs) causes you to actually breathe easier because of smoking. When you quit, you are no longer getting the bronchodilator drug to make your airways bigger, so you struggle for air. This drug actually masks the terrible affects of smoking to the smoker. My SOB is improving, but I don't know how much it will improve because I've only been quit for a few months.

Today is the 2nd of Jan 2015 its my 560 days smoke free, I should be breathing like I never smoked, but that is not the case, my breathing is terrible, not that i;m not getting the oxygen that my body needs ,that is not the case my oxygen level is between 94 and 99 % which is great,but it feels like i'gonna die at any min. from like of oxygen, its a terrible feeling and I know you people have the same feelings.but after so long it should go away ,but it hasn;t.and that upsets me, but what can I do except wait it out, I WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A SPEEDY RECOVER THANKS RALPH

Honestly, it has been almost 2 months since i quit smoking. I had been a smoker for only 2.5 years. That long only. Started because I felt more alive and happy when drinking with friends and also help from not passing out. Like usual, started from 1 cig, then 2,3 and so on. When not drinking I could do at least 6 and up sticks, when drinking more than a pack. This last week or two, I started tasting cigarette in my mouth, and it happens at random times (when waking up or mid afternoon or at night). It doesnt happen all the time or its sudden then goes away again then comes back later. I also have dry cough, I don't know why, but I read plenty of replies in here saying about tar coming out, I dont have that. Also everytime I took a bath, be it warm or cold, after doing so I will start SOB. Another thing is SOB attacks commonly during afternoon, I don't know why. Its like, im kinda expecting it, kinda afraid that its afternoon again and its going to happen again. My anxiety or fear is terrible, when i start feeling sob, its like all my strength is taken away from me. I dont hyperventilate. And my mind its just awfully telling me that im going to die. This feelings causes me to cry so many times. I dont know when its goin to end. I do feel that i am this weak, useless. Did not feel this way when I was smoking. Most of the time, I am not convince that this is due to smoking or nicotine withdrawal, simply because I was just smoking for 2.5 years. I am praying always for courage and relief, and I hope its not too late to do things right for my health. I wish that aĺl of us strenght and relief...

Hi I hope you can help me I've read your story about stopping smoking and my symptoms are very Similar it's been 50 days now without a cigarette and I feel horrible I feel like I can't breathe and when I lay down it feels like I've got a massive weight on my lungs I've also had the odd chest pain I'm 24 and smoked under 10 a day for maybe 10 years I know your not my doctor but I was hoping you could tell me how you got on........... Thanks Roxy xx

The bronchodlators they put into cigarettes is one of the most sinister ingredients that they add. It masks how bad your lungs really are and you have no idea how bad off you are until you quit. If they did not add them, you would feel your lungs getting bad and quit smoking sooner but they trick you into continuing until it's too late. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am at 11 months smoke free now and I guess I am about 50% back to normal right now but I was very close to death when I first quit. I felt absolutely healthy as could be when I first quit. I had always wanted to quit and finally decided it was time so I did. I felt good for the first 3 months and then all hell broke loose.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What I think happens is...once your cilia in your lungs starts to regenerate and starts sweeping / breaking up the tar and other debris that has been trapped in your lungs for years, that is when it gets harder to breathe. The stuff is now blocking your airways and they are no longer held open by the bronchodilators so you are in for a rough ride. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One doctor told me, that is how most older smokers die. They get sick, don't smoke then get pneumonia from everything in their lungs and their lungs fill up with fluid and crap and they die. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What helped me was I went to go see a doctor, told him my whole story and he prescribed a nebulizer and some albuterol sulfate solution and also gave me some steroid inhalers like advair or asmanex, ect. I also ended up getting a bacterial infection in the lungs because the sticky tar and mucus that is hard to cough out in the beginning is a breeding ground for bacteria. I had to take 6 rounds of antibiotics in my 11 month journey. I haven't taken that many antibiotics in my entire lifetime before this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I did suffer for 3 months before finally giving in and going to the doctors because I didn't think he could help and I wish I wouldn't have waited so long because without the help of the albuterol and the steroid meds I don't think I would be here right now. There were days I didn't sleep at all because I couldn't even lay down and breathe at the same time. I could only sit upright in bed. It was horrible. And NOBODY mentions this as being a part of quitting smoking. Everything you read tells you how much better you feel in 20 minutes and then 48 hours later oh joy! And in one year you are brand new. SUCH BULLCRAP maybe some lucky people do but I have been through sheer HELL.

I am in big trouble right now and would appreciate if anyone can put my mind to peace please, I was a smoker for about 8 years out of which 3 years were heavy and i would say rest was moderate about 5 to 7 a day. In last 1 year i dropped it to two or three with a view to completely stop it. No new year resolutions or anything and one day when I had gone down to about 1 a day i though I dont crave for it anymore so lets give up on it and so I did. Fast forward to 3 and a half or 4 months, I am short of breath at times, not all the times but it just hits me at any time, I have a weird feeling on the front of throat which can be described as numb or tingly, no problems in swallowing anything, I do have a lot of phelm when I am talking normally and i am clearing out as much as I can when I have it but it still keeps coming back, I do get my blood tests done routinely and there is nothing in that but it is just taking all my time and effort to try and find out whats going wrong or is it something I should be having as I have only left it about 4 months ago.