Shortness of breath after stopping smoking

yes smoke free bout 2-3 months this suks cant breathe but thanks to reading these thought i was getting worse and was ready to light up ,will hang on in ...

Hey are you feeling ok right now? Experiencing it right now for almost a month and a half. Short of breath and tightness of chest, how long does it take it take for you to completely heal..thank you

Hey are you ok right now? Experiencing it at the moment.

For Richard or anyone else:  I stopped cigarettes 4-months ago and it's been a breathing nightmare.  I had a one way bypass in April called a CABG.  I continued to smoke.  I felt fine but then the surrounding area around my left lung filled with water.  It had to be drained 3 different times.  Each time I could not breathe.  I breathed fine after the draining.  Every ones telling me I have to quit smoking.  Fine.  I put on the patch.  I got hives from the patch.  I'm allergic to the patch.  I could not breath from the allergic reaction.  Then I got pneumonia twice from all the water around my lung that had been drained.  Then I acquired Bronchitis twice.  I've been back to the ER 8-10 times since the heart surgery.  I switched from the patch to the gum.  I smoked 2+ packs a day for 43 years and nicotine won't leave me alone.  It seems I've got to have it but I can't breathe.  I have a  pulmonologist who has copd on the brain.  That's all he ever tells me is I have copd.  Well Doc...I never had these breathing problems before the heart surgery.  He won't listen.  I'm thinking I'd breathe fine if I picked up cigarettes again but, not really.  I mean, of course I wouldn't breathe fine but....at least I'd feel like I could breathe you understand?  Kind of an oxymoron...lol.  I coughed up so much phlegm I lost my voice.  I was using a saline nebulizer.   When I can't breathe I'll pop a nitro pill which seems to help.  I have those from before my heart surgery.  I just want to breathe again.  I don't however want to smoke again.  I haven't had a cigarette since July.  I'm saving lots of money.  I breathe kind of better till once again all of a sudden I can't breathe at all.  It seems to happen at night usually and on rainy days.  It feels like an asthma attack.  I can't take it no more.  Oxygen doesn't help much.  I have 3 different inhalers.  I told hospital security to just shoot me.  I told the ER doctor to give me the suicide pill.  I've never experienced anything like this.  All I remember is the heart surgeon leaning over me and saying...."this won't extend your life but, it will give you quality of life"....lol...really?  I haven't had any "quality" of life since the surgery back in April.   I've never been so miserable before.  Ever!  Yet.....I haven't given up yet.  I'm still not smoking.  I am having a piece of gum a couple times a day.  Lord have mercy.  I wish I'd never had smoked.  I also kind of wish I'd never had quit.  This suffering has got to stop.  I just want to breathe.

I Am Having Grasping For Breathe At Times...like I Stop Breathing & Then My Chest Will Jerk also....Day 51 for me....Fatique is awful....Don't Want to do anything & When I DO ..Tired very fast.... Sleepy When I Get Up More so Than When I Laid Down...Have 2 Nap About 2 pm most Days....Praying it will Get Better Soon...Dr. Sent Me For Nuclear Stress Test & Everything was Normal...Thanks,Good Luck To Us All

I quit Sept 2015. In Feb 2016 I thought I got sick from the grandkids. Diagnosed w/asthma. Did chest x-ray, nuclear stress, etc. Just want to rule out the heart. Last test will be catheter for the heart. Smoked for many years (45). I thought you were suppose to get better after you quit...not worse??

Listening to music helps me relax

Well Its been a year for me after smoking for 30years. I went thru all the same stuff when i first quit. Hospital visits thinking i was having heart attack. Breathing weird trying to take deep breath when i couldn't and major anxiety. It does get better in time but for some it takes longer. Hang in there people

Absolutely! I've been smoke free for 11 days and will not go back to smoking. My lungs feel tight and I'm short of breath. Deep breathe. Some days I feel like a truck hit me ugh it'll get better. Good luck to you!!

Bill..I'm so sorry for all your troubles. I thought I was having a bad time till I read your story. Plz don't smoke..its not gonna help anything. Drs told me I have COPD also and I haven't smoked in 11 days. My lungs are sore and I'm having trouble breathing and some days I feel like a truck hit me But I'm going to hang in there. Over time I sure hope things get better for you. No one deserves to suffer. I'll pray for healing. Hugs Bill

I have been trying to stop smoking before and this time is only been two days but the shortness if breath is really hard that cause me to go back before I tried patches once it worked for about a month but I had to go to surgery so my doctor had me to remove the step patches but I really would like to know if they are not safe to use

How could you put yourself through this shit ? Your body is falling apart on you ! You need to read Allen Carr's book ASAP, and stopping will be the easiest thing you have ever done. Read on here about people using patches, and weird NHS pill prescriptions from Big Pharma - none of that shit works. Only Allen Carr's book, with it's 93% success rate, works.

Great reply. Also, in order to aid the cillia, your body will coat your lungs with an extra layer of 'mucus' containing enzymes that help remove the tar little by little. Obviously an extra layer of mucus on top of your tar make oxygen transfer in the alveoli that little bit less efficient, hence you feel slightly breathless. The dizziness and/or sickness can also be caused by all the accumulated foul poisons that are having to be absorbed and disposed of by your body. Doctors don't like to tell you this stuff, they want you to quit, they don't want to dissuade you, or give you any reason to find an excuse not to stop. I have been free for 5 months and have shortness of breath and light headedness - which I never had when I smoked.

I'm 52 about to be 53. Been smoking for the most of 30+ Years sans my pregnancies. Quit a few months ago. Like you all I have never felt worse. So short of breath. I was told that it was a normal healing response as well as a form of withdrawal and I did use a 7mg patch daily for about three weeks. That helped immensely. Now I'm sick and ugh it's back except for coughing is very painful due to a flair up of sciatica. I'm currently on a prednisone taper pack AND guafenesin (mucinex) to help get me through this. It is VERY reassuring to read so many of you suffering er I mean healing in the same way. There is no way I would ever pick up a cigarette now. So gross. Kudos to everyone and hang in there. This shall pass and it's certainly better than the alternative!

sounds like you might have sleep apnea.