Shortness of breath after stopping smoking

Yes I cannot breath. Been 20 days without a cigarette and I feel like

Yes! I don’t feel well most of the time I’m tired and I’m often out of breath! I smoked for almost 30 years also.

Thank you for sharing. I have smoked for many years and decided to quit to have better health but I have been having shortness of breath and it scares me.

I’ve got SOB too. Quit smoking Oct 30th. Been almost 3 months without a cigarette. Sort of cold turkey... I used patches and supplemented with chewing tobacco for about a month. Finally stopped all nicotine Nov 24th. Been an angry, frustrating time and I do sometimes get the SOB. It comes on suddenly and usually gone in an hour or two. I notice it more when I’m sitting for long periods. Glad to see I’m not the only one.

Steve! I'm having a similar problem. I used Chantix for a month (October 2020). I quit completely in November. I used the Nicotine lozenges up until mid January and backed off of them. I now feel as though I can't get a full chest of air. I prop myself up and it helps a little. I was going to go to to ER this morning until I popped a lozenge in my mouth. My friend told me that nicotine is a lung dilator? I can't go back to cigarettes because I have two aneurisms. This is scary and horrible. I'm going to try the nicotine lozenges again to see if they help.

My husband quit smoking eight weeks ago. As time passed, he had trouble breathing. he's been in the ER four times. First they say COPD from smoking. inhalers never really helped but he kept taking them. Now he's hospitalized for anxiety. NOT ONE doctor thought of nicotine withdrawal even after all x-rays, CT scans and an Echo of the heart all were fine. Go figure! There is a lot of money being made off people trying to quit smoking. DON'T GIVE UP. QUIT

you prob have sleep apnoea

I've had the jerking when I smoked & it has subsided somewhat after quitting. My opinion & I know medical conditions & medication side effects well as it's been a hobby to research since injured at 20 years old. I don't think there related closely. Go over other things that may be causing it. My hands always shaking has calmed too I'm 55 quit 2 years ago. If you took meds to help you quit there antidepressants & your answer. If not give it time your nervous system is waking, try valerian before bed temporarily, if it gets worse it means think about the beach or other so you don't (fall) asleep. It sucks after 30 years of it but it gets better, good luck!

Top stuff , quit smoking never quit living ,.

First of all, thank you so much to everyone sharing their experiences on here. I'm a 34 year-old male and quit 4 days ago after about 18 years of a one-pack-per-day routine. I've been trying to gather information online about quitting, but just about every single article or resource tells you the exact same thing: smoking is the greatest evil of all time, quitting it is the best decision you can ever take, quitting will make you a brand new person, blah blah blah... Well clearly, while it's the right thing to do in the long run, quitting isn't all sunshine and rainbows as they'd have you believe. I don't understand why those side effects aren't emphasized further... Well of course, I guess those publications want people to quit so they'll minimize the negatives, but still. As a naturally anxious person, I've spent a lot of time gathering information on what to expect when quitting, and I've never seen SOB mentioned even once. As I said, I've been smoking for over a decade and I've also always been into running and weightlifting. I've never really felt much SOB, never coughed more than a typical non-smoker would, and I'd usually catch a light cold once a year, if that. But about 12 hours after quitting, I started experiencing SOB. Then today, 4 days after quitting, I tried going on the same run I always do, and not even 500 meters after starting I just couldn't continue - completely out of breath and strong stomach pains... I've never experienced anything like that - it's like I was trying to run while suffering from a flu! I was pretty worried... But reading everyone's experiences here helped tremendously. I'm relieved, happy, and encouraged to know that I'm not alone and that my experience is not something to panic about. In particular, I will try to follow three pieces of advice I've read here: cutting back on coffee (I drink a lot of it), doing breathing exercises (especially the one early in the thread about blocking a nostril), and consult with a specialist to rule out any potentially more serious issue. For what it's worth, one thing I've noticed that seems to help is to drink a lot of water throughout the day, and also having a glass of red wine at dinner. I'm not sure why, but in the last few days my SOB symptoms always went away for an hour or two after dinner, but not after lunch, and I only drink wine (or any alcohol) with dinner, so I'm guessing that could be that. Not sure if that's good advice or anything, but at least I thought I'd share that, for me, this seems to help the symptoms for a little while. Thank you to all the wonderful people who took the time to share their experience. While that may not mean much, please know it's helped one random guy a lot - and I'm sure many others too. Good luck to everyone, after the storm the sun will shine again!