Shortness of breath after stopping smoking

Wondering if anyone can put my mind at ease. My husband stopped smoking 2 months ago, after 30 years, 2 packs a day........he now has shortness of breath, bloating, feels anxious and tense, he is on liptor for high cholesterol and micardis for BP, he has had EKG chest x-ray blood work, ultrasound and now a stress test all that showed was his BP was much higher after moderate exercise. We both feel like we're going crazy, he feels awul and has these physical symptoms but nothing is showing up. He has been given a low dosage of Zanex for anxiety - doesn't do much. Can this all be in his head and due to withdrawal? I feel so bad because I even suggested he smoke to see if it all went away - at least we'd have some answers... but that is awful of me and he has been so good, and not given in at all. It's just maddening and the doctors seem pretty useless. Is there anyone who had gone through the same stuff? Thx.

Hi chefgirl, absolutely that's related to his withdrawal! It takes the lungs 8 hours to recover from every single cigarette. He's going to be going through problmes like that for a couple of weeks and the anxiety of course is related to nicotine withdrawal. He won't feel fully normal for three to six months...which is a standard period of time for getting over an addictive substance. I can absolutely verify that it's probably in his head. What do you think?

Bluedog thanks so much, I really feel it is due to withdrawal - in my gut, but it is so worrying to see him this way. He broke down and smoked last night and I have to say I was hoping his symptoms would go away and we'd have an answer but no though he did say he felt just a little less anxious he slept better but now of course he's down about the smoking, I don't think he is starting up again but it's tough. I do think it's in his head, the subconscious messing with him etc. He'll see his doc later this week to go over stress test results it really only showed his BP very high when exerting himself, no heart probs, maybe she'll give him some different anti deppressant med? I really appreciate you writing. It helps, the doctors don't really want to acknowledge this as withdrawal they seem happier to say I don't know and shake their heads at you when tests come back clear and just want to do other tests and have us spend more money........ Will keep checking here and post an update later in the week. Thanks again!

I appreciate that you're going to post some updates for me--I really appreciate it! Now I can tell you one big issue is that now that he's smoked, it's not like he's going to feel the same as before. Since he's stopped smoking for so long, he's kind of in a rock and a hard place. He's going to sort of feel like hell either way. I'd say that you should encourage him to get off the smoking as soon as possible again just so that he can recover faster. What do you thikn?

Hi again, he managed to only smoke those few the other evening and gave away the remaining ones the next day. He's not smoking again :-) big relief! He just has to get his head round the fact that this is from stopping and it'll pass. The worse thing for him is how he feels he can't fully catch his breath or take a really satisfying deep breath and the lungs fill up. I do believe in time it will ease up.

thanks bluedog, posted but forgot to log in so it is delayed. he managed to only smoke the few the other evening and gave away the remaining ones, so he is not back to smoking. A bit tougher I know on him right now but at least he still wants to stop. The main drag is the shortness of breath, how he can't seem to take a deep satisfying breath, as I said tests are clear. Sometimes it get's worse I think it is anxiety being p.o about his breathing makes it worse...........I do believe in time it will ease up. he's had some other validation as well as this site, that all of what he is feeling is from stopping and I think it is sinking in more. Just have to go through this step by step.

Hey guys, can you please help me as well. I've only been smoking for the past 2 years, 2/day initially then 4-6/day for the last whole year. Recently, I began to decrease the number of cigarettes I smoke per day, so much so that now I am only smoking (on avg) about 1-5 per week. As a result, I am feeling a very wierd type of shortness of breath (which I don't think anyone has related to on this topic yet). I don't feel the SOB at certain/specific times, but rather at all times, 24 hours a day. I feel as if my airways have constricted, not allowing the usual flow of air to enter the lungs. Every 5-10 minutes, I find myself forced to take one or two really hard breaths to get all the air in. Is this normal? I am 22, and had childhood asthma when I was very young (I think before age of 7), which waned off and tapered soon after. I also would like to let you know that this habit of hard breathing/sniffing and feeling of SOB started immediately after an incident 2-3 months ago, in which I had mistakenly consumed two pills of a street-drug called Speed (speedbomb). I had conducted blood/urine tests immediately after and the doctor said everything is fine (excluding the presence of MDMA & excessive bilirubin in the blood). Are these symptoms of mine normal when quitting/decreasing smoking? If not, are they normal after having a dosage of mdma drugs?

Hey, Im a 32yo ex smoker who has quit for the last 3 months after 14 years and reading some of these responses is like everything im going through. I had a complete health check including blood/urine/lung/x-ray/blood pressure etc and everything was perfect. Even my cholestrol was under 4 which is phenomenal but I am experiencing the shortness of breath only after I quit! I just hope it gets better. Ciggarettes are very evil and tobbaco companies should spend some time in a Turkish jail and their management stoned to death in public!

Hi there, just an update. My husband has smoked after 2 months of stopping and battling awful symptoms as mentioned above. He has proven to himself that they are definitely related to stopping - he feels so much better and is breathing deep again very weird we don't understand how that works he doesn't want to continue smoking and will stop again - he is planning his quit date and will read Allen Carr's book yet again and hopefully his mind will help him through this more now he knows any "side effects" are only due to the cigs being removed. I just want you all to know if you have the same thing going on, with all your tests coming back clear and the doc says you are healthy then rest assured it is caused by stopping smoking and it will pass, it isn't easy , it just takes time and having your mind know you are ok. Good luck to all. Thank you again bluedog for your words.

I quit smoking a week ago today and have been so ill. Coughing up phlegm so much my sides hurt. Breathing deeply feels hypersensitive and brings on more coughing. I have sweats and chills off and on, especially at night and I am extremely fatiqued. Saw my doctor for a chest Xray and it was clear which amazed me. I was sure I had lung cancer that was just beginning to be symptomatic. How long will I feel so sick???? I will never smoke again becuase I'd have to go thru this physical trauma of withdrawal all over. I'm hoping this is temporary and soon I will have my energy back and breath better again. I honestly felt lots better when I smoked!!!!! But a week in I can't go back! Has anyone else had such violent physical withdrawal? VirgoC

I quit smoking 2 weeks ago, after smoking 40+ years - 1 pack a day. What is driving me crazy is the shortness of breath and the feeling of mucus in lungs that I can't quite cough up. I've started taking mucinex and drinking lots of fluids (not coffee) which seems to help somewhat. I'm using an inhalor which sometimes help. I have the feeling that I need to yawn and just can't seem to do it. I keep trying until it fianlly allows me to breath in a deep gulp of air. But then it starts up again. Now this doesn't happen constantly. I sometimes can go a whole day without using inhalor and breathing just fine. Then other days I need to use inhalor every 4 hours. Another thing is I am having a hard time sleeping. There are nights when I am up til 8 a.m. then fall asleep for 3 hours. I'm very tired that day and find that my SOB is more profound. Then that night I fall asleep at 10 p.m. and sleep all the night through. So it's like every other day I will get 8 hours sleep. Any suggestions for getting sleep. I am also developing cold symptoms - stuffed nose - pain above and under eyes

i just came here to read but what the, might as well pile on. i'm 62 yrs old and have smoked since collage. i quit quit on march 31 2009. i had stopped earlier but keep finding 'emergency' smokes lying around. i was fine until about a week ago when the sob hit. i used to walk the dogs a mile or more at a time but now can barley get to the mail box. i have had trouble sleeping but i think i'm over that, i hope. it is good to see the other responses as they give me hope. the dogs just don't understand.

I'm glad to hear that your dogs keep pushing you but it's probably hard to deal with right now. You should use them as a motivating tool to get hitting the pavement hard. Does that help at all?

I just wanted to interject something here. I'm having similar symptoms here, 30yrs old, smoked 15, shortness of breath, seems like I can't get a good deep breath a lot of the time, getting half-yawns, tight chest, mild anxiety, etc. etc. I quit when I was 20 and used deep breathing exercises to help try to get my lungs into better shape, and to work through withdrawls. It worked pretty well. anyway, I remember hearing that nicotine functions like opiates and solicits endorphin response, then I remembered that laughing supposedly solicits endorphins as well. So, pay attention to what your body is doing, remember short breaths into the upper chest will solicit adrenaline/cortisol response, lower abdominal breaths solicit endorphins. Laugh, laugh really hard, cough like heck if you have to, but induce laughter and relax with the endorphin response, then have a breath, respond back if that does you any good, it can't hurt to try right? get used to paying attention to your body, tension ,etc. I quit because I thought it might help with my back pain, it made a huge difference. Try the laughing and comment back, please if you comment on matters, get a user name, or leave a name/handle in the text so we can identify followup reports. God bless, relax. Nickinmichigan

Hi there, I have quit smoking for 12 days after having smoked for 21 years. I started out smoking lightly (as most of us do) progressed to a pack a day for about 10 years and then slowed down to 1/2 pack for a couple of years and then 5 or so a day -sometimes none - for the last 7 years. I quit twice in those years, both times for pregnancy. My questions: 1) would my lungs have been improving somewhat for the last 7 years of smoking lightly, or just not getting worse as fast? 2) why did i never cough up junk when I quit for pregnancy? 3) should i be seeing something more than little tiny brown pin drops in my sputum? I'm going through the usual shortness of breath (I just quit cold turkey, for anyone who is wondering about Chantrix and SOB), occasional anxiety, restless legs (probably from increased circulation) and coughing up little tar spots. It hasn't been *too* bad - I think I smoked so little and so haphazardly that I wasn't even really addicted anymore....I just enjoyed it. When I had a cold for 3 weeks and couldn't shake the cough, I thought, "Now's the time." Good luck to everyone and thanks for any responses.