I have quit several times and the same thing has happened to me. Several years ago I quit smoking and began chewing nicorette, I noticed it then. Then once I quit nicorette I noticed it again. What it is, is that nicotine is a metabolism stimulant, so all those years you were smoking, your stomach was aided by nicotine to digest food. Once you take the aid of nicotine away, your stomach and digestive system go into shock. I smoked for about 10 years at the most. When I quit smoking the bloat and distended stomach lasted for several months. When I quit nicorette (yes, several years later) the same thing happend again for a couple months. Both times I ate less food and food that is more easily digestable, lots of fruits, vegetables and raw nuts. Of course I ate meat and grains as well, but in much smaller amounts. I ate less food at each sitting and ate a couple more times a day (snacking). I also purchased natural digestive enzymes from Whole Foods. They are plant-based enzymes. These helped too. I used them for a couple months. Stay well hydrated because one thing I have noticed is that whenever I quit cigarettes or nicorette, I become very dehydrated. The problem is we are digesting slower and eating the same (or close to) amount of food as before. Therefore there is a back up in the intestines. I also used a natural senna tea from time to time to make things move through. The longer you have relied on nicotine to digest, the more shocking it is for the system. The digestive system must re-train itself to digest without the aid of nicotine. It can take a while, but everyone, it is WELL WELL worth it. Do not give up!!! Hope this helps someone.
smoking and gastric emptying -
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I'm am so glad I found this site and all these great posts. I quit about a month ago amid my third round of bronchitis this winter -- very rare for me. I smoked for 20 years, about a pack a day. I am coughing up c**p still (the illness before doesn't help because it has extended the symptoms for me. I have major episodes where I can't get a breath, even though I am moving plenty of oxygen. My stomach is bloated and I don't even want to eat because it puts pressure on my lungs and make that panic breathing thing come back. That out-of-sync breathing lasts hours unless I take Ativan. It doesn't help that none of this has happened on my last quits and I have become single-minded in my fear that something is really wrong with me. I guess it is. :-) I am super happy to know I'm not crazy, at least not yet, but if this continues, I am at risk for smoking again out of total fustration.
to mentalcompass - try taking one betain hydrochloride with a meal. i was able to quit last year and i had a lot of trouble breathing and dizziness and severe weakness and of course the bloating. After a few hours i felt amazing. Just don't take too much too soon. Your stomach lining may be breaking down with the absence of acid and too much will also make you sick. Just take one with a full meal for a couple of weeks then if you feel you need more to feel normal you could take two. Do your own research on it. It sounds scary to take a pill made of hydrochloric acid, but I have no problem taking them now. I get them from vitamin world, but there are many brands. If you're still afraid to take one you can have your acid level checked by any doctor who will do the Hiedelburg capsule test. I had successfully quit for 3 or 4 months and was doing great until i listened to a dr who told me to try citrucel and it ruined everything. Ended up smoking again and still trying every week to get over it. Also fennel seeds will relieve the bloating a good bit, but they did nothing for my allergy symptoms.
How many milligrams do you recommend?
Hi there
Firstly I am so happy I am not alone!
I have experienced severe stomach bloating & craps any time I have tried to stop smoking.
It's always been the thing to make me go back to smoking again.
Any time I have asked my doctor they don't seem to know what is happening & they just tell you it should all calm down in a few months.
I recently found out I was pregnant so had no choice but to stop smoking immediately. I have stopped smoking (cold turkey) two weeks ago.
Yet again after just a day or so without smoking my stomach is bloated & I have gas & cramping.
The cramping is so painful that I have to get out of bed at night & walk around to relieve it (many times a night!), or if I'm driving I have to stop & get out of the car because it's so sore & straightening up is the only way to help.
I can't understand how doctors don't know why this happens.
I am in a terrible state - normally I could just go back to smoking to stop the pain but now I have a baby to think about.
I really want to stay off the cigarettes while I am pregnant anyway & am willing to put up with the normal withdrawl symptoms (plus the pregnancy nausea etc.) but this pain is too much.
I don't even mind the big fat belly - if at least it didn't hurt.
It's so unfair when you do want to stop smoking. The one thing that is keeping me going is to think that all these years of smoking has done this to me. It's not the stopping now but what the thousands of cigarettes have done to me & I never want to feel like this again.
Having read some suggestions & am heading to the health store this afternoon to find some digestive natural medicine.
I will also keep you posted if there's any improvement & if anyone else makes a breakthrough please let us know!
Firstly I am so happy I am not alone!
I have experienced severe stomach bloating & craps any time I have tried to stop smoking.
It's always been the thing to make me go back to smoking again.
Any time I have asked my doctor they don't seem to know what is happening & they just tell you it should all calm down in a few months.
I recently found out I was pregnant so had no choice but to stop smoking immediately. I have stopped smoking (cold turkey) two weeks ago.
Yet again after just a day or so without smoking my stomach is bloated & I have gas & cramping.
The cramping is so painful that I have to get out of bed at night & walk around to relieve it (many times a night!), or if I'm driving I have to stop & get out of the car because it's so sore & straightening up is the only way to help.
I can't understand how doctors don't know why this happens.
I am in a terrible state - normally I could just go back to smoking to stop the pain but now I have a baby to think about.
I really want to stay off the cigarettes while I am pregnant anyway & am willing to put up with the normal withdrawl symptoms (plus the pregnancy nausea etc.) but this pain is too much.
I don't even mind the big fat belly - if at least it didn't hurt.
It's so unfair when you do want to stop smoking. The one thing that is keeping me going is to think that all these years of smoking has done this to me. It's not the stopping now but what the thousands of cigarettes have done to me & I never want to feel like this again.
Having read some suggestions & am heading to the health store this afternoon to find some digestive natural medicine.
I will also keep you posted if there's any improvement & if anyone else makes a breakthrough please let us know!
the vitamin world brand of betaine hydrochloride is 400 mg. that was plenty for me. i started taking them 2 months after i quit and they worked perfectly. but like i said, don't take too much, you have to work up to taking more. The bottle says to only take one, but in time you can take more. I only ever tried one other brand - "NOW Betaine HCI" it was 648 mg and yet didn't seem to work as well. I really hope it works for you, I assume we are all suffering from the exact same problem so it should work like it did for me. I only wish it would work right away, but for some reason you have to quit smoking for a while first. Vitamin world has fennel seeds in pill form too. I think they taste gross so I'd rather just swallow the capsules - 4 every time i ate.
I cannot believe what I have been reading, I quit smoking 11 weeks ago and thought my horrible bloated belly was something I was going through on my own. I have only put 4lbs. on since I stopped so I could not understand why I was so huge round my middle. It is making me very depressed and I am wearing baggy t.shirts all of the time As soon as I have finished this I am off to the health shop to see what they have in the way of help to combat the BFB . I still want to smoke on occasion, but it is getting less often, I smoked for 40 years so the habit is well rooted. Good luck to all of you fellow quitters and I will let you know how things go.
I have tried numerous times to quit smoking and have also had the horrible bloating. It starts around the second to third day of not smoking and lasts for weeks. My doctor believes that the nicotene aided the stomach in digesting for all the years I had been smoking. Once I quit, my digestive system slowed way down since it hadn't functioned normally in years. Everything seemed to digest slower which resulted in being backed up, bloated and just feeling miserable. Doc gave me "Bentyl" this time. I'm only on day 2 of not smoking so I haven't tried it yet but plan to get it filled and will see if it aids in the digestive process.
Went to health shop and they recommended Lepicol capsules, started taking them on 22nd may and they seem to be working, bloating is not half as bad and digestion working really well. Hope yhis has cracked it!!
Try pro-biotics and essential fatty acids.
Hi All,
I also suffered the same issue with bloating etc. I recently started on "inner health plus" and allready (it's been 2 days) i feel HEAPS better, the bloating is almost gone and no gas! So i would highly recommend it :) Just wanted to let you all know that this could potentially help you out! YAY!
See link to innerhealth plus website..
Hope it helps!
Loz
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I also suffered the same issue with bloating etc. I recently started on "inner health plus" and allready (it's been 2 days) i feel HEAPS better, the bloating is almost gone and no gas! So i would highly recommend it :) Just wanted to let you all know that this could potentially help you out! YAY!
See link to innerhealth plus website..
Hope it helps!
Loz
***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed
Thanks for posting everyone! Seems like this gas problem has been up since 2008 and no one has really given us a definitive answer. Me was smoker for 40 years, stopped (3 weeks ago, age 54) finally after my heart was doing flip flops and I decided either stop smoking or die real soon, too soon o.O :-) Heart is not palpitating sommersaults too much (still a bit), but even drinking water is painful and as I type, my stomach feels so full and yet I am hungry.
My naturopath doesn't not seem to know too much as he hasn't given me anything but vinegar tablets, which help a bit...the nurse tells me to take Apple Cider Vinegar, which I have been for the past 4 days...doesn't help much either. Took ginger with hot water...helped a bit but not much.
I was so looking forward to being healthy after quitting for good. I tried many times for many months over the years but this time I managed because I could not sleep at all for weeks from my 'fright and flight' heart condition.
My stomach condition makes breathing difficult..want to burp but can't. Wish someone has really looked into this for us ex smokers and smokers who want to stop. There are many of us.
My naturopath doesn't not seem to know too much as he hasn't given me anything but vinegar tablets, which help a bit...the nurse tells me to take Apple Cider Vinegar, which I have been for the past 4 days...doesn't help much either. Took ginger with hot water...helped a bit but not much.
I was so looking forward to being healthy after quitting for good. I tried many times for many months over the years but this time I managed because I could not sleep at all for weeks from my 'fright and flight' heart condition.
My stomach condition makes breathing difficult..want to burp but can't. Wish someone has really looked into this for us ex smokers and smokers who want to stop. There are many of us.
Thank you so much for posting a response. Finally. I went and bought Pearls, a probiotic tonight after not being able to find Senna, a herbal laxative. I am just miserable and feel fat, have horrible and gas and look pregnant. This website sure is hard to read though.
I have decided to quit smoking and it's been about two weeks now. I am having this feeling of being pregnant. My stomach is bloating way beyond ever expected. My mouth is watery all the time and I have a hard time sleeping at night getting up going to the bathroom. I am so nervous! Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, but no..your not the only ones going through this and I am yound at 30 years old.