is this smoking or heart related?

Question

after i do ay type of exertion wether it is going up the steps to the bathroom or playing with my kids i am horribly out of breath and it takes me forever to cetch it. i do smoke about a pack and a half a day and am trying to quit. i am 23. could this be from smoking? i heard that beaing breathless after exercion is from heart problems?

i have had a chect xray that came back normal does that rule out lung probs?

Answer 1

This is a chronic condition at age only 23.
You MUST do something about it.
I would guess it's the smoking, which will also affect the heart.
You need to stop smoking immediately, and satrt getting some gentle exercise. Try quick walking.
]Its actually good to get a little out of breath, to exercise your lungs - but make sure that you inhale through your nose, and NOT through your mouth. If you have to inhale through your mouth, then you are exercising too hard.
You can help yourself, as soon as you have stopped smoking, by doing breathing exercises.
Inhale through your nose as much as you possibly can, and hold it as long as you can to enable your lungs to open up and expand.
then exhale, and hold the exhalked position for a few seconds before inhaling deeply again.

Here's some help to stop smoking.

Quitting smoking is a great opportunity to learn about ourselves, as you have already observed.
Congratulate yourself on having the desire to stop - then you are over the worst, but still need to maintain your resolve. It's just so easy to start thinking that just one won't hurt, but it does. Just one achieves nothing except feeling the need for another. Whatever you do, don't have just one. Beware - alcohol will weaken your resolve.
Here's a few home-brewed tips that might be useful.
It's not just nicotine addiction - there are 50+ chemicals in cigarettes. Also the main problem is habit.
We have been used to having body sensations which we translate as 'my body needs something', which we have attempted to satisfy by having a cigarette.
When we try to stop smoking, we still get these 'my body needs something' sensations, and we still feel that we want a cigarette. We have to train our body to be more selective. When we feel we need something, we have to work out what it is that we actually need.
A glass of water is an excellent substitute if nothing else comes to mind, as it helps with the clearance of the toxic substances in our body. Another good substitute is a bag of salted peanuts, used in combination with the water.
Another thing to do is to find an activity which occupies the mind or body. Go swimming - nobody wants to smoke while they are swimming. Slowly, as our body adjusts and translates the 'want something' feelings into something other than cigarettes, then the feelings begin to go away. We know its not a cigarette that the body really needs, because as soon as we've had one we still have the feeling, and want another!
We will have a few bouts of feeling or even being short tempered. We must try to bite our lip, and control; ourselves. Recognise the short temper as being the removal of toxins which are trying to find a way out. They went in through the mouth, and they try to get out that way to. We must learn to keep our mouth closed, and force the toxins out the other way.

After we have stopped for a while we will begin to feel that just one wont to any harm.
All that leads to is a desire for just another one. We must guard very strongly against the desire to have just one.

Answer 2

Of course the heart and lungs work together to profuse the body with oxygenated blood. The smoking day-to-day causes the heme in your blood to bind with carbon monoxide at much higher levels than the average person - this is RATHER than oxygen. Additionally the smoking causes the lungs to be inflamed, thickening the lungs, preventing adequate diffusion of oxygen into the blood stream. Lastly the cigarettes have nicotine that cause vasoconstriction (crimping of the vessels) that prevent a normal volume of blood from getting to where it needs to go...like your lungs, heart, and skeletal muscle...that's the smoking part of the equation.

Heart disease rarely presents in individuals under 30 but it occassionally happens if you have EVERY risk factor. Specifically smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, strong family history of early heart disease, and diabetes. I sincerely doubt a single risk factor or two is enough to prompt early heart disease is someone so young, but tests can be run to explore the possibility.

That said, for age 23 your tolerance to exertion is poor. Part of this may be deconditioning, you may have some exertionally prompted asthma, there may be a problem with the valves or even a hole in your heart that you were born with, there may be some completely unrelated problem with your lungs... though a negative chest xray is helpful.

Go to your primary doctor and discuss your symptoms. I do not think you need to rush to the ER but I think you should have it looked into. If you have some sub-clinical asthma, treating it early will be helpful. Take this as a good time to re-evaluate your smoking and consider some ways you can quit. Discuss this with your doctor too. He/she may have some things that can help. Good luck.

Answer 3

I'm also a smoker. About a pack a day. Its not likely heart problems right now, its the smoking and maybe lack of exercise. Even though I smoke, I workout approx 5 days a week and dont seem to have any problems, although im sure Id be better off without them. Smoking can lead to a number of heart problems so I would at least cut down, if not quit altogether.... Im trying too :-)

Answer 4

Well, I used to smoke, long ago and had the same type of problem. I was doing exercises to increase my lung capability after I quit, thinking it was from the smoking. When I finally checked with the doctor, it turned out that I had a heart murmur! Nothing really severe, but because of it, my body cannot flush out the fatigue toxins from my blood as well as most people, so I have to breathe harder to try and get oxygen into my blood. I try to keep fit anyway and just tend to rest a bit more frequently when hiking, etc. Good luck!

Answer 5

Shortness of breath upon exertion can be from heart problems ,and can also be from lung problems. Both can be related to smoking. The best way to determine the cause is to see your doctor for a thorough evaluation.

Answer 6

Your only 23 years old so the children must be very young. Think about smoking and your children NOT having a father when they are teenagers.
Unless you quit, start exercising, eat smartly your wife will be a widow and your kids raised by somone else.
Smarten UP. See a doctor.

Answer 7

Hello -- You really need to stop smoking now and not wait.
It's truly not helping you. I believe that your problem you mentioned is from your smoking. I suggest that instead of
going cold turkey that you use a step down method and join
a support group. I also suggest to see a good heart doctor.
It's better safe that sorry. I had a very dear friend who just
passed away from smoking. So next time you want to lite-up
think of your kids.

Answer 8

I have been where you are now and let me tell you to start with to stop smoking and go see a cardiologist and have him check you out and do not let them tell you that you are "too young" to have these kind of problems due to your heart. they told me that i was too young for heart problems and would not take me seriosly till i almost had a heart attack and then they did a heart cath and found blockage and i had to have a bypass surgery. I am not saying that is the case with you cause we are all diffrent but don't just do nothing.get some help...

Answer 9

I would definately go to your Dr. and get a cardiogram. The same thing happened to me and I had clogged arteries. I got terrible short of breath and pain in my left arm and neck. The Dr. told me if I would have waited much longer, I would have had a "fatal" heart-attack; arteries were 85% blocked.

Answer 10

Get yourself to a cardiologist. I had the same problem & ignored it for 2 weeks. Next I had a heart attack. I screwed up the rest of my life (what's left of it) by being in denial & not listening to my symptoms. I don't know what you have..... but it's too dangerous to be asking questions on Yahoo answers!!!!!!!!!