Stopped smoking and feel awful!! Will this go away??????

Question

Hi all,
I'm a 30yr old asthmatic and I stopped smoking 2 weeks ago after smoking pretty much on and off for 16 years, which has to be a good thing!
However i feel like absolute crap! I knew that i would probably feel a bit off and start coughing up all sorts of rubbish but never did i think i would suffer this much!

A friend of mine stopped at the same time and she feels on top of the world!

Has anyone else suffered the same or have any advice for me???

Answer 1

It will get better. Some people just cope with the withdrawal better than others, you have obviously been unlucky. Dont give in, you are doing the best thing you have ever done...;

Answer 2

I will not go into a dissertation that I cut and pasted from some website. I see someone already did that. AND pasted it twice! I will tell you that I successfully quit for three years, only to share a cigarette at a party and within a week or two I had worked my way back into the habit. Then quit for a year, and thought maybe a cigar on the golf course would be okay............then a cigar every day or two, then daily, then smoking them like cigarettes! Then back to the cigarettes (for 3 more years!) because they were cheaper! Don't despair, I have now been off them (again!) for over a year, and I simply know that it takes very little to "reacquaint" your body to the habit! The exercise is a great help, keep it up. But I think, at least in my experience, that if you keep burning a few butts periodically, it simply lengthens the time until you are truly free from the addiction. How long is that? Ask most ex-smokers that question and your answer is almost always "I'll let you know when it happens". It may never go away, but I call it a success if I go two or three days without thinking about one. Luckily, it passes more quickly all the time.........

Answer 3

First of all, congratulations!
Now that you have stopped for over two weeks, you are through most of the physical cravings. What you are experiencing are the psychological cravings. If you look it someone else who smoking like a diabetic looks a person eating a hot fudge Sunday, and say to yourself "God I remember what I could do that!), you'll drive yourself crazy. You will either be a miserable non-smoker or you will go back to smoking. Start looking at other smokers in the same way you would look at the drunk passed out at the end of our. She them from the bottom of your part because they are addicted to the substance that has a one out of two chance of killing them.
Drink lots of water and start an exercise program. This is your new life, time to take care of yourself! Don't think about it, just do it!
As far as the junk that you are coughing up; there is a reason for that. Smoking paralyze is the find little hairs of your tracheobronchial tree called cilia. When you stop smoking these little hairs wake up and start doing the job they were meant to do; clear up the junk and your lungs. Again, exercise will also help with this. Don't use this is an excuse to go back to smoking! That sort of rationale is complete BS.



Sincerely,

Kirk G. Voelker MD
Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Founder Quit Doc Smoking Treatment Network
www.QuitDoc.com

Please Note: This note was dictated using Dragon Naturally Speaking v8.0 while exercising on an eliptical trainer, so excuse any transcription errors.

Answer 4

I smoked for 5 years 20 years ago and managed to stop. At first I did feel awful until the withdrawal symptoms went away, and that will happen in time and then you will feel just as good as your friend does. Your friend might be exaggerating just how good they feel knowing that you don't feel that way yet?!

Answer 5

31 n quit 4 yrs ago, yes you will feel better soon, I had an awful cough for about 4 weeks afterwards but dont get that god-awful ache in my chest in the morning now! Have you noticed how awful other smokers smell yet? If not give it time, you will!! Big pat on the back to you and keep up the good work!

Answer 6

yeah, it will pass, it will take time though. And don't compare yourself to anyone else, this is just about you and how your body reacts, and everyone reacts differently. A
lthough your body is supposed to take 48 hours to get rid of the nicotine, you have to remember how long you were smoking for and the build up of 'gunge' in your lungs/throat. i only smoked for about 4 years, but was ill off and on for a couple of months after stopping. you have to give your lungs a while to clean themselves and to start breathing again, but you've probably got an illness, possibly a throat infection of some form, on top of the misery of stopping smoking. If it helps, you need to think about how important it is that you stop now. And think that if you do restart, you'll have to do this stopping business again (which you'll do sooner or later). Need some more help? Do some web searches for lung cancer images and look at the damage smoking does. Or think about being 40 and always being out of breath from smoking, or having heart diesease. The only thing that really stopped me smoking was when my son was ill and was in hospital, and seeing the smokers outside hospital, some of them with amputated limbs, and/or hooked up to drips or with oxygen tanks, but they were still smoking.
Commit yourself to having some bad weeks, but think about the long term!

Answer 7

I was asthmatic when I stopped I stated to feel better after about a month drank some orange juice each day and that helped well done for sticking to the no smoking anyway lol

Answer 8

You are bound to feel ill with withdrawal symptoms for some time to come, especially as you are already asthmatic. Try to think positively. Giving up the filthy weed will, in time, help your breathing and your lungs will start to heal and clear of the sticky black tar which has been building up in there for 16 years. For your lungs health's sake stick with your resolution to never smoke again.

Answer 9

Unfortunatley your body is craving cigarettes and will do anything to get that nicotine hit including making you feel like crap, but the good news is that the feeling you are having is the final stages off nicotine withdrawal and everything gets easier from now on.

Remember nicotine is the most addictive drug known to man, and it is very difficult to give, but you have taken the first step to a better life.

Answer 10

I quit a 5 pack a day habit, it took over a year before I started feeling better

Just my 2¢

Answer 11

I quit smoking and I had a nicotine taste on my lips for about two weeks but it went away.It takes time for your body to adjust to the change.What ever you do don't start sucking on candy.Good Luck