Difficulty breathing after quitting smoking

hey, am no expert or anything but i am a smoker who is giving up using champix, it is normal when you are giving up for your lungs to be under pressure because your body is working overtime to clear your lungs of chemicals caused by nicotine, every 10 minutes your lungs are getting clearer (so i have read) and with you breathing in and out it is making it harder, so your chest seems tighter and you cant take a deep breath without feeling uncomfortable, this should clear up in time ( about a week) if you continue to not smoke. If it doesn't i would seek more medical advice hope i have helped you out Jenny

I have been cigarette free for 8 months after using Chantix. I have not breathed better in my life. You will get your air back and more. Just stick with it.

Have you by any chance gained weight due to quitting? If so, you may not be used to the weight gain. Just watch what you eat. and like others suggested, be patient, and don't pick it back up!

Best of Luck!

thanks for the post...helped me a lot !

undrtktres, how's it going? still having those chest pains?

i rememember last time i quit, i had the same thing for a few months... it was like my lungs were "unglueing" themselves apart. lovely...



anyway, after that lovely story, i started smoking again... after going to a few smoke fillde clubs in eastern europe... so, i'm sick now with the flu and going thru day one of not smoking. my plan is to ride it out while i'm sick - i've foudn that it's much easier to get over the hump this way in the past. hope it works again

I quit smoking six months ago. But my chest feels tight and if I push out whith my chest before i exhale i can actually see smoke come out of my mouth. Anyone ever heard of that?

ive been stopped 9 month and the tightness and breathing comes and gose ive had xrays ive had test and ive had a copd teat and thats ok while im talking my voice gets hourse and my breathing gets hard..no one can say what wrong.. so it might be the ter in our lungs that need removing by our bodys.. i dont know but i need answers.. anyone offering..

I have been quit for 2 1/2 months and am having coughs till I gag. Sometimes hard to breathe in air, like lungs starving for air. I can get on my knees and elbows with butt in air and breathing is no trouble. Does anyone know how long this will last. My wife quit about 2 weeks after I did and she is not having any and I mean not any kind of cough or hard breathing. Hahaha but she is gaining weight fast. I don't mean to laugh. Please anyone tell me what to expect.

This may sound like a dumb question, but did you smoke menthol or non-menthol??
I was a menthol smoker for over 20 yrs. I got really sick in July and was having a hard time breathing, so I finally quit smoking. After 3 weeks of being smoke free, I was having a really hard time breathing and ended up in the hospital for 4 days being pumped with 16 rounds of steroids, 8 rounds of antibiotics, and breathing treatments every 4 hours.
The Dr said my lungs had taken a beathing from smoking so long and so much. The problems I was experiencing was my lungs trying to rid themselves of all the 'junk' and trying to heal.
It was very discouraging, I finally quit smoking and my breathing was worse than when I did smoke!!
Just be strong, you will get through this!!
Good luck to you and your wife.

Hi smober,

You mentioned Menthol cigarettes but then didn't expand further...What did the Doctor say that the role of Menthol cigarettes was in relation to your problem ?

Menthol is harder on your lungs. My mother smoked non-menthol 25 yrs longer than I smoked menthol and her breathing isn't as bad as mine was. Not sure how true it is, but I always heard that smoking menthol was like crystalizing your lungs. I never asked the Dr how true that is, but he did tell me that menthol is harder on you.

Wow...."I can get on my knees and elbows with butt in air and breathing is no trouble."

I just finished doing that...helps with my breathing. I don't feel so strange now.

I feel like I have no space inside to breathe, if that makes since. But if I stretch my body, particularly my rib area, it's better.

I too am having the same problems - quit about 3 weeks ago and now feels like I cant quite get enough air in when I breathe - not every breath - maybe every 15/20, just feels like I have to put a lot of effort in to get enough air?
So, all I'm wondering is what were peoples outcome of this? Is it a trip to Dr's or will it just past?? I know the last post on this thread was a year ago but it would be handy to know if you're still around?!?
If you haven't guessed I'm a bit worried about it!

exsmokerforthreeweeks....

I quit on Oct 15th 2012 and now, 20-2-13, I'm checking out sites to see why I'm still feeling a little down, slight sore throat, can't get full breath, tight chest in the morning etc. It seems, from what I have read, that this is normal (even though in my case it is 4 months) and that we shouldn't worry about it. Obviously, there is a concern of what it could be, and a concern that should I go to the doctors, they send me for a scan and then there is a shadow, life over! Why did we put ourselves in this position I sometimes ask myself.

So, in answer to your question, I think only you know whether a trip to the doctors is the right thing to do. I thought the same only yesterday but will see how it goes over the next week. Think my lungs are finally clearing out all the phlem, chest remains tight in the mornings but clears by 10am.

walking a mile a day seems to be really helping with getting my pulse pumping a little.

By the way, I am 36 and have smoked since I was 14... properly smoking at 16/17 (10 a day) moving up to 20 a day by 20/21 and by 30, around 25 a day! What a fool I was!

Anyway, let me know how it has gone.... I'm interested to hear...

Jim