My lungs feel like exploding??

Lance111

Hi all,
It will be 12 weeks or 3months next saturday that I have given up, I have been doing great up untill the last two weeks...
over this period I have had stressfull panic states plus my lungs feel like they are ready to explode for a cig... crazy!!
Has anyone else exprienced this lung feeling or is it all in my mind, take care, Lance.

comerla

What do you mean by exploding?

I have been off them since January 1. I started getting panic attacks focused on my lungs a month or two ago and went to a couple of doctors about it. They have me on SSRIs to get me though this period and have assured me that my lung function will recover somewhat over the next couple of years.

Stick at it- sounds like your'e over the worst of it. If panic attacks persist go to a doc.

Lance111

What do you mean by exploding?

They feel full like i can't breath, if that makes sense lol...

The Panic attacks are really stressfull, I feel since I have given up smoking I have no outlet for stress and find it very hard to cope... over the weekend I have come very close to packing it in, this is because I never had pannic attacks and bouts of stress this bad when I was smoking...

HighFinance

Lance,

If its any consolation i'm exactly the same after just over two months. My lungs seem to have taken over the craving instead of the receptors in my brain.

And i've njust come back from Amsterdam where they still smoke everywhere so it was damn tough.

keep the faith brother.
b.

comerla

I know what you mean about panic attacks etc. To be honest I got them very bad myself and still have a touch of it. Its not pleasant but it will pass once you get the cigs out of your system. If it starts to affect you in a big way your doctor can sort it out as I was saying- the meds do work.

My anxiety is also focused on my lungs- as most anxiety is (just google anxiety and you'll see that breathlessness is part and parcel of it). smoking does affect the lungs of some people over the long term and hopefully this is just anxiety you have and you're not feeling the start of COPD (lung disease). If you're getting overly breathless going up stairs etc. maybe consider getting a spirometry test done.

Well done for staying off them anyway- I mean this genuinely. I am having big problems with this- every time I have a few drinks I smoke. This is a very hard thing to do. :Last time I gave them up for years and it was easy- I never had even one. Now I have 10 every time I get drunk!

ianhobo

Hey, i was actually coming on to post/ask something similar!

My lungs are in bits this last week.

I stopped smoking Jan 18th (compliments of the Alan Carr clinic). I'd been smoking about 12 years.

My lungs have been relatively ok since I quite, I don't wake up in the morning any more hacking up a mouthful of black gunge.

But the last 7 seven days, my chest has been really tight, I'm finding it difficult to breath, and I am short of breath. I'm 27, have always been fit (never more so since I quit ) and I've been running more than ever since I quit, but I haven't been out running since last friday due to fatique and my chest/lungs feeling so poor.
My sinuses/nasal passage is also really blocked.

I imagine its just another stage in the body tidying up and recovering, and probably isn't really something to worry about.

I did stop previously for 2 years about 4/5 years ago. My friend nicely reminded me the other day that back then , I complained for nearly a whole about my lungs and breathing!!!

If you are worried, I guess the only advice would to visit your GP, but i feel more reassured now about how I feel, and the other comments here, given the the similar timeframes and similar physical feelings

Well done by the way

comerla

Yes Ian it is reassuring to know other people are going through the same!
I reckon part of this is a result of the fact that we used to be always focused on having a cig, now we are focused on not having one, so our lungs are always in our minds, and also predictably we have a touch of anxiety.

Another part of this is that the lung function is affected by smoking- even after only a year (did you see that recently on 'how long will you live' with the 22 year old smoker who'd already lost 15% of her capacity?- check out summary here- http://www.rte.ie/tv/howlongwillyoulive/s3_prog7.html), but from what I've read you can recover most of your health if you're 30 or younger. Once you start getting into your 40s/50s the damage is more permanent (I can really see breathlessness in my father for instance, who smoked until last year), but you do get some recovery and loss of capacity stabilises.

Here's a blog which is worth checking out. This guy is 28 btw:

http://nebent.com/pete/?p=47

From speaking with the docs and from past experience our lungs will improve over the next 3- 5 years. As long as we can stay off 'em. Well done for stopping again anyway fella.