I became sick AFTER quitting smoking!

Australia
May 30, 2008 7:51am CST
I always thought that smoking was supposed to make you sick. But it would appear that quitting smoking can make you sick also. I quit smoking 11 days ago and after five days became really sick with a sore throat, hacking cough etc. I've noticed that the same thing has happened to many other people too. Their health is great until the quit smoking. All of a sudden they get sick for some reason. I've even known people who have had heart attacks and strokes within a few months of quitting. LOL... seems like quitting can have it's own health hazards. What's your story? Has this happened to you when you've quit? Has it happened to someone you know?
3 people like this
8 responses
@eihdra (3115)
• Philippines
30 May 08
a few months before trying to get pregnant again, i quit smoking.I read somewhere that your body needs to flush out the nicotine. I also noticed a few days after I stopped, I also had a sore throat which lead to a whooping cough..During the time I was smoking, I never ever had cough. I asked my doc about it and he said that my body is kinda suffering from nicotine withdrawal syndrome. Just like when You're in a rehab, you have to detoxify...My body is so used to nicotine, that the sudden stop made me sick. He said I should have stopped gradually so as to avoid this kind of syndrome..
• Australia
30 May 08
I would have thought the doctor would have been all for you quitting smoking, and the faster the better. Apparently not though. His explanation makes sense though. I did cut down slower though. Went from smoking about 20 a day to ten a day over two weeks before starting on chantix then quit 10 days later. Probably not slow enough though. Chantix gets rid of the nicotine craving but it obviously can't get rid of the other aspects of nicotine dependance
2 people like this
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
6 Jun 08
This is quite common, to be physically ill that is. The mechanism is that smoking is a suppressant even though it's a stimulant. Many reach for the ciggys when they are tense, often when angry etc. Many will have a ciggy rather than speak up about what they don't like. It becomes a subconscious mechanism. Over and over again the inhalation is covering over something. When the smoking stops, up comes what is suppressed. In the ceasing of smoking comes the release of tension, in the release there is an expulsion of toxins which for some comes out with illness, fever, flue or a cold.
1 person likes this
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
7 Jun 08
Good luck with it. I have never looked back and don't get cravings. If I were to give advice to anyone thinking about it, it would be DON'T use patches or the nicorette chewing gum. Unless you have strong willpower (which is rare), these devices keep the nicotine in your system longer which makes it harder to give up. Try cold turkey with the resolve that you are no longer a smoker. The flue or illness afterwards is a good thing, means the body is beginning the healing process on the physical. As for the tension, if you need to speak then speak, you want to get angry, get a pillow and bash it and if you want to cry then make it a good session with tissues coated in aloe vera!
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
7 Jun 08
And I saved a fortune. I do try not to feel regret about how much I did spend, all that money I could have put to much better use.
• Australia
21 Jun 08
Well, it's a month now, and I estimate that between my partner and I we have saved over $700. I should note too that since quitting I haven't needed my asthma reliever for the last four weeks. Before I used to take it at least once per day (always in the morning when I first woke up)
@smacksman (6053)
22 Jun 08
Haha. Spot on! Same happened to me. I was a '60 a day' man and then one day I thought 'I'm mad! There is £400 a month going up in smoke!' and I just stopped. Well I didn't just stop. It was a battle but I won it in the end. I coughed a bit but generally I was fit and healthy. Then I started to get colds quite regularly. Then my teeth needed filling more often. Then I would have a 'sneezing day' where for no reason I would start sneezing in the morning and continue all day. Now I like a good sneeze like the next man. It is a good sensation. But it is exhausting if you sneeze all day! Fägs have gone up 50% since I stopped so I can't afford to start again to get my health back. In stead, I snuggle up to my wife who still smokes and inhale a bit of second hand smoke! haha
• Australia
23 Jun 08
It's interesting that you mentioned the sneezing thing. It hasn't happened to me but my partner quit at the same time as I did and has had that problem... sneezing like 50 times in a row or whatever. I'm not sure how you manage to stay off the smokes with your wife smoking though. That's one of the reasons why my partner and I chose to quit together.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
31 May 08
It's just your body trying to detoxify itself...
1 person likes this
• Australia
31 May 08
It seems to have cleared now so that's good... but I do seem to be getting more headaches than usual. If I recall correctly, that happened the last time I quit cold turkey which was 20 years ago, just before I got pregnant with my first child, I stayed off them for ten years before starting again during my divorce.
1 person likes this
@zeroflashx2 (2491)
• Philippines
30 May 08
Quitting is really really hard. I managed to quite for around three weeks but during my job interviews the past 2 days, I started smoking again. (sigh) Quitting smoking is not that easy since aside from the hardest part of not lighting up a stick, we have to deal with after effects such as coughing, difficulty in breathing, headache, waking up in the middle of the night trying to catch a breath.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
31 May 08
Thanks for the nice words. :) Yeah, I don't want to buy a pack anymore. The other day, I was even able to smoke 3 sticks straight... Well, there's still a chance to change. Thanks for the encouragement. We can do this!!!
1 person likes this
• Australia
6 Jun 08
We sure can my friend... and don't forget, there are plenty of products these days that can help. It doesn't have to be cold turkey like it used to be.
@vegegirl (828)
• Australia
15 Aug 08
I think one time I gave up smoking with a boyfriend and he developed pnemonia, he still endeavoured to give up smoking though. I think I had many problems while withdrawing, but it was quite a long time ago now so I mainly remember things I did when giving up like taking up swimming at the time to get my lungs working, and eating curries (which I never liked before) because they gave you a bite (possibly like a hit!).
• Australia
16 Aug 08
Apparently, medically speaking, smoking can actually help you stay healthy in some ways. I know, it sounds weird! But I think if the bacteria/virus enters via the mouth or nose and you smoke while it's still in your respiratory tract that the smoke will actually kill it in most cases. So it can sometimes protect you from infections... not that I would suggest smoking for that reason. The damage it does is far worse than getting the occasional cold.
• United States
18 Mar 09
I see that the last response to this thread was 8 months ago but I'd like to make it active again. How are you doing jewelenterprises? Are you still quit? I, too, have been taking chantix & today am on my 6th day of no smoking. I plan to never smoke again. Chantix definitely takes the edge off, and takes the cravings away. After smoking as many years as I have, (approx. 25), I couldn't be happier that I really don't even crave it, at all. Also, yesterday I started with a dry cough that just wouldn't stop. And today it's progressed...still coughing a lot & since it's a dry cough, it hurts a bit. It's worth it though, I know it won't always be this way. It is just my body's way of trying to rid itself from all the garbage I put into it with smoking :( I feel absolutely terrible knowing what I've done to myself & look forward to getting past all this & being good to myself, like I should have done all along. Congratulations to anyone that has quit, or who is trying to. Chantix helped me get over the hump, but it does take your own willpower in the beginning. I rarely have any cravings being on this pill. To the people who want to quit but haven't....keep trying. Where there is a will, there's a way.....I can't tell you what a great feeling it is to have tackled one of the biggest demons out there. Anything is possible, just have faith in YOU :)
@julyteen (13252)
• Davao, Philippines
21 Jun 08
they said that if you quit smoking, do it gradually. smoking is already part of a smokers system, so when he stop it all of a sudden, it will really cause him some disorders. i have heard that in quitting smoking, one must not get over it at once.
• Australia
21 Jun 08
I feel great now. In fact, I'm an asthmatic and since a couple of days after quitting i haven't needed to take my reliever... even though I used to take it at least once a day when I was smoking.
• United States
6 Jun 08
Congradulations on Your decision and accomplishment. I commend You and envy Your determination. Not to mention the love You must have for Yourself, Your kids and all. I have personally quit before but it's been so long and I cannot remember how it made Me feel. I only know now the how it makes Me feel BAD. I intend to quit and when is always the question. So My question to You... What made You make up Your mind? God Blesses~