6 Months+, how are you feeling?

Feelgood

Hi guys,

After several failed attempts I have managed to stay off the ciggies for 9 months now. The first 2-3 months were great, I was feeling so much better, sleeping better, exercising more.

After about 6 months I hit a bit of a slump which I cant seem to shake, tiredness and lack of energy, lack of concentration, anxiety, negative emotions, skin problems, weight gain etc.

I have done a bit of research and apparently these symptoms are typical of people who have quit smoking. Body chemistry gets thrown all over the place and takes a while to recover. Apparently people start to feel normal again after 12-18 months.

How is everyone else feeling after 6 months + off the cigs?.

AgileMyth

Is it possible that it's something totally unrelated and you're just associating everything negative with quitting smoking?

martomcg

Yea you could just be run down, have a minor viral infection or something!

I didnt experience anything like that at all! I had all the usual symptoms of feeling better, more energy, sleeping better for 1-2 months after i quit. Which i think is down to the increased oxygen/lack of co2 in your blood. Your body just adjusts to this and the feeling quickly evaporates!

I'll be 4 yrs off them Dec 8th! Never looked back!

celticcrash

Did you try exercising, it helped me bigtime to clear out the system.
Your system seems to be clogged up.
Get your heart and lungs fit and all your symptoms will disappear;)

I am off the fags 8 months. I went from someone who spent 7 days in hospital with chest pains to a good fitness level today.
I was so clogged up I could not do any activity for more than 10 mins.
Start exercising again and eat some good healthy food.
In just a couple of weeks you will notice a big difference in your health.

Feelgood

celticcrash wrote: »

Did you try exercising, it helped me bigtime to clear out the system.
Your system seems to be clogged up.

Thats the funny thing mate, I am actually running around 30km a week which is astounding (Couldn't even run 1km when I was smoking). My diet is pretty close to perfect also, quit coffee, red meat, fried foods etc. I basically give myself an overhaul. I recently had a full medical (bloods and CT scan) and everything came back pretty much perfect. I would also consider myself to be very much the glass is half full type of person.

I thought 8 months down the line I would be on top of the world, but am quite the opposite unfortunately. There is an interesting thread here:

Steady Health

These people see to be experiencing something along the same lines as me. The doctor basically said it can take 12-18 months for your body to get back in order.

martomcg

Feelgood wrote: »

Thats the funny thing mate, I am actually running around 30km a week which is astounding (Couldn't even run 1km when I was smoking). My diet is pretty close to perfect also, quit coffee, red meat, fried foods etc. I basically give myself an overhaul. I recently had a full medical (bloods and CT scan) and everything came back pretty much perfect. I would also consider myself to be very much the glass is half full type of person.

I thought 8 months down the line I would be on top of the world, but am quite the opposite unfortunately. There is an interesting thread here:

Steady Health

These people see to be experiencing something along the same lines as me. The doctor basically said it can take 12-18 months for your body to get back in order.

Thats a very interesting thread! I'm sure it puts your mind at ease knowing other people are going through the same!

I wonder is there any correlation between the quantity smoked per day and the ill effects after quitting.

Seems a couple of people commenting on that thread were only light smokers and experienced those symptoms, where you would expect heavy smokers (20+) a day would be the ones experiencing high blood pressure and diabetes?

How many did you smoke a day out of interest?

celticcrash

Feelgood wrote: »

Hi guys,

After several failed attempts I have managed to stay off the ciggies for 9 months now. The first 2-3 months were great, I was feeling so much better, sleeping better, exercising more.

After about 6 months I hit a bit of a slump which I cant seem to shake, tiredness and lack of energy, lack of concentration, anxiety, negative emotions, skin problems, weight gain etc.

I have done a bit of research and apparently these symptoms are typical of people who have quit smoking. Body chemistry gets thrown all over the place and takes a while to recover. Apparently people start to feel normal again after 12-18 months.

How is everyone else feeling after 6 months + off the cigs?.

The cigs can mask something like low blood pressure. I never knew that I had low blood pressure until I gave up the cigs. And some times the doctors pass it by. The doctors passed my LBP out.
I found out in hospital when a nurse kept taking my blood pressure as she thought the machine was malfuncting. My reading was 55/60. The funny thing is my blood pressure started to rise because the nurse was getting on my nerves. Than she put in the highened BP in the chart.

I had all them symptoms what you describe. But the longer I stayed off the cigs the better my BP got. I am off the cigs over 8 months.

username123

10 months off them now and just recently diagnosed with post exercise asthma!

I knew I used to get wheezy if I did any exercise (even just a brisk walk) in cold weather, for years. But I always just assumed it was from smoking, and lets face it, none of us were telling doctors about chest issues while we still smoked right?

Anyway, sorted with ventolin and life is good. Fitness levels better than theyve ever been, and much calmer, dont feel the jittery 'got to smoke' feeling that used to dominate so much of each day.

Smoking was also masking sinus issues for me, I just ignored them because I avoided doctors. Got that sorted too.

Overall, Ive had a health overhaul, largely because I was willing to address things now that have been there for years and the smoking was stopping me.

I was also unable to get properly fit as a smoker, all gains were turned to losses everyday when I kept on lighting up!!!

So all is well!!