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Give and get support around quitting

AnnetteMM
Member

Lung Pain

I'm on day 18 and almost every evening I have horrible lung pain, even though I'm breathing better. Anyone else ever experienced this?

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36 Replies
YoungAtHeart
Member

I am sorry no one here responded to your blog.  I missed it, as well.  In my five years volunteering here, I have not heard of this before. I did find this from a Google search, but if it continues, I would have it checked by your doctor:  Coughing, Chest Pains and Respiratory Problems. Quitting smoking can also lead to (temporary) respiratory problems: sharp chest pains, coughing and cold/flu like symptoms e.t.c. A number of sites attribute this to the body clearing itself up.

I wrote a blog for the newly quit and asked for contributions from our members that you might find useful:  For Our New Years' Quitters (and community members, too).

Congratulations on your decision to quit and your first 18 days!  You are doing GREAT!

Nancy

AnnetteMM
Member

Thank you Nancy! I will check in with Doc next week if it continues.

Gma_Bernie
Member

Hi Annette. I'm about 6 weeks into my quit and I continue to have a heaviness in my chest and in my lungs. I assume this is just because I smoked for so long. The shortness of breath is getting better but a lot of times at night my lungs just feel heavy and I have to use Albuterol. Depending on how long you smoked I think that some of this is probably normal but I agree that you should get it checked out by a doctor if it's sharp pains. Mostly mine is dull pain. And because I smoked for 45 years I don't expect it to get better anytime soon. Maybe after a year or so. But I don't care. I know it would be worse if I was still smoking. At least I am on my way to Freedom. Good luck to you and keep it up!

AnnetteMM
Member

I also smoked 45 years, and it does feel more like a heaviness than a sharp pain. I have Albuterol so maybe I'll try it. Thanks!

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Gma_Bernie
Member

Something to cheer you up. The heaviness has decreased lately. It's not

coming as often or as bad. I started going to the Y and doing yoga and

stretch classes. And the stationary bike. I'm trying to do anything I can

to move my body and get it back to shape. Good luck to you Annette.

indingrl
Member

Congrats 19 nicotine free days this saturday AnnetteMM How was dr appointment for lung pain? Hope you ok

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AnnetteMM
Member

I haven't called the doc yet. I actually feel better today though.

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Gma_Bernie
Member

Good! Because you're a smoker of many years as I am, a lot of this

heaviness is to be expected and is normal. Don't be too quick to throw away

your money on a copay to the doctor for something that she is just going to

tell you is normal. I think sometimes we are all guilty of medicalizing

illness or uncomfortableness because we think it will alleviate our

suffering. But suffering I heard is optional. I know it sounds like a bunch

of crap to those of us with chronic pain. But in a way I think it is true

that we run to the doctor too much for things that are normal and must be

borne. Some just cope better than others. And some of us just want the

doctor to take it away. But instead we must go through it sometimes. I am

guilty of wanting the doctor to take away my pain. In this case I think it

is just going to be a matter of slow steady progress. And I would like to

share my progress with you and have you share your progress with me. The

days can be tough but that doesn't mean we have to do it alone. I for one

have many medical expenses and cannot afford to be running to the doctor

all the time. I have decided to try and slug this out on my own. I do have

connection to my primary doctor through the patient portal on the web. I

send her a message every few weeks and tell her that I'm still smoke free!

And she sends me back a message saying I knew you could do it. Keep going!

Take care kiddo. And every hour, every minute we stay smoke free, our

bodies are healing! Our minds just have to catch up to what is going on.

Peace. Bernie

elvan
Member

Gma_Bernie‌ and AnnetteMM  I remember how frustrated I felt when I would read blogs by people who had not been quit for very long but who were feeling very positive results.  They were able to walk much longer, be much more active with significantly less shortness of breath.  I, on the other hand, did not notice real improvement and I started to feel like something was wrong.  I KNEW that COPD was progressive, I also knew that I had it and that I had had pneumonia when I quit which likely left significant damage.  After I had been quit for a year and I was being screened for bilateral shoulder replacements, I read a LOT on the https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/groups/copd group, much of it was posted by Thomas3.20.2010‌.  I was convinced that I needed to see a pulmonologist...I called to make an appointment and it was very difficult to get in, first they did not call me back to make the appointment (that is how this practice handles appointments) and next, the appointment that I finally got was months in the future.  I went there knowing what I wanted....I wanted a Low Dose CT Scan, I wanted to know if I had lung cancer...I also wanted a spirometry test so I would know where I stood.  I had become aware of the importance of these screenings through the group...I am a retired RN but most of my experience was in ER and ICU and not in diagnostics and the COPD patients we saw were usually in crisis.  I finally got in to see the pulmonologist and I told her that I wanted a spirometry test and the CT Scan.  Mind you, I was terrified of what the results might be.  The spirometry test was dismal...my lungs were terribly damaged and while the CT Scan did not show cancer, it DID show that there was significant damage to my upper lobes so I was scheduled for something called a VQ Scan and that showed that I might benefit from surgery to have my upper lobes of my lungs removed because the lower lobes were significantly less damaged and they felt that removing the upper lobes would allow the lower lobes to move up into that space.  I was told that the surgery would not cure me but that it would ideally improve the quality of my life for 3 - 5 years and I would possibly be a candidate for a lung transplant.  Given the fact that I was in my 60's, I was and I AM very negative about a transplant for someone of my age who caused this damage to myself to take a set of healthy lungs from a donor that could possibly help a younger person.  I had the surgery in November of 2015, I had been quit for one year and ten months at that time...it was my 666th day of freedom (some people thought I should reschedule the surgery).  I would not have been eligible to have the surgery if I had not been smoke free for at least a year.  The surgery was grueling, to put it mildly, it was more painful than I could possibly have prepared for.  I spent three days in ICU and I was discharged in significant pain but I desperately wanted to be at home, in my own bed.  I know that I had improvement from the surgery and I know that I have certainly helped to slow the progress of my COPD by staying smoke free, by practicing regular exercise, and by eating a healthy diet.  I kind of hate to think where I would be without it.  I am on oxygen at night only, I have been since before the surgery because I had a night time study of my oxygen saturations and they dropped dramatically at night.  I had another spirometry test this past August and the results were significantly better than the original ones. The technician could not believe the original results had been so bad.  I am scheduled for annual CT Scans...in fact, I am due now.  I see the pulmonologist every six months unless I have a problem.  The surgeons who wanted to do my shoulders were kind of annoyed that I did not want to pursue that right now.  I am MUCH stronger now than I was when they were screening me.  Obviously, I cannot do anything about the damage to the bones or the fact that both of my rotator cuffs are completely torn and my biceps have also both torn...what I DO have is the commitment to exercise and to build whatever muscles and tendons I have left.  Back when I was being screened, I was dislocating one shoulder or the other at least once a week.  Now, it is much less often, I go several months without it happening.  I am suggesting that you might want to consider asking your doctor for a Spirometry test, just to get a baseline.  It is not expensive.  Depending upon your insurance, the CT Scan MAY be covered...but I do not know.  Mine are being done because the hospital I go to received a grant to do CT Scans on people who met certain criteria.  There is no cost to me.

I have chronic pain...most of the time, I push through it, sometimes, I cannot.  One way or another, I don't feel sorry for myself because there are a whole lot of people in much worse shape than I am.

Ellen