Hi Courtney! I remember in the beginning of my quit my chest just felt heavy and almost hurt. It felt worse than it did when I was smoking except the smoker's cough went away and I had very little phlehm. It seems like it took several months for that heavy feeling in my chest to go away. I do have emphysema, so I attributed it to that and the fact that my lungs were getting rid of all that junk....tar and nicotine. I used to wash the ashtrays after a long while since I only smoked outside and I would think how my lungs must look like that. It was really difficult to scrub that ugly black junk out of the ashtray! Our bodies are trying to clean up the mess we made of our lungs, so it's going to feel weird for awhile. Just keep taking those deep, cleansing breaths and blow out all the old stale air and before long you'll feel better.
