When am I supposed to start coughing??

[emsmom]

I had the same question - smoked for 36 years and when I quit before, coughed like crazy. I was told that since I am still getting nicotine, via vapor, that the nicotine itself is supressing any cough?

[booboo]

Odd, i had always heard that after 10 years of not smoking your lungs were back to pink and healthy...bummer if that's not the case.

It all depends if you quit on time or not (if they are just coated in tar and still pink underneath or if the tissue is damaged under there). My aunt waited until she was full blown COPD/emphysema. I think I may have been borderline after 20 years but there was no way I could keep smoking, I felt so terrible. I felt better the first week I quit and would feel even better if I wasn't vaping either....but we all make compromises, right? Bad lungs run in my family though, some people can handle alot more without as much damage...

[booboo]

I am not a doctor, but I play one when the girls let me. Seriously though I wonder if the reason some coughand some dont is if the body is just absorbing the crap and eliminating it through the liver or such? When I stopped analogs i coughed a bit (less than when I was smoking real cigs) but it has pretty much went away. I definitely feel better though. Just my thoughts.

I would imagine if your cilia completely regrow, you don't need to cough for it to come out. I don't know if vaping also fries them like cigs do. But if you feel better, something must be working right.

[Brooksie]

I'm new too, smoked 40 yrs pack+ a day, and coughed my head off every morning. So bad that I used to pull muscles in my back and side constantly. Two years ago doctor said I had 'chronic bronchitis'; I believe that too.

Bad lungs (COPD) also runs in my family. Been vaping two weeks now, 4 analogs in 2 weeks, and after 2-3 days of vaping my morning cough is next to non-existent now. It's amazing. I've slept better since night one. One of the main reasons I went to vaping was that nothing else worked for me (gum, patch, etc, etc) This worked.
And I love being cough-free. I'll never go back now.

But, that said, I do sometimes get a different, goopy, slight, very quick single mini-cough, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the PG? Wonder how much PG gets in the lungs. But still, no more morning coughing and hacking for me. Amazing.

[ramblingrose]

Odd, i had always heard that after 10 years of not smoking your lungs were back to pink and healthy...bummer if that's not the case.

You heard right, lungs can go back to pink and basically healthy. Improvement after quitting depends on what damage smoking has already done. If someone has something like emphysema there have already been changes that can't be reversed.

I'm just gonna stick with it and hope for the best. So right about now I'm enjoying a tasty apple vape, and thinking how nice it is to NOT be reaching for a cancer stick.

[UkUsa]

Can't say i coughed much when i switched to vaping, been 4 1/2 months now. But then i never coughed much when i was on analogs either.

I have to agree with a few other posters in this thread that i don't feel like my lung capacity is much better, but i have noticed my chest doesn't rattle or wheeze when lay down at night.

I was a pack or more a day for almost 30 years. Plus a good few years of smoking some other stuff too, but that was when i was a lot younger .

[prr2freya]

from:
Benefits of Quitting

"After one to three months, the cilia (hair-like cleaning system) begin to recover and remove all that gunky mucous in your lungs, reducing the chance of infection (even if you never cough stuff up)"

--------------------------------------
At 48 hours:
nerve endings start regrowing
ability to smell and taste is enhanced

The first year after quitting:
At 2 weeks to 3 months:
circulation improves
walking becomes easier
lung function increases

1 to 9 months:
coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases

1 year:
excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker

Long-term Benefits of Quitting
At 5 years:
from 5 to 15 years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.

At 10 years:
risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers
risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases
risk of ulcer decreases

At 15 years:
risk of coronary heart disease is now similar to that of people who have never smoked
risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who have never smoked
-------------------


lungs can repair themselves if you quit smoking... to a GREAT extent!

There is a LOT of healing... but you will never have the pretty pink virgin perfect lungs again. A lot of tar and crap does fall away and they do heal... but if you smoked a lot and for many years, some forms of damage are irreversible. On the upside... they may not ever become completely pink and pretty, but they work much better! You are shedding tar buildup once the cilia start doing their job again. If you are not coughing a lot, be happy! But it does make it's way out even if you don't notice.. Small traces at a time in the saliva.. You may then swallow it and it goes bye bye in other ways.

I have not been doing a lot of heavy coughing.. But if I make myself cough and spit in a tissue... I have seen the little brown specks. This happened to me once when I quit for two months years ago.. I have seen a little now.. but just because you are not seeing it, does not mean you are not shedding it. Your lungs DO heal... but you have already caused a lot of damage (the longer you smoked and the amount... the more damage) Some of it is not reversible. Some of it is

Best thing to think about is you have STOPPED causing damage. Now hug yourself for loving yourself enough to do this

[prr2freya]

But, that said, I do sometimes get a different, goopy, slight, very quick single mini-cough, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the PG? Wonder how much PG gets in the lungs. But still, no more morning coughing and hacking for me. Amazing.

20+ years at a pack or more a day here.... I get that as well. If the goopy quick mini cough has little dark specks in it, or is just a bit brown in color... chances are it was a bit of tar shed from your lungs. Keep a tissue handy... and when you feel something like that coming on... cough into the tissue and check it out! (ok, I know that sounds gross)

[prr2freya]

I have smoked for 35 years or so anywhere from 2 packs a day to more recently, 10 rollies a day.
started vaping in late Feb. and had my last smoke on 4/11/09.
everyone told me I would cough up "stuff" as part of my lungs healing... ummm, I'm still not coughing. not in the morning even.
should this be worrisome?
Sadly not noticing any increase in lung capacity yet and still get winded easily as well. hard to be excited about quitting when nothing seems to be different.

That was a LOT of damage.. it has only been a few months since you stopped.. Give it more time... The benefits WILL come Post in this thread in 3-4 more months and update on your progress... Just don't give up!

[secretsquirrl]

Not trying to gross people out or anything, but it seems like this discussion is centered around phlegm or lack there of.

I've been a smoker for close to 10+ years, towards the end(just last week), I was down to a pack/day.

I noticed almost immediately that when I stopped(with the assistance of the patch, which I'm still using), I constantly felt fatigued and dizzy. Periodically I started to feel there were phlegm in my throat.

Being a curious guy by nature, I took a peak at the stuff I was coughing up. It's mostly saliva with some brownish specks to it. Something I assume is what others have noted to be cilia regenerating & the body rejecting some of the toxic stuff I had accumulated over the years. Keep in mind I don't/didn't do any drugs other than some social drinking of alcohol & chain smoking.

This was initially worrisome because I hadn't seen any mention of this kind of symptom from quitting cigarettes. I looked around the web and apparently many people go through this phase(for some it takes years to occur & get over).

Some advice I found was to drink a lot of hot/warm liquids to dissipate the mucus in your lungs. Tea apparently works for me. And the choice to either swallow or cough up this substance is fine either way. Someone did mention that coughing it up is probably best. I'm at a point where after 6 days without analogs, am feeling that my lung capacity has increased slightly and my breathing has definitely gotten better(none of that smoker's wheeze)

As for OP, I haven't vaped yet(still waiting on my items) so I don't know if vaping will prolong or delay the coughing. And since each person is biologically different, there's no telling whether or not you may be one of the fortunate ones that won't go through this annoying process. I do know that my grandfather who stopped smoking at around at 20 or so, still hacked up phlegm occasionally at age 70, to which he attribute to his past smoking. Good luck to you.