Why Some People Get Tight Chest After They Quit Smoking? -
I read people get tight chest after they quit smoking, I have the same experience myself. Can this be a lung healing process after years of hurting by the cigarette smoking? Thanks!
I-m not sure what you mean by -tight-. Is that wheezing and inability to move air or a feeling like a belt is tightening around your chest.
I-ll go with the wheezing though. After years of being exposed to smoke the cells that secrete mucous in your airways get larger(hypertrophy). When they reach a certain point there is no going back. That-s called Chronic Bronchitis. If you stop smoking at that point your lungs won-t get any worse but they will not get much better either.As long as the mucous glands are not being irritated any more they will secrete less mucous and therefore you will cough less. And the inflammation wil diminish too. So your airways will be able to move more air and you will notice that you can be more active without getting short of breath.
This is about as much -healing- as the lungs will do. You will feel better because of the fact that you-re not ingesting a poison(nicotine) anymore and you-re getting better ventilation in your lungs. When I use the word poison I-m not exaggerating, it really is a potent poison.
The good thing about quitting cigarettes is that the Chronic Bronchitis won-t further develop into Emphysema. Chronic Bronchitis is bad enough because it opens you up to all kinds of pneumonia, infections and other nasty stuff you don-t need to know about. But Emphysema is a killer and a very bad way to die.
I-m glad to hear that you quit. You-ve added years and years onto your life.
God bless and keep you healthy.
I think it-s more likely to be psychosomatic as a result of the nicotine withdrawal.
Nicotine withdrawal causes all sorts of symtoms including headache, nausea, anxiety - which of course can manifest as feelings of tight chestedness.
The lung healing process, although surprisingly rapid, would not result in tight-chestedness, in fact would probably be the opposite, but is more a medium to long terms benefit of stopping smoking.