General Weakness and Malaise

Recently I have quit smoking (formerly heavy) using a 5/6 month regimen of Nicorette (starting 4 mg and tapering thru 2 mg to none in last few weeks). (I'm 45 year old male competitive athlete - 6'4", 242 lbs)

I have also quit drinking alcohol. I drink about 8 to 10 caffeine beverages a day, and regularly use ginseng and Vitamin B2 for energy. I have also discovered a sweet tooth and have been binging on chocolate for couple of months.

Since cleaning up, I have never felt worse. Along with a 20 lb weight gain, I seem to always feel like I have a hangover,wake up with congestion, have numb/chilly feelings in hands/feet, feel dizzy, and am physically fatigued.

My resting heart rate resting is under 50 and increases normally when I exercise. For some reason, though even lying in bed, my rate sometimes races to over 90.

I recall having the same symptoms a year ago when I first tried to give up booze and butts - is there a possible correlation, or are there other possibilities such as PPH.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

If by PPH you mean primary pulmonary hypertension (the usual medical abbreviation for PPH) I don't know why you you would think of that condition.  It can cause symptoms of shortness of breath but would be pretty low on the list of possible causes.

I suspect your symptoms may primarly be due to years of neglect "catching up" with you.  You're doing the right thing by quitting smoking and the next step to feeling better is to develop a better diet (lay off the sugar and caffeine) and start some exercise if it is OK with your doctor.

[Gary]

You need to see a doctor, or a better one than you now have for extensive examinations.

That chocolate thing is interesting; when I did that about 3 years ago, my weight shot up from 165 to near 190 within two years. I felt terrible at that weight with a faulty AV already deterioorating. I've all but cut it out of my diet. What's your cholesterol level? What tests have you had?

I can't imagine the Doc here is going to provide much help unless you have more info.

[Pat Murphy]

answer please

[Pat Murphy]

answer please