I'm going cold turkey...

[Elisabeth]

I am a 23 year old female who has been smoking on an off since I was 12. In the past few years my smoking has increased from one or toe cigarettes a moneth to 2/3 packs a week. I weigh 110 lbs and am healthy besides having cholesteral that is 200+. I do go to the gym 3-5 times a week and have recently noticed the effects of smoking become more pronouced. (Chest tightness, heart rate above 190 after only working out a few minues, and more out of breath than usual.) Also I've been clearing my thoat a lot and been coughing. I am going to stop smoking cold turkey this week and I wanted to know if the damage to my lungs will repair itself or if I've done permanent damage. And if it does repair itself, how long does it take? Thank-you!
Elisabeth

[National Jewish]

Smoking for more than 10 years may or may not cause permanent damage to your lungs.  Being more out of breath than usual with exercise strongly suggests that your lungs are susceptible to the harmful effects of cigarette smoke.  You have made an excellent decision to stop smoking immediately!

Only time will tell if the smoking has caused permanent damage to your lungs.  The effects of smoking that you have noticed with exercise should become less pronounced within 90 to 180 days of quitting smoking.  If there is no permanent damage to your lungs, your breathing will return to your pre-smoking condition.

You may want to look at our Quit Smoking Topic Center at http://www.nationaljewish.org/topic/smoking_cessation.html for ways to help you to quit smoking.  Also check with your doctor for other quit smoking resources in your area.

Good luck!

[starion]

Congratulations!  It's great that you're quitting & many say that "cold turkey" is the best way.  Stopping smoking is the BEST thing you can do for your lungs, health and life.  Sorry, I don't have the technical details of how much your lungs will repair themselves, but for sure, it will slow down the rate at which you lose lung volume from that of a smoker losing at about 50ml/year back to a non-smoker losing 20ml/year.  That alone is GREAT--I'm sure the LungLine nurse & American Lung Association can give you more info.
You may wish to see your doctor for an evaluation to see if you have asthma (which is also helped by stopping smoking & avoiding lung irritants).
Take care & good job!
Starion