Im scared, Im coughing black chalky stuff!

[Penelope14]

Hi Everyone, I am a overall healthy woman, but I,ve noticed that everyonce in a while, during my showers only, that I sometimes cough up this black chalky stuff, { no blood }, also my nose has been running off & on for a while as well. I dont have a persistant cough or anything, its just when I shower, its weird & scary, & yes I do smoke, & trying to quit. Anyway, Im kinda scared, I mean what smoker doesnt worry about the big C, so if anyone can explain to me what this charcol weird black stuff is, Id appriciate it.   Thanks Penelope

[Jizi]

As others might tell you on this forum, go on whyquit.com, great website and might help you to quit, it has for some people on this forum, I quit smoking in Aug '07, although its hard you might want to read some of the stories on whyquit. Well it might help, also wish you the best of luck with trying to quit, you can't knock someone down for trying and sometimes it takes more than one attempt

[Penelope14]

Thanks for the feed-back, & today at work I talked to a few of my female co-workers who smoke & they to have this problem, so while its not a good thing, it doesnt appear that its my death notice, but one good thing about it is that I am now more eager to quit, as I havent smoked to long, maybe 7 years, so most of my life has been lived smoke free & I think maybe its time to be that person who didnt smoke again.

[CaraJB]

I think it just means you should cut back or try to quit.  I don't think anyone has ever discovered they have lung cancer by what they were coughing up.  I coughed up black stuff w/ blood, and my doctor said, "Keep on puffing.  It'll just get worse".  I'm still trying to quit.  It's HARD.  I would worry about what the source of it is, unless you have bronchitis or asthma.  Either way, it means the cigarettes are taking a toll on your body.