LifeIs

I quit smoking on 14 January so am coming up to 7 months "clean". I woke up with a cough and phlegm yesterday morning. Not a real bad one, but enough.

The problem is when I cough and bring up phlegm it tastes like the bottom of an old stinky ashtray!!!!!

Could I still have tar and nicotine "gunk" down there in my lungs?!?!?

What is going on, am I exaggerating? Could this really be happening? What can I do?

I was thinking to take an OTC expectorant just to get that stuff up and outta there. Is this a good idea?

I am just so disgusted and freaked out by this. Any experiences in this would be highly appreciated!!!

Geez, it is just soooo disgusting....

Impurrfect

I've only quit smoking for 6 months, unfortunately, before starting back, but I know I still had the nasty cough, even then. I don't know how long you smoked, but for me, it's been a long, long time and I figure there's a whole lot of tar in my lungs

One easy thing that will help you cough up the junk is drinking lots of water. I used to get bronchitis, a lot, and could get through it without antibiotics (most of the time) by simply drinking a lot of water and getting rest.

Congratulations on not smoking!!

Hugs and prayers,

Amy

LifeIs

Thanks Amy for your post, I smoked for a very very long time and was a pack a dayer (sometimes a little more...)... I do drink lots of water, need that for my HCV anyway. I will drink more, plus started taking a generic of Airborne to boost my immune system.

Have heard of people getting really sick after quitting (bronchitis, etc) but didn't have any real problems at the time.

It is just soooo disgusting, here I thought I would be "pure" by now!

Also, sorry guys for the double posting, my computer got hung and I thought it hadn't posted... perhaps a moderator or someone can delete the other post?

Thanks and all ideas and recommendations most welcome!

totfit

It takes a while to clean your system out after quitting smoking, but I suspect you could possibly just have a cold. The good thing is that you recognize still just how much the addiction affects your health and just how nasty it is. It is amazing how much damage we can do to our bodies. I imagine you are many times more "pure" now than before and eventually you will be totally cleaned out. The key is that if it is "leftovers" you are coughing up, they are not being replaced.