How long should I expect to cough after I quit smoking?

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angstless

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Oct 18, 2013
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It has been about a month..maybe 3 weeks..and I still cough up a lung...I can sleep through the night..which I could not do before..but I still cough A LOT...it is more say...liquid...or easier to cough up..but it is still a lot...

When can I expect to NOT cough?

I smoked from 13 to 62...mostly a PAD but progressed to 2 then infinity last year...smoking all the time..I said I wished there was a cigarette as long a pinoccos nose after 1,000 lies...
 

Shadav

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everyone's experience is different....one people tend to cough just getting used to vaping instead of smoking as it is different. Instead of drawing vapor into lungs at first simply draw into mouth and out nostrils...vaping into lungs isn't really needed as it is water based it absorbs better in mouth and nasal passages. Once your lungs are not irratated so much from quiting smoking you can try vaping into lungs for the enjoyment and sensation of still smoking but again it's not really needed.

The second part of coughing is that your lungs are trying to clear themselves of years of tar build up and that all just depends on the person. Drink plenty of water, maybe keep some decongestants in your system. give your lungs time to heal after years and years of abuse...I'd say on average usually within 2 months most people are over the quit smoking symptoms.

Just hang in there, it is worth it in the end....cleaner air passages, easier breathing, not waking up in the morning hacking up your lungs and not to mention no more tar build up in the lungs from smoking ;)
 

angstless

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WOW never thought about that..when I had bronchitis I took Mucinex and drank water till I felt I would drown... never thought to take it (and water) now...

Thanks for the assurance...I pray I will never smoke again.

I always thought I was so smart...cause I only drew a 'little' smoke into my lungs..ha ha...joke was on me...I am as sick or sicker than those folk who drew in a satisfying smoke experience...

We are all superior...except when we are not :)
 

RubyRoo

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It does take awhile for the coughing to stop and for your lungs to clear out, especially if you smoked for a long time. If you are using a higher PG level in your e-liquid, you could also be sensitive to it. When I first started vaping, I was using an 80/20 mix and was still experiencing a lot of throat irritation and coughing. Once I reduced my PG, the throat irritation went away and I'm coughing much less. Good luck to you! Stay hydrated!
 

K_Tech

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Sep 11, 2013
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My smoker's hack was pretty much gone after about 2 weeks. About 1-1.5 PAD for 30 years, at times up to 3 PAD (but it's been a while since those days.

Angstless, I did want to add that if you're not seeing any improvement after a few months and you're still concerned, I'd suggest seeing your doctor.

*It was weird, but I never realized how much/often I coughed until people started telling me that I wasn't coughing anymore...
 

BigCatDaddy

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I thought I was going to blow a lung out at first. Upon a suggestion at the local B&M, I went to a pure VG based juice. that made all the difference. I still coughed but not near as much and after 10 days or so, I was able to go back to my original pg/vg blend. I'm still getting a cough a couple of times a day on occasion, but not bad ones like at the beginning. No more coughing in the night either. For the last week, I've been sleeping thru the night without waking at all. It's been years since I've done that!!
 

rwmeade

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everyone's experience is different....one people tend to cough just getting used to vaping instead of smoking as it is different. Instead of drawing vapor into lungs at first simply draw into mouth and out nostrils...vaping into lungs isn't really needed as it is water based it absorbs better in mouth and nasal passages. Once your lungs are not irratated so much from quiting smoking you can try vaping into lungs for the enjoyment and sensation of still smoking but again it's not really needed.

The second part of coughing is that your lungs are trying to clear themselves of years of tar build up and that all just depends on the person. Drink plenty of water, maybe keep some decongestants in your system. give your lungs time to heal after years and years of abuse...I'd say on average usually within 2 months most people are over the quit smoking symptoms.

Just hang in there, it is worth it in the end....cleaner air passages, easier breathing, not waking up in the morning hacking up your lungs and not to mention no more tar build up in the lungs from smoking ;)

everyone sure is different. i'm on day 40 of being smoke free and a vapor person. mind you i was a pack a day for 27 years. and no cough at all.

i hope you feel b ether soon.
 

Silent Scream

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Oct 12, 2013
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I haven't had the coughing thing at all a month into vaping and I smoked a lot. My partner is a nurse and told me all about how I would be coughing my face off at first while my body got rid of all the horrible things smoking did to me. I sometimes do little fake coughs to assure her I am 'cleaning out my system'.
 

ThunderPumpkin

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Mar 24, 2013
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It has been about a month..maybe 3 weeks..and I still cough up a lung...I can sleep through the night..which I could not do before..but I still cough A LOT...it is more say...liquid...or easier to cough up..but it is still a lot...

When can I expect to NOT cough?

I smoked 2-3 packs a day at the time I quit. As I recall, I stopped coughing up brown, sticky, tar-filled filth in the mornings after 5-6 weeks.

My coughing didn't simply go away, though, not at first. After maybe two months it changed to more of a dry cough, and vaping definitely made it worse -- I'd very often cough as I inhaled the vapor. That lasted maybe two months, which seems to be what my body needed to get used to vaping (I also had "smokers flu" during a lot of that time).

As I recall, by the 3 month mark I pretty much only coughed when normal people did.

It's been 8+ months now, and my lungs are a hell of a lot better than they were when I smoked. I still don't think they're at 100% capacity -- if I had to guess, I'd say they're probably at 75%. But I started smoking at 17, so I'm comparing my current state to that of my youth, which isn't fair, really.

But while things are VASTLY better than when I smoked (and I'm not even figuring the reduced cancer risk in here, just the state of my lungs), they're not quite perfect. I'm a very heavy vaper, and when I really go at it my lungs do tighten up uncomfortably (this is probably made worse by my allergies) and even wheeze slightly. I really don't like this, but all it means is that vaping is not 100% free of annoyances in my case.

All in all, I am INCREDIBLY happy I managed to quit smoking, and I never would have been able to do it without vaping.
 
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