Weird symptoms after stop smoking

[iamirish]

Hi, i am new here. I finally quit smoking eight weeks and two days ago (not that I am counting), after too many years of smoking. I am on the patch and i rely, when tempted, on vaping, not much, but it does get me over a really bad craving. OK, fast forward a week or two and all of a sudden i have intermittent sore throat, trouble swallowing, choking on food and a lump in my throat feeling. So off to an ENT...he puts the laryngoscopy down my nose to my throat. He gets finished and said that my voice box is a little inflamed and blamed it on not smoking and GERD. Because of my health anxiety I asked point blank if it looked like cancer and his answer was if i thought it looked suspicious i would have done a biopsy. ...and out the door he went.

So, of course i am not listening to what he said because all i fear is that i have cancer.

BTW stop smoking is really hard. i read enough (of course i did...LOL) to know that there are numerous withdrawal symptoms. The one symptom which scares the heck out of me is sometimes choking on food or feeling like something is in my throat. I know I can go to my GI doc and he would do an endoscopy, but then i am feeding into my fears....again. and yes i am on medication for anxiety.

Thoughts?

 

[Rinka]

Hi, i am new here. I finally quit smoking eight weeks and two days ago (not that I am counting), after too many years of smoking. I am on the patch and i rely, when tempted, on vaping, not much, but it does get me over a really bad craving. OK, fast forward a week or two and all of a sudden i have intermittent sore throat, trouble swallowing, choking on food and a lump in my throat feeling. So off to an ENT...he puts the laryngoscopy down my nose to my throat. He gets finished and said that my voice box is a little inflamed and blamed it on not smoking and GERD. Because of my health anxiety I asked point blank if it looked like cancer and his answer was if i thought it looked suspicious i would have done a biopsy. ...and out the door he went.

So, of course i am not listening to what he said because all i fear is that i have cancer.

BTW stop smoking is really hard. i read enough (of course i did...LOL) to know that there are numerous withdrawal symptoms. The one symptom which scares the heck out of me is sometimes choking on food or feeling like something is in my throat. I know I can go to my GI doc and he would do an endoscopy, but then i am feeding into my fears....again. and yes i am on medication for anxiety.

Thoughts?

Congratulations on quitting your habit, it must be hard for you.
I recall when my mother stopped smoking, that she had a lot of weird symptoms.
She also got an irritated voice box and started coughing. Her doctor explained to her that her lungs and her trachea have to get used to not being smoked up and that they have started to remove the toxins. Hens the coughing.
Even though your doctor seemed not be very sympathetic, if he did not see anything of concern therefore did not take a biopsy, then you should be fine.
Maybe make an appointment with him and talk about the results again.

 

[janemariesayed]

Well done for having the willpower to stop, that took a lot of strength on your part. It seems you are just going through the withdrawal symptoms of stopping and I wouldn't be worried about it. If the doctor thought you had something to worry about he would have sent you off to the relevant department for tests. They do know what to look for. Keep it up, it will pass and you'll be grateful that you did. When your throat feels rough, take a teaspoon of runny honey and that will line your throat and soothe it. You will be coughing up for a while, you are getting rid of all the toxins so it's a good thing.

 

[KateofSpades]

Wow. You are word-for-word describing what my mother went through when she quit. She felt like she was choking (and she does not have health anxiety tendencies).

 

[Kelculator]

The sensation of choking can be brought on by anxiety as well, for your information. Happened to me before one day when I focused on my throat and oesophagus too much while eating. Thought I had a tumor of some sort, but turned out to be nothing at all.

 

[L.kat]

I am also going through something very similar. I quit smoking about a month ago and my throat has been making me crazy. Symptoms include gurgling, sharp pain, tightness and lump feeling almost constantly, hard bump behind my uvula just to name a few. I am going back to see my doctor in two weeks to discuss the meds in was prescribed at the start of the month for anxiety and will hopefully get more answers then. Sorry I don't have any advice but I can offer solidarity and positive thoughts.
I hope you're still smoke free!

 

[janemariesayed]

Hi, i am new here. I finally quit smoking eight weeks and two days ago (not that I am counting), after too many years of smoking. I am on the patch and i rely, when tempted, on vaping, not much, but it does get me over a really bad craving. OK, fast forward a week or two and all of a sudden i have intermittent sore throat, trouble swallowing, choking on food and a lump in my throat feeling. So off to an ENT...he puts the laryngoscopy down my nose to my throat. He gets finished and said that my voice box is a little inflamed and blamed it on not smoking and GERD. Because of my health anxiety I asked point blank if it looked like cancer and his answer was if i thought it looked suspicious i would have done a biopsy. ...and out the door he went.

So, of course i am not listening to what he said because all i fear is that i have cancer.

BTW stop smoking is really hard. i read enough (of course i did...LOL) to know that there are numerous withdrawal symptoms. The one symptom which scares the heck out of me is sometimes choking on food or feeling like something is in my throat. I know I can go to my GI doc and he would do an endoscopy, but then i am feeding into my fears....again. and yes i am on medication for anxiety.

Thoughts?

How did you get on? Have you still managed to stay fag free?