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What Can I Do About Smoking Withdrawal Symptoms When I Was Recently Diagnosed With COPD?

Posted on Wed, 27 Sep 2023

Question: I was recently diagnosed with COPD. I am a 42-year-old male who used to smoke 6 packs of cigarettes a week for 25 years. I stopped smoking 1 month ago. Now I have 2 symptoms that I don't know the cause of, though I expect they are related to COPD. First, I have been having dizzy spells for about & month and feel like I am going to faint. I did actually faint on the street about a month ago. Second, I have a sharp pain in my chest once a night when I am sleeping. It feels like a knife in my heart & wakes me up. I had an EKG & blood tests done last week because of that 2nd symptom, but the Dr. said my EKG & blood tests were OK. What do you think are the causes of these two symptoms?

Answered by Dr. Drkaushal85 (41 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Smoking withdrawal might be the cause.

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

Both these symptoms are more related to smoking withdrawal. But you should definitely get done:
1. Blood pressure monitoring to rule out hypertension
2. CT brain to rule out brain pathology
If both of these are normal then the possibility of smoking withdrawal is more likely

Please let me know:
1. Did you stop smoking all of a sudden?
2. Have you followed any nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)?
Please reply me answers of above-asked questions, so that I can guide you better.

I will be happy to help you further. Wish you good health. Thanks.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana