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What Causes Difficulty Inhaling After Quitting Smoking?
Question: Hi. I smoke a 51 year old female. I have smoked for about 30 years. This year I decided to quit. Over the past 4 months I have been using nicotine replacement gum, and now have been cigarette free for 2 weeks. BUT I FEEL TERRIBLE. I feel like I can't inhale well. I went to an ENT last month and he said I had severely deviated septum with turbinate swelling. He prescribed a steroid nasal spray. Didn't help. Now this feeling is intense and all the time. Exercise does not make it worse because it's constant. The best breathing I have is when I lay down to go to bed. I went to my GP but she just put me on zyban.
Brief Answer:
Might need to consider surgery
Detailed Answer:
Hello ma'am and welcome.
Thank you for writing to us.
I have gone through your query with diligence and would like you to know that I am here to help. A deviated nasal septum if mild will respond well to medications ma'am, but as your doctor has diagnosed a more severely deviated septum our next step points towards surgery.
Surgery is suggested to a patient for whom medical therapy has failed or has shown no improvement at all. Such is your case as well, and so I would suggest you schedule an appointment with your ENT specialist and discuss the pros and cons of septoplasty which is a surgical procedure that will help to straighten and reposition your nasal septum, placing it in a normal position that will help improve your breathing by close to 95-100 %.
The advantages of this procedure in your specific case will also be seen in general health, as there will be an increased delivery of oxygen to the heart and brain which will help your body recover from the damage caused by smoking all these years. Not only that, but it will also help you function better, sleep better, think better, and a multitude of other options.
Do speak to your doctor about the procedure, and if you are comfortable with the same, I would recommend it. I hope you find my response helpful ma'am. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help you.
Best wishes.
Might need to consider surgery
Detailed Answer:
Hello ma'am and welcome.
Thank you for writing to us.
I have gone through your query with diligence and would like you to know that I am here to help. A deviated nasal septum if mild will respond well to medications ma'am, but as your doctor has diagnosed a more severely deviated septum our next step points towards surgery.
Surgery is suggested to a patient for whom medical therapy has failed or has shown no improvement at all. Such is your case as well, and so I would suggest you schedule an appointment with your ENT specialist and discuss the pros and cons of septoplasty which is a surgical procedure that will help to straighten and reposition your nasal septum, placing it in a normal position that will help improve your breathing by close to 95-100 %.
The advantages of this procedure in your specific case will also be seen in general health, as there will be an increased delivery of oxygen to the heart and brain which will help your body recover from the damage caused by smoking all these years. Not only that, but it will also help you function better, sleep better, think better, and a multitude of other options.
Do speak to your doctor about the procedure, and if you are comfortable with the same, I would recommend it. I hope you find my response helpful ma'am. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help you.
Best wishes.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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