Not smoking anymore and more colds than usual?

November 8, 2013 11:00 AM

I smoked for most of my adult life. I managed to quit once before (for about 18 months) and now am on my fourth month of quitting again -- so far, so good except I seem to be getting more colds and sinus issues. I don't recall this happening last time I quit.

For example, a month ago my teeth were aching so badly that I visited the dentist. I thought I had a horrible toothache in addition to a cold, but the dentist said my teeth were just fine -- it was the sinus cold causing the pain.

I have never had such a cold in my life and my sinuses are still not totally better -- still stuffy and a little mucousy. Not fun. Seems like it's been going on forever. I am sure it's viral, no signs of a bacterial infection.

A friend said that when she quit, she also seemed to catch more colds. Colds are caused by viruses and I would guess my immune system would be stronger now than it was before? Does not seem so.

Has anyone else seemed to be less resistant to colds after quitting smoking? Or could it be just bad virus season and I've just been unlucky?

posted by Lescha to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

I don't think this is a virus, this could be your body's way of elminating hisimine and all of your old, yukky smoking stuff out of your repiratory system.

See if anti histimines help. Try a Benedryl at bedtime and see if you can breathe more easily.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:10 AM on November 8, 2013

Perhaps you are touching your mouth when you think of smoking, or sucking/chewing on pens, fingernails, toothpicks, etc as a way of dealing with cravings? A lot of crud can get brought into your mouth that way.
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:35 AM on November 8, 2013

It might just be the time of year.

I quit June 1 and haven't actually gotten sick since, but have had about 3 occasions of "crap, I'm getting sick" and then rallying by the next day. I didn't really get sick the last time I quit either.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:35 AM on November 8, 2013

It might just be that you wouldn't have noticed these colds while smoking. I find the smoke really numbing of exactly these types of cold-related discomforts.
posted by 256 at 11:40 AM on November 8, 2013

Anecdotal: I remember this happening to me, lasting perhaps a year. My super-naive hypothesis was that inhaling hot smoke killed germs. I know this is likely not true, but it did help me rationalize why maybe sneaking one or two now and then wouldn't be so bad...
posted by mean square error at 11:42 AM on November 8, 2013

Best answer: When I quit smoking (WELL DONE by the way!!!) I got terrible mouth ulcers for a solid 3 months which was awful.
I figured my body's chemical balance was righting itself and this was one of the unfortunate side effects.
Not sure if this applies to you having more colds but I'm sure it will taper off, and you're so much better for being smoke free now.... just give your body time to heal!
posted by JenThePro at 11:47 AM on November 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I had the exact same thing happen after I quit smoking. I actually spoke to my allergist about it and after he got done fussing at me for ever smoking in the first place as someone with allergies, he said that this is normal. Your cilia are healing and becoming more sensitive to the contaminants in the air. Therefore, allergens that used to be ignored, because the receptors where killed by cigarette smoke, are being red flagged and wrapped in mucus. For me, all the colds I was getting were allergy related in that they started off as snotty nose, then within a few weeks exploded into full blown sinus infections.

Allergist started me on Nasonex and I haven't had a single head cold or sinus infection in the last two years.
posted by teleri025 at 12:04 PM on November 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I quit a month ago (a month today, actually) and am still hella more mucous-y (but much less than I was a week ago) than I've ever been; because I was afraid it was never going to go away, I researched this a lot and though there isn't any proof that you get more colds, lots of people think this is happening to them too. But, for me at least, it seems to be the cilia issue as well. (I became much more allergic to my cats again, for example.)

I don't know if it will get better for you as it has for me, but I'd consider what teleri025 said as a solution as well.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:14 PM on November 8, 2013

Best answer: Yes it's within the range of normal. Everyone tells you how much better you'll feel and how great your breathing will be; I had to go on two inhalers for three months to be able to draw breath at all. And I am not and have never been asthmatic.

FUCKING CABAL
posted by DarlingBri at 12:23 PM on November 8, 2013 [3 favorites]

Congratulations on quitting smoking!

If you are getting constant sinus pain, you might want to get checked out by a doctor. Sinus infections can be sneaky, I believe my ENT told me once that it's not the color of the mucus that indicates a sinus infection (which is what I thought), but where the mucus is coming from. I used to think clear snot=no infection.

I am not a smoker, so I don't know if what you're experiencing is normal. But I do know that advil cold & sinus (the stuff behind the pharmacy counter, with pseudoephedrine) works great for sinus pain.
posted by inertia at 12:31 PM on November 8, 2013

Nthing the suggestion that this is normal, or something approximating normal. When I quit I spent a few weeks coughing up stuff in the shower now that I was no longer packing it down every day with cigarettes, and I also became allergic to cigarette smoke again. You've been dumping a lot of weird chemicals in there and messing with your respiratory system so I would think it appropriate that your body gets all out of whack when you quit.

And congrats on quitting, by the way. It sucks, but just like all the other smarmy ex-smokers I'll assure you that you'll feel so much better soon.
posted by komara at 1:52 PM on November 8, 2013

Congrats. I went through this a decade ago when I quit, it passes.

And everything else passes, too. You WILL reach the point where you don't care anymore, and that the idea of going back just, isn't attractive at all.
posted by Cycloptichorn at 4:02 PM on November 8, 2013

It's a long hard road. You will feel crappy the first month/months due to all sorts of various things. Your body has been used to getting it's nicotine/all-the-other-crap-in-tobacco fix for a long time and will rebel against you for a while. Eventually your body will get used to your new healthy lifestyle, but it may take a while.
posted by freakazoid at 9:12 PM on November 8, 2013

In my experience this is not out of the range of normal things that happen after quitting, and it will pass in time.
posted by J. Wilson at 6:41 AM on November 9, 2013