Update 2011: Please read the comments below — they are more informative & helpful than this original post I wrote over 6 years ago.
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I quit smoking a few weeks ago.
I bought a pack of nicotine gum, which doesn’t taste like butt anymore… as I recall it did years ago. The gum did help the cravings.
I think the reason I was able to quit for real this time while failing at the 5 or so times in the past, was that this is the first time in my life that I don’t live with a smoker. I remember taking vacation a few years and never really craving a cigarette too badly, but as soon as I got home to my yellow nicotine coated walls… I needed a nic-fix.
Quitting was the easy part. Nic-fits and psychological cravings ceased to be powerful within just a couple days. A few days after my last peice of nicotine gum I started having severe hunger pains.
Online research told me that nicotine actually supplies your body with little sugar fixes…as smoking a cigarette releases stored sugars into your blood stream. This is why smokers often don’t need to eat until late afternoon without feeling hungry.
However, when you no longer have this artificial feeding of sugar into your bloodstream after quitting smoking your body can freak out a bit that it has to get sugar the old-fashion way. I had to learn how to eat breakfast and lunch again. It wasn’t too difficult to start eating 3 meals a day because I felt hungry, but my hunger pains were not going away with food … not even after eating a large meal.
These hunger pains soon turned into intense stomach cramps that I imagined would be what someone who is on the edge of dying from starvation would feel. The doc says its IBS… irritable bowel syndrome. Sounds awesome, eh?
Q. How did I, a relatively fit and healthy 26 year old woman get a disease that sounds like something only old men named Chuck or Ron in a nursing home would have?
A. Mostly from quitting smoking. The shock to my digestive system from the sudden lack of lovely cigarette chemicals and general body stress is what the doc explained as to reason for my IBS.
The doc prescribed some little pills that stop the stomach cramps but make me sleepy in a happy/stupid kind of way :D
A diet of fruit and veggies seems to have helped and I think I am on the verge of getting rid of the IBS and getting back to normal.
You might be wondering why I wrote this? The reason is that I could not find anything online about a connection between IBS and quitting smoking, although the way my doctor explained things…it sounded like it’s a somewhat common occurance.
And for those of you that stumbled upon this post from a search engine, I feel ya, really… and don’t worry… it will pass. :)
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Update 2011 PS: IBS is what doctors say you have when they don’t know what else is wrong with you. IBS is not a disease. It is a set of symptoms. Don’t feel like a “victim of disease” when you get diagnosed with IBS. <– totally my own opinion, I am not a medical professional.
Hey folks,
i am 22 years old and i have smoked for like 3 and a half years. smoked 8-10 cigarettes a day.. i quit cold turkey 22 days ago.. Initially i had those hunger cramps and felt like eating all day, and i did.. my diet improved magnificently but for the last one week i haven’t felt good. i feel bloated all day long, feel like farting all day.. i have never felt so bad in my life.. It’s like i am writing my heart out today.. i went to the doctor and he prescribed me a few pills.. i got to know that the pills he has prescribed me are for treating IBS… I was feeling very low that day, but i kept myself going.. I wondered that if i picked up smoking it might help me out.. but it’s the conscience that doesn’t let me pick that ciggy up..
I wonder when will i get well… i have never felt so alone and horrible in my life.. i wish i could get well soon.. But i won’t let the will die… maybe there is some sunshine at the end of the tunnel…:D
Thanks for your comments Ron. It does get better — Congrats on quitting young!
Ouch — I feel ya! Yeah, I think changing the diet really helps. Nicotine let me be lazy with my eating habits — after quitting I had to change my diet, adding a lot of fiber, cutting out junk foods, eating less processed crap, etc.
The biggest help for me: eating a bowl of cereal before bed.
How long have you been having this thing??? i mean i hope it’s not a forever thing…
IBS is omething that is very different n different people. I diagnosed with IBS about a year ago. after all tests such as blood, urine, upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, a few different X-rays, etc. I used to smoke so a few weeks ago finally I decided to quit and just after two weeks the IBS is almost gone!!! at least I can say 80% improvement. My IBS was everyday pain in the last 6 years. and I never tried to quit in these years! Finnaly I did it and it worked!
Hi. I have similar problems with this. I have smoked for 27 years and finally decided to quit for good on New years. Tried the Chantix thing and made me too sick to my stomach. I finally quit cold turkey 3 weeks later….but then started having weird pains in my chest….then in the back where my right lung is. I waited for about a week to see if it would go away and started freaking out a little. I wanted to make sure there was nothing like a tumor or something growing there in my lungs since I smoked like 1 to 1 and a half packs a day for the last 27 years. I had a chest x-ray and it was clear, but the dr wanted to rule out a possible blood clot in the lungs so he sent me for a ct scan of my lungs. All clear. Within 1-2 days all pains in chest were gone. But I thought from all the worry my stomach problems were the result. So now its been 3 more weeks and my stomach is just getting worse and worse. Everytime I eat I am severely bloated, have gas coming out both ends….I can eat a can ov Ravioli and feel like I just had Thanksgiving dinner. Even a cup of coffee does this to me. I am getting wooried all over again because I have no fever or anything else to suggest an infection. Feels like a blockage either where the stomach empties into the small intestine or a blockage in the small intestine. Very disheartening for someone whos mom died of colon cancer. I just just dont believe its that though. Everything seems to be centered to immediately after I quit smoking. I ts been three weeks now totally smoke free and I feel great for doing that, empowered really, but this whole thing going on with the gut has really got me down and I am really seriously thinking about picking the habit back up. I dont have a loss of appitite, infact I feel hungry. But I dread these times now that knowing what happens when I eat. I see the dr again today and hopefully he may be able to shed some light on this as well. Hes the one that convinced me to quit smoking in the first place.
Damn IBS. I have suffered from IBS from a very young age (7ish). I started smoking at 16 and now I am quitting at 23.
It has only been a couple of day but I have definitely noticed an increase in my IBS. Lots of stomach aches, and my bowl movements are all over the place (metaphorically speaking). I used to take mebeverine which helped the pains but recently (after I have quit) it dosnt seem to be helping as much as usual. I have switched to a tablet called colpermin which I would advise anyone with IBS to try. I wont put the details down here just look it up if you are interested.
I was really considering smoking again just to try to get back to being able to control my bowls. However after reading what you guys have written I will hang in there for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. I will post once more in that time and note down how I am doing.
Hopefully this helps people as your posts have given me the motivation I need to hang in there.
I smoked for 40 years and finally quit about 6 months ago. For the past 2 months, my stomach hurts so bad, it’s unbelievable. How long does it take to get better? I’m considering taking smoking back up since I never felt this bad when I was smoking!
I started smoking at 10 years old and quit at 55, it’s been 27 months now smoke free. Over the last 15 years of smoking I cut down to approx 10 a day. I never really had any stomach issues, kind of ate what I wanted but ever since I quit smoking I’m having stomach cramps, aches, gas and worst of all diarrhea. At times I’ll be in the washroom minutes after finishing a meal. I haven’t officially been diagnosed with IBS however I suspect that I do now have IBS and that smoking kept it at bay all those years. I have read that cigarettes can be an antidepressant, I’ve also read that antidepressants can subside IBS.
I’m glad that I found this link, I thought that I may be the only one with this situation. This now kind of confirms the suspicions that I’ve had over the past couple of years. I forgot to mention that there have been periods, months, at a time when I don’t really show signs of IBS however when it hits it can go on for weeks. In addition I won’t be taking up smoking again to solve this problem, I feel it’s the stomach issues are the lesser of two evils.
Google search criteria that I used:
antidepressants and ibs
cigarettes are an antidepressant
smoking stop ibs
An interesting statement at this link, even if it is from a cigarettes information website, that states:
“Interesting is that researchers are actually documenting neurochemical effects which says that cigarettes may actually be a drug that smokers are using to treat their underlying chronic depression.”
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/cigarettes-can-be-an-antidepressant-735746.html
T.I.A. for listening to my rant.
Toni, Your post made me sane again. I quit smoking one week after I had a DNC and I kept telling my doc I was still in horrible pain. So i proceeded to take all the narcs she gave me which i later read give you constipation. I thought I had a perforated bowel (one of the possibilities of a bad DNC). I found your post and although the horrible pain is still with me I now no longer think I’m dying.
Debbie- hang in there, we can do this!!
Hey guys, I’m also experiencing this same upset stomach crap after quitting smoking! I’m actually sitting on the toilet now at four in the morning because of it! Lol
I quit about a month ago, and I swear about two days after I quit, I started getting serious gas every day. Not only am I getting the painful gas, but I am also experiencing irregular bowel movements as well.(explains why I’m in the John at such a random time)
I figured this was all due to quitting smoking, and I had the temptation to start up again just to cure me of this crap but stuck to my guns. This is starting to get a bit ridiculous though….it got so bad tonight that I felt like I had to puke.
Good luck everyone! Hopefully this will all be over soon…..
Logan
Just wanted to let others know that I quit smoking too…..its been a couple of weeks and I am sure I have IBS. I have had a colonoscopy, cat scan on my abdomin and the doctors can not figure out what is wrong with me. I have had the blood tests, stool tests and other test but they don’t have a reason or a clue what I have. At first they thought it was ulceritive collitus and then something else and then I didn’t have anything…….I hope this all goes away soon.