Sore Throat after Quitting Smoking

Almost every smoker faces these or those unpleasant feelings or disease recurrences for the first three weeks.

Besides, very often when a person quits smoking, others hear his complaints that he has a sore throat after quitting smoking.

The negative influence of the cigarette smoke and the contained harmful substances may seem to be over, so why does it appear?

Let’s try to figure it out together, lest you said: I quit smoking and my throat hurts.

Reasons of a sore throat after quitting smoking

Tickling in the throat appears as a result of the irritation and very dry mucous membrane of the larynx and pharynx.

In addition, a sick person wishes to cough up and stop feeling how his throat hurts or scratches.

The reasons of a sore throat after quitting smoking may be:

• Clearing of the respiratory tract

  Bronchi and upper respiratory tract start to clean themselves very actively, trying to eliminate the gathered mucus and particles of the cigarette smoke, which “stuck” in the mucous membrane.

  The ciliated epithelium, which covers the bronchi and larynx’s surface, becomes active and stimulates the exclusion of all foreign matters from the respiratory tract.

  In its turn, it triggers irritation of the receptors in the larynx and results in constant tickling, hurt, and cough.

• The results of the rebound syndrome

  The absence of nicotine in the metabolism often leads to the most unpredictable results.

  No one can describe for sure the way an organism will react when you deprive him of this drug substance.

  Very often those, who quit smoking, have a sore throat and it becomes one of the biggest unpleasant problems.

  A person is not capable of coping with it by means of the usual methods because it’s just the after-effect of nicotine on the central nervous system.

• Damaged innervation of the mucous membrane

  The influence of nicotine on CNS may lead to slowdowns to certain centers in brains, for example, coughing.

  When a person quits smoking, these areas of the brain may become too active and interrupt the work of some other innervations in the mucous larynx coat.

  Meanwhile, a sick person, aside from hurt and tickling, has additional symptoms – the feeling of “a lump in the throat”, choking, itching or tightening.

• Aggravation of chronic illnesses of the upper respiratory tract

  Stress, which a smoker experiences when he quits smoking, and the active cleaning of the organism causes a sharp decline in the immune system and tickling in the throat may become the first symptom of the developing pharyngitis, laryngitis, tracheitis or bronchitis.

• Allergic reaction

  Due to the described above changes, the risk of allergies increases few times. Besides, these reactions are usually accompanied by a sore throat and cough.

The consequences of a sore throat after quitting smoking

Just like the reasons why throat hurts after quitting smoking, the consequences may be various as well.

The best feel those former smokers, who simply have the restoration of the lost ciliates’ functions and whose organism fights and cleans itself from the harmful substances on its own.

In such situations, painful feelings last a relatively short while and leave on their own.

However, others may feel all negative consequences of this pain.

Negative consequences of a sore throat after quitting smoking:

• Returning to cigarettes again.

  Some smokers mistakenly believe that if they start smoking again, the tickling will fade away.

  Actually, such decision will not only make the situation worse but will definitely lead to the appearance of serious problems with health, because reoccurring influence of nicotine on the organism leads to the aggravation of diseases, which are connected to the cardiovascular, respiratory and other systems.

• The development of inflammation diseases.

  If you do not pay attention to the tickling and other symptoms of illness, the weak immune system easily catches any infections.

• Voice disorder.

  Constant irritation of mucous larynx coat may cause inflammation or hardening of the nearly located vocal cords and change the smoker’s voice a lot.

• Psychological discomfort.

  Unpleasant feelings in the throat, constant coughing or fits of a torturing cough, which appear due to the hurting throat, have an extremely bad influence on person’s well-being and working ability.

  However, they may also be a reason for the serious problems in communicating with other people and performing job duties, like working with clients.

What to do to eliminate a sore throat after quitting smoking? – Turn to a doctor

No matter under which circumstances a sore throat appears after you quit smoking – this is definitely a sign of irritated mucous coat, and consequently, you need to take measures to eliminate them.

You should go to a doctor and make sure there are no other illnesses, and if there are some, you will start the corresponding treatment.

Only a specialist can define the real reason why your throat hurts.

The prescribed symptomatic treatment may soften the mucous coat and you can decrease the unpleasant feelings by the steam inhalations, warm alkaline drinks and lozenges on the natural basis.

Without medications, the symptoms become less expressed only two or three months later.

I quit smoking and my throat hurts – tips on what to do in such situation

A sore throat and cough are the definite symptoms of organs’ restoration after this dreadful habit.

Clearing the phlegm from the throat, your organism gets free from the resin, toxins and other results of smoking.

When you smoke you destroy mucous coat and your cough may be dry.

After quitting smoking the cough will not only become stronger at first but will become wet, too.

There is nothing bad about it, but there are some methods how to ease the organism’s degeneration.

Specialists’ tips on what to do when your throat hurts after quitting smoking

• Drink at least a liter more of water per day;
• No matter what do not get cold, and eliminate the possibility of getting various micro injuries of the larynx and pharynx;
• Eat more fruits and vegetables because organism needs vitamins and microelements for the restoration period;
• Refuse eating cold and hot food because it will only hurt your mucous coat more;
• Decrease the amount of salt in the products;
• Spend more time in the fresh air;
• Make respiratory exercises because they are extremely useful for the damaged lungs.

What you should not do when you have a sore throat after quitting smoking?

There is also a chain of things, which you should not do under any circumstances, if your throat hurts after quitting smoking:

• First of all, you should not think of yourself as of “a cool doctor” (if you are not an actual doctor) and start treating yourself, i.e. taking medicine without doctor’s prescription.

• In some cases, when the throat still hurts after 10 days have passed since you smoked the last cigarette, you should never ignore this fact.

  The thing is that for this period, as a rule, the ciliated epithelium is completely restored and all harmful substances, which your organism is able to get rid of, are removed.

  It means the problem of hurting is much more serious and you definitely need to turn to a specialist.

• Finally, you must never start smoking again if your throat hurts after quitting smoking.

A sore throat after quitting smoking is a rather unpleasant but a safe for your health problem.

However, the results of the uncontrolled taking of antibiotics or expectorant drugs may be very different.

The same concerns the attempts to leave everything as it is, which often ends with the bronchitis development or severe allergy.

That’s why you should save your health and listen to your organism.

If you have extremely unpleasant feelings or new symptoms, go to a doctor.