What happens to your body when you quit smoking cigarettes? What happens after you quit smoking was one of the biggest questions I had on the day I decided to quit smoking once and for all. I already knew the benefits quitting would bring, and I also knew there may be some unpleasant side effects to deal with when I finally quit smoking, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Out of curiosity, I browsed some online forums and message boards devoted to various ways to quit smoking and where people were discussing what to expect when quitting smoking and some of the aftereffects many experienced once they quit smoking. Quit smoking aids come a dime a dozen, so much so that a smoker can become quite frustrated trying to figure out what the best way to quit smoking is, but I wanted to know everything upfront to help me quit smoking successfully and hopefully ward off the pesky side effects.

I’ve barely noticed any real side effects after I quit smoking, but what I found somewhat surprising from the list of common withdrawal symptoms and reported aftereffects was the number of people who successfully quit smoking cigarettes talking about experiencing chronic, if not severe, sinus congestion after quitting smoking. Some said they continued experiencing severe sinus congestion and no sense of smell for several months, if not longer, which lead to a debate about remedies to help alleviate nasal congestion without drugs or prescription medications.

Nasal Congestion Remedies

Considering the fact that I’ve had sinus congestion problems since I was a kid, primarily due to seasonal allergies to pollen and mountain cedar etc, finding out that chronic sinus congestion is something that happens after you quit smoking was the exact opposite of what I expected to happen. Everything I had read before I stopped smoking mentioned things like post nasal drip, headaches, runny nose, coughing up phlegm or mucous and other unpleasant side effects that sound really gross.

Dealing with sinus congestion, sinus blockage or sinus infections wasn’t something I was counting on when I quit smoking, but oh well. Considering how unpleasant some of the other side effects are for people interested in quitting smoking have been, researching natural sinus congestion remedies and food allergies that can contribute to congestion of the sinuses is the least of my worries.

According to Wiki, nasal congestion treatments to help clear sinus congestion recommended by medical experts include drinking more than the usual amount of fluids like water, tea and fruit juice. Avoiding dehydration causing substances like coffee and sodas, because of the caffeine, is also recommended. Stop drinking coffee?! Argh!

Increasing moisture in the air with a humidifier or a hot, steamy bath or shower is said to help relieve the congestion and accompanying discomfort. Other suggestions include home remedies like eating spicy foods containing hot peppers (no thanks); drinking a couple of swigs of apple cider vinegar (not a chance of that happening); Vicks Vapor Rub; Chicken Soup loaded with black pepper (Achew!); cayenne pepper; drinking basil tea or “tomato tea” (a real possibility).

Tomato Tea Recipe:

1 cup tomato juice
1 tsp chopped fresh garlic
1/2 tsp of hot sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
a small pinch or two of celery salt for flavor.

Mix and heat ingredients and drink hot.

Using nasal sprays like Afrin is something I will not do because of the possibility of becoming addicted to Afrin, and I don’t want to constantly be using nasal decongestants like Claritin either, but the use of natural saline solution not only comes highly recommended but saline solution is cheap too.

The Neti Pot appears to be a very popular remedy for sinus congestion, especially since Dr. Oz showed how well the Neti Pot works on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, there’s an image you won’t be able to get out of your head for a while – a video demonstration of how to use the Neti Pot on national television, and Oprah says she can’t go anywhere without hers.

The Neti Pot may look strange (Yep, it does), but Dr. Oz says this treatment may be more effective than medication. “The [ear, nose and throat] doctors who are specialists in this area will often say this is a better treatment than a lot of the other drugs that we try to offer folks, because it mechanically cleans out the problem,” he says.

Have you recently quit smoking and experience chronic or severe sinus congestion? What methods to stop smoking did you find helpful? Have you tried the Neti Pot as a remedy and found it to be very helpful? What natural home remedies for sinus congestion have you discovered work well for you?

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There are many ways to quit smoking cigarettes, and since I finally quit smoking, I’m here to tell you that the best way to quit smoking is by what I believe to be the easy way to quit once and for all. Any smoker who wants to quit smoking cigarettes (and those who don’t want to quit) can give you a laundry list of reasons why quitting is good for you and the healthy thing to do, to the point where repeating the reasons to quit starts sounding like a broken record and smokers want to say “Shut Up!” to family or friends with their well-intentioned barrage of requests to quit.

Smokers know the health risks and dangers associated with smoking cigarettes or cigars, or even the health risks involved with chewing tobacco products, but nicotine addiction keeps smokers smoking and dippers dipping despite the risks or harmful effects, and all the begging and nagging to quit smoking or chewing tobacco sounds like “blah blah blah” to smokers and tobacco users, which won’t help get loved ones to quit.

Reading various myths about quitting smoking or hearing about all the bad things that can happen because of physical withdrawal, such as having to cope with nasty nicotine withdrawal symptoms (like the feeling of wanting to rip someone’s head off for making you mad), is enough to cause some hardened smokers to keep on smoking.

Common Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms

• Cravings to smoke

• Irritability (ready to kill someone)

• Insomnia

• Anxiety

• Fatigue

• Difficulty concentrating

• Headache

• Cough

• Sore throat

• Constipation, gas, stomach pain

• Dry mouth

• Sore tongue and/or gums

• Postnasal drip

• Tightness in the chest

Many smokers have successfully quit smoking with a wide variety of quit smoking aids in the form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRTs) like nicotine gum, stop smoking pills, shots, patches, inhaler, lozenges and nasal sprays. Quitting smoking “cold turkey”, hypnosis and acupuncture treatments have also helped many people quit smoking. It was my personal choice to stay away from all nicotine replacement therapies and prescription quit smoking pills like Chantix because of the strange and scary side effects reported by many Chantix users, but I know several people personally who have successfully quit smoking with Chantix and swear by the effectiveness of the prescription pill.

Easy way to stop smoking

When I decided to finally quit smoking, I found the process of quitting to be very easy. Really. Previous halfhearted attempts to stop smoking was more like saying “I want to want to quit smoking”, rather than a real decision to quit, and after several attempts to quit I gave up and started smoking again. Now that I have really quit smoking once and for all, I can honestly say that of all the known nicotine withdrawal symptoms many people say are so horrible, my experience has been quite the opposite.

If I have experienced physical or emotional withdrawal symptoms, the feelings have been so slight that they are virtually indistinguishable to me and others around me, but I wouldn’t recommend testing me to see if I’ll have a meltdown. Until recently, I never would have believed that there really was an easy way to stop smoking, but I’m so glad to have discovered Allen Carr’s book about quitting smoking. I know, I know. Reading a book helped me quit smoking?

Yes, it did, and you don’t have to take my word for it either. By the time I had read just half of Allen Carr’s book called The Easy Way to Stop Smoking, I had put out my last cigarette and I knew I would never smoke again and I haven’t. If you are trying to quit smoking or you know someone who is trying to stop smoking, read the book. You have nothing to lose by reading the book and finding out for yourself how easy it can be to stop smoking. Really easy.

When I told a couple of people that I quit smoking because of what I read in a book, they all asked me, “Well, what did the book say?”, with a silly yeah-right look on their face. It’s not just a matter of what Carr says in the book, but how he explains the easy way method to stop smoking that surprises readers.

Allen Carr used to smoke 100 cigarettes a day! That’s a 5-pack a day smoking addiction, and his method to quit smoking worked for him immediately, instantaneously. I knew that if Carr could quit smoking that many cigarettes a day and deal with his nicotine addiction effectively, then my piddly barely a pack a day smoking habit would be easy to stop. Quitting smoking was easy for me, and quitting can be just as easy for you too. Read the book and see for yourself.

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