Constant coughing, worse cough than my 20+ year smoker parents, painful breathing?

[Jesusgreen]

Okay, so background info:

I'm 20 years old. I've been a smoker for the past 4 years, the first 3 of which my smoking was rather sporadic, maybe just 2-5 cigarettes a month at most, often less. Over the last year I've been smoking a lot more, switching between weeks where I'll smoke 3-5 cigarettes all week and weeks where I'll smoke 100+ (a lot of those happened through the summer, but not its mostly the 3-5 a week ones).

I currently live in the same house as my parents, and have done all my life. They're 1-2 pack a day smokers, and the kitchen in particular is usually thick with smoke.

I smoke weed fairly often but it's sporadic, sometimes I'll smoke once a day for a week, other times I'll go without for 2-3 weeks.

I've also smoked AM-2201 fairly regularly over the last year, but in rather small amounts, and I've smoked 250mg total from Nov-2011 to October-2012.

I smoked somewhere between 200mg and 400mg of MDPV during the summer.

I've also smoked small amounts (< 100mg total) of Ethylphenidate, Methiopropamine, Pentedrone, 5-MeO-DALT, and aMT. Along with that I've smoked 200-250mg+ DMT.

I've been coughing for a few years now, before I started smoking in fact, but back then all I noticed was that I coughed more often than other people. Now I'm coughing all the time and each time I start really hacking out my lungs MUCH worse than my own grandfather who has lung cancer. These coughs really hurt, and leave me with a painful fiery feeling in my lungs for anywhere from 30 seconds to minutes to an hour or two. It's never ending since the coughing fits happen every few minutes.

I usually wheeze, particularly if I'm laying down. I sometimes have trouble breathing but never to the point that I've passed out or anything.

I get very out of breath with any physical activity. Walking up the not-so-steep hill home from town always leaves me completely out of breath for about 30 good minutes, during which I have to relax and not move.

Anyone have any thoughts?

One of the neighbours is a doctor so although I'm not insured I think she'll at least listen to my chest, but I'm not sure if I'll get anything more than that.

Any tips on ways I could help my lungs along a little? I was thinking of boiling some hot water in a bowl, putting a towel over it, sticking my head under the towel and inhaling the steam as I've heard this helps soothe the lungs. I know in a hot shower I can definitely breathe a lot easier.

 

[T. Calderone]

Get yourself checked out if it continues. You may have asthsma especially mentioned that you were coughing before you started smoking anything. Plus getting out of breath, the burning feeling and wheezing.

 

[Jesusgreen]

^ I've been leaning towards that idea, since it's dramatically worse:
- After activity
- When in dusty places

Thankfully I should have insurance soon, so I'll be able to get it properly checked out, mostly just wanted some opinions now while that's not really an option.

I suppose it might be relevant that when I'm actually smoking, I don't cough all that much surprisingly, though with second hand smoke I do.

GERD is another possibility I thought of because I used to have chronic heartburn all the time, then it mysteriously disappeared and my cough started getting a lot worse. I have a horribly poor diet too, and eat: 4 rolls w/ cheese, 1 margherita pizza every day, and have done so for the last 2 years, with a few exceptions. Don't ask me how I don't get bored of it, I have no clue either, but it's cheap, easy, and works haha. Slightly underweight but other than the lung problems seem pretty healthy though, oddly enough.

Anyway, know no-one can really give me a proper answer but opinions are still very welcome.

I've had some marshmallow leaf that I was using as filler in bowls when I wanted to smoke AM-2201 without vaporizing it, and I've heard it's great for the lungs so I made some tea from it and I've been drinking that. It's surprisingly effective, my coughing is a lot less painful, as is breathing.

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

Can't help with diagnosis, but can give some general advice:

For now you absolutely must stop smoking cigarettes, or any form of tobacco that you inhale. Maybe try out a pipe, it's more cost effective, pleasant and better tasting than cigs (worth the investment for quality tobacco, not cheap prepackaged stuff). Snus is pretty cheap too, and rather different. Within a month or two you should regain lung function impaired by regular smoking, and yeah even small amounts matter.

I'd also avoid chasing things off foil / vaping your various drugs in general, I've found that that has helped my lung function in the past (or rather, alleviated persistent coughing that was caused by those actions).

Continue with the herbal antitussives, and don't be afraid to go for DXM if needed (particularly efficacious if you go beyond the recommended dose).

 

[Jesusgreen]

Interestingly last night while tripping I did a big major clean because I've really let crap build up everywhere for the longest time and I figured it's certainly not helping my lungs. I'm suspecting the dust irritation was a major part of it because I've cleaned thoroughly and left all the windows open for the last 12 hours or so and I'm now coughing less frequently but most noticeably of all my coughs aren't 15-30 second fits of hacking my lungs out completely, but rather a quick normal cough.

I'm hoping that's all it was and my cough will continue to get even better until it mostly/totally disappears, but either way I'm going to get the neighbour to listen to my chest, since there's no harm getting it checked out.

Regarding possibly having asthma, isn't one of the required symptoms being almost *dangerously* out of breath to the point of having to stop what you're doing immediately and/or passing out if you don't have an inhaler? I get out of breath very quickly but provided I slow my pace I can usually continue what I'm doing unless it's something difficult like running etc.

 

[ebola?]

I'm 20 years old. I've been a smoker for the past 4 years, the first 3 of which my smoking was rather sporadic, maybe just 2-5 cigarettes a month at most, often less. Over the last year I've been smoking a lot more, switching between weeks where I'll smoke 3-5 cigarettes all week and weeks where I'll smoke 100+ (a lot of those happened through the summer, but not its mostly the 3-5 a week ones).

Honestly, it might be the very variability in your rate of smoking. With heavy smoke intake (particularly tobacco), you lungs' cilia become paralyzed, but with abstinence, they begin functioning again. So if you continually stop and start smoking a great deal, at regular intervals, your respiratory system will be frantically excising gunk.

To reduce variability, I strongly suggest smoking less or not at all rather than more.

ebola

 

[T. Calderone]

I was curious to ask if you have a lot of phelegm when coughing or is it dry? I've had emphysema for a while from excessive smoking and have the same trouble when I'm lying down and lots of wheezing. Once I'm up I start coughing a lot and it fades when I begin smoking again. This probably won't help you much. Get to a doctor.

 

[Shimmer.Fade]

You should go to a doctor just to have it checked out. IMO you don't have to be completely honest with him/her in this case because he/she probably knows next to nothing about the things you have smoking besides cigarettes and weed (unless they hit a dead end, and have no idea what is wrong with you, then it may be good to give more details). However, make sure you tell them how long it has been going on, what kind of pains you have, and any patterns you have noticed that cause it to get acutely worse. You will only be able to tell a bit about the problem by listening to the chest, there are many other valuable tests that can provide much better information.

It isn't terribly uncommon to get an infection of some sort that will damage the bronchial/lung tissue resulting in a more vulnerable state which is more prone to repeated inflammation from infections/physical or chemical noxe, which can then become chronic inflammation if the cause of the inflammation is not addressed. Chronic inflammation is bad because it can lead to healthy tissue being replaced by scar tissue, which impairs the function of the affected areal. There could also be an allergic component to it. Just get it checked out, especially if you have been having issues for a couple of years.

Continue with the herbal antitussives, and don't be afraid to go for DXM if needed (particularly efficacious if you go beyond the recommended dose).

I would say this is not the best advice. Hindering your bodies natural defense mechanisms can most certainly exacerbate the problem. I would only use a cough suppressant if you have to hold a presentation, or be quiet somewhere. I would not use it regularly.

Edit: Make sure you mention your grandfather has lung cancer (better if you know more or less what caused it), because sadly this sort of thing can run in the genes (quite unlikely, but it is good to cover all bases).

 

[Foreigner]

Cease smoking, let your lungs recover.

Take herbs like astragalus, licorice root, mullein, and elecampagne. They'll help moisten and restore lung function. Licorice is also an anti-spasmodic.

 

[CHiLD-0F-THE-BEAT]

I would definitely reiterate what others have said. Cut out the smoking number one, and number two get yourself checked out. This could be a serious problem underlying the coughing symptoms.

I'm closing this as we aren't here to diagnose, and I feel you've had a pretty good lot of suggestions thus far. Let us know how you go, and best of luck.