My husband stopped smoking over a month ago, but is still coughing up phlegm wit!
Question: Is this normal? He was a smoker for about 15 years. How long until his lungs are completely rid of the tar (or whatever) buildup?
Answers: Is this normal? He was a smoker for about 15 years. How long until his lungs are completely rid of the tar (or whatever) buildup?
After 15 years of not smoking, most increased health risks are back to that of a non-smoker... His system will begin to get back to normal (as it already has), but for the long term lung damage caused over 15 years of smoking it takes quite some time to get back to normal... Link below, with pertinent info about 3/4 of the way down. This is coming from an ex-smoker; I found this info a bit discouraging at first, but there is some good about what returns to normal at what stage...
That is the phlegm coming out of his lungs. It takes time for all that cancer causing crap to come out but do not dispare. I know how hard it is to become a non smoker. Congratulations!
Very normal and it's a good thing.
When you smoke it shuts down the system that clears the junk in your lungs and now his system is finally able to clean itself again. I've seen heavy smokers who quit cough off black goo for a long time after they quit. It's been filling up with that stuff for 15 years so it may take a while. Maybe three months depending on effective his lungs are and how much he's been smoking.
One good thing is after seeing all that, it is a big incentive not to start again.
Very normal, and the coughing is good. Getting it up and out is the only way to get rid of it, so dont use any cough suppressants.
The lungs are remarkable organs when it comes to repairing themselves... so what he is coughing up could best be described as a layer of buildup, and technically, dead lung tissue-- as new lung tissue is being produced and is basically kicking the old nasty stuff out.
The cough sucks, but dont try to stop it.
It could take a few weeks, but soon he will have practically new lungs! Yay!
Abnormal for a healthy person but normal for a smoker. The cilia in the lungs get coated or killed and then the only way to expell particulates from the lung is by coughing it up. Normally the cilia of the lungs are constantly sweeping the particulates out but in a smoker this action is frequently stopped.