I haven’t. But thanks for the tip. I’ll probably need something like that when the Moment of Truth comes.
For me there was gradual improvement over the course of about two months. It wasn’t so much regaining “wind” as I’ve been doing a cardio-vascular workout (running) for about three years anyway. For me it was getting rid of all the crud in my lungs. No more hacking. Interestingly, I’ve only had one slight cold since I quit (last July) and I hardly had any lung congestion whereas before I quit, it’d be days of nasty crap coming up. Boy, am I glad that’s gone.
Heh. Funny, but I NEVER get sick. I haven’t had a respiratory infection in well over 10 years. I don’t understand it. I’ll probably just wake up dead one day. Symptom-free but riddled with disease.
Kalhoun, let me know when the moment hits - I need to jump on this wagon too - maybe we can support each other. Or at least be real cranky to each other. 
I guess I’m one of the rare ones that did see a marked improvement in my “wind” when I quit.
I was already quite active when I quit. I had good muscle tone and could keep up with my workout. It was the “unplanned” workouts (shoveling snow, running up a flight of stairs, sprinting to catch a bus) that would leave me really winded and having coughing fits (and, yes, I’d have coughing fits when I laughed hard). It seemed that when I’d slowly work up to activity, my lungs could handle it. However, whenever I’d suddenly start breathing heavily, I’d hack like I was dying.
In all honesty, my wind was a bit worse the first few weeks after quitting. When those cylla came back to life, they wanted the crud out of my system NOW, and I was full of lung/throat congestion! I was a couging, wheezing wreck for a while.
I don’t recall exactly when I noticed that my breathing was much better. It kind of snuck up on me. One day, I realized that I was much, much better and had been for a while. I think it took about a month to reach that point.
Oh. My. God. I just can’t imagine it. I’ve been smoking for almost 40 years. It’s just awful, but I cannot imagine myself being a non-smoker. It’s only been the last year or so that I’ve really noticed the negative effects.
My son told me to move to the city so I can’t smoke anywhere except home!
I’m not a doctor, or a respiratory therapist 
but I think there’s a point past which you won’t get your wind back – it just won’t get any worse.
Hubby quit smoking 15 years ago and still can’t laugh without coughing, and gets winded easily.
The first time I quit, I noticed a difference almost immediately. After about a year, I was hiking again, walking hills with no problem. But I was in my late 30’s.
I suspect the next time I quit, the difference won’t be so noticeable.
I’m currently on day seven with out a cancer stick. Not only can I breathe better already, but my sense of smell has improved as well.
Seriously, I feel like I’m part canine now. Now I totaly get what all these whiney ass non-smokers are talking about when they say we stink.
After having smoked two packs a day for more than 20 years, I quit (cold turkey) 16 and a half years ago. As I recall, I “got my wind back” very gradually, over a period of about a year.
I quit a month ago, and I hadn’t conciously thought about how much more I could smell until just now. But I have been noticing so many little things. Like catching wiffs of shampoo or how my hair texturizer smells like sunscreen when I turn my head. I do smell bad things, though, too. I have a co-worker with bad breath-- never noticed that before. When the cats use the litter pan, I can smell it from the livingroom.
My lungs are coming back fairly quickly (today I was up and down two flights of stairs with heavy laundry and wasn’t winded). I am, however, 27, and have only been smoking about 6 years.
I did my first “brisk walk” this morning. I wanted to do 20 but the route I chose only allowed 15 minutes. It took me 10 minutes to get my breathing back to normal. That’s pretty bad, huh?
I need another route. The traffic freaked me out. Other than that, I kinda liked it!
Here is an inspirational thread: Sampiro’s Fuck Fucky McFucktard! I can’t fucking quite these fucking sigarettes !! There are some “live” reviews of stop-smoking-methods in there.
Sampiro ranting about smoking? I’m all over it, thanks for the link.
I have Alan Carr’s book in my shopping cart at borders. If I could just find my gift card…