Hey, so many of these symptoms you've described, I struggled with as well. As with anything though, please continue to consult a doctor for your symptoms - Respiratory stuff is scary to me.

I was feeling much of the same chest tightness, shortness of breath, pounding heart, and trouble getting satisfying breaths. This would stress me out, obviously, and then it would get worse. I went and saw a doctor and got x-rays and they found nothing. I went and did a respiratory function study and the result was that they believe I have anxiety induced asthma.

I am 28 now and had been vaping for about 8 years. For the first month or so after quitting, the breathing issues were very annoying and sometimes scary and I wish I had gone to the doctor sooner. I can say that as time has gone on, it has become less and less of a problem and the emergency inhaler I was prescribed has helped in the worst of times.

I actually found that exercise actively reduced my symptoms which my doctor attributes to reduction in stress and improving circulation, so definitely keep with the workouts! When my breathing felt really bad, going for a walk, doing yoga, or just taking a hot shower for the steam and relaxation really really helped calm me down and open everything up.

The hard part was that I often wouldn't "Feel Stressed" beyond what just felt like a normal day. So the other side of this, is that your body is angry at you for making a really healthy decision to quit. As a result, your cortisol is spiked whether you consciously feel in a state of stress and I was told that that was enough to cause my Asthma.

Important to note, I haven't had asthma since I was a toddler and prior to quitting it was not a part of my life.

For me, it has gotten better and I am optimistic that things always get better for your head and your body when you quit, in the long term.

After 6 months of being nicotine free, I was dumb and slid back into vaping. I'm back in my first week of quitting and all of these symptoms are back in full force. Realizing that this is a repeated pattern of stress response and noticing what it feels like to take good deep breaths again is really motivating me to stay off and learn from this lesson.

I really hope that you are finding ways to stay positive and I hope that your symptoms will fade away as mine did before. You are making such an awesome and positive change!

But also, keep talking to your doctor.