What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Using Cigarettes

Stopping cigarettes is one of the biggest changes a smoker can make, and it is also one of the most misunderstood. Many people expect the body to feel better at once, as if a switch has been flipped. The truth is slower and more mixed. In the first hours and days, the body does begin to clear itself, but the mind and body also have to cope without nicotine, and that coping can feel rough. Cravings, irritability, poor sleep and a foggy head are common in the first week. They are not signs that stopping has harmed you. They are signs that your body is adjusting to life without a substance it had grown used to, and that adjustment takes time.

It helps to know what is actually happening inside you when you stop. Cigarette smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide and thousands of other chemicals. Nicotine is the part that makes smoking addictive. Carbon monoxide is a gas that takes up space on the red blood cells that carry oxygen, so less oxygen reaches your tissues while you smoke. The other chemicals damage blood vessels, irritate the lungs and cause inflammation through the body. When you stop, no new smoke arrives. The carbon monoxide clears within a day or two, oxygen delivery improves, and the lungs begin the slow work of clearing mucus and repairing their lining. At the same time, the brain has to relearn how to manage mood, attention and sleep without regular nicotine. Those two processes run side by side: healing and withdrawal. Healing is quiet and steady. Withdrawal is loud and uncomfortable. Both are real, and both pass at different speeds.

This article walks through that process in plain words: the first day, the first week, the first month, and the months after that. It explains why cravings come in waves, why appetite and sleep change, why breathing and taste improve, and what the long-term gains look like. It is general information, not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your health, or you want help to quit, a qualified health professional is the right person to talk to.

The First Twenty-Four Hours

The first day without cigarettes is often the hardest to imagine and the most important to get through. Within hours of the last cigarette, nicotine levels in the blood begin to fall, and the brain notices the drop. Many people feel restless, tense or low within a few hours, and the urge to smoke can arrive suddenly, often tied to a familiar moment: the morning tea, the drive to work, the break after a meal. These urges are strong, but they are usually short. A craving often peaks within a few minutes and then fades, even if it returns again later in the day. Knowing that pattern helps, because it means you only need to get through a few minutes at a time, not the whole day at once.

At the same time, something good is already happening. Carbon monoxide from smoke leaves the blood quickly, and within about a day the red blood cells can carry oxygen more normally again. That change is invisible, but it matters. Your heart does not have to work as hard to push oxygen around the body, and your hands and feet may feel a little warmer as circulation improves. The lungs also begin to clear. The tiny hairs in the airways, called cilia, which smoke had slowed down, start moving again, sweeping mucus and dust upward. That is why some people cough more in the first days after quitting. The cough feels like a setback, but it is often the lungs doing their cleaning work for the first time in years.

Sleep on the first night can be difficult. Nicotine affects sleep, and its absence can leave the mind buzzing or restless. Some people fall asleep easily because they are tired from the effort of the day, while others lie awake thinking about cigarettes. Both are normal. A regular bedtime, a dark room, and avoiding heavy meals or strong tea late in the evening can help a little, but the main thing is not to judge the whole attempt by one bad night. The first day is a test of patience, not a verdict on whether quitting will work.

The First Week: Withdrawal at Its Strongest

The first week is when withdrawal is usually at its strongest, and it is also when most people who return to smoking do so. That is not because they are weak. It is because the first week combines several hard things at once: strong cravings, low mood, irritability, trouble concentrating, restless sleep and a body that feels out of balance. Nicotine had been part of the daily routine for months or years, woven into work breaks, meals, stress and boredom. Removing it leaves gaps in the day that used to be filled by a cigarette, and those gaps feel empty and uncomfortable.

Irritability is one of the most common complaints. Small things that would normally pass unnoticed can feel annoying, and arguments can flare up over nothing. This is not a change in character. It is the brain adjusting its chemistry. Nicotine had been pushing the brain’s reward system, and without it, mood dips for a while. The brain also has to relearn how to handle stress without reaching for a cigarette, and that learning takes days, not hours. Telling the people around you that you have stopped, and that you may be short-tempered for a while, can prevent misunderstandings. Most families and friends understand, especially when they know it is temporary.

Concentration often suffers too. Many people who quit find they cannot focus at work, they forget small things, and they feel foggy. This is frightening, because it feels like quitting has made the mind slower. In fact, the fog is a withdrawal effect, and it lifts as the brain settles. It usually eases over two to four weeks, and many former smokers say their thinking is clearer after that than it was while they were smoking. The reason is simple: while smoking, the brain was cycling between nicotine highs and lows every hour, and that cycling itself disturbed attention. Once the cycle stops, attention steadies.

Appetite changes are common in the first week as well. Nicotine dulls appetite and speeds up the body’s energy use slightly, so when it is gone, food can taste better and hunger can feel stronger. Taste and smell begin to return within a couple of days, and food that seemed bland can suddenly taste rich again. That is a pleasure, but it can also lead to eating more, especially sweet or salty snacks, as a replacement for the hand-to-mouth habit of smoking. Some weight gain in the first months is common, and it is usually small. It is far less harmful than continuing to smoke, and it can be managed later with steadier meals and walking, once the hardest part of quitting is behind you.

Cravings: Why They Come in Waves

Cravings are the part of quitting that surprises people most, because they do not fade in a straight line. They come in waves. A morning can feel calm, then a smell, a place or a feeling can trigger a sudden, intense urge. The trigger might be the smell of smoke from someone else, a cup of coffee, a stressful phone call, or simply finishing a meal. The brain has linked those moments with cigarettes over hundreds or thousands of repetitions, and each link fires when the moment arrives. The craving feels physical, like hunger, and it demands attention now.

It helps to understand that a craving is a memory as much as a chemical need. The nicotine level in the blood is low, but the brain also remembers the reward that used to follow the trigger. That is why cravings can return months after quitting, in a situation you have not faced since you stopped. A holiday, a celebration, a difficult day at work, or meeting an old smoking friend can wake the old link. This does not mean you have failed. It means the link is still there, and it needs to be met with a plan rather than a cigarette.

Most cravings pass within a few minutes if you do not act on them. Walking, drinking a glass of water, chewing gum, breathing slowly, or simply waiting and watching the clock can carry you through. Some people find it helps to write down their triggers and prepare a response for each one: a walk instead of a smoke break, a phone call to a friend instead of a cigarette after a meal, a short stretch when stress rises. The plan does not need to be perfect. It needs to give your hands and mind something to do while the wave passes. Over weeks, the waves get shorter, weaker and less frequent, and the gaps between them grow longer.

Breathing, Taste and Energy in the First Month

By the second and third week, many people notice the first clear improvements, and they are often the ones that make quitting feel worthwhile. Breathing becomes easier. The coughing that was common in the first days often eases as the lungs clear, and walking up stairs or carrying shopping feels less tiring. This happens because the airways are less inflamed and the lungs can move air more freely. The improvement is gradual, not dramatic, but it is steady, and it continues for months.

Taste and smell keep improving through the first month. Food tastes stronger and more interesting, and the smell of fresh air, rain or cooking becomes noticeable again in a way it had not been for years. Many former smokers say this is one of the most satisfying changes, because it is a daily, pleasant reminder that the body is healing. It also changes how smoke smells to them. The smell of cigarettes on other people, which once seemed normal, can start to smell harsh and unpleasant, and that can help keep them away from smoking.

Energy is slower to return, and it does not come back in a straight line. Some days feel better than others, and a bad night’s sleep can make the next day feel flat. But as nicotine leaves the system and oxygen delivery improves, many people find they have more steady energy through the day, rather than the ups and downs that came with smoking. The tiredness that smoking caused, through poor sleep and poor oxygen, begins to lift. Exercise, even gentle walking, can help this process, because it improves circulation and mood, and it gives the body a healthy way to use the energy that used to go to cigarettes.

Sleep, Dreams and the Night

Sleep deserves its own attention, because it is one of the areas where quitting can feel most confusing. In the first week, sleep is often broken. People wake in the night, find it hard to fall asleep, or have vivid, strange dreams. The vivid dreams are common and they have a simple explanation: nicotine affects the sleep cycle, and when it is removed, the brain spends more time in the dreaming stage of sleep. The dreams can feel intense, and sometimes they are about smoking itself, which can be unsettling. They are not a sign of harm. They usually settle over a few weeks as sleep finds a new pattern.

Over the first month, sleep often improves beyond how it was while smoking. Smokers tend to sleep less deeply, because nicotine is a stimulant, and because coughing and breathlessness disturb the night. Once those pressures ease, sleep can become deeper and more restful. People who quit often say they wake feeling more rested, even if they sleep the same number of hours. That rested feeling matters, because it makes the day easier, and it makes cravings easier to handle.

If sleep remains difficult after a month, it is worth looking at the basics: a regular sleep time, less screen time before bed, no heavy meals late in the evening, and a cool, dark bedroom. A health professional can also talk through options if broken sleep is affecting work or mood. Sleep is not a small part of quitting. It is the foundation that makes everything else easier, and it is worth protecting.

What Improves Over Three to Twelve Months

After the first month, the changes become less dramatic day by day, but they add up over months into something substantial. The lungs continue to clear and repair. Coughing and breathlessness keep easing, and the risk of chest infections falls. The tiny hairs in the airways work better, and the lungs are better at clearing mucus and germs. For people who had a smoker’s cough for years, the quiet after it fades can feel strange at first, and then deeply relieving.

The heart and blood vessels also improve. Within weeks, circulation is better, and the blood is less likely to clot. Over months, the risk of a heart attack begins to fall, and it keeps falling year by year. The blood vessels, which smoke had damaged and stiffened, become healthier as inflammation eases. Blood pressure, which smoking raises in the short term, settles. These changes are not visible in a mirror, but they are among the most important gains from quitting, because heart disease and stroke are among the most serious harms of smoking.

The immune system, which smoke weakens, also recovers. Smokers catch colds and chest infections more often and take longer to recover from them. After quitting, the body’s defences work better, and wounds heal faster. Skin can improve too, because better blood flow brings more oxygen and nutrients to the skin. These are slow changes, measured in months, but they are real, and they are part of why former smokers often look and feel healthier a year after quitting than they did while smoking.

The Long-Term Gains and the Risk That Falls

The long-term gains from stopping are the reason health professionals say it is never too late to quit. The risk of lung cancer falls steadily after quitting, and after many years it becomes much lower than it was while smoking, although it may never return fully to the level of someone who never smoked. The risk of stroke, heart disease and chronic lung disease falls too, year by year. For a person who quits at sixty, the gain in healthy years is still real and worthwhile. For a younger person, the gain is even greater, because more years of damage are avoided.

It is important to be honest about what quitting cannot undo. Some damage from years of smoking, especially to the lungs, may not fully reverse. That is not a reason to give up. It is a reason to stop now, because every year without smoking is a year when no new damage is added, and the body can use that time to repair what it can. The risk falls most quickly in the first few years after quitting, and it keeps falling after that. The best time to quit was years ago. The second-best time is today, and the body starts to benefit within hours.

There is also a gain that has nothing to do with disease, and that is freedom. Smoking controls the day: when you can smoke, where you can smoke, how much money you spend, how you smell, how you plan travel and meals. Stopping gives that control back. The money saved adds up quickly, week by week, and many former smokers say the financial gain is one of the most satisfying parts. The time saved, the freedom from planning life around cigarettes, and the pride of having done something hard are gains that last as long as the health gains, and they are worth naming alongside them.

Money, Time and Freedom After Quitting

Health is the main reason to stop smoking, but it is not the only gain, and for many people the practical gains are the ones they notice first. A person who smoked a pack a day was spending a large amount of money every week, and that money was going up in smoke quite literally. When the spending stops, the saving begins at once. In the first week, the amount saved may seem small, but by the end of the first month it is enough to notice, and by the end of the first year it is enough for something substantial: a holiday, a new appliance, a repair to the home, or a serious addition to savings. Working out the yearly cost honestly can be a shock, and that shock can be useful, because it turns an abstract health warning into a concrete number.

Time is the other gain that people underestimate. A cigarette takes about five minutes to smoke, and a person who smoked twenty a day was spending more than an hour and a half each day on smoking, plus the time spent buying cigarettes, finding a place to smoke, and standing outside in the cold or the rain. Over a year, that adds up to hundreds of hours. After quitting, those hours come back. They can be spent with family, on a walk, on a hobby, or simply resting. The day feels longer, not because time has slowed down, but because it is no longer broken up by the need to smoke. Many former smokers say this is one of the most surprising changes: they had not realised how much of their day smoking had owned until it was gone.

Freedom is harder to measure, but it matters just as much. Smoking controls where you can go, when you can eat, how you travel, and how you plan a day. A long flight, a visit to a hospital, a meal in a restaurant, a day with children: each of these had to be planned around cigarettes. After quitting, that planning disappears. You can sit through a film without thinking about the next cigarette. You can travel without worrying about where you will smoke. You can spend a whole day with your family without stepping outside every hour. That freedom is quiet, and it grows over time, but it is one of the most lasting gains from stopping, and it is worth naming alongside the health gains.

There is also the simple matter of smell and appearance. Smoking leaves a smell on clothes, hair, breath and the home, and most smokers do not notice it until it is gone. After quitting, that smell fades, and the person who has stopped often notices it on other smokers for the first time. Teeth and fingers, stained by years of smoke, slowly improve. The skin, with better blood flow, can look healthier. These are small changes, but they are visible, and they are a daily reminder that the body is recovering. For many people, they are also a source of pride, because they are proof that the effort of quitting is working in ways they can see and feel.

The change in daily habits is another part of recovery that is easy to overlook. Smoking had filled small gaps in the day, and after quitting those gaps need new occupants. A short walk after a meal, a glass of water when stress rises, a few deep breaths before answering a difficult call: these small replacements may seem trivial, but they are what carry a person through the moments when a cigarette used to appear. Over weeks, the new habits become familiar, and the old ones fade. The day begins to feel normal without cigarettes, not because willpower has won a battle, but because the routine itself has changed. That quiet change is often the most lasting one, because it does not depend on remembering a rule. It depends on living a different day, and that different day becomes the new normal.

My Take:

I think the first thing to say about stopping is that it is hard, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. The first week is uncomfortable in a way that is difficult to describe until you have lived through it. You are irritable, you cannot concentrate, you sleep badly, and you want a cigarette at every familiar moment of the day. Anyone who tells you that is easy has either never smoked or has forgotten what it felt like. I respect people who try to quit precisely because it is hard, and I think that respect should be the starting point for any honest conversation about it.

What frustrates me is how often the first week is used as proof that quitting does not work. A person stops, feels worse for a few days, and concludes that smoking was actually helping them. That conclusion is understandable, but it is wrong. The fog, the irritability and the poor sleep are withdrawal, and withdrawal is the brain readjusting. It is not the body falling apart without cigarettes. It is the body learning to work without them. The confusion comes because the discomfort arrives at once, while the benefits arrive slowly, over weeks and months. If you judge quitting by the first three days alone, you will miss the whole story.

I also think the craving deserves more respect than it usually gets. A craving is not a mild wish. It is a sudden, physical urge that can feel like hunger, and it is triggered by moments that used to include a cigarette. I have seen people describe it as a wave that rises fast and then, if they wait, falls away. That image is useful, because it tells you what to do: wait. You do not need to win the whole day. You need to get through a few minutes. The people who succeed are often not the ones with the strongest willpower. They are the ones who had a plan for the wave, a walk, a glass of water, a phone call, something to do with their hands while the minutes passed.

The money side of quitting matters more than people admit, because it is concrete. A person who smoked a pack a day was spending a large sum every year, enough for a holiday, a new appliance, or serious savings. When that money stays in the pocket week after week, it becomes visible in a way that lung repair never is. I think that visibility helps. It is a weekly reward, a small proof that stopping is working, and for many people it becomes a reason to keep going when the cravings return. I would encourage anyone who quits to work out the cost honestly and to watch it add up, because it is one of the few benefits that arrives on a schedule you can see.

Sleep is the part I would pay most attention to, because it shapes everything else. If you sleep badly, the next day feels harder, cravings feel stronger, and patience runs out faster. The vivid dreams and broken nights of the first weeks are normal, but they are also tiring, and tired people are more likely to reach for a cigarette. I think a simple sleep routine is worth more than most of the advice people give about quitting. Go to bed at the same time, keep the room dark and cool, and do not judge the attempt by one bad night. Sleep improves, and when it does, the whole attempt gets easier.

I am honest about weight gain, because it worries many people and it stops some from trying. It is true that appetite returns and food tastes better, and some people eat more in the first months. The gain is usually small, and it is far less harmful than smoking. I think it is a mistake to try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time, because that is two hard changes at once. Quit first. Let the body settle. Walk more, eat regular meals, and deal with weight later, when the cravings have eased and you have energy to spare. The order matters, and getting it wrong makes both jobs harder.

What gives me hope is how quickly the body starts to repair itself, even after many years of smoking. Within a day, oxygen delivery improves. Within weeks, breathing eases and taste returns. Within months, circulation and the immune system improve. Within years, the risk of serious disease falls steadily. I find that remarkable, because it means the body is forgiving. It does not hold a grudge forever. It starts healing the moment you stop giving it smoke, and it keeps healing as long as you stay stopped. That is not a small thing. It is a reason to try, at any age, after any number of years.

I also think quitting with support is far better than quitting alone, and I do not see that as weakness. Athletes have coaches, students have teachers, and people who are trying to break an addiction deserve help too. Talking to a doctor or pharmacist, joining a programme, or simply telling family and friends that you have stopped and asking them to be patient for a few weeks can make a real difference. The help exists because quitting is hard, not because you have failed. Using it is a sensible decision, and I would urge anyone who smokes to use it rather than suffering alone.

The single cigarette after quitting is the trap I would warn about most strongly. It feels harmless. You have not smoked for a month, you are at a gathering, someone offers you one, and you think one cannot undo a month of effort. It often does, because one cigarette wakes the craving, and the craving brings back the habit. Most people who return to smoking after a period of quitting do so with a single cigarette they thought did not matter. If you have quit, the rule is simple and strict: not one puff, no matter the occasion. It sounds harsh, but it works, and the people who stay quit are usually the ones who treat it as absolute.

If you have tried before and returned to smoking, I do not think that means you cannot quit. It means you learned something. Each attempt teaches you which moments are hardest, what helps in a craving, and what time of day is the weakest point. The next attempt can be stronger because of what the last one taught you. Most people who quit for good have tried several times. A failed attempt is not a failure. It is practice, and it brings you closer to the attempt that holds. I would rather see someone try five times and succeed on the fifth than never try at all because they are afraid of failing again.

Finally, I would say this to anyone who has never smoked: do not start. The first cigarette feels like nothing special. The thousandth is a trap that controls your day, your money and your health. Stopping is possible, and the body recovers, but it is far easier never to enter the trap than to escape it. If you are a parent, the most powerful thing you can do is to quit yourself, because children watch what you do far more than they listen to what you say. A home without smoke is a gift to everyone who lives in it, and it is a gift that starts the day you stop.

I think the freedom from planning life around cigarettes is undervalued, and it deserves to be said plainly. When you smoke, your day is divided by cigarettes: the one after waking, the one with tea, the one at work, the one after meals, the one before bed. Each of those moments is a small interruption, and together they shape the whole day. After quitting, those interruptions disappear, and the day becomes your own again. You can sit through a long meal, a long journey or a long afternoon with your family without counting the minutes until the next cigarette. That is not a small gain. It is a change in how life feels, and it lasts.

The smell of smoke is another thing I think about, because it affects the people around you as well as yourself. A smoker often does not notice the smell on their clothes and breath, but their children, their partner and their colleagues do. After quitting, that smell fades, and the home smells cleaner too. Children notice the difference, even if they do not say so. A home without smoke is a healthier place for everyone who lives in it, and it is a kinder place for a child to grow up. That matters to me, because quitting is not only a decision about your own health. It is a decision about the air everyone in your home breathes.

I also want to be honest about the fact that quitting can strain relationships for a short time. The irritability of the first weeks can cause arguments, and a partner who does not understand withdrawal may take it personally. I think the answer is to talk about it before you stop, not after an argument has happened. Tell the people around you that you have stopped, that you may be short-tempered for a while, and that it is the withdrawal speaking, not you. Most people understand when they know what is happening, and that understanding can prevent a small irritation from becoming a real row. Patience on both sides helps, and the irritability does pass.

The question of when to quit is one I hear often, and my answer is simple: pick a date, and do not pick a day when life is at its hardest. Do not quit on the morning of a stressful event, or during a family crisis, or on a day when you are already tired and stretched. Pick an ordinary week, tell the people around you, clear the cigarettes from the house, and plan what you will do when cravings arrive. A little preparation makes a large difference. The people who succeed are often not the ones with the most willpower, but the ones who prepared best, and preparation is something anyone can do.

I think it is also worth saying that there is no shame in using help, and there is no shame in needing more than one attempt. The support services that exist, the programmes, the counselling, the help from a doctor or pharmacist, are there because quitting is hard, and because most people need help to do it. Using them is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of sense. If you try and return to smoking, that does not erase the days you managed without a cigarette. Those days were real, they taught you something, and they make the next attempt stronger. I would rather see a person try again and again than see them give up on trying altogether, because the attempt that works is often the one that follows several that did not.

I think the small replacements matter more than grand resolutions, because quitting is won in small moments, not in a single decision. A walk after a meal, a glass of water when stress rises, a phone call to a friend instead of a cigarette on a break: these are not dramatic acts, but they are the acts that carry a person through a craving. Over weeks, those small acts become habits, and the habits become a new day. I have seen people focus on the big picture and forget the small moments, and that is a mistake. The big picture is made of small moments, and the small moments are where quitting is actually done.

I also think it helps to mark progress, because progress in quitting is invisible for a long time. The lungs are healing, the blood is carrying more oxygen, the risk of disease is falling, but none of that can be seen in a mirror. Marking the days, counting the weeks, noting the money saved, or simply noticing that stairs feel easier: these small markers make the invisible visible. They give a person proof that the effort is working, and that proof helps when a craving arrives and the old habit calls. I would encourage anyone who quits to keep a simple record, not as a chore, but as a reminder of how far they have come.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does cigarettes affect stopping?

Stopping itself is not a harm caused by cigarettes; it is the process of the body adjusting after years of nicotine and smoke. In the first days, falling nicotine levels bring cravings, irritability, poor concentration and broken sleep, while carbon monoxide clears and oxygen delivery improves. The discomfort is withdrawal, and it usually peaks in the first week and eases over two to four weeks. After that, breathing, taste, energy and sleep generally improve, and the long-term risk of heart and lung disease falls steadily.

Can cigarettes cause a wave of craving even in light users?

Yes. Even people who smoked only a few cigarettes a day can have strong cravings after stopping, because the brain links smoking with daily moments such as meals, coffee, work breaks and stress, and those links form even with light use. The craving may be less frequent than for a heavy smoker, but it can still feel intense when a trigger appears. The pattern is the same: the urge rises quickly, peaks within a few minutes, and fades if you wait it out, and the waves get weaker over weeks.

How long does it take for cigarettes to harm the first week?

The first week is not harmed by a single timetable; it is shaped by how long and how heavily a person smoked, and by their daily routine. For most people, withdrawal is strongest in the first three to seven days, with cravings, low mood and poor focus at their worst. The body begins to heal within hours, but the discomfort of adjustment can make that first week feel like the hardest part. After the first week, the symptoms usually ease, and by the second to fourth week most people feel clearer than they did while smoking.

When cigarette use stops, how does the body’s slow healing after stopping cigarettes begin?

Healing begins quietly in the first day, when carbon monoxide leaves the blood and red blood cells can carry oxygen properly again. Within a few days, taste and smell start to return, and the lungs begin clearing mucus as the tiny hairs in the airways start moving again. Over the first weeks, breathing eases and circulation improves. Over months, coughing fades, the risk of chest infections falls, and the heart and blood vessels recover. Recovery is not instant and not the same for everyone, but stopping removes the daily strain and gives the body its best chance to repair itself.

Why do people keep using cigarettes if it harms stopping?

People keep smoking because nicotine is highly addictive and because smoking is woven into daily life. When nicotine wears off, mood drops and the person feels flat, restless and irritable, so the next cigarette feels like relief, even though it is only relieving withdrawal. Smoking is also tied to routines, social moments and stress, which makes it feel useful. The harm of continuing is slow and quiet, while the relief of a cigarette is immediate, and that mismatch keeps many people smoking until they have a clear plan and support to stop.

When should someone seek advice about cigarettes and the first week?

It is sensible to seek advice before you stop, so you can make a plan, and again if the first week feels unmanageable, if low mood or poor sleep does not ease after a few weeks, or if you have tried to quit several times without success. A doctor or pharmacist can explain the support options available and help you choose one that fits. You should seek urgent help if you notice sudden weakness on one side of the body, trouble speaking, or severe chest pain, because those can be signs of a serious problem. This article is general information only and is not a substitute for personal medical advice.

Sources

This article is general information only. It is not individual medical advice. If you are worried about your health, talk to a qualified health professional.