I hav e just quit smoking cigarettes and am coughing my lungs out. What is causing this?

this is totally normal when giving up smoking. its the cilia in your respiratory tract repairing themselves. basically when you smoked ever puff you had destroyed the cilla in your lungs and tract. cilla are tiny little hair like things that help filter out the crap. when you give up smoking these repair themselves and this is why you cough, Coughing is a natural byproduct of the reemerging cilia. It makes no difference how long or how much you smoked, the rate of regrowth can and is different in most of us. The faster the cilia grow, the more likely we are to cough lots in the first weeks of a quit. Our bodies are healing and our lungs are clearing themselves of all the toxins and impurities.

i would try and air out the room though and even drag the mattress outside if possible to air it just in case x

I hope you vaccuumed up the diatomaceous earth before sleeping in the bed. It's common to cough for awhile after you quit smoking. Your body is expelling all the crap in your lungs. I've been off smokes for 2 1/2 months now. I coughed for a few weeks, but not as bad as you describe. It sounds like you may have bronchitis. Go see your doctor.

Quit smoking.

when you smoke the smoke puts a lining on your throat that causes the cilia(little hairs that bring junk up) to be stuck down so when you quit they slowly start to break free and bring the tar up out of your lungs which causes you to cough

Rachel was spot on with her answer. You will start to feel better soon.

And well done for stopping smoking x