Community
I'm thinking about giving it a go for the rough patches. Patchs and gum. Does anyone have experience with this? Should I expect side effects? I get a little dizzy and heart racing on the 14 mg patchs but I fight through it and it usually goes away after a few days I learned from the last time I quit.
I'll be using 4 mg gum, and 7 mg patchs
I used 21mg patches 24/7 and I would throw in a nicotine lozenge when I felt a killer crave coming on. This worked for me and I used them for about 45 days. I felt little or no side effects.
Darren
The patch takes a bit to build up in your system and be effective, so it's not a good fix for a bad crave. The amount of nicotine replacement you need is determined by how much you smoked, but it seems to me if you are getting a racing heart, the dosage is too high. Each cigarette contained about 1 mg of nicotine - doing the patches AND the gum might also be contributing to a dose higher than you need.
Some members here used both and were successful. You need to decide what is best for you.
I did not use any nicotine replacement therapy but I have nothing against it if it helps you to stay quit. The nicotine IS out of your system within about 72 hours after quitting smoking...if you flush your system well with lots of water...BUT, that only handles the physical addiction, it is the psychological addiction that is the biggest challenge for most of us, it certainly was for me. It's one day at a time and it is not easy but it IS possible to be successful. Stay close to the site, read blogs, comment, ask for help just like you did this time, take the pledge every morning and ride the freedom train to celebrate your milestones along with others, links to both can be found at the top of the page under "Celebrations and Events". You have to keep in mind that no matter what you do...patches, gum, lozenges...NOTHING is going to quit for you or take away ALL of the things you have to relearn. We all had to learn to do things without smoking...we all had to go forward and take it one day at time. One of my favorite sayings from this site came from OldBones-Larry "One Step and then Another will get you to where you want to be." I used the acronym NOPE, Not One Puff Ever over and over and over again at the beginning of my quit, along with many other helpful sayings that come from here. "I don't do that any more." "The only way out is through." "Keep them away from your face." There is a great deal of information and inspiration on this site...take advantage of that.
Ellen
Take this journey one thing at a time. I didn't use anything myself, but I was also knocked out for 3 days. I can thank 12 hours of bypass surgery as inspiration to throw them away.
As Ellen quoted me above, one step at a time. Baby steps or larger ones, all the same to your journey. Take the steps that fit your journey.
One step, and then another, will get you to where you want to be.
Larry the Caravan Master
Pay attention to recommended dosage and compare to total you are getting from both patch and gum. Are you drinking coffee, more coffee? That can add to being juiced up. Keep working it, til you find what works best.
It doesn't seem to me that you are using enough ,7mg is a very low dose to begin . I used the recommended plan on the pkg. If a light smoker begin at 14mg. I also used the lozenges to help with more difficult craves but very cautiously and I made sure that I got totally off the lozenges by the time I finished the patches at a about 9 weeks.
I know that everyone quits in their own way, but it's the nicotine that tells our brain that we need more.
So I guess my question is, if the nicotine is out of your system in 72 hours, and nicotine from smoking is what we are trying to quit, why would you keep wanting to put it into your body?
To me, it's just keeping it in your body, and allowing one to slip or relapse more easily. I was initially going to do the nicotine gum, and thought better of it and just quit cold turkey. I did do the Wellbutrin for a little over 30 days, which truly helped me be done totally, but why keep feeding your body and brain nicotine which is found in smoking when you're trying to quit smoking! These are just IMHO thoughts! To each their own!
Sandy 52 DOF