Advice about using nicotine patches

[Mister M]

Hello all and Happy New Year!

 

With it being new year, I thought I'd have another go at giving up smoking. This time with the aid of nicotine patches.

Now this is only my third day on the patches, and although I'm doing surprisingly well in terms of managing the cravings, my mind is already racing months ahead when I come off the patches.

My question is for those who've stopped smoking with the aid of patches - do the cravings come back once you've stopped using the patches, or are the cravings and other side effects more or less manageable?

I've done cold turkey before, but for some reason this time round, I can't seem to manage it.

Thanks in advance.

[BHRemovals]

my mum haf stopped 20 years and still craved a fag when she had a drink.

[unbeliever]

Hello all and Happy New Year!

 

With it being new year, I thought I'd have another go at giving up smoking. This time with the aid of nicotine patches.

Now this is only my third day on the patches, and although I'm doing surprisingly well in terms of managing the cravings, my mind is already racing months ahead when I come off the patches.

My question is for those who've stopped smoking with the aid of patches - do the cravings come back once you've stopped using the patches, or are the cravings and other side effects more or less manageable?

I've done cold turkey before, but for some reason this time round, I can't seem to manage it.

Thanks in advance.

 

Don't cut the course short. Stick with the prescribed step-down system.

Expect a rough ride for a couple of days when you step down in patch strength, especially when you finally go off the lowest strength ones.

Stick with it. It's totally worth it. Good luck!

It's been over 6 months for me and apart from the odd pang of craving when I pass a smoker and catch a whiff. I'm pretty much free of the old cancer sticks now.

Edited January 3, 2017 by unbeliever

[medusa]

The biggest risk of falling off the wagon is a psychological craving, not a physical one. The wish for a cigarette when having a drink, or after a meal, or with your morning coffee is nothing to do with whether the nicotine receptors on your cells are causing problems, and everything to do with your mind. This could have something to do with why you're giving up smoking more than once (if you've given up before then that was by definition not successful).

 

The patches are meant to take over the physical cravings part to give you time to work on the psychological bits and get out of the habit of having a cigarette before weaning yourself gradually down off the nicotine dose that you were on.

 

My advice would be to look at why your prior attempt(s) were unsuccessful, and what it was that caused you to buy more cigarettes, then work a way around it that way.

 

I gave up once only, more than 25 years ago, but I still occasionally have a hankering for a cigarette when I'm hit by the sense of satisfaction from finishing a project.

[Guest sibon]

Congratulations on your success so far, Mister M.

 

I gave up a few years ago. I used gum, rather than patches and found the gum harder to kick than smoking. It was all in my mind though.

 

Celebrate every bit of success, every fag not smoked. It soon gets easier. Don't worry about the patches, you could keep going with them for years if you like. When you do want to stop them, gradually decrease the dose. You wont be anywhere near as dependent on them as you think you are.

 

For now, they are an irrelevance. A means to an end. Use them and concentrate on quitting the fags, it is well worth it.

[tinfoilhat]

Gum gave me the fierce squirts so I went cold turkey. It was hard, really hard I felt awful. Avoid triggers (mine was beer and driving long distances) and "ban" yourself from any comfy warm spots you can still smoke, like your house or car. The post coital one was avoided by leaving them in another room But it's well worth it.

[Dardandec]

Best thing to do with them is stick one over each eye and you can't find you're Cigs.

[Mister M]

Boredom is the chief reasons why I smoke. Sometimes when I'm having a fag it helps me think more clearly and I can focus - it's probably a psychological habit that when smoking I ruminate to myself, and I make decisions about things.

When I was off them I purposefully busied myself, and it was only 2 years after quitting that I thought I could get away with just having the odd one now & then in social situations. Well I learnt the hard way....

Anyway thanks for all your replies. I'm a natural worrier, and given that I feel as if I'm doing alright now; I'm just wondering what's coming down the line when I go to a lower dose of patch, & then stop using them altogether.

[Dardandec]

A little tool I used was all the people I knew who didn't smoke, I used to think to myself if they can manage without one, I can too. Also I used to think back to before I smoked and think I managed then, I can now.

[choogling]

Best thing to do with them is stick one over each eye and you can't find you're Cigs.

 

or over the mouth