ill speak of just them because its all i have experience with, tho i suspect all nrt to have similar results. the first week of my quit i would have disagreed because i thought they were the best thing since sliced bacon. at times it even seemed that they were even better than cigs. i knew there was no way id go back to smoking as long as these babies were around. but thats just it they only work "at times" and the longer you wear them the fewer the "times" come.
the patch i was using, 21mg delivered over 24hrs. this would be perfect if i were a pack a day vegtable that didnt sleep. the acid trip dreams were cool at first but got annoying by second week. probably because one cant sleep well while having nicotine constantly injected. so your choice is to remove it at night and suffer withdrawl for 3hrs at the start of every day. (estimated time it takes for nicotine to absorb through skin from patch) or keep it on all night and sleep very restless because of the constant injection of nicotine. not even smokers ingest nicotine while sleeping. i started removing the patches at night on the second week because the restless sleep was catching up.
on another note, the constant supply would be great if i were a vegtable and never did anything but dammit i quit smoking so im gonna enjoy life. the problem is that as we smokers/ex-smokers know, we smoked more or less depending on situations and activites. there are times when the patch is giving you nicotine when you normally wouldnt be smoking it (like sleeping or exercising) hense those times, its gorging you out and probably making you more additced. then at stressful/panic times when you would normally smoke more, the patch is worthless because it cant produce the amount you need, resulting in withdrawl until the situation is over and your back into the vegative state lol. my second week on the patch was a real rollercoaster times i would be overdosed on nicotine while othertimes in constant withdrawl, depending on the days activites. by the end of the second week the patch were not able to keep up, i think my body had done built up a tollerence and i was still putting my new patches on at the same time every day but would just leave the old one on just for the hell of it. hoping to squeeze every ounce out i could. really i was just trying to double up. last day i used the patch, i realized it wouldnt be long before the "step down" to lower dose patch. i looked at myself and was like wtf, lol .i had 3 patches on at the time and i needed to step down? it was then i realized what was going on as i stated above about the constant withdrawls or overdose. so then i took them all off and decided to **** the patches. and get this, the next few days were a hell of alot easier that the past few was. after the first few days of removing the patch ive felt really great. im really glad that im nicotine free now and stopped the patch nonsense because it was making things worse not better.
anyways just food for thought on anyone considering. this was my experience you might have better luck with them.
peace
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I say lets give heroin patches to heroin addicts and free alcohol patches at AA meetings!!
Get a life Daz - there are people who use this forum for support in giving up smoking. Everyone is different. Is that why heroin addicts are prescribed methadone. And I do know alcoholics who are told not to just "quit" and gently cut down on their consumption. Don't even know why I've replied to this post.
Get a life Daz - there are people who use this forum for support in giving up smoking. Everyone is different. Is that why heroin addicts are prescribed methadone. And I do know alcoholics who are told not to just "quit" and gently cut down on their consumption. Don't even know why I've replied to this post.
My sentiments also kasbags. i was going to say somthing similar, then thought no its not worth the effort. We are all in the same battle with nic, who cares how you win as long as you do. all is fair in love war and quiting. we support each other whatever even when we have blips.
im pretty sure i stated that this was "my experience" and that others may have better results. i was only explaining what was happening to me, nothing more nothing less. and from my first hand experience they seemed to only drag out the inevitable. sorry if i offended anyone with my overblown opinions.
Nice one Quimbly, How can you quit smoking when the act of smoking is just the device that delivers the drug that we are all addicted to, Nicotine.
Replacing one device of delivery with another (NRT) is pointless and has been proven multiple times.
The one and only way to stop the nicotine addiction is to go cold turkey.
Excuse me but in case you didn't realise cold turkey isn't the only way to quit non-nicotine wise. I have been happily quit since 3 oct using Champix which
I know for certain I could not have achieved this length of time cold turkey. I have so much admiration for people that do go cold turkey, it's just not the way for me. I have tried cold turkey in the past and never got past 2 days.
I think everyone has to do what they think is right for them, as long as it gets them to stop smoking that's the main thing.
I'm an old campaigner when it comes to quitting smoking so I like to think that I can speak with some authority on the subject.
I've quit loads of times and often for quite lengthy periods and have been stupid enough to keep going back to it. Often the warped logic has been that I've gone for a year without smoking a cigarette so I can now probably have the odd the odd one now and again.... anyway I digress.
Point is I quit cold turkey this time 5 and a half months ago but on past quits I've tried various NRT. I can say that whether CT or NRT the actual length of time between quitting and feeling like you've left smoking behind is the same. For me that's about 4 months.
I agree with some of Quimbly's comments on patches. They don't allow the user to vary the dose to suit your up and down days. For that reason I preferred the gum. Some days I'd hardly use any or would keep chewing it long after the nic was expired. Other occasions I'd mash my way throgh loads if I felt that was what I needed e.g on a night out which you knew would be an ordeal.
I don't subscribe to this purist view held by people like Daz that you have to quit cold turkey for it to be a valid quit. The aim is to quit by whatever means. There's no medals to be won for almost succeeding in quitting by going cold turkey.
Whatever method you chose I hope you all stay quit
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day 6, patches and e-ciggerette
A rough patch but doing ok.
Patches V Champix etc etc
