interesting read-this annoyed me!

[nsd_user663_3810]

Nicotine Replacement Products

The key to nicotine dependency recovery is not in dragging out the 72 hours of detox by toying for weeks or months with gradual nicotine weaning or other creative means for delivering nicotine. The nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) industry want smokers to believe that a natural poison is medicine, that its use is therapy, and that it is somehow different from the tobacco plant's nicotine molecule. The truth is that the pharmaceutical industry buys its nicotiana from the exact same growers as the tobacco industry. They want you to believe that double-blind placebo controlled studies proved that NRT doubles a cold turkey quitters odds of quitting and that only superheros can quit without it. The truth is that their studies were not blind as claimed, and that all but a tiny sliver of earth's successful quitters are quitting entirely on their own. Here are a few facts that those selling creative nicotine delivery devices would rather you not know:

* Nicotine is a psychoactive drug whose "high" provides a dopamine "aaahhh" sensation and an adrenaline rush. Would you have been able to tell, within 5 minutes, whether the gum or lozenge you'd been given contained the nicotine equilivent of smoking two cigarettes or was instead a nicotine-free placebo? So could they. A 2004 study found that NRT studies suffered from massive wide-spread blinding failures (May 2004)

* A nicotine smoker's natural odds of quitting for six months, entirely on their own, without any products, procedures, education programs, counseling or formal support is roughly 10% (June 2000)

* Those using the over-the-counter (OTC) nicotine patch or gum as a stand-alone quitting tool have only a 7% chance of quitting smoking for six months (March 2003)

* Up to 7% of OTC nicotine gum quitters are still chronic users of nicotine gum at six months (May 2004). Question: isn't 7 minus 7 still zero? (May 2004)

* 36.6% of all current nicotine gum users are chronic long-term users (May 2004)

* You truly would have to be a superhero to quit while using the nicotine patch if you've already attempted using it once and * relapsed. The only two patch user "recycling" studies ever conducted have both shown that nearly 100% of second-time nicotine patch users relapse to smoking nicotine within six months (April 1993 and August 1995, see Table 3)

* 91.2% of all successful long-term ex-smokers quit entirely on their own without resort to any product, procedure or program of any kind including hypnosis, Zyban, Wellbutrin, acupuncture, magic herbs, laser therapy, or the nicotine patch, gum, lozenge, spray, or inhaler (ACS 2003)

* Education, understanding, new skills and serious support can more than triple your natural six-month odds of 10% (April 2003)

* Those who refuse to allow any nicotine back into their bloodstream have 100% odds of remaining nicotine free today! (Today, Tomorrow & Always!)

I feel as if i have extended my quest for freedom by using these bloody products!!!!

2nd day tomorrow-the real battle begins and ready for it!!!

love to you all xx

[nsd_user663_1733]

Dont look back now look forward see it as being one day in to freedom for the rest of your life. xxxxx

[nsd_user663_3633]

It's very sad, and very frustrating that the NHS and the Doctors have been convinced by the pharmaceutical companies that NRT is the way to go.

They do the same with Heroin addiction, and that very rarely works either.

There is only one way to stop use of an addictive substance... stop using it.

It's entirely up to each quitter how they want to go about getting clean... I chose Champix to help... but you must stop using nicotine if you hope to be free of it.

All the best with your fight, onwards and upwards!

[nsd_user663_3828]

Today

Today is the tomorrow that I was worried about yesterday! However, once you make it through each of those worrying days, you will after 96 hours of ZERO nicotine (all types) intake achieve physical freedom... the rest is all in your mind ----> Mind over matter and if you don't mind it anymore ten it won't matter....

[nsd_user663_3712]

Nice post Shabba,

haven't seen that before.

I think if my doctor had said "just stop, it won't be too bad - divert yourself by education on the internet" then I'd have tried it

Its one big conspiricy

I'm not going to have everyone agree with me here - but for me the thing I don't get is why so many ex-smokers I have met all say it's so hard to give up?! Surely they saw the light and want to encourage others to stop too....Now I'm not an expert at the early days because I wasn't realy aware of them, but surely once your past the 1st week its not THAT hard?

Really if you think about it, most of us have done far harder things in our lives & we have some pretty heavy ex-smokers in our group - so why do the smokers not get the message Jim puts out above - just divert yourself a bit & you'll get through it.

Am I being too simplistic? I'm going to start another thread on why people lapse. What causes them to have one fag, then another etc etc until they are smoking again full time?

[NicFirth 10 Years Smoke Free]

surely once your past the 1st week its not THAT hard?

Personally I think that its tough if you expect it to be, and if you expect it to be straight forward then its not so hard!

Really if you think about it, most of us have done far harder things in our lives.

Spot on!

[nsd_user663_3738]

hi shabba68..like linda said..dont look back.. look forward..its not to bad ..get all the info you can,we are here for you,..once you understand that there is nothing to fear,,your heart will shine forth ,keep the faith tony