Patches

[nsd_user663_5185]

looking to chat to members with experience of patches. Im on day 20 and have awful withdrawals..thort this wud b easier on patches..shud I ditch them and go ct to get nicotine out of system? R patches prolonging agony???

Im struggling x

[nsd_user663_6426]

Hiya Noreen....you're doing well!!!! I think you'll have mixed advice on the forum as lots of people have different views on this I think. I will just give my opinion....for me I have tried countless times to give up cigarettes using patches. I would be doing ok...the mornings would be hard as I didn't sleep with the patch on and would have major withdrawal but I would slap a patch on (when wearing a patch I had terrible insomnia and when I did get to sleep I had nightmares). Anyhoo...I would always fail on my quit and go back to smoking a lot of times this failure coincided to when I tried to step down on patch strength. This time (with someones idea from this forum)...I quit cold turkey and apart from the first week being shite I haven't had any major craves like I did on the patches. It's like when ur on the patches the monster is more awake and is just craving more and more nicotine.. anyway that is my opinion and loads of people give up successfully using patches. You just have to work out the right method of quitting for you. For example, you might need to top-up on your NRT using lozenges and gum as well as using the patches (loads of people on here do that). For me...I just wanted the shitty nicotine out of my body but like I said it's not about me...it's about you

You could give cold turkey a go and have lozenges, patches, and gum as backup so they are the first thing you'll succumb to rather than a fag. Good luck with it Noreen, you're doing fab so far.

Lisa x

[nsd_user663_5185]

Thanx. About an hour ago my chest was feeling so tight I was worried I had nicotine overdose do have taken patch of..i have lozengers as back up but I feel in my heart that I need do ct and get that damn nicotine out of my system..will let u know how I do...it cant b as bad as I have been feeling for last two days xx thanx again

[nsd_user663_6426]

It could be that your body isn't used to the patches....I used to smoke 15 fags a day and in my previous quits I started on the full strength 21mg patch which is like smoking (20+ fags a day). As this was more nicotine than I was used too I used to get headaches and feel jittery. I used to have a weird sensation in my chest almost like I couldn't catch my breath, it could have been anxiety???? ANyway, after a few days my body would get used to the strength but I have to question NRT.....by quitting by this method I was actually pumping more nicotine into my body than when I was smoking!!!! I tried numerous times quitting by starting on the lower dose patch (14mg) but never got past the first day.

I did have nicotine overdose one time where I smoked a few fags whilst wearing a 21mg patch...it was awful I was sweating, had heart palpitations, chest pain!!! I had to go home from work....suffice to say I never did that again....Like I say do what's best for you as only you can best judge your mind and body.....Lisa x

[nsd_user663_36288]

Hi Noreen

I'm using minis, so can't really help on the patches dilemma, but just wanted to say that Day 20 is a FANTASTIC achievement, so for now just do whatever it takes to NOT have a cigarette. Think about your reasons for quitting, and consider how angry you'd be to find yourself back on Day 1, having to go through it all again.

Don't know whether you've heard of the terrible 3s - but you are pretty much on the 3 week mark now, which is a huge hurdle and can unhinge many quits.

We all know it's a battle, which can get gruesome at times - so be kind to yourself in as many other ways as you can think of. And just promise yourself that you won't smoke TODAY.

Keep going ....

Sue

x

[nsd_user663_5185]

So glad I joined this forum. All ur comments have been so helpful. Intetestingly since I took off patch this morning my chest pains have disappeared...yes I am getting withdrawals...like I did wen I was wanting my next fag..but manageable.

Wot are the minis like...was thinking of getting some for backup? Cheers everyone x