Question on NRT options

[CC79]

Hi Everyone

Hope everyone had a great holiday! I am happy to say I made it through the holidays smoke free, which is great; however there were definitely some tough moments. For support, I currently take Thrive Mints 2mg and find they are good but would prefer to wear the patch and take the mints to give me that extra help. Would this be too much or what are peoples thoughts? I am willing to try anything to stay a quitter

[glolin LONG TERM WINNER]

Hi cc and Happy and healthy new year Well done on staying smoke free over the festive season

I am not much help at all on NRT as I have never used any.

I am sure other members who have will give you some info ..

[jim224488 34 Months Winner]

HI cc

You take what you need.

I found patches weren't enough so started on gum. Then increased the strength of the gum 2mg to 4mg. Then switched to the strips (dissolve on your tongue).

Over 3 months I stopped the patches and continued with the strips and gum.

Then just the gum , but interspersing them with ordinary gum.

A year on and although I still have cravings I have not had any nicotine for about 5 months.

I didn't want to vape as its too close to smoking- and what happens if I run out? cigarettes are very handy to pick up.

I always had NRT products to hand, if I was going to fall off the wagon having them was a back up.

My best advice it to try them all, but please don't overdose on them. Just keep tweaking

All the best

Jim

[glolin LONG TERM WINNER in reply to jim224488]

thanks Jim and wow..look at you 11 months now...FANTASTIC

[CC79 5 MONTH WINNER in reply to jim224488]

Hi Jim

Thank you for your reply. I will definitely try this out! Congrats on 11 months - amazing

[Briarwood Administrator LONG TERM WINNER in reply to jim224488]

Hiya Jim, how lovely to see you and very nearly a whole year quit😊

Fantastic👏🏼👏🏼

Wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year🎉🎈🎊

[dunn 15 Month Winner in reply to jim224488]

Congratulations on a smoke free year!!! -- and thanks for sharing your experience (including wise cautions)!!!

[jim224488 34 Months Winner]

Thanks Glolin. On the 12th Jan it will be one year. OMG!

This journey has without a doubt been helped by you and all the other admins, plus all the wonderful community on here.

This is so worth it despite the major depression that giving up has caused.

I have my life back.

Remember NOPE people!

Love

Jim

[jillygirl Administrator LONG TERM WINNER]

HI, CC790,

2mg. is pretty low dosage. i think a patch wouldnt harm you. However if you are unsure ask at the chemist or your nearest non smoking clinic or doctor. You will probably get more advice from the other members who have used these nrt products.

All better than cigarettes. xx

[EmJay Partner]

Hi CC79, well done to you for making it smoke-freeingly into the New Year

Although I haven't heard of the particular brand you are using (Thrive mints), I can tell you that it is completely safe to use both mints and patches. This is called 'combination therapy' - the use of more than one product.

Usually, the most common form of combination therapy is the patch plus any oral product - Mints, gum, lozenge, mouth spray etc.

If you are already using a patch, just use the mints as and when you need them.

If you decide to just use the mints, initially use them every hour on the hour and then extra as and when you need them

The longer you go without smoking the easier it will become and the more times you overcome a caving, the stronger you will feel

Well done to you!

[glolin LONG TERM WINNER]

Hiya emjay

So good to see you..

All the best for 2016 to you and yours

[Briarwood Administrator LONG TERM WINNER]

Hiya CC and welcome to quit support😊

I see you've got some excellent advice already so I'll just say well done on your 5 weeks quit and wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year🎈🎉🎊

Keep up the good work and NOPE not one puff ever😊

[dunn 15 Month Winner]

HI CC and welcome -- I can't offer any NRT tips but just wanted to wish you well in your smoke-free journey! Sounds like Jim (above) and others have some good advice, tho.

[droopyJ]

Hi cc79 firstly well done on 5 weeks thats fantastic😊

Ok... I gave up with patches...I started on the second stage because I only smoked 10/15 a day. The first stage would have been to strong for me. I also had the chewing gum as back up but didn't like it 😞

My only concern for you is that you have gone 5 weeks with only a 2mg mint and would end up possibly increasing your nicotine levels. If it was me then I would take emjays advice and take the mint hourly.... or you could speak to a cessation professional ....or if you were going down the route of a patch then try the lowest dose as I reckon that would be plenty for you 😊

With patches make sure you put them on a different side and different place on your body each day. Always carry a spare and take it off at least 30 mins before bed coz you may have the strangest dreams ever!! 😊

Whatever you decide, keep us nice and close and we will give you as much support as we can 😊😊

[Andrew-S]

Hi CC. I see a smoking cessation lady every week and am half way through my treatment. She recommended and strongly advised combination therapy of two NRT products.

I have been on 21mg patch for 6 - 7 weeks.

I also got 4mg gum. I also had already the inhalator. I started off using the gum which I found good. Every so often I would prefer to use the inhalator so I alternated between the two. So had the patch for all day dose and choice of gum or inhalator for cravings.

Last time I saw the cessation lady I was running out of inhalator cartridges but had lots of gum so asked her if she could prescribe more inhalator cartridges. I told her from the start how I was using the three forms of NRT and she has always been fine with that. I would only use either or the gum or inhalator not both at once. Having that bit of choice and flexibility has worked well for me and most importantly has stopped me smoking which is the main thing.

Tomorrow I am due to reduce to 14mg patches as agreed before Christmas. Some people worry about overdosing on NRT especially using three products but in reality I don't use very much secondary product. If using gum I will have maybe 5 pieces a day. If using inhalator I will have 2 cartridges a day. I often have the inhalator permanently attached to my mouth but if I'm only changing the cartridge twice a day I'm not using too much and it is more of a comfort than supplying high levels of nicotine.

I have built up huge stocks of gum and inhalators so can use this if I like way beyond my 12 free weeks.

I have found that has worked well for me. If I get a massive craving I will go for gum as it gives you a quicker hit and you can chew it angrily and 'park it'. If I want to sit down and relax I will use the inhalator. Probably why I'm moving more away from the gum onto the inhalator over time.

The main thing is get support and advice and use whatever means necessary to quit. It is still bloody hard even with NRT.

Hope that's useful. 😇😀🍸