Hello, I have been on the patch for eight weeks (14 mg) and want to drop to 7 mg BUT I am still smoking 4-6 cigs a day! Any advise for me?

[Gardenbunnie]

[Hidden]

Hi gardenbunnie and welcome to the site, hope it helps you. If I were you I would not drop to a lower dose yet because your still smoking ciggys, what I would do is try and lower the amount of ciggys first and then see if you can drop the dose of NRT. I am sure others on here will give you more advise then you can take it from there. Its not easy but keep trying, you will get there if you want to.

Good luck

Mad

[monky Administrator Cake sniffer outer]

Hi Gardenbunnie, welcome to this lovely quit smoking community

I relapsed on New Years eve, but was using the patches and also a mouth spray for the hard times which did help, so you may try that

You could try the inhalator which looks like a plastic fag, you just put a cartridge into it and kind of suck it when you get the erge for a smoke

I found the mouth spray worked better for me but it gave me hiccups but then I was told to pull my cheek out and spray it on the inside of my cheek which helped a lot or you spray it in the palm of your hand, dip a finger into it and then rub it on your gums, and hey presto no hiccups but it does work !!

Dont know whether this has helped you or not, but please let us know how you get on, and i'm sure 1 of our lovely quit support advisers Emjay & Jarvo will be in touch with you shortly.

Pete

[sue52 3 YEAR WINNER]

Hi Gardenbunnie welcome to this lovely site

I wouldn't lower the dose of your patches yet, like mad said try cut down on the ciggies first, are you on the 16hr patch, that's what i started on and i had the inhalator for any hard times. Emjay or Jarvo will come on and give you loads of help, you could look on the quit support blogs as well, join us on the daily chat, we're are cheery bunch, you'll get help, support and a lot of laughs

Well done on taking your first step to quitting

[EmJay Partner]

Hi Gardenbunnie, welcome aboard

Great advice given so far already, so thank you to our other lovely members

I wouldn't lower the dose yet as you will find that you will probably make up the extra nicotine by smoking more.

There's a couple of things to consider here;

1. Either continue as you are and aim to reduce the cigarettes that you smoke (this is similar to the new quitting programme that is advertised on the TV at the moment, but you're using a lower strength patch then they recommend)

2. Get ready and prepare yourself to brave up and stop smoking altogether. You could maybe say to yourself "right, I'm not going to smoke from tomorrow, or Monday" - you choose your quit date and we'll support you.

3. Maybe consider using the next strength up but quitting as soon as you start using it.

4. Stay on the 14mg patch and use another therapy such as the inhalator or mouth spray. Again, stopping smoking completely as soon as you start using it. Using combination therapy will strengthen your chances of staying stopped.

Are you buying your products yourself or seeing an advisor or pharmacist? As this will help you with the cost. You will only pay the price of your prescription, unless you get them for free.

You have done really well so far, it's just trying to be brave and take the next step of knocking those last few in the head.

Let us know what you think and we'll support you all the way with your decision.

Remember, nobody said it would be easy, but everyone says that it s worth it

[Gardenbunnie]

Thank you all for the wonderful support and advise! I was unsure what to expect but I feel so much better now- not alone in this. Great advise, I intend to follow.

[terrzy]

i am 72 years old

i have smoked 60 roll ups for 55 years.iwould never say smoking is good for you but is it worse than spending all youy working life in steel works.is it worse than working in a flour mill.,i have tried to stop smoking,I JUST CANT.i am not prepaired to give up all lifes pleasures how ever un accepable. patches etc are worthless believe me i have tried everything available.dont missunderstand me i would love to stop smoking bot not to be unhappy for my remaining days.best wishes to everbody.