Help my addiction - I'm on 3 packs of Werthers a day! (Nicorette Patch Step 3)

Member Name: Emma1973

Product:	Nicorette Patch Step 3
Date:	24/11/02 (1002 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I'm not going to die from a horrible smoking related disease?

Disadvantages: Wheres the fun in life?

OK, here I go , at it again, for the 2nd time, if you've been here long enough you'll know I promised to give up smoking in the New Year with Nicotine CQ, after 3 weeks of numb arms and vivid dreams I went back to the evil weed.

Then last week I though 'bugger it, I've got to give up some time, may as well be now', dragged the other half into Boots, pondered over the products available and decided on the Nicotinell patches. They also do the gum but I'm not a huge fan of gum and I know I'll end up completely hooked on it and soon I'll be on 40-50 bits of gum a day! Of course Nicotinell was more appealing because Boots were doing a special offer on it. How do Boots make any profit, they seem to be giving things away all the time. This time is a 'buy one, get one half price' offer. Its usually about £15 each but this way its approx £23 for a fortnights worth.
One thing I've always noticed about smokers it that they always moan about the price of the patches! Quite happy to pay at least £30 a week for cigarettes but moan at £23 for a fortnights worth of patches. Madness! Still when its $4.10 a day rather than £17 at one go its easier to justify it. I know, I've used that one on a couple of occasions.

But this time I marched in, no specific reason for stopping, bought the patches and trundled off home with the first lot of Xmas shopping, good idea I didn't decided to give up before then, the stress would have been to much! I suppose starting Christmas shopping isn't really a valid reason for falling off the smoking wagon.

In your little box you get 7 patches, one for each day of the week. They have to be put on first thing in he morning and then removed 16 hours later which seems a bit of a long time. If I put it on at 7am I have to take it off at 11pm and I'm already in bed by then. So I just take it off at bedtime.
You also get a little booklet with lots of info. The most i
mportant bit is how to use them. If you smoke more than 10 a day you start on the 15 mg patches for 8 weeks, then to 10 mg for 2, then 5 mg for 2. See, simple, just do that and you are cured!!
Yeah right, as we all know, its a wee bit more difficult than that. If you've always been a non-smoker then you lot imagine its as easy as never sticking a cigarette in your mouth again. I wish! It does have some useful hints and tips addressing each of the problems such as breaking your routine, taking one day at a time, dealing with relapses, etc.
You can also join the Fresh Start Complete Quitters Support Programme. You ring up a freephone number and they send you a little pack which includes a personal handbook, progress monitor, helpline number, a coin (to remind you of the money you have saved) a Dr Chris Steele relaxation tape and regular mailings to keep you encouraged. You can also join the club on-line at www.nicotinell.com which has advice, confidence building tests, etc. You can also get a quit buddy as well. The amount of support is quite extensive, and extremely helpful.

As always there are side effects, the only thing that I have noticed is that my arm gets a bit itchy around the patch. Obviously putting the patch in a different place everyday although I didn't find that it worked as well on my thigh, and kept falling off when it was on my upper chest. Other effects can include palpitations, bad indigestion, headaches, dizziness, etc, these can get worse if you smoke when wearing a patch (as I found out). You also shouldn't use it if you are pregnant, breast-feeding, under 18, suffering from chronic disorders or are allergic to nicotine. Eh, if you are allergic to nicotine why the hell would you be smoking in the first place?
You must also talk to your doctor if you have a history of stomach ulcers, heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, overactive thyroid gland or taking other medicines such as caffeine, paracetamol, w
arfarin, oestrogen, lignocaine and quite a few other.

So after a week (I'm on the 2nd week now, was just too lazy to write a second week) this was my diary..

Sunday - No cravings whatsoever, no temptation, no cigs
Monday - What a day, back to work, really bad temptations, all my friends are in the smoking room, manage to resist though, even when I come home and find my daughter has broken her leg!
Tuesday - Off to the hospital for the permanent plaster, very, very stresses, but resisted.
Wednesday - Oh dear, very stressful day, daughter couldn't go to school, had to arrange childcare, was 4 ½ hours late for work, patch wouldn't stay on so I succumbed to a few.
Thursday - Oops, forgot to put my patch on, ended up smoking. 10 lights throughout the day which is much better then the 20+ I usually do, but a scant excuse really.
Friday - Been really good so far, theres definitely been temptation but its purely psychological the cravings always seem to come 10 minutes before my tea break.

Another week on and I'm doing really well, there was one day when I really couldn't be bothered to quit and just smoked, and yes, it was foul, but food is tasting better and I can really tell when people have been smoking now, and apart from that I have been clean.

So its looking good, the odd lapse but nothing to make me give up completely. The physical cravings are virtually nothing but the psychological is definitely the worse.
But I can honestly say that if you have the willpower and the determination and make use of the support available to you, you could definitely do it with Nicorette.

I will update on a regular basis, if I don't its cos I failed again!!

Wish me luck!


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