Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Rating: 
Patches, gum, inhalers and now even water, we hear.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) is easy to come by as it is usually an off the shelf product in any grocery or drug store. It is also the most highly tried (and failed) product because it is so easy to procure.
NRT suppliers state that it doubles your chances of quitting. That is all fine and good but you need to know the full facts. Cold turkey and willpower methods have a mere 3% chance of success, so to be quite blunt, doubling those figures is somewhat less than encouraging.
The main problem with NRT’s is that you are trying to break your addiction to nicotine, so how can ingesting more nicotine be helping? Most people find using NRT’s extremely stressful as well as your body never really gets a chance to see what life is like without the addiction. So when you do fail, most fall hard and don’t make the attempt to quit again for quite some time. But it still surprises us how many people fail to quit using these methods and yet still try them again and again and again. What a waste.That’s the power of advertising that the big pharmaceutical companies have.
We think you have a better chance with the programs listed above because they really want you to quit the first time, not to keep buying their product over and over.
Pros:
-
Doubles your chances
-
Easy to buy and use
Cons:
-
Nicotine based
-
Patches cause rashes
-
Can become addicted to patches or gum
-
Limited support if any
- No guarantees
i am interested in inhalers to quit smoking. please send me specific information.
Hi Michael,
I wouldn’t be able to send you any information on using inhalers because we don’t believe using a nicotine replacement product is your best option, therefore we don’t provide any information on the inhalers.
Sorry,
Chris
Since I quit smoking using this method – I highly recommend it. Using nicotine gum I was able to quit smoking, yes I got addicted to the gum but I feel it was a lot better than being addicted to cigarettes. Also, I was able to get off the nicotine gum by using regular gum.
Getting off the nicotine gum is so much easier because the cravings aren’t as strong, at least they weren’t for me.
As we know that NRT therapy does not have a high rate of success, we must stand behind our recommendations. However we are very happy that you succeeded using this method. For in the end, it doesn\’t matter how you quit, just that you did.
Chris
Hi,
I agree with your recommendations regarding NRT, however for all those hardened smokers there is another less well known method.
This is to use the Swedish Snuss. This can be puchased in the form of little tea bag like portions and after just a few days I managed to stop for a whole month. Then sadly I was given 1400 cigarettes and ….
Hmm…never heard of this, but if it works, okay.
Too bad you didn\’t stay quit. Hate to tell you, but those 1400 cigarettes were definitely not FREE!
Here\’s to you quitting again.
Chris
i would realy like too QUIT but I cant aford the patchs or any thing else please help if you can mike
Hi Mike,
I would really like to help you, so the first thing I would suggest is that you need to change your mindset to being a non-smoker. You say you can\’t afford any stop smoking aids, but you can afford to smoke? Doesn\’t add up.
Not trying to be unhelpful, but until you decide that quitting smoking is more important than not, no program or patch will help.
Respectfully,
Chris
i saw these electric cigs, the atomizer ones. i saw it at the mall and tried one and it was to bad. what about using those with the 0mg nicotine?
Hi Mike,
Haven’t had much to do with them other than knowing two people who are using them at the moment. The one strange thing that they both said is that they were concerned that they may not be able to get refills in the future if the FDA bans them. So not really sure what all that is about.
Chris
I am a 37 yr old female who has been smoking off and on since the age of 12. In the past, I’ve tried quitting cold-turkey and the NRT approach. Today as I was driving, I threw my pack of cigarettes out the window because I am tired of smoking! However, by tomorrow morning I will be tempted to purchase another pack, so what’s a woman to do?
Outside of not buying another package of cigarettes, I would say it sounds like you need to find a program that will work for you.
You already want to quit, now just find the product that will help you achieve that goal.
No better time to quit than when your determination is at its highest.
Chris
Managed to quit smoking easily(3 packs a day).Nicotine chewing gum did it for me.Of course i am now addicted to these stupid pills.If i am outside of Europe and I cannot get them I start smoking 3 packs a day again.At home I instantly switch to the gum and there are no withdrawal signals.I wish I could get rid of the gum though but still and save the money but I am much better off than with the smokes.
Hi Erik,
Unfortunately that is the issue with replacement therapy – the addiction can remain.
However you are right in that you are much better off with the gum than the smokes. Gum doesn’t have the 4000 chemicals that cigarettes do!
Chris
My wife and I decided to quit together. She dropped the habit with no problem, I have been struggling for a month using nicotine lozenges. I have only been able to stay off of cigarettes because of the cost… I realized that we had been spending an amount equal to our mortgage. Whenever I feel a strong urge for a cigarette I think that giving them up is a way to pay for our home. When I look at it in that context the urge passes rather quickly and painlessly.
I am weening myself off of the lozenges with hard-candies. That seems to be helping, as I use about half as many lozenges as I did when I decided to quit.
I have tried to quit using Nicotine Replacement Therapy before; it is a lot easier now that I have coupled the NRT with a definite reward.
It also helps to know how others deal with quitting… thanks for putting up this site.
Chris
Thanks for sharing!
It has been nearly 12 weeks since I have quit. Can proudly say that I haven’t even had a puff since then. I feel like I have woken up from a deep coma. Since stopping I have been looking at all aspects of my life that needs improvement. This site (and others like why quit) has helped alot to see how other ex- smokers deal with the urges. I must admit when socialising I am using the nicotene gum . It helps me when I’m having a drink and the cravings hit hard. Here in South Africa we only have access to the gum : no patches or lozenges. As long as it keeps me from smoking. After 11 weeks it does get better but a strong craving can hit you out of the blue and then you must just remind yourself that you DON’T SMOKE. I must admit that one of my biggest fears is starting smoking again because then I will be dead in 5 years. After 27 years of smoking my body has reached the limit of the poison intake. Thanks for this site : it has been a wonderful help in my quest to be free from smoking