If you quit smoking with the nicotine patch: (a question)

[LaraMN]

When you went off the patch, did you have a few days where you felt...unpleasant? I've been off it since Saturday, and I am not happy. Am I likely going to experience a few bad days until the nicotine is out of my system, entirely? This is really lousy, because now I keep thinking "I don't have a patch on, so now I COULD have a smoke," whereas, before, I was getting SOME nicotine and I convinced myself that I would become horribly ill if I smoked on the patch. Aughhhh.:banghead:

[pdx_prog]

1. Did you follow

the step down correctly? 21, 14, 7?

[LaraMN]

3. ummmmm...

I skipped down to 14 early, but I didn't have any problem with that. Then I skipped down to 7 early, too, but that seemed to be tolerable as well. :hide: Only going off completely has been painful.

[radwriter0555]

19. You CAN cut those suckers in half and stagger your way down the

dosage by yourself.

I had switched to a major low nicotine ciggie by the time I was done smoking, so I used the cheap store brand patches and cut them in pieces to stage myself off.

Drink lots of water and green tea to detox, and you'll be fine. You're almost there, STICK WITH IT!!!!!!!

[Mizmoon]

2. It was like quitting twice

if I had to do it over again I would go cold turkey. Of course, that's easy to say now ...

[LaraMN]

4. So you would NOT suggest going back on the patch for awhile, huh?

:rofl: That's what I was afraid of- this feels like a lesser form of when I tried to quit cold turkey, a few months ago. I won't smoke- I'm just going to have to find a temporary crutch, again. This SUCKS!

[underpants]

5. No real problem other than missing worrying about the patch

worrying about it falling off and such.

I did miss the feeling of the nicotine but actually missed it MORE a couple of time I forgot to reapply one in the morning.

Listen you could have had a smoke with the patch on and not really gotten sick so not having it on makes no real difference there. You beat the monkey to death you just have to make sure that the answer is always no.

Think about whatever it is that is the weirdest or funniest part of your old life-the smell? The habit of stopping? The "oh my god do I have enough for the next __ hours"?

IF you need to go outside and take a few deep breaths.

No I never missed it that much.

[LaraMN]

6. I just a need a vice that isn't harmful or expensive!

I guess that's a wee bit contradictory, huh? sigh.

[underpants]

7. How about hucking snowballs at people?

other than that excercise seems to be the vice of choice of many ex-smokers. Many of them go nuts with it.

[LaraMN]

8. I need to run more but I hate running when it's really cold,

because (ironically) it makes my lungs burn like hell. I've always been a fan of pacing, though. Maybe I'll go pace up and down my driveway, like a stereotypical mental patient. The neighbors all know I'm only wierd in a good way, anyway.

[underpants]

9. I have been trying to get out and run

not that it is that cold here it is just the time, the darkness, and the baby and all.

We are thinking of joining a gym for the winter just to have somewhere to get some sort of work out done.

[LaraMN]

10. My husband joined the "Y" but it's too far for me to go.

He goes there on his lunch hour. I'm thinking about driving out to our local hockey shelter and running there. Incidentally- my husband quit smoking several months ago and his incessant, severe, largely medication-resistant heartburn all but disappeared. I almost wish I'd had more obvious minor health effects from smoking before I quit, it would be good motivation to stay quit.

[underpants]

11. I have to ask

hockey shelter?

:shrug:

[LaraMN]

14. There's a track around the perimeter of the rink.

It's cold in the building- but not as cold as it is outside. Some people run there when there isn't a game going on.

[Horus45]

12. I was never successful with the patch

I tried 3 different times with 3 different brands of the patches and was not successful with any of them.
I was successful with Zyban, Zyban was the only thing that stopped that craving to smoke.
December 28 will be 4 years now that I have been smoke free, I had smoked for 22 years.

[LaraMN]

15. Ah- I'm on Wellbutrin (same as Zyban) too,

and it hasn't helped me quit at all, unfortunately. I had to add the patch as well. Oddly, I was on WB five years ago and I COULDN'T smoke on it, then. This time-- it had no noticable effect.

[ET Awful]

18. Yup Welbutrin/Zyban worked for me.

June of '02 (if I recall properly) was my last smoke. I'd been smoking for over 15 years.

[Mr. McD]

13. No,

I forget to put the patch on one day and didn't even notice. After that I didn't bother to use it. That was over 11 years ago.

[LaraMN]

16. See- that happened to me several times!

That was why I didn't expect going off it to bother me so much. I think it's largely psychological.

[kwassa]

17. If you cut back the number of cigarettes gradually ...

some completely unsolicited advice.

and gradually wean yourself down to a few a day, then down to one, over a period of time, you will get the nicotine out of your system pretty painlessly. This is how I quit. I literally smoked one cigarette a day for a couple of months, after working my way down to that. Then, when I quit, I had no cravings, and forgot I ever smoked after a couple of weeks, and never had another craving.

I had tried and failed to quit smoking cold turkey several times before that.

I've now been quit for about 21 years.