Nicotine patches...

[RUBY74]

I'v woken up this morning and made the decision (at last) to give up smoking after 20 years. I know i will need help and want to use a patch, any thoughts on which are the best?

[daffy654]

A lot depends on what sort of smoker you are.Do you have a cigarette as soon as you wake up? If so then you will need the 24 hour patch.If not then go for the 16 hour one that you take off at bedtime and reapply in the morning. I used the 24 hour one and it worked for me,it does sometimes have the side effect of making you have very vivid dreams though,this was never a problem for me as I found it quite entertaining.lol.
I would recommend you don't buy the Niquitin CQ Clear as they don't stick very well and leave a horrible sticky black mess where you apply them. I find Nicotinell to be the best ones.
Good luck with it,I hope you succeed!

[RUBY74]

Thanks Daffy thats the kind of stuff i was thinking about, which ones stick best and the likes.

[Fay Mousse]

I stopped smoking in 1994 with Nicotinell patches - having failed many, many times before.

I found them brilliant but expensive. As time went on I was able to cut the patches in half - they still worked perfectly well but lasted twice as long.

Get the right strength for you to start with, and gradually reduce the strength. I used the patches for four months.

[Eve]

I used Nicquitin CQ patches which I found brilliant. I have tried Nicorette having stupidly started again 4 months down the line after doing so well.

Tried Nicotinell this time but they didn't work for me, they did stick better though.

Please note you are not supposed to use more than one thing at the same time (eg gum and inhalator) although I did get an Inhalator for the occasional quick fix in a mad moment.

Make sure you keep them dry, I used to take one off before my morning shower then put another one on straight after. Whatever they say they are not waterproof!

I used to stick a plaster or some plater tape over mine as they don't tend to stay on very well and it was like a little routine I had of enforcing my intention to quit.

You need to put them in a different place over a week and not reuse the same place in that week.

I got a load of gum and sweets to keep my mouth occupied and kept a little diary of how many cigs I hadn't smoked and how much I've saved (worked out a rough price per cig) and how much better I was feeling which really helped.

I would also get a venti starbucks in work and sip it slowly.

I used to think of things that I wouldn't normally do like sitting inside a coffee shop in the warm and treating myself to a biscuit and reading a paper and magazine instead of freezing outside puffing away :)

I also bought some nice fruity smelly stuff like lip balm and body shop and original source stuff and perfume to make the most of smelling nicer and the fact I could smell it.

Good luck :)

[Postdog]

The only problem I had with patches - and I tried various makes - was them sticking, especially in the summer.

I used gum in the end.

[bigsister]

Hi Ruby,
I used Nicotinell way back when they first came out, about 16 or so years ago.
They were brilliant!
The first day was hard but then I had no problems at all, and have never wanted another cigarette since. I have saved loads of money too.
I decided on a day to quit, then the night before chopped up the remaining ciggies and threw out all the ashtrays.
Really really good luck, you won't regret it.
Let us know how you get on.

[RUBY74]

Thank you all for your replies they have been really helpful. I went to the tesco pharmacy yesterday and decided on the Niquitin 2nd stage patch that I'm going to wear for 16 hours a day, I've also signed up to the click 2 quit programme. All i need now is tonnes of willpower which i feel i have at the moment!!! I'll keep you updated. Thanks again x