Nicotine Chewing Gum

[Caran]

OH is on his third day of giving up smoking. He is using the chewing gum.
We went out at lunch time to our usual U3A skittles and lunch. We had to come home early as he felt ill. Kept coming close to passing out. When we got home he read the leaflet on the gum packet. This is one of the side effects. There were so many side effects listed it was scary.
He is questioning how long will he have to keep on taking them. He has reduced the dose to try to keep side effects down.
Anyone experienced side effects.

[twix123]

I didn't have any side effects, but after chewing a few expensive packets of nicotine gum I switched to ordinary chewing gum, then came off that after a couple of months.

[woofgang]

Caran, he doesn’t have to keep taking them. The point is that it gives you a tiny dose of nicotine in a safer form...you can also get mint type things and a mouth spray, also of course patches. Is he going it alone or is he doing it with NHS support. If he’s getting support then he can go back and ask them for help but as I understand it, (never smoked myself) the idea is to only use whatever you use to control the nicotine cravings and then gradually reduce. The amount you use (subject to a safe maximum) is up to the user.

[Caran]

He is doing it alone. Due to his medical condition he needs to give up before he sees his consultant on the 25th.
He is a bit confused about replacing nicotine in cigarettes, with nicotine in chewing gum.
Bear in mind he has smoked since he was 15 and he is now 78.

[Pete65]

I stopped with the help of GP.
He recommended patches.
First 3 or 4 days were a struggle, no side effects though.
That was 12 years ago.
I have not smoked since.

[Caran]

Good on you Pete65. I hope OH can do it. He has been advised that if he is still smoking when he sees his consultant they will not do anything to help him.
So he is determined to do it.
I remember when I gave up 20 years ago. I found it so hard. I had a pen in my mouth during the day and a teaspoon at night. I needed it for mouth satisfaction.
I didn't use anything else, in fact I don't remember anything being available.

[Maydup]

My husband was allergic to the patches, gave him sleepless nights and skin rash. He tried the gum and various other replacement products and they all affected him in some adverse way. Eventually he simply relaxed about it and cut right down until he got to one a day. He's still working on that one a day! But its a massive step change for him like your husband, he'd been smoking for 60 yrs so do tell him we're all rooting for him Caron!

[bednobs]

maybe it's more to do with the medical condition than chewing gum?

[teacher1]

I gave it up 11 weeks ago without any aids at all ...... can't understand what I saw in smoking for the 55 years. ;o)

[teacher1]

^ for the last 55 years. ;o)

[hellywelly4]

When I stopped smoking (50 a day) 50 years ago, I just used Fox's Glacier Mints. Kept one in my mouth all the time (well, mostly) and i did it. If I can do it, he can xxx