A couple days in, and I'm not diggin' it. :P

Nicotine gum has reduced the impulses to beat inanimate objects with hammers and pull my hair out.
Downside is it scorches my throat and cranks on my stomach.

Anyone with FHE on patches?

i know someone here who can tell you about the patch and smoking..

I'm not looking to have the top of my head unscrew and fly into orbit.

But thanks!

big hug.



congrats on be'n this kind of quitter

Good for you. Now everyones gonna be on me double time! :P

Patches itch. They help with the chemical, but not the social situation caused cravings (i.e. while drinking, after a meal, what have you) & oral fixation. When I have given the patch a shot before I've carried the mouthpiece from a cigarallo and chewed on that when I got urges. I'm sure gum or candy would work just as well. In the end, _for me_, I've always failed at quitting because of the social or stress based urges...

I've heard good things about Chantix (new hotness) and Wellbutrin (slightly older), but both of those are actually fucking with you brain chemistry and that is a turnoff for lots of folks.

think of the poor lil wheezing wife with elevated heart rate at home..... poor poor lil mags.

i'm smoking outside right now to spare poor lil mags, so think of poor poor me.

like the hallucinations and violent behavior?

Nick, I did patches. Twice. They sucked. I had wicked, fucked-ip nightmares, and so wouldn't wear 'em at night. And at the beginning, they overloaded me on nicotine and I felt sick (and I was smokin' a lot!). But then at the end of the day, I still had cravings. Also, every time I went down a level in patch strength, I had cravings all over again. And it didn't do shit for the socialized need to smoke. I felt like it just extended the whole process.

Both times, they worked. But then I picked up a smoke a coupla months later, thinkin' "I'm not addicted now, I can have just one." A short while later, I was smokin' again.

Finally, I just went cold turkey. I didn't even really mean to. I had like two packs at Zeitgeist one night and woke up the next day feeling like I blew Joe Camel. So I didn't smoke that day. Then I figured I just wouldn't smoke the next day. Then the next day, I said, "Meh, I'll smoke tomorrow. Just not today." I kept doin' that. It sucked for a coupla weeks, but it actually worked. Now, everytime I want a smoke, I say that I can have one tomorrow. I never do. That was like 2.5 yrs ago.

Good luck, man.

That was exactly my experience. The dreams you have with the patch on are just totally fucked up.

Wellbutrin was almost as bad. It just made me want to beat the shit out of everyone I met, kinda the opposite of what it what supposed to do.

Finally, I just cold turkey'd it and it's been about 1.5 years. Once you get past the first 2 weeks, it gets really, pretty easy.