Smoking is a difficiult habit to break. The combination of physical and psychological addictions make it a formidal opponent.

Understanding the process and knowing what’s coming may help you prepare for the fight. And a fight it is for many.

It often takes multiple attempts for a smoker to become a non smoker.

Did you know smokers have more nicotine binding receptors than nonsmokers? Smoking is believed to cause the brain to create extra receptors to acoomodate the nicotine doses taken in from tobacco.

These extra receptors add to the  discomfort and craving experienced when nicotine is taken away. This makes quitting “cold turkey” difficult for many especially when combined with the triggers created by the smoking habit itself.

So, you need to identify your triggers. Think about when you smoke and what you associate with during that time. Maybe it’s getting out of bed in the morning, having a cup of coffee, driving to work, having a drink with friends  and many, many more events in your life.

Next, decide how you want to quit. If you have tried  cold turkey and failed you might try nicotine supplements and tapering. After all, nicotine patches and gum are much less harful than the smoke inhaled from cigarettes. So it takes you a year or more to wean off the nicotine product, who cares? The goal is to QUIT SMOKING.

Nicotine patches can supply steady amounts to your body which greatly decreasees the cravings from smoking cessation. Some people still don’t get enough nicotine from the strongest patches. What to do? You may want to add some nicotine gum when the cravings tempt you to light up again. Remember it’s a fight between you and your cravings. Every time you decrease nicotine patch strengths you may experienc cravings. Again, having some nicotine gum or lozenges handy may greatly increase your success. And, when you finally stop the nicotine patches, you may want to keep nicotine gum or lozenges with you all the time until you finally feel you no longer need them. Expensive? Not really if you compare to cigarette smoking for the  rest of your life.

No matter what you can expect some irritability, insomnia and and anxiety. It usually takes 6 weeks or more to decrease the quantity of nicotine receptors in your brain.

Other methods require prescriptons and shoud be discussed with your presciber or pharmacist to see if they are right for you.

Always follow directions on over the counter products containing nicotine and never exceed the doses on the package. NEVER smoke if you have a nicotine patch on. Consult with your prescriber or pharmacist if you have any cardiovascular diseases such as  previous heart attack, high blood pressure, angina or others to help you get started.

Try, try again until you scucced.

Questions?