can you were the patch and the gum togeter??

[jimgreg]

i want to know if i use the 21 mg patch and gum only when gets to bad the 1st few weeks,,and whgat gum to get ?? i was a 2 packs aday....

[anotheroldrocker]

I've done the gum and patches at the same time, you get a huge headache which I would attribute to the overdose of nicotine. Not recommended. I've been on the gum now for 5 years. After I get a few months clean from the opiates I recently quit (almost 3 weeks now, cold turkey - doing well for the most part), I'll do the patches again, in the 90s I used them successfully and stayed clean for 4 years.

[kathyjo]

if you read through the archived posts you will find dozens who used the gum, and after years, are still using it. I personally know people who have been chewing close to, if not a decade! No, I wouldn't recommend the gum, in fact I always pooh-pooh it.
We had a few posts that talked about ulcers and infections in the mouth from the gum so you are extremely lucky that you stopped when you did......most don't.

I tried using the lozenge for a few days. I went to a dental appt. and was told by the dentist to stop using it immediately as it was ripping up the lining of my mouth.

In theory, both are great ideas, but when someone isn't ready to quit, then what it does is create another addiction.

[bgaineshunter]

You can OD. However, it's sort of funny how no one's warned that they might OD while chain smoking. I have friends who use more than the recommended doses of NRT. One friend wears three patches, still one year later. Obviously, he is now addicted to the patches. That may be one problem of overusing NRT.

I used NRT to quit and I don't at all regret it. However, NRT can become addictive and, therefore, those of us who use it should have an exit plan. Use the bear minimum you honestly can and plan to wean yourself from it. I used the gum precisely because I could more easily manipulate the dosage than I could with the patch. I smoked two packs a day and the patch didn't give me enough nicotine early on. (With the gum, you just increase or decrease your usage by a few as a piece or two.) Weaning from the gum was easy because I got really tired of chewing. (That's a plus.) By the time I weaned myself off of the gum, I had gone from about 13 pieces a day to 1-3. So I wasn't getting much nicotine by then anyway.

[teko]

All you can do is try until you find out what works for you.  I am certainly no one to preach to anyone about it! But I can offer my support in your efforts!

[teko]

NOOOOO! nicotine overdose will make you sick! The patch should take care of the worst of your craving and possibly all of it. It is the hand mouth habit you need to be prepared for. Carry a toothpick, paperclip, etc,.  Try to remember a craving only lasts about 3 min.  3 minutes even without patches or gum, is doable.

[kathyjo]

Don't use them together. They aren't made to combine and it will definitely make you sick.
Chew regular gum if you need to keep your mouth busy.

The goal here is not to take in the same amount of nicotine that your body is used to, but to give your body just enough to gradually adjust to a lower amounts until it doesn't require it any longer.
72 hours doesn't apply with the patch.....you will still be putting nicotine into your body, but it will decrease gradually as you step down.