Nicotine Patches - Do They Really Work?

By Tim Bock

Nicotine Patches as a type of NRT can be used as soon as you throw away your last cigarette to get rid of your smoking habit. There is no need for you to let time pass before you apply the patch as it is advisable to immediately use them when you stop smoking. These patches contain a measured dose of nicotine that is readily absorbed by the skin. These patches enable you to slowly decrease the level of nicotine in your system as you begin using smaller doses over a few weeks.

There are also types of nicotine patches that you can use depending on how heavy you smoke. There are 16-hour patches that work mostly for light to average smokers. When you use it, you are less likely to experience headaches, sleep problems, and racing heartbeats. For those who usually experience early morning withdrawal symptoms, this patch will not be a good choice as it does not deliver nicotine at night. There are also 24-hour patches that give a constant dose of nicotine. It gets rid of early morning withdrawal symptoms but could cause slight skin irritations and disturbance in your sleep pattern. For those who smoke quite heavily, then you should use this patch since you need a steadier dose of nicotine all throughout the day.

The Nicotine Patch is touted as one of the Great Ways to Quit Smoking, but is it really all that it's cracked up to be? Some of the side effects of the nicotine patch are even less fun than those it tries to cure. Having tried quitting (and failing) with the nicotine patch, I've gone through quite a few of the side effects myself, and they're no walk in the park.

Such as the case with coronary artery disease, initially doctors feared that it would be unsafe to use the patch while suffering from this condition but a recent study found that nicotine patches are indeed a safe form of smoking cessation therapy for people inflicted with this disease and that it may in fact improve the oxygen and blood flow throughout the body to the heart. Although no evidence supports the non-use of this product by teenagers it is still recommended that only smokers over the age of 18 use this product.

This wasn't really bad, but it's worth mentioning. The area around where the patch was applied got nice and red (and stayed that way for a few days after I stopped using the patch.) Comparatively, though, I didn't really mind this one. So, yeah, the side effects aren't great. I personally didn't have much luck quitting with the nicotine patch (I used something called the EasyQuit System, which is akin to quitting cold turkey, only easier) but many people seem to swear by them. I personally wouldn't use it just because of how bad the side effects are. - 29929

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