Nicotine Gum Addiction - a sheepish confession

[bookdude53]

I've never been a smoker or user of any other tobacco products...
well, that's not exactly true. Awhile back, I started chewing Nicorette gum, and now I find that I'm having a hard time quitting. A recent visit to the doctor revealed that my BP is higher than it should be, and my pulse rate is also elevated. I really need to quit this foolish nonsense.

Has anyone else gotten into a similar situation?

[Atriana]

How much nicotine gum are you using? A friend of mine had a hard time quitting the gum after quitting smoking. She used the gum for a year after she quit smoking. Eventually, what she did was cut the gum in half for a while. Then in quarters. She also started adding in pieces of regular gum. Eventually, she got over it. You can too!

[bookdude53]

Thanks for your reply.

I average 8 to 12 pieces of the 4mg. gum per day. I've started making notations each time I reach for a piece, to become more conscious of my patterns. I figure I could switch to the 2mg as part of a phase-out.

I've been in AA for a long time. The idea of tapering off alcohol would be inconceivable, particularly if the "tapering" extended beyond three or four days. With the gum, however, I find I really get withdrawal symptoms quickly if I don't maintain my pace. Weird.

I like the idea about adding a regular gum into the mix. I'll try that. I gum with a "kick" would be good.

[Atriana]

In the interest of economy, it is much cheaper to cut the 4mg gum in half than to buy the 2 mg gum.
Keep us posted on your progress!

[bookdude53]

Good point. One way to motivate myself to quit is to calculate the economic cost of the nasty gum. I cringe to think of what I've spent!

[Atriana]

If you go over to www.quitnet.com, there is a little gadget thing that is primarily used for calculating cigarettes not smoked but you could use it for your gum. Just plug in the amount of pieces per day and their cost and it will keep a running total for you.

[agonycat]

I used the 2mg gum to quit smoking.

I actually chewed it for about 6 to 8 months after I quit smoking. My husband made a comment one day about me being addicted to the gum now instead of cigs. Made me realize what I was doing.

What flavor are you chewing currently? That may have a big factor in it. I was chewing the minty flavor and switched to the regular stuff.....I quit using the gum the following week. I can't remember the ingredients now either but I do remember it being a tad sweet, almost like a nasty stick of juicy fruit.

[bookdude53]

I just switched to the plain stuff, the Wal-Mart generic brand, leaving no illusions that it's the nicotine I'm after, not the pleasant taste.

[agonycat]

ewwwwwwwwwwww

:)

Should we hit you with a wooden ruler and tell you to spit your gum out in the trash bin?

[Atriana]

Agonycat - you are quite the disciplinarian, LOL. Now I can guess how you picked your name!

[agonycat]

:lol:

[bookdude53]

A ruler, eh? Might work. I had an elementary school teacher who used to make gum chewers stick the gum on their noses. I think one of her offending students went on to develop the nicotine patch.

[agonycat]

:eek: When I first read that it looked like "she made them stick their gum up their nose" :lol:

I was brought up in a catholic household....I remember the nuns and their wooden rulers across the back of your hand if you got caught with gum and a prompt point to the trash bin.

[Atriana]

Hey Bookdude, I think we might have gone to school together - or had teachers that did, LOL. It made me smile to think of those kids with the big pink wad of Bazooka bubble gum stuck to their noses.

[bookdude53]

Yeah, the old gum-on-the-nose trick seemed to be a fave among teachers back in the day.

By the way, if you lived in S. Florida during your school years, we were in the same part of the country. I grew up in Miami.

Today I managed to cut down to five pieces of gum...so far. That's an improvement over my typical pattern. I used your suggestion, cutting the 4mg gum in half.

[greg5756]

I know the feeling of beign addicted to this gum. I hate it but I hate smoking more. been on this gum almost 2.5 years. anyway since there isn't any nutritional info on the packing I called the lab where it is produced. They informed me that in the 4mg gum there is .02grams of carbs in each piece in the 2mg gum there is .03 to .04 grams of carbs. The most discouraging thing of my phone call was The lab didn't even realize they made the gum. I had to talk to two customer service reps and was passed off to two different pharmacist before I could get an answer I also enquired about long term usage I was told that they had no information on the long term usage of nicoteen. I did ask my docter and he prescibed Ativan was a good drug but I still chew the gum. lol :roll: