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Nicotine Gum Addiction – as Bad as Smoking?

Patrick — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:41:26 +0000

There are people out there who have nicotine gum addiction. They have replaced their cigarette addiction and now they are addicted to the “cure.” Or in some cases, they continue to smoke AND use nicotine gum in cases when they cannot light up a cigarette.

This is a big issue, in my opinion, because I have seen people that I know that have struggled with it. Being addicted to nicotine gum is still a problem, even if it is not quite as bad as being addicted to cigarettes. And if you happen to be using a nicotine replacement product, such as the gum, and continue to smoke cigarettes, you need to stop one of them right away. It’s either the replacement therapies or the cigarettes. Never should you combine the two, that is asking for trouble and can really be quite dangerous.

Nicotine replacement therapies

My take on nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) is that they do not really work. Sure there are people who have quit successfully with the patch or the gum, but it is my belief that most or all of those people could have quit anyway. NRT always looks good in short term studies because using those products produces better short term success rates than going cold turkey. But if you look at 3 year, 5 year, or 10 year success rates you will see that cold turkey quitters start to outnumber those who used NRT products.

In the end, everyone quits cold turkey. It sounds like a nice idea to use a nicotine patch to “ween yourself down” off the nicotine, but this doesn’t really help much. The withdrawal symptoms are the same severity when you finally stop putting nicotine in your body.

That’s an important point: it doesn’t seem to matter what level of nicotine you are hooked on. When you take it away, the withdrawal is agonizing. That is why NRT products tend to fail. They are no better than going cold turkey in the end. You still have to face your physical existence without the nicotine at some point. And when you do, there is going to be a nasty withdrawal, regardless of how much you have “stepped down” using NRT products.

This is what makes the Nicotine gum addiction so insidious. Getting down to zero nicotine intake with the gum is going to feel exactly the same as quitting the cigarettes cold turkey. They both feel the same in terms of withdrawal symptoms. So really, kicking the gum is just as difficult as getting off the cigarettes.

But then there is the insidious logic to it all: it is easier for us to justify and rationalize long term NRT use. We know that the gum is healthier for us than smoking, so we stay hooked on it. But addiction is addiction, and Nicotine gum costs money and keeps you trapped in a cycle of using. There are still huge benefits to getting off the NRT products as well – one of which is that you will increase your chances of not returning to cigarettes. Part of staying hooked on NRT products is that when they fail they lead you back to your drug of choice: smoking cigarettes.

In other words, if you’re hooked on an NRT product, then you stand a bigger chance of relapsing back to smoking than if you were completely nicotine free. Why? Because nicotine is extremely addictive! This is a very powerful physical addiction we are dealing with here, and if you continue to put the drug nicotine into your body then your body will never be free of the addiction. Thus your chances of going back to smoking remain extremely high when you’re using NRT products.

The solution

Have you ever been afraid to take off a band-aid because you knew it was going to hurt to tear it off? You can pull it slowly and go through agony, or you can rip it off fast and be done with it.

You know what the solution is. The solution is to stop putting nicotine into your body. You quit smoking cigarettes, now it is time to quit using nicotine. A drug is still a drug. And there is no easy way to do it other than to just do it.

I do have one suggestion that helped me immensely in getting free from nicotine: sleep through the worst part of your withdrawal. That might sound a bit too simple but it absolutely works if you do it right. To make this technique really effective I suggest that you quit nicotine cold turkey and then stay awake for at least 24 hours. That way you will sleep long and deep through the worst part of your withdrawals. Sounds crazy but this actually worked for me and I haven’t had any nicotine for over 3 years now (and saved over $5,000 dollars!).

States of Being in Recovery – The Difference Between an Ex-smoker and a Nonsmoker

Patrick — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:06:18 +0000

I happen to be an ex-smoker, and of course a long time ago (before I had ever smoked at all) I used to be a nonsmoker. What’s the difference?

The difference of course is that in one case, you quit smoking, and in the other case, you never smoked at all. They’re just labels, right?

Well, sort of. I think the labels that we use to refer to our own selves can affect our recovery in subtle ways. It’s worth taking a look at.

Remember what it was like to be a nonsmoker?

Back when I was trying desperately to quit smoking cigarettes, someone said something to me at an AA meeting that really struck a chord deep within me. I don’t remember their exact words, but the effect was that they made me think back–really think back, to when I was a complete nonsmoker…..and what that felt like. The effect was so profound that I could remember what it actually felt like to wake up and just start going on about my day, without having to light up a cigarette first. This was true freedom, and I remembered it. I remember what it felt like.

When I first quit smoking cigarettes, I would wake up in the morning and sort of stop short, saying “oh, that’s right. I quit smoking. I don’t need to go find my pack.” In other words, I was very definitely an ex-smoker, not a non-smoker. It would be months before I could really wake up each morning (or finish a big meal) and not have even the tiniest or quickest thoughts that I needed a cigarette.

What I’m getting at here is that the label of “nonsmoker” gets at our very state of being. Today, I am more than just an ex-smoker. I feel like I’ve come further than that. Today I am a real nonsmoker. I simply don’t smoke.

I know there have been times in the past when I was merely an ex-smoker, and I would sometimes catch a longing glance at someone who was taking a deep drag on their cigarette and think “Nope….I quit, and I don’t want to go back to that.” But deep down I wanted a puff.

Fast forward to a few years later, and now I am a non smoker who no longer secretly wishes for a puff. I am back to the “non-smoker” mindset: “Why would I want to subject myself to that? Why would I want to put myself in a position where I had to spend all that money and continuously finding opportunities to go feed a nicotine habit?” This is the kind of self-talk, the kind of mindset that a nonsmoker has. They have never been hooked on cigarettes so they have no concept of why anyone would subject themselves to addiction like this.

What I’m saying is that the nonsmoker mindset can be yours again (if you happen to be a smoker, or an ex-smoker). The process of achieving this attitude can only come through continuous abstinence, plus a healthy vigilance against romanticizing the idea of relapse. In addition, if you encourage others to quit smoking and help them by giving them your experience, strength, and hope, then this can help revert you back completely to a true “nonsmoker” mindset.

Becoming a “true nonsmoker” doesn’t mean you deny that ever smoked, or that you forget where you came from. Instead, it is about rearranging your internal belief system, and empowering yourself and your life.

Practice thinking of yourself as a “true nonsmoker” and help others or encourage them to quit as well, and this will only strengthen your recovery.

Application for recovery

I’ve used the example of smoking, but these ideas apply to recovery from drugs and alcohol as well.

Think back to when you were very little, before you had ever picked up a drink or a drug. Think about what your life was like when you never had to obsess over drugs and alcohol. This is the state of mind, the state of freedom that we want to attain. If you can remember what that felt like, it can be a very powerful experience for you in recovery.

Use this idea and build on it. Remember what it felt like to be free from chemicals, and decide to be free like that again today. That is your identity. That is who you are.

Be free!