My name’s Jo and a I don’t smoke. You know something my chest didn’t tighten, I didn’t have a panic attack and I didn’t rush for the cigarettes. Two months ago I would have done, the mere thought of not having my fix would have practically turned me into a gibbering wreck. I’m not going to preach, I’m not going to suggest you give up nor am I going to regale you with stories of how easy it was to ditch nicotine because it‘s not. You can only give up if you want to not because others tell you to.

Most people plan a day to give up smoking now if I’d have done that well lets put it this way this op would never have been written. For some people they can do that, they can gradually cut down till the day they just stop. I’ve always been a cold turkey giver upper. When I was pregnant I just visualised a baby fighting for her life in an incubator and that stopped me. You know how some woman impulse buy shoes/cosmetics/handbags well I impulse bought two packets of patches. Yes honestly I was stood by the multivitamins and realised I couldn’t detox my body without giving up the main pollution in it could I? My thoughts were as I paid for two boxes of patches was if I could make it to the end of both boxes I’d still be quids in. when it comes to giving up you have to do what ever suits you.

The following morning I did wonder if I should open the box of patches or run as fast as I could to the corner shop. I chose to open the box of patches and retire to my bed with caffeine and the Sunday papers.

NiQuitin CQ market 3 patches, Step One being for those 10 or more a day addicts and is a 21mg patch which should be worn daily for 6 weeks. Step Two a 14mg patch which is the step down patch and used for two weeks after you’ve been on Step One. If you are a 10 or less a day smoker it is recommended you start the patches at this level and use them for six weeks. The Step Three patches are 7mgs each and are to be used for two weeks again. To get the best results you do need to do the programme fully ie you shouldn’t do two weeks on the 21mg patches a week on 14mgs and a week on 7mgs as it isn’t enough time to re educate yourself out of old habits. However I only did 4 weeks on the 21mgs and did the rest of the programme and it worked for me.

Anyone with a nicotine allergy
You have had a heart attack or a stroke recently
You have angina or an irregular heart beat -you should talk to your GP prior to using patches.

Anyone who is pregnant considering a pregnancy or is breast feeding
You have liver or kidney disease
Suffer from dermatitis
Have heart failure or other cardiac problems including high blood pressure
You have stomach ulcers or an over active thyroid
You are an insulin dependent diabetic
You are on medication for high blood pressure or Asthma.

Can I suggest you have a pair of scissors handy, even though there is a little notch that might mean you can open the foil wrapper without the need for scissors or a sharp implement lets just say scissors will get you into the foil packet a lot easier than trying to open it un aided! So there you have it your very first patch, as you go throw the step down process the patches get smaller and smaller. What I did notice with the first stage 21mg ones is how big and thick they were. It is suggested that you place the patch on a non hairy area and that you rotate the area you slap a patch on every day. It is advised in the literature to not use the same area for at least a week. I’ll admit my patches went on the top of my arms and I doubt there was a gap of 7 days between a patch being placed on the same site.

Another side effect I found which is pretty common is vivid dreams - no not X rated dreams just that I remembered my dreams and I was someone who used to never ever remember a dream. It was like going to bed and instead of going to sleep sitting up and watching the TV for 8 hours! Worst still was the fact I used to wake up in the middle of the night and analysis my dreams before falling asleep again and waking up again. After 10 days of this I was completely shattered so decided to remove the patch prior to going to bed as my Practice Nurse suggested. It worked a lot better as I only woke up at 4am and went straight back to sleep. The vivid dreams finally got less when I stepped down to the final phase of the 7mg patches.

Most people who have given up smoking will tell you about the times when even if they were male they became the bitch from hell with the worse PMT ever. Yes I became irritable, I had an amazing stand up row with someone and then wanted a cigarette so badly I’d have sold my soul for one. BUT I didn’t I got throw it. At times when the cravings did get bad I used to rub the patch as some kind of way of knowing I did have a nicotine supply and it worked. Willpower is needed by the bucket load and don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s going to be easy as it’s not. The second day I nearly decided that I couldn’t go throw with it. But being the stubborn person who had told the whole world I now didn’t smoke I had to or face a lot of people asking me why! Whether you chose to tell the world or not really is up to you. For me it worked as it stopped me from sneaking off for a cigarette at work.

One think that did irk me about using the patches was the fact they appeared especially the larger 21mg patches to not be resistant to water. Now for someone like me who loves to luxuriate in a bath every night this was a bit of a problem as they’d soon float away to be found stuck to the side of the bath. Given that after a fortnight I’d given up wearing them at night this wasn’t a major problem but might be for others who need to wear them 24/7. Also showers appeared to have the same effect on them!

I loathed the smell of stale cigarette smoke as a smoker and found it even worse whilst using the patches, funnily enough once I stopped them it doesn’t seem as bad. Me the woman who loves perfume finds it incredible that all I did was liberally spray the likes of Chanel all over to mask what is a foul smell! For some people the smell makes them want a cigarette and that’s why Niquitin CQ do suggest you rid yourself of all smoking paraphernalia and air your house prior to quitting. All the smell of smoke did for me was enrage me in the early days, I think due to the craving for nicotine.