( 1 reviews )
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Posted: 05-07-2009
Nicorette, or any other nicotine replacement therapy, is still addictive. So, why use Nicorette? Here are some facts, with my personal experience intertwined. Nicorette differs from cigarettes because it has only one addictive ingredient: nicotine. How bad is nicotine? Check it out on Wikipedia--a very good write-up. While nicotine is highly addictive, according to Wikipedia--"The currently available literature indicates that nicotine, on its own, does not promote the development of cancer in healthy tissue and has no mutagenic properties, but does speed growth and migration of existing cancerous cells, as well as turning some precancerous cells cancerous." Cancer from cigarettes is mainly due to its other ingredients, broadly defined as "tar." Nicorette has no tar. If you want to really experience tar, light a cigarette and put it on a piece of glass. Let the whole thing burn down, and then blow off the ashes. What you will find is a considerable trail of sticky brown substance. Go ahead, touch it. That's what you are putting in your lungs with EACH cigarette. It's a miracle that the body can deal with this at all. Also, tar is quite noxious, and your body has to get used to it. Remember the first cigarette you ever smoked and how sick you felt? Now your body is used to tar, so you don't feel so bad. I found out that after using Nicorette for a week, cigarettes started to become sickening again. That's good. It's was an incentive to pop a Nicorette rather than light up. In comparison to Nicorette, cigarettes are truly ghastly. I had 3 friends die of lung cancer this year. All were smokers. I'd been smoking on and off for 10 years, and lately it was more "on." At almost 50, I could see that I might be heading the way of my 3 friends. All of these people were brilliant and kind, and had many good years ahead of them, which they lost due to their addiction to cigarettes. I decided that I wasn't going down that path. Nicorette has made it easier. I read a statistic that people are 50% more likely to succeed at quitting with a nicotine substitute. Those were odds I wanted in my favor. Now, the instructions may say to chew at least 9 a day--I guess they really want to sell that stuff, but I found it unnecessary. For me, it worked by chewing when I felt the SLIGHTEST URGE. If I let that urge get too strong, I would reach for a cigarette. I quit gradually, slowly chewing more Nicorette and smoking fewer cigarettes. In 10 days, it was Nicorette only, about 5 a day.So, I'm still chewing my Nicorette, but not smoking. I've been able to cut down my Nicorette consumption quite easily--one or two a day max, and zero on weekends. Nicorette takes the edge off, and let's me get on with my business without thinking of smoking. The difference? Almost immediately, I felt better--more energy throughout the day. Work is easier because I'm not so tired. I think more clearly. I exercise more and my body looks better. And, I don't smell of cigarettes, my teeth are cleaner, and I don't get into uncomfortable situations where I just "have" to have one --I've got my Nicorette crutch with me, and I'm not ashamed to use it. Do I care that Nicorette tastes peppery, sometimes gives me hiccups, gets hard after chewing it a while? Not at all! A small price to pay for freedom from cigarettes.
