Stories & experiences

Kim26
26
Stories
10/02/2017
Joined

Sugar Free Mints

Posted in Hints and tips 17 Apr 2017
14 Comments

Hi everyone,

The other day marked 5 weeks smoke free and I am completely stoked!!

I'm using a patch but have slowly started to reduce how long I wear it for the past week because I do fully understand that the use of NRT products aren't forever. At the start, I used to have around 6 NRT lozenges a day also. I'm in the process of trying to reduce these also. Yesterday I only had 3 lozenges because I bought a box of Eclipse Peppermint Mints to see how I go. I'm happy to say that for me, it appears to be working. I would have already had a lozenge to day by now but I used a mint instead and happy to say, no cravings.

If I can continue to cut back slowly, I'll be very happy.

Most days now, I barely think of smoking but every now and then, I'll have a day of quite strong cravings but then it eases for numerous days again.

My Quitline counsellor has advised me to not jump too soon because some apparently quit NRT too early and relapse.

I know this won't ever happen to me though.

Stay strong all.

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14 Comments

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  • Zandyness, Hunter New England April 17, 2017 | 13:48
    Good work Kim! It's all in the head, so they said :) I did the cold turkey method and have tried not to indulge in substitutes, but I do have a tin of mints in my car. I work at five different sites each day and used to smoke between sites. That seems to be the time I crave the most, and it's when I am driving around, so there's plenty of opportunities to stop and buy smokes if I wanted to. Sometimes I used to do that if I left a site early, just to kill five minutes... Now if I have five minutes I go to a store that doesn't sell smokes and buy some mints :) I think the strong flavour of the mints hits the reward centre on the head.
    Good luck with staying quit. It's not an easy path to start with, but it gets easier, I promise!
  • Johnnie, South Eastern Sydney April 17, 2017 | 18:55
    Hi Kim, good going. Look if you use 4mg lozenges then 6 a day is way too much What you may try if you wish is to cut a 4mg lozenge in 4 pieces....sharp knife and hard surface(watch fingers). When a craving comes on you place a quarter in your mouth and let dissolve. Has always worked for me .In early stages i was having the equivalent of 3 full 4mg lozenges a day based i.e. on quarter pieces. This was equivalent to 1 cigarette having 12mg nicotine. So as you see the nicotine intake is very minimal and at the same time you are cutting down on nicotine dramatically. At 9mths now i sometimes do need the odd quarter piece but can really say the urge is not demanding. My problem has always been the habit. Anyway give it a go and see if it helps you. Cheers.
  • Kim26 April 17, 2017 | 20:10
    Hi Zandyness,
    Thanks so much! Yes I'm super happy that
    so far it appears to be working.
  • Kim26 April 17, 2017 | 20:14
    Hi Johnnie,
    No no I am not on the 4mg lozenges, I'm
    using the 2mg and starting to reduce. If
    you look on this site you can actually have
    up to 11 of them a day with a patch and
    that's according to Quitline and my GP.
    I've never ever used that much. I'll try cutting
    the 2mg in half though. I don't even have
    that full amount to be honest because they
    take me 2 hours to diss
  • Kim26 April 17, 2017 | 20:15
    Oops! To dissolve so I normally just take
    it out after 30 minutes.
    Cheers.
  • Kim26 April 17, 2017 | 20:19
    I also forgot to mention Johnnie that I took
    the time to see how you first started and
    saw that you also used NRT in the beginning
    so well done to you for staying Quit as
    long as you have and also no more need
    for NRT for you!!!
    That's sensational and gives me heaps
    of hope.
  • Johnnie, South Eastern Sydney April 17, 2017 | 21:32
    That is very good Kim. The tale is "do what we have to do in any way we think best" as long as a successful outcome is achieved. Good luck...talk again soon.
  • Red-67 April 18, 2017 | 2:44
    Hey Kim :) You are doing great !
    I would think, just my opinion, at 5 weeks, the only nicotine withdrawal you have now is the NRTs. Keep up what you are doing. Just cut down the NRT as you feel right. By now you have a strong enough mindset, that a little crave is not going to pull you back. I bet you could stop the lozenges all together. A patch for a little while a day, and the mints should be enough. Just think.. Soon, you will be able to say you are FREE !! I am sure you have beaten the smokes .. Only the NRT / nicotine to beat now, and you got this girl :)
  • Kim26 April 18, 2017 | 18:15
    Hey Red 😃
    Thanks mate! I think my first plan of
    action is to step down in patch strength
    in a couple more weeks (it's a 12 week
    program) that I'm on, as well as trying
    to use the sugar free mints more than the
    lozenge which IS working so far which is
    great. Then no patch, then reduce lozenges.
    I won't ever go back to smoking, so yep, you're
    so right there 😃😃
  • Judes April 20, 2017 | 12:29
    You're doing really well and how quickly time flies....I remember when you first posted. Please be careful when cutting back on whatever you use to help you along, because when I stopped the champix, after 60 days smoke free, I relapsed. A weak moment and only blame myself, but if I was still on the champix I might've stopped at one cigarette. I'm back on it but have to start over.
  • Kim26 April 21, 2017 | 18:49
    Hey Jude,
    I just posted a reply under your post.
    You'll nail it again, I'm sure.
  • WendyOhNo April 22, 2017 | 23:10
    Hi Kim.

    I wanted to reply to one of your posts so you could see it. If you are recently allergic to avocado, there is a very good chance you are allergic to latex and natural rubber. My latex allergy went from hives to anaphylaxis in less than two months. Please Google latex allergies and see the long list if things that contain the latex protein , including most erasers and balloons and get the BLOOD test for latex ige. This is very important as latex allergy can also impact your heart. Of course, anything that stops your breathing would impact your heart!
  • Kim26 April 23, 2017 | 11:18
    Hi Wendy,
    Thanks for the feedback. Mine hasn't been
    recent, it's been a number of years and
    gosh they put me through so many blood
    tests for so many different things.
    At least you know what to avoid now but
    still, it must have been scary for you x
  • homebody81, Illawarra Shoalhaven May 31, 2017 | 22:47
    Hi kim26...thanks for that have send a test to see if I have the right address.....has been hard day but I have won....NOPE!!!

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