Experimental Pantology

I’m trying to quit smoking for good. Before I was able to quit for a long while cold turkey, but it seems harder to do now for some reason. Maybe it’s the my night job, maybe it’s the co-workers who smoke with me, who knows. What I do know for sure is that nicotine-wise, my body isn’t really addicted to it after all.

Perhaps I should have done more research into how strong of a patch I should start with. A couple of days ago I started using a 21 milligram transdermal nicotine patch. I underestimated my average nicotine intake on a daily basis and went a little overboard. After having the patch for a few hours, I started feeling nauseous and drowsy. After about 5 hours of use I removed the patch and a couple of more hours passed with the patch off and I started feeling better. During the time I had the patch on, I didn’t crave or felt the need to smoke, which I guess is good. The day after I decided not to use the patch and to my surprise I also didn’t crave or felt the need to smoke. I’m debating if I should just drop the patch idea and go cold turkey, but I’m assuming the cravings will come back sooner or later. I guess I need to find the right patch dosage.

After searching around the internet I found out that my regular stick of cigg, Newport Lights actually contains about .7 milligrams of nicotine (though I’m not entirely sure how accurate the source is… in any case I needed numbers to justify not putting up with a 21 milligram daily intake). On a regular work night, I generally would smoke around 7-10 ciggs. So at max I would take in 7 milligrams. I guess I overshot it with the patch. In any case, I will most likely end up buying what most nicotine patch products call Step 3, which contains only 7 milligrams of nicotine. That should help me from the cravings if they come back. I will try without the patch for as long as it takes the store to deliver my Step 3 patches. Or maybe if I’m lucky, this is it for me.

So I wasted about $65, a twisted stomach, and a couple of barf sessions in the bathroom all because I didn’t do my research beforehand.