Congratulations for completing Hell Week and Heck Week!!! Your quit is going well so far and you are NOT a smoker! The patch is helping you on your journey towards freedom from smoking and eventually from nicotine itself. Continue to use the patch as directed and cut down as prescribed or as you are able to tolerate the reduction of nicotine. The important thing IS that you are not smoking!
You will continue to encounter situations that trigger craves for some time. The whole quitting process is about gaining knowledge and putting it to use to cope with cravings when they arise. Every crave you endure will make you stronger and as time goes on the intensity and frequency of your craves will diminish.
You are really doing great so far! Remember, N.O.P.E. , Not One Puff Ever, that's how we now live our lives... one day at a time!
Congratulations on two weeks smoke free. You are through Heck week, one of the hardest weeks!
The
Nicotine patch works by administering a set amount of nicotine into
your body in order to reduce withdrawal symptoms. Many quitters find
this helpful as they can then focus on changing their behaviours instead of simply coping with the withdrawal symptoms. For more information on nicotine replacement therapy check out Session 3.
I would say you are not a smoker if you are using the patch but you still do have nicotine in your system. It is up to you to determine if this is helpful to you. It sounds like you are doing well on the patch and you are not having too many cravings unless you are stressed - to me that sounds like it is working and there is some room for you find new coping strategies when dealing with stress instead of smoking as a maladaptive coping mechanism. So what are some new strategies you can develope that will help you cope with stress?
First of all a big congrats on your 2 weekls smoke free. You are definitely not a smoker as long as you don't pick up a cigarette. The patch is a great tool in providing you with nicotine while you break your addiction to the other chemicals in cigarettes and the hand to mouth habit as well as the many other psychological components of smoking. I was only able to use the patch for a week unfortunately because I developed a reaction to it and had to continue on nicotine gum alone. But if you're able to use it, then just follow the instructions on tha package. You may not want to risk the cold turkey route as the the cravings may be too powerful. However, only you will know the true answer to that. When you're ready you will know. In the mean time don't worry about using the NRT. Any harm reduction and not smoking is terrific. Try to make a list of all the positives you've encountered as a result of not smoking the last 2 weeks and read this list when the cravings hit you. Keep going, you're doing great!!!!
