Originally Posted by
Libby06 
Hi Funki. I used the patch and the gum for a few days when I first quit,ÂÂ but dropped the patch pretty quick due to muscle aches. Almost 10 months later and still chewing the gum. I started on 4 mg, but dropped to the 2 a few months ago.
I dont have much advice on the patch, but congratulations on the quitting smoking. It's not easy, but so worth it.
I have heard of people cutting the patch in half when weening down.
Thanks so much, and congrats yourself on being able to stop smoking. I tried the gum but it was a lot of work with not eating drinking before/after and it seemed kinda harsh on my mouth and stomach. Glad it's working for you.
What kinds of muscle aches did you get? I have some periodically but I can't tell if that is PAWS or not, lol.
Currently I'm wearing the patch 9-10 hours a day at the lowest strength (7mg), which is the equivalent to 2-3 cigarettes per day. My plan is to step down further to hours equivalents of 2 cigarettes then 1. The problem with the patch, unless one cuts it, is that to do this you are getting your nicotine in one short burst of hours not spread out.
With cutting in half I've heard this, but the manufacture and some medical sites say this can cause the nicotine to release too quickly and then run out later in the daily dose.