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Nicorette Addiction

I've been chewing Nicorette for about ten years. I chew between nine and eleven pieces of the 2mg a day. What are the harmful effects of the gum (beside, obvious addiction). And, do you have any suggestions as to how to get off the gum?
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Avatar universal
Now 2017, glad to read this thread.  I chewed nicorette gum for geez, I think about 19 years. I was chewing at least 30 pieces a day. I chewed it because I liked it, not because I craved cigs at all.  Haven't smoked in 2 decades, no desire to do so either, just liked the gum, lol.
I am now on day 6 of quitting.  Really not as hard as I thought it would be.  Bought some regular gum to chew instead, didn't pick a date, just quit.  Was irritable the first 2 days, but not terribly so.  Main issue I'm having is sleeplessness.  Cannot fall asleep or stay asleep, I read that will go away after 1 week or so.  I quit because our insurance company won't differentiate between cigs and gum in the nicotine test, so trying to save money on deductibles (plus money saved by quitting the gum as well)
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Avatar universal
I have been addicted to 4mg gum for 15 years and I also still smoke cigarettes. The gum helped me stop a heavy chain smoking addiction.

I can't help with quitting gum but can say the gum did help me cut back cigarettes.

I am very addicted to the gum but have no other side affects. Best of luck
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Over a month now, still yearn for the little squares of joy, but it is easier and easier. Figure I saved almost $750.00
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Day 9, almost bought cigs last night. Had a little too much alchohol and really wanted a fix. Wife stopped me, thank god. I will have to be more careful not to over do the wine.

Moving past last night, this morning was the first time I didn't think about the gum until darn near 11:00am.

It is getting much easier, stick with it!
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Avatar universal
Today is day one for me.  I'm not a "chewer"  but a die hard "sprayer".  Each spray delivers 1mg nicotine and i have been using it for about 7 months. I've had enough,  it's more expensive than smoking not to mention I barely smoked as much as I spray.  I managed to get through work today and gave the next two days off to be irritable as I please without actually bothering anyone.  Any advice,  how are you getting on!? I'm so glad I found this forum I really thought I was the only person to have this addiction and symptoms.  
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Day 6! So happy I quit this! Very easy now, really was easy after day 2. This isn't nearly as bad as I was imagining.

My wife quit too. I did the math the other day, turns out we spent darn near $10k last year on this!

The crazy part is how relaxed I am now. I used to be so tense, almost paranoid! Don't get me wrong, I am grouchier than I was on the gum, ready to kick someone's ***, but I am so less stressed. Sounds counter intuitive.... but it is true!

Good luck to you all! You can do it!
Avatar universal
I have been on the gum for 10 years. Fruit Chill 2MG was my brand ;) I would eat about 20 of these / day... I am physically fit an avid outdoors man and I eat healthy.

Here are my symptoms / side effects since going with the gum.

High Blood Pressure
Anxiety / Stressed out
Nervous
Frequent diarrhea
Skin peeling from palms of hands
Ringing of my ears
Little red dots on my chest

I quit, the first reason for doing so was I decided not to have any gum before my last physical (last week). Guess what? My blood pressure was normal and I hadn't had any medication for weeks... So, the gum was causing HBP!!!

I will chronicle the rest of my symptoms as the days go by. Today is day 1! Feel a little light headed, but I feel a lot less stress and anxiety! Definitely craving the gum.
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Avatar universal
No weight gain with gum...I have a ridiculously fast metabolism though, definite enormous appetite increases when swithing ro Vape...will eat a horse to pass the time if in withdrawal
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Avatar universal
my phone skipped on that post if anyone reads this...15 years is impressive though
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Avatar universal
It is  March 2016 and this chain has been foing on for 15 nk...whatever rhe hell that means, on sale for $6 at Walgreens, I When my   Wow.  I may have everyone beat though because I have been addicted to Nicotine Gum since last century. Today was the first time I have ever googled tgis topic though and it is comforting to know I am not alone   I haven't had a piece of gum in two weeks (e-cigarettes due to my situation).  Here is my story...please help if you can!

I have only smoked about 40 cigarettes in my life...they absolutely disgust me.  The first 20 was during my Sophmore year in HS, to be cool, and other have come during various drunk or nicotine-skin-stretching(you know what I mean) desperate moments.  One day after drinking as a 16 year old, I took a lip of a friend's friend's Kodiak chewing robacco (dip).  My reasoning was that I wanted to quit the 20 cigarettes I had (I very socially smoked pot whenever I could-no resource or monetary limits, just baseball, until I was 20.  I literaly just stopped it one day though)  So there I was...I had kicked cigarettes and I was lying on a sidewalk waiting for my ride home with the somewhere between flying through the clouds of Venus and 1,000 feet under water.  I was in love.

I mentioned, baseball because this is where my nicotine, and especially Nicorette habit was developed and nurtured like a young child's education.  I didn't pitch, but our Varsity pitching coach was nice enough to get me to start sipping because I was very good.  I went to an all voys Catholic sports factory so in any classroom od 20 kids, dour would be spitting in a cup, either hiding or not hiding it from teachers.  I didn't dip in games (wasn't that addicted yet I guess and illegl).  Everywhere else though, including a very crive social life.  My parent's knew, my uncle-an orl surgeon had my young couin's sign. mouth cancer poster, but it was actually socially acceptable in my world.  By the way, just want to mention that I grew up 5 minutes from New York City...we dipped too.

During my Senior yer of high school, my mom bought me a huge box of Nicorette and it sat in th top drawer at my parents house for almost a year.  The unbelievable taste of of pure nicotine, which along with Oxygen/Hydrogen/Nitrogen/Food/Water completes my OKCupid 6, disgusted me.  I found that dipping was less socially acceptable in college and it was inconvenient at bars.  Suprisingly to me, not all NCAA athletes were addicted to nicotine like I was.  One day my gums were sore.  I bugged out and decided to quit right there.  It was Winter 2000 and on my 84th hour of cold turkey I found myself in an upstairs corner of the school's library at 4AM trying to figure out time travel for our species once and for all.  Not sure how long I had been there, had at least 7 3000 page Physics/Calculus/Astronomy textbooks, and of course I hadn't slept or talked to.anyone in three days..  That Fall I had began chewing the.gum during indoor hitting sessions.  A friend found me, I then showered and called my mom to find out where to get the gum.  They funded it happily because I was quitting dipping.  Although I actually had a lip at the beginning of this drought, I don't have mouth cancer, and have never even had a cavity, because I switched to gum.  I chewed it every class, every at bat, every three beers, drive, workout, and every other time from the alarm clock to pillow during my five years of college.  Having shoulder surgery year two was the worst because I had time to.buy it now.  Same as all of the others, panic if I didn't have my allocation until I can get more ( which I still suffer from.  I didn't pay for it but I myst have chewed 15-20 pieces of 4mg (I was a finance guy despite the space-time continuum work I did in withdrawal and that's twice the nicotine for the same price).  I by no means quit dipping during this time, but it was the ex-girlfriend that was was supplementing my marriage.  I eventually  started using generic after I graduated and had to pay for myself.  That's a lie, I bought whatever was the cheapest/most convenient to my current craving or future withdrawal anxiety.  I was the kid who chewed Nicorette, but if someone outside of my inner circle asked it was my last piece of gum.

In my 20's I never once considered quitting nicotine gum and definitely paid rent late once so I wouldn't run out for a week.  I have been on 10-12 4 mg pieces a day (when nit conserving) since.  When I took all of my professional license testing in a center, monitored and no food/water for 3 hours-gum not allowed, I hid three pieces in my cheek before walking in every time.  Same with the GMAT.  An addiction to nicotine is not what I had/have...it is like O, H, N, H20, and calories for me.  There have been so many times where I had to  non-stop focus 100% for work (phone+computer+analysis+math...etc)  and when I finally had a chance to breathe I was in a terrible mood.  I had had.a chance to chew gum and was unknowingly in withdrawal.

This went on until August 2014 when I went to a wedding in bumbleF Upstate NY and ran out.  I bought a starter vaping kit and.returned it after two.hours, so mad in withdrawal, because I thought it was broken.  I didn't know it had to be tripme pressed to.turn the.battery on, and tool a.new one.  I had my vape to go aling with 20 beers there.  I don't ever drink.anymore, yet didn't get a.nicotine buzz.  I worked though and as I was starting a new outside sales hob in a new industry that Monday, figured I save the $ and try it out.  Training was miserable and a waste because the delivery was different I guess.  I had no personality, 15 times my normal ADD, and was so irritated.  Since then it has been a combination of Nicotine Gum, Vape, and a concerted effort to be economically efficient in my nicotine consumption.  Target is rhe best of retail in my field studies-220 4 mg pieces for ~$40=$.045/mg...I looked at it as lasting my ~3ish weeks.  Target is not convenient though, and I am an addict, so this rarely happens.  I call my Nictotine habit a $2-3000 post-tax tariff.  The Vape fot better once I stopped spilling the juices znd breaking the $50 cartridges I bought.  When desperate, I will only Vape.  With the equipment, and a 10 24 mg/nl on sale at Walgreens, I have only spent $18 on Nicotine in the past two weeks.  My dad had surgery and I have been visiting my parents.  In a twist on irony, my mom goes crazy if she see's me chewing nicotine gum and asks me about quitting 5x a day.  I love  only having a $2/day nicotine habit but, have.been sleeping terriblu, can't focus, and have no personality.  The thing is I have.never once.tried to.quit nicotine gum.before because I only believe the financial side effects for a healthy 35 year old.  Yes, I am just as.addicted as crackheads and other addicts.  If it has to be.a.drug, Nicotine is not so bad though in my rationality.  I can't see myself at 50 chomping on gum because I am a hypochondriac and will get never of heart problems, but I have to do the the fear I can't even acknowledge, let alone face, before then.  I would love to never chew another piece...that's actually a lie through my teeth.  I'd love to be myself now, but fully recovered from nicotine addiction and withdrawal.  To be honest though, I think I was a different person before that dip because I had awful social anxiety as a kid.  I told you I had a story and would appreciate any advice.
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Avatar universal
I can't believe this thread's been going since 2001. It's 2016 now. This is probably one of the longest lasting threads on the internet.

Anyway, I stopped smoking in 2005, but only quit the gum about three or four weeks ago. For me, only cold turkey works. I'm still getting cravings, but my 'trick' is to reaise that it will pass, no matter how intense, and sure enough, give it 20minutes or so, the cravings gone. I can keep the craving around longer by focussing on it, but why would I do that? Instead, I just think "here we go again" then sit it out and carry on with what I'm doing, and it just goes away and I don't realise it's gone until it pops up again a few hours or days later. Hope that makes sense?

I'm not sure if the gum caused health problems, but I do have a neurological condition called IIH and I wonder if it's linked. That's why
I finally quit cold turkey, to see if it improves. No improvement yet, but maybe. Also, I had a fit of giggles yesterday, which hasn't happened in years because of low mood and anxiety, so I'm wondering if that was caused by the nicotine. We all need to be careful when they say there are no long term effects, because the cigartte companies hid it for years as smoking was so lucrative. The gum is lucrative, so they could well hide evidence too.

Anyway, good luck.You CAN do it. I know it feels like you can't, but you really can...ignore the cravings, they go away.
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Avatar universal
I forgot two critical ingredients to quitting:  exercise and deep breathing.  
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Avatar universal
Just quit myself.  15 years of Red Man followed by 10 years of Nicorette.  Started following the Nicorette wind-down plan and got to 3-5/day, where it stayed for a few years, then started marching higher.  Recently hit 20/day of the 2mg fruit chill and knew it was time to stop or I was headed for 40/day.  Began reading about how to quit and successfully pared it back to 2/day, before quitting yesterday.  I know from experience that you cannot stay at 2/day because it is still a struggle, and eventually you cave and are back to full usage within a few weeks.

I agree with many of the things people have said here.  NRT is not healthy regardless what the experts say.  Anything this addictive cannot be good for you, particularly in the quantities we have all consumed.  I read a lot of literature on successfully quitting and here is the sum of it:  get committed, go cold turkey, find a lot of distractions and food/gum replacements, eat as healthy as you can for most of the day.  Don't start out with a stack of pancakes that gives you cravings, or you are in for a very long day.  Write online and in your own journal.  

So here I am:  end of day two, struggling but committed.  I will keep posting and hope you do the same.  Quit smoking/chewing websites have a solid system of accountability whereby you post in "roll call" every day.  Does anyone know of one for Nicorette?
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Avatar universal
Nicotine addiction is VERY real, but there is now a thought that addiction is caused by a nutritional deficiency. Just like when a person is deficient in Iron they crave ice, chalk etc, people who are addicted to nicotine and cigs are deficient in Silica. 2 books helped me quit everything once and for all
1. You are not addicted to smoking you are starving- Anthony Shkreli
2.Allen Carr's easy way for women to stop smoking.
I think these 2 will work even if you are addicted to the gum. I agree that the long term effects of the gum have not been disclosed. I am certain that it causes throat, mouth and esophageal cancer.
I think all of you are very very brave and I  hope that you will read these books. Allen Carr's book made me quit everything right away as I supplemented on silica. Remember there was a time when you were free of all this. You had never smoked or chewed gum and you were absolutely fine. Your addiction centers around fear that somehow you cannot cope without this stuff, but the truth is there was a time before you smoked your first cigarette and you did just fine.
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11554901 tn?1419293235
I chewed 13-15 Half pieces of 4mg for 20 years. I would buy the 4mg and cut or bite them in two.
I never had any side effects other then feeling like i had a monkey on my back. My Dr. suggested I quit so I did (even thought she admitted there was no medical reason that she knew of). So it's been 5 months and I still have a lot of frustration. My life just seems less satisfying. I've gained a few pounds and drink more wine. Wondering if i will every feel that spark and excitement for life again. I'm not depressed but just miss my nicorette days.
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Avatar universal
Hi...I bought the Walgreens brand 2mg Cinnamon last Saturday and chewed a few pieces that day and Sunday. On Sunday night I felt weird and I noticed a throbbing in my wrists especially my left. I know this crap gum is bad and I have been chewing it since June 1013 when I quit smoking after 30 years. The gum was amazing as far as helping me to quit smoking but the gum is just as bad an addiction as regular smoking. Well its been a week now and I still feel agitated and very nervous and anxiety. Since being off the gum I have been craving cigarettes more than when I was on the gum. I chew Trident and Dentyne variety but its been bothering my teeth with all the chewing. Nicotine gum is garbage and ruins your teeth, makes your hair fall out and is not good for the body. Its a poison and you can taste it going down your throat which is why a lot of folks complain of having stomach issues. I miss the buzz you get from the gum and my main concern is weight gain from being Nicotine free. Thank You.
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Avatar universal
Update from my June 26 post above (from Nicofree).

I have now gone 4 1/2 weeks without this crap.  There is only 1 way to quit, and that is cold turkey.  No "weaning off it", no "planning of a quit date", no "quitting when my current supply runs out".  That switch in your brain has to click...it's the same one that clicks to start exercising or to start eating right.  You have to make it click...it will not magically click all by itself.  Just tell youself, "I am in control!  I am strong!  I can do ANYTHING!"

First 2 weeks, I chewed about 500 pieces of sugar-free gum.  Then the sorbitol in that started messing up my stomach.  So, then I switched to Xylitol gum (supposed to be good for your teeth).  Had to order that on the internet, as I couldn't find it in any store.    It tastes ok, but not really fantastic.  So, I don't chew nearly as much of it...but, it's here if I need it.  

I had nicotine gum stashed everywhere.  Still coming across it in desk drawers, pants pockets, briefcase.  Every time I find a piece, I immediately go flush it down the toilet.  

I'm proud of my 4 1/2 weeks.  Cravings are gone & have been gone since the 2nd week.  I refuse to put another piece of this BS into my mouth ever again.  One day, this will be linked to cancer & other diseases.  You know it will.  Don't be ignorant...just because there are no studies on it or your doctor says it ok--these mean NOTHING.  Use you common sense.  This stuff is bad for you, and you know it as well as I do.  Quit today--right now!  Flush your whole supply down the drain & don't buy anymore.  Then post on here that you did this, and let's try to make it to tomorrow.  Then, tomorrow this same time, come back & tell us you've got 24 hours under your belt.  You can do it.  Just DO it!
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Avatar universal
Gawd! 36 pieces a day.i use 10-15 but I still smoke. Idiot, I know.  I hope u win your battle. I think I can beat it, but then the next craving hits and i pop a 4mg lozenge in my mouth, and light a cigarette. I have an addictive personality and a more love, little hate relationship with Nicorette and cigarettes. I cant quit, im scared of the cravings, of losing my best friend. Good luck on your journey.
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Avatar universal
I'm so glad I found this community! I haven't smoked for the past nine years, but absolutely can't quit my nicotine habit, something I've had since I was 13 years old. It's like it's hard-wired in my brain.

I've tried everything.

The gum satisfied the hand-mouth thing. I'd chew around 25 4mg pieces a day, sometimes more. Anytime I wasn't eating I was chewing. This habit cost me maybe $5000 a year but much more in dental bills. Has anyone else had the abject experience of losing a filling or even having a tooth crumble away because of the adhesiveness of this gum? God, it's disgusting. After four implants and 11 crowns, I decided to try hypnotherapy. Maybe the guy wasn't any good. It only lasted two days.

I've been on 4mg lozenges for the past 5 years or so. Last year, Glaxo took $4358 out of my pocket that I could really have spent on something else. Our addictions are VERY profitable for big pharma and this is really starting to bother me. I think this profitability is the reason why there have been no longitudinal studies about the health effects of long term NRT addiction. None.

The thing is, so far I've had no adverse health impacts from lozenge use (36 x 4mg a day). In 2010, I lost 28kg or around 60 pounds and I've kept this off with the help of nicotine lozenges and walking an hour a day (nicotine's an appetite suppressant as well as a stimulant). Exhaustive blood tests I do once a year show me that everything is within normal range. My blood pressure is the low end of that range, but I've been told that this is because I'm fit. People have also said that I look about 15 years younger than my 50 years as well.

So I'm not sure if I want to risk getting fat again and I rationalise to myself that lozenges are my only addiction and it could be worse etc. But I've spent 10s of thousands of dollars over the years on this habit and I hate being an addict.

I travel a lot and always take a bulk supply with me. Sometimes, however, I've run out. fwiw, none of the Scandinavian countries stock the larger lozenge. I know this because I spent a good part of my holiday in Sweden, Norway and Denmark visiting chemists. In Egypt, Jordan and Dubai, they don't have any NRT products at all. It was amazing how easy it was to do without NRT when none was available. After a week in Dubai without any NRT or ill effects, I think that cold turkey in this sort of situation is the only way to get off these things.

Unfortunately, in Australia, Britain and the US where I spend most of my time, we have ready access to lozenges if our bank balances can afford it. I've developed a taste for the cherry flavoured lozenges you can only get in the US.

Yes, of course I'm glad I don't smoke any more, but big pharma is totally EVIL! I just don't have the willpower to do without nicotine. Help!!!
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Avatar universal
Hi serendipity,

Hope ur r well. Ur right, it's a case of give up or give in... I gave in, the only medication found that fixed my Nicorette cravings was to smoke cigarettes. I now smoke and still use nicorettes. Funny thing is, I've come to like it... Can't believe so many others are hooked too, but not too many seem to smoke as well... I give in. Lol. Xxx
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Avatar universal
Hi Yvonne,

Did you manage to quit?

I can't stop using Nicorette lozenges and I smoke menthol cigarettes when I put one or two 4mg lozenge in my mouth.

I've become addicted to chain smoking i discovered when I ran out one day. I was with my BFF crying as I lit up cigarette after cigarette uncontrollably and craving like mad for a Nicorette. That was seven hears ago. The Nicorettes help me not chain smoke. But here I am hooked and slowly getting worse every year.

It's now ten years since I started.

I use 10-15 4mg lozenges a day and smoke up to 30 menthols a day, or more on weekends, I don't want to stop and I like smoking and using  nicorettes because I am so addicted now.... I don't think I will ever stop.
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Avatar universal
Hi alyc

I know how you feel. I started on the gum (4mg) and used it flirtingly at first. But when out with friends, or with someone who smoked, I kept smoking too. They helped me cut back, but I never kicked the ciggies.

I smoke menthol cigarettes and then discovered ice mint gum. My yummy gum I called it... I was chewing a piece and decided to light a cigarette, I discovered the menthol cig ice mint gum tasted sooooo nice together...

It was like an instant nico-heroin hit. Like you, I told myself I didn't want give up my gum. I didn't want stop smoking my menthols.

I was out one night and ran out of gum. OMG, I freaked and when the cigarette I just smoked didn't work, I lit another, that didn't work, I lit another, and another and another. My BFF quipped, why are you smoking so much... I told her I needed some Nicorette gum, I started crying as I chain smoked my menthol cigarettes.

I haven't been without nicorettes since that night, ten years ago,,, I gave in to the addiction. I switched to ice mint lozenges and I smoke up to 30 cigarettes a day and use up to 10 (4mg) lozenges, sometimes 15 or more on weekends.

I admit that I have come to like my addiction after al this time. I reckon girls get hooked easier, lol.

I hope u do better than me.

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Avatar universal
Wow, amazing how many people are hooked on nicorettes. Especially us girls!

I've given in to nicorettes. They didn't stop from smoking a sneaky menthol and now ten years later, I still combine smoking and nicorettes. But slowly I use more over the years.  I've come to like the taste of a 4mg ice mint gum or lozenge (which I use moreso now) and a menthol cigarette.

And I'm so addicted now I can't stop. Lol, confessions of an addict.
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Avatar universal
Day 14 for me today.  Can't begin to tell you all the problems I had over the past year while hooked on this nicotine gum:  joint pains, developed an elbow bone spur requiring surgery to remove, stretched knee ligaments in hiking accident which took 2X time to heal as what doctor said it should, tongue sores, gum recession, mouth had frequent taste of metal, seeing my hair on shower walls after shower, had to increase blood pressure medicine by 2X dosage.  On & on & on.  

And little things, like:  a "tweak" in either knee joint--like I twisted something while taking a step, a jammed finger from high school basketball over 35 years ago which began to ache, "dead" spots in toes & bottom of feet, etc.

Hey--you're on this blog.  Any of these sound familiar to you?  You know they do.  And, if you're like me, you try to ignore them...you know in the back of your mind that it's the nicotine gum...and you know there's something seriously wrong with this product, but that there've been no substantial tests to educate the public about it.

Once that trigger clicks in your brain, you can stop this crap cold turkey.  But understand there will be some actual physical problems (not all are dopamine craving related).  It will be hard to sleep--I had trouble for the past 2 weeks, but slept well last night.  The metallic taste in your mouth might actually increase for the first week.  If like me, you may be anxious & not as productive, as your body adjusts to the new (old) normal.  (I am having trouble getting all my work accomplished.)  

From what I've read, it can take nicotine up to 3 weeks to work out of your system.  As I said, I'm at week #2 today.  But I will not give up!!!!  I would like to keep my teeth!
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Avatar universal
I know your comment was from several years ago but I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed it.  I'm reading through this long thread of suffering (I've not smoked in 3 days now and am using Nicorette) and it's almost like reading a Stephen King novel.  So much suffering and crazy - Damn nicotine!
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