Quit Smoking

Two more weeks of the “Step 2” patches, then it’s on to the “Step 3” patches.

Using The Patch, my morning routine goes something like this: Remove yesterday’s patch, clean off adhesive with an alcohol swab, shower, do other morning things, etc, put new patch on, get dressed. This morning, however, I forgot to put on a new patch and I didn’t realize it until I was almost all the way to work. At first, I thought, “Maybe I can just rough it and go without one today.” But then I thought about people who take anti-depressants… sometimes they’ll feel like they’re doing so well that they don’t need to take their medicine anymore, so they’ll quit and all hell will break loose. I decided that nicotine is probably very similar. I didn’t want to turn into the Incredible Hulk at work, so I stopped and bought another week’s supply of the step 2 (14mg) patches. I’m going to need them anyway, so it’s not like I’ll have extra.

Well… not really weekend slippage, since it was yesterday. But still slippage. I was doing a lot of work around the house yesterday (installed a new pre-hung door, did some more work on my tallbike) and was really sweating. I got so sweaty that I sweated off TWO nicotine patches. After having the second one stuck to me for only two hours or so, I got pissed off and tried to ride it out on my own. That didn’t work so well. I ended up having three cigarettes from about 6pm until midnight, mostly to spare my family the terror of a nicotine-deprived me.

But now I’ve hit the reset button and I’m back on the patch today. :-/

Has anyone else tried the patch? How well did it adhere to you? I was working on a project in my backyard yesterday, looked down, and saw my patch on the ground. The dang thing had just fallen right off. It’s a good thing I saw it before my dog did.

Also, I’ve been having vivid dreams the last two nights. I guess this is because my mind is still being stimulated by nicotine even though I’m sleeping.

I started on the Habitrol patch today. I’m still kinda jonesin’ for a smoke, but I’m not angry about it like when I quit cold turkey. The instructions say to place the patch on a “clean, dry, and hairless area on the arm or upper body.” HA! On my body you can really only get two out of the three. It’s actually on my left side, right below the side of my left mantit. Wish me luck!

I’m starting to worry about my heart more and more. If I keep smoking, I wonder what would kill me first? Cancer or heart disease?