Nicotine patches have been around for a long time. In fact the first time that I used a nicotine patch to quit smoking you needed a prescription for it. I believe just like nicotine gum the patches are now on the store shelves and can be purchased without a prescription.

Even though this seems to be a method of stopping smoking for many people in fact you need to use nicotine patches as an enabler, a helper to quit smoking. Most of the time you sill put on the patch in the morning and then the next day you will take today’s off and put on a new patch. Nicotine patches are designed to just give a consistent dose of nicotine throughout the day and night.

When you smoke regularly you will notice that after you smoke a cigarette you are satisfied but as the nicotine level in your body drops over the next couple hours you will have that urge come and come until you need to have another cigarette. With the proper dosage of a nicotine patch you will not have that urge anymore and instead you will be able to feel more or less satisfied at all times.

One of the drawbacks of this consistent amount of nicotine from the patch is that in those times that your body is looking for a higher amount of nicotine such as when you first wake in the morning or after your meals you will not have that extra nicotine.

Also in these times where the non-nicotine part of your habit, times that I refer to as daily rituals, you know when you go out, when you flick open the cigarette pack, the sound of the lighter, the feel of drawing in the first drag of your cigarette. These rituals are gone and because of this you will need to make changes to your schedule. You get these rituals setup over years and the feeling and comfort of them are hard to break. Try to set new rituals, a walk after a meal, a large glass of ice cold water in the morning, avoiding bars and smoking-linked events and get togethers.

These changes that you make while on the nicotine patch need to continue once your get rid of your patch and as you go to lower amounts of nicotine per patch you will need to change your schedule and be very aware of the changes that you are making and what you feel so that you can avoid these in the future.

Don't worry in just a couple of months you can go back to your regular schedule, you will not have that urge to smoke but these times will still be a bit difficult so that better you prepare now for life as a non smoker the better it will be in the future.