Stopping smoking can be a seriously hard experience, especially if you have to trial loads of different products to find out which one works for you. You may have tried going cold turkey and found that you caved pretty quick.
If this is the case for you, then something like nicotine gum or nicotine patches can be effective at reducing the effects of nicotine withdrawal greatly.
Yet, within the market of nicotine gum and patches, there can be a lot of different brands that have different doses for different smokers and also different approaches.
Trialing each brand on yourself can be exhausting and often ineffective - the whole thing just makes you want to smoke a cigarette, right?
That’s why we are here, we have reviewed NicoDerm’s CQ brand of nicotine patches, they have an interesting approach to helping you deal with nicotine withdrawal that could fit your smoking habits perfectly. Read our review to find out if NicoDerm could help you stop smoking today!
What Are Nicotine Patches?
If you haven’t heard of nicotine patches before, they are marketed as an effective way to support withdrawing from nicotine consumption. The patches intradermally (through your skin) administer small doses of nicotine throughout the day to reduce your cravings and help you stop smoking.
The idea is that small doses of nicotine throughout the day help stop cravings for smoking. By quelling these cravings early on, and ideally unknowingly to the patient, you will find you have gone days without smoking and can move on without the patch.
Your other option may be withdrawing from nicotine ‘cold turkey’, this means stopping nicotine consumption completely. While this can work for some, as you are getting 0 nicotine, you will find that you will have cravings to smoke.
Many people find they can cave easily to these cravings and end back up where they started. The idea of Patches is that they stop these cravings before you reach for your pack again.
Your other option may be nicotine gum, nicotine gum works similarly and on the same principles as patches - that small doses of nicotine can be more effective to stop smoking in the long term.
Yet, you are often overly aware you are getting nicotine from the gum and can just end up chewing lots of gum. The patches are great as you typically don’t realize you are getting nicotine, and forget you have the patch on most of the time, which is effective at curtailing addictive behaviors.
How Do NicoDerm’s Patches Work?
NicoDerm’s patches have a 24-hour release on them, the nicotine content of each patch is slowly secreted into your system, via your skin, over this 24-hour period.
Within the patch there is what is called a ‘drug reservoir’ which utilizes a unique extended release technology to ensure a steady flow of nicotine over a 24-hour period.
An adhesive and release liner ensures the NicoDerm patches adhere to your skin and doesn’t fall off, ensuring you are getting the dosage you paid for.
This enables you to even wear them when you sleep. It’s highly recommended that you wash your hands when removing and using the patches to not consume the nicotine orally or pass it to others.
NEVER use other nicotine products when you have a NicoDerm patch on, this could cause complications due to having too much nicotine within your system, and certainly won’t help you quit.
What Do NicoDerm Offer?
NicoDerm’s CQ Patches have different doses of nicotine for different smokers. The idea behind their patches is that, depending on how much you smoke, they provide different levels of dosing.
Not only does this mean you can choose your own dosage depending on your nicotine intake, but you can also move down the dosage as you go on.
This provides a helpful plan to slowly get you off nicotine by slowly reducing the dosage of the patches until you reach a point of 0 nicotine intake, successfully stopping you smoking.
NicoDerm’s CQ patches come in three different levels of dosing, which they refer to as ‘steps’. For the heavy smokers, they suggest starting on the first step and reducing down to the third, and eventually to nicotine abstinence.
Starting from Step 1, NicoDerm suggests a 10-week period, going down each step, to eventually reach nicotine abstinence.
OUR TOP PICK
These patches are made for smokers who smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day. The nicotine content of these patches are 21 mg over the period of wear, which is up to 24 hours.
NicoDerm suggests, if you smoke over 10 cigarettes a day, that you keep these patches on for 6 weeks until you move onto the next ‘step’.
EDITORS CHOICE
These patches are for smokers who find they smoke 10 or fewer cigarettes a day, or a user who has used the Step 1 patches for 6 weeks.
The nicotine content of these Step 2 patches are 14 mg over the 24-hour period of wear. NicoDerm suggests that the Step 2 patches are used for 2 weeks until you move onto the next ‘step’, if you started at Step 1.
If you started at Step 2, NicoDerm suggests using these patches for 4 weeks, and then moving onto the next step.
EDITORS CHOICE
These patches are the final step in their program. They secrete only 7 mg of nicotine into your body over the 24-hour period of wear.
NicoDerm suggests, if you started with Step 1, that you use these patches for 2 weeks until you reach successful abstinence. If you started at Step 2 NicoDerm suggests you use these patches for 4 weeks until abstinence is achieved.
How Do NicoDerm’s Patches Work?
NicoDerm’s patches have a 24-hour release on them, the nicotine content of each patch is slowly secreted into your system, via your skin, over this 24-hour period.
Within the patch there is what is called a ‘drug reservoir’ which utilizes a unique extended release technology to ensure a steady flow of nicotine over a 24-hour period.
An adhesive and release liner ensures the NicoDerm patches adhere to your skin and doesn’t fall off, ensuring you are getting the dosage you paid for.
This enables you to even wear them when you sleep. It’s highly recommended that you wash your hands when removing and using the patches to not consume the nicotine orally or pass it to others.
NEVER use other nicotine products when you have a NicoDerm patch on, this could cause complications due to having too much nicotine within your system, and certainly won’t help you quit.
How Effective Are NicoDerm’s Patches?
We feel that NicoDerm provides a pretty good step by step dosing plan that should curtail any nicotine cravings pretty effectively when withdrawing from cigarette use.
In comparison to other patch companies, the fact NicoDerm has this three-step plan that reduces the dosing sets them apart from competitors and also creates what is a pretty effective plan to stop smoking.
Having this three-step programme allows NicoDerm to target different smokers, who consume different amounts of nicotine, by catering the products to either a heavy smoker who should embark on all three steps, or a lighter smoker who can start somewhere in the middle.
The nicotine is dosed out to satisfy different levels of nicotine craving depending on your normal nicotine consumption per day.
What’s great about these patches is that they last 24 hours. This means that once you have put the patch on you can forget about it and your nicotine cravings should be regulated as the nicotine slowly secretes into your system over the 24-hour period.
Other patches that require you to regularly change them can remind you about nicotine consumption and can cause you to potentially smoke.
Moreover, not having to change the patch all the time is simply easier. This 24 period also allows you to keep them on overnight, which means when you wake up you won’t have that gut-wrenching urge to have your morning cigarette.
Many reports suggest the morning is when most nicotine abusers relapse most often, NicoDerm helps stop this. Do be careful leaving them on overnight, if you have strange dreams or other issues, take the patch off after 16 hours.
One thing worth pointing out is that the pricing of the patches could put some people off. Each pack, no matter which step you choose, has 14 patches per purchase. If you start from Step 1 then this is a 10-week program which means having one box of patches for every two weeks, which means buying 5 packs overall.
We would suggest purchasing the patches all at once, this will guarantee that you won’t miss a day or give yourself an opportunity to smoke.
Each pack of patches costs around the same price as a pack of cigarettes, so it works out pretty evenly in the long run. If you consider how much money you will save in the long run by not smoking, then the amount of money you spend on the patches becomes negligible.
It’s important to remember you are investing in your health and wellbeing, and a price should never be placed on that.
Our Final Say
NicoDerm’s CQ patches seem to be quite effective. The idea is that stopping cold turkey isn’t effective as it does nothing to prevent nicotine withdrawal symptoms and that many smokers who try to quit will cave when these cravings come on strong, which they will if you go cold turkey.
NicoDerm doses you with nicotine over a 24-hour period to prevent these symptoms from taking control of your life. The small amount of nicotine will satiate cravings without continuing nicotine dependence by slowly tapering off your dosage.
As the patches can be worn over a 24-hour period, they are quite effective at preventing cravings. In comparison to nicotine gum, these patches keep your cravings away for a whole 24 hours whereas gum can offer only a temporary solution.
Moreover, the fact that they are 24 hours means that you only have to remember to apply them once a day, rather than numerous times over a 24-hour period, which makes quitting much easier.
Once you can keep your cravings and withdrawal symptoms at bay, quitting smoking can become pretty easy. If you are willing to invest in your own health and wellbeing by buying enough patches to satisfy NicoDerm’s 10 or 8-week plan, then there is no reason that you shouldn’t be able to quit smoking.
Most customer reports are really positive, and they are often from people who are in the throes of nicotine withdrawal, so you know they aren’t lying. Invest in yourself by buying NicoDerm’s CQ 24 hour Nicotine Patches and you could stop smoking today!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Will I Feel When Using NicoDerm CQ?
Well, the idea is that you will feel better than if you quit cigarettes cold turkey. Many people relapse when quitting cold turkey as they can’t handle withdrawals.
NicoDerm seeks to quell these cravings and withdrawal symptoms by dosing you with a small amount of nicotine to keep them at bay. This allows you to get on with your day and exist without nicotine cravings.
While NicoDerm helps reduce these symptoms of withdrawal, it is not advertised as a cure-all and these symptoms may still persist even if you have a patch on. This all depends on your smoking habits, but NicoDerm is likely to reduce these symptoms greatly.
How Long Should I Use NicoDerm CQ?
NicoDerm suggests you use the patches for either 10 or 8 weeks, depending on how much nicotine you consume a day. For smokers who consume over 10 cigarettes a day, start from Step 1 and embrace NicoDerm’s 10-week program, going down the steps as they instruct.
On the other hand, if you smoke 10 cigarettes or fewer a day, start from Step 2 and embrace their 8-week program, moving onto Step 3 after four weeks. If you still have nicotine cravings after the 10-week period suggested, consider talking to a doctor or medical professional for their advice.
You should keep the patch on for a maximum of 24 hours. While it is not suggested that you keep the patch on for longer than 24 hours, by the 24th hour the nicotine will already have secreted into your system. Never use more than one patch per day.
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