14 DAY TRIAL // A recent study showed that nicotine patches - which are supposed to be worn by a smoker who wants to quit only after he has puffed his last cigarette - must be used at least 14 days before the nicotine-addict gives up the bad habit. The study was carried out by a team of researchers at the Duke University and, according to their findings published in the Nicotine and Tobacco Research, giving the nicotine patch a 2 week 'head start' before smoking the last cigarette doubles one's chances of kicking the bad habit for good.
Even if nicotine patches have been designed to be used only after a heavy smoker has decided to quit and some experts state that wearing the patches while still smoking may be dangerous, the leader of the current research found a middle way of dealing with the possible problem. He said that a smoker who is determined to give up on cigarettes should wear the patch, but smoke low-nicotine or de-nicotinized cigarettes in the 2 week 'pre-cessation' period before saying 'no' to any type of cigarette.
Lead researcher of the study Jed E. Rose, Medical Research Professor and Director of Duke University's Center for Nicotine Cessation Research said: "We have also found in the recent studies that the success rate is double even when smokers switched to a low nicotine or de-nicotinized cigarettes during the two week pre-cessation treatment period, and this procedure further allays any concerns about the possibility of nicotine overdose." However, he added: "Although there is no evidence that using the patch while smoking poses any problem, the current labeling on nicotine replacement products advises against doing so."
The study was conducted on 96 smokers who said that they would like to enter such a program to quit smoking. The team used for half of them nicotine-replacement patches and for the others 'dummy' patches as a 'pre-cessation' treatment 14 days before all participants in the study completely kicked the habit. Overall results of the study showed that one month after the beginning of the study, 50% of the subjects wearing the 'real' nicotine replacement patch succeeded in kicking the habit and keeping cigarettes at 'distance.' On the other hand, only 23% of subjects in the 'dummy' patch group could keep away from cigarettes. Consequently, the 2-week pre-cessation treatment with nicotine patch really works.
Commenting on the results of the study, David Kalman, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University stated that the use of nicotine patches may be a great solution, as it delivers small amounts of nicotine in the body to help the former smoker keep from lighting a cigarette. However, he also stated that nicotine patches do not promote addiction like cigarettes do, as nicotine "when delivered through the nicotine patch it is not addictive."
He went on explaining: "What makes nicotine addictive is pretty much what makes any drug addictive, and that has to do with the mode of delivery. When you smoke, it gets into the arterial blood stream and goes immediately to the brain in a large dose." But the difference is that nicotine delivered in one's body through the nicotine patch "enters the venous system and doesn't go immediately to the brain."