Nicotine Patch Plus Lozenge Best for Quitting Smoking

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I find some serious issues with this study. A quit rate of 40% at six months if true would be nearly 10 times better than any other quit method on the planet. The fact is that the use of nicotine patches, lozenges, gum - even if combined is only doing one thing, placing the drug nicotine in your body in large doses. This is the drug you are trying to quit if you smoke cigarettes. It is insane to give a drug addict the drug they are trying to quit. Nice try University of Wisconsin, show us the data and the names of all of these smokers you cured - otherwise this study is nothing more than hogwash. Learn the truth about nicotine replacement therapy at http://quitsmokingwithoutpain.blogspot.com

warren of CO 12:16PM February 18, 2013

arghh!!! There is so much misinformation in the world. Do not use patches, gum, lozenges, or anything that contains nicotine when you quit. Why would you take a drug you are trying to quit!!! Once you rid your body of nicotine (takes about 72 hours) you will no longer crave it. Nicotine replacement only prolonges withdrawal and makes quitting virtually impossible. Please read more at
http://quitsmokingwithoutpain.blogspot.com/

bobby of CO 11:26PM November 25, 2012

If you combine the lozenge and the patch you will become more addicted to Nicotine than you were in the first place, making it very difficult to quit.
If you want to know more about nicotine lozenges a simple google search will bring up numerous forums where lozenge users share about the terrible side effects from the lozenges.. bloating, gas, weight gain, and most importantly - inability to stop using them.
In my opinion, do not mix the two. Use the patch and follow the directions on the box. Using the patch opposed to the gum or lozenges will allow the nicotine to enter your blood stream without having to ingest aspartame, which I believe is the component that upsets the stomach.
If you have the oral fixation issue, chew on a natural gum such as spry.

gia of NC 2:30PM January 13, 2011

I was elated when I first saw the abstract of this study. I had only months before quit very easily (which had NEVER been the case the other times years apart in my life when I'd relapsed on cigarettes)w/this method and the only qualms I had, were the instructions on the box to not mix 2 nicotine replacement products. Obviously, common sense must prevail, but this study gave me an opportunity to recommend this to patients, with great success.
Smoking itself is the BIG problem, not the nicotine.It is the Carbon monoxide gas, cyanide gas, the heat in the bronchus, etc,. Obviously, chewing tobacco, with particulate matter to better increase absorbtion, is extremely dangerous because of it's pernicious ability to form oral cancers in people as young as 20, but nicotine by itself, is not the big problem (except as it may exacerbated hypertension which is easily established). I think it's a shame they stopped people from using the lozenges as soon as they did, considering their benignity, but hey, it was THEIR study.

Dr. B3 of CA 11:29PM May 20, 2010

http://whyquit.com/pr/111209.html
The above link is to my review of this study. What's totally missed by this US News article is why anyone would spend additional money to buy both the patch + lozenge when the study found that:
"Finally, while there was substantial evidence that the patch plus lozenge was highly efficacious relative to the placebo condition, it is important to note that its 6-month outcome did not differ significantly from the other active cessation treatments in head-to-head comparisons."
If no significant difference from the patch or lozenge alone then why was does this article encourage smokers to buy both? It makes no sense.

John R. Polito of SC 6:18PM November 12, 2009

I work with a substance abuse prevention program here in Colorado, SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment). We often refer patients to The Colorado Quit Line to get free nicotine patches because they cannot afford to buy them. Do you know of a resource that provides free nicotine lozenges? The Colorado Quit Line only offers free patches or free gum at this time. If you have any information on any other resources out there that may offer free nicotine lozenges to help promote this new-found research, that would be great. Thank you very much for your time.

Jeff Burgdoff of CO 1:06PM November 10, 2009

I have tried the lozenge-&-patch approach a few times with very little success. The only thing that has worked for me has been smoking whitecloudecigoutlet.com. I haven't smoked a tobacco cigarette in 4 months since I switched to e-cigarettes. And now I'm starting to ween myself off of e-cigarettes as well.
I just think smokers need to be more realistic. It has been known for a long time that lozenges with patches are not too effective. Maybe they are for some smokers, but I know a few other people besides myself who have had no success with the lozenge/patch method.

Steve of FL 10:42AM November 03, 2009

Placebos are used as a control in the experiment. A "sugar pill" designed to test whether the cure/aid is truely what it says to be, or if the results are merely psychosomatic.
If, say, they give you a pill that'll make you stop sneezing; and they give someone else a placebo. They still think they're getting the real pill. -- If they stop sneezing, then there's reason to believe that the real pill didn't do anything more than the placebo did physiologically, and that means it didn't work (or the control member was highly impressionable)
It has to do with proving or disproving the real effects of a medication (or other substance), and nothing to do with making money.
Don't you want a pill that REALLY does what they claim? or one that only does it because you THINK it does.

John Doe of OK 1:01AM November 03, 2009

the problem i have is,why do you always use placebos,
get to the problem and quite playing games!!
of course i know your answer!! money
for nothing! lest stop playing mind games and find
a true cure.
i am so sick of medical feild playing games!!

bob of TX 8:07PM November 02, 2009