Snuffing out the urge to light up: Nicotine patch helps smokers kick the habit
By K. Berg (SPJ 4/1/92)

Sometimes while working on her computer, Deb Somers thinks longingly about cigarettes, but she is resolute in resisting temptation.

Weathering the urge is made easier by wearing a small patch that looks like an adhesive bandage. Nicotine from the patch is absorbed through her skin into her bloodstream in decreasing doses over a three month period.

"This is probably the best thing they've come out with yet" to help smokers quit, said Dr. Bradley Johnson of Stevens Point Internal Medicine. "But it's not going to be easy no matter how you do it."

The advantage of this product over past anti-smoking aids is that it keeps a constant dose of nicotine in the body at all times, Johnson said.

"That way, the first thing you think of in the morning is not 'Where's my cigarette?' " he said. "Some people get up in the morning, and the first thing they do is reach for a cigarette, probably because their nicotine level is low."

Three companies currently manufacture the patches: Marion Merrell Dow, which makes Nicoderm; CibaGeigy, which produces Habitrol; and Lederle Laboratories, which markets Pro-Step.

Each company claims its product is better. Actually, they all are similar, Johnson said.

Side effects of the patch are minimal, he said. Some people may get a rash and have minor irritation around the patch, but this may be avoided by changing the location of the patch each day, he said.

The other drawback to the patches may be the cost. The average cost of a 3 month supply of patches is $250, Johnson said.

"But if you smoke 2 packs a day, it's no more expensive a month," he said.

Some companies package their product in two-week doses, making the initial cost less taxing, Johnson said. This method has shortcomings, though, he said. A person may not go back for the next patches after the first 2 week supply is used, he said.

Patients start off at a dose of approximately 21 mgs of nicotine for about 30 days. The next month, the amount of nicotine is reduced to about 14 mgs. They get about 7 mgs the third month.

The first month is the hardest, said Somers of Stevens Point. The dose in the first level of patches is equal to about one pack of cigarettes a day, which reduced her nicotine intake by a pack a day, she said.

"There were times - had there been an open pack around the house - I may have been sorely tempted," she said.

It is important that people avoid smoking while using the patches or they could overdose on nicotine, Johnson said. Too much nicotine could result in sickness, headaches and insomnia, he said.

Somers misses cigarettes most when her day is busiest.

"When I was running around doing 17,000 things at the same time, I used to say, 'Wait a see,' and have a cigarette and reorganize," she said. "Now you keep on chasing yourself around in circles.... It would make just as much sense to sit down with a cup of coffee."

The automatic reflex of reaching for a cigarette when she gets up in the morning or gets out of her car is gone, though, Somers said.

With the help of the nicotine patches, she shed the 2 pack/day habit she had for 25 years in just 7 weeks.

She is not naive enough to believe that the patches are a panacea, though. She realizes it's up to her to prevail against the impulse to light up.

"You still have to want to quit," agrees Bryan Laszinski of Stevens Point, who also used the patches to help him give up his habit.

Laszinski smoked 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day. He quit "cold turkey" once, but started up again years later.

"I can compare it to when I quit without them (patches). It was hell without them," he said.