Nicorette/nicotine 4mg gum fresh mint flavor 105’S

What the medicine is for

Nicorette gum is a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)

It is used to relieve and/or prevent withdrawal symptoms and reduce the craving for nicotine that you get when you try to stop smoking, or when cutting down the number of cigarettes you smoke.

Nicorette gum can also be used when you are pregnant or breast-feeding to help you stop smoking, as the risks to your baby are far less than if you continue to smoke.

Ideally you should always aim to stop smoking. You can use Nicorette gum to achieve this by using it to completely replace all your cigarettes.

However Nicorette gum can also be used in other ways,

• If you feel unable to stop smoking completely, or wish to replace certain cigarettes and therefore it can help you to cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke.
• At those times when you can’t or do not want to smoke. For example

Where you don’t want to smoke and avoid harm to others e.g. children or family.

Smoke free areas e.g pub,work,public transport e.g aeroplanes

It may also help increase your motivation to quit. When making a quit attempt a behavioral support programme will increase your chances of success. If you smoke 20 or fewer cigarettes a day, the 2mg nicotine gum will help relieve your cravings.

If you smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day, the 4mg nicotine gum may be more appropriate.

What does Nicorette gum do?

When you stop smoking, or cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke, your body misses the nicotine that you have been absorbing. You may experience unpleasant feelings and a strong desire to smoke (craving). This indicates that you were dependent on nicotine. When you chew Nicorette gum, nicotine is released and passes into your body through the lining of your mouth. The nicotine released from the gum is sufficient to relieve the unpleasant withdrawals symptoms. It will also help to stop the craving to smoke, but Nicorette gum will not give you the “buzz” you get from smoking a cigarette.

Benefits you can get from using Nicorette gum instead of smoking

It is the toxins in cigarette smoke such as tar, lead, cyanide and ammonia that causes smoking related disease and death, not the nicotine.

Nicotine replacement therapy can help relieve nicotine withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, low mood, anxiety, restlessness and cravings when used in place of cigarettes.

Nrt may benefit smokers who want to quit by helping to control weight gain that may be experienced when trying to stop smoking.