An Introduction to Nicotine Inhalers
Nicotine inhalers are among the newest approaches to quitting smoking and provide an interesting array of features. For one thing, they allow the smoker to still have the “hand to mouth” system that delivers the nicotine through an inhalation or puffing process. They work faster than most other methods of nicotine replacement/supplement and they can be paired with a psychological or behavioral approach to slowly wean the smoker from their nicotine dependence.
It helps to understand that the worst part of quitting smoking is the cleansing process that eliminates nicotine in the body. If someone goes “cold turkey” they will have to manage at least seventy-two straight hours of unremitting withdrawal, and this is one of the major reasons that many people fail at their first few attempts to give up smoking.
When they use a supplement system, such as the nicotine inhalers, they are delivering nicotine into their blood stream, but at far lower doses than with a standard cigarette, and with much fewer health risks. For example, the average inhaler is shaped just like a cigarette but contains around ten times less nicotine per puff than a standard cigarette. The dose is going to “peak” at around twenty minutes after puffing has stopped, and most quitters are encouraged to use the inhaler for roughly twenty minutes at any given time throughout the day.
Most people are going to use anywhere from six to fifteen of the nicotine cartridges during a day, and most will also begin to slowly reduce their usage as they get nearer and nearer to completing their program. It is not meant to actually replace nicotine because the results of using an inhaler are substantially weaker, but it is an effective way to reduce overall withdrawal symptoms and retrain the mind and body.
Unlike all other smoking cessation aids, the inhalers use the familiar hand to mouth approach that so many smokers say that they miss. The inhalers then will provide a more psychologically comforting delivery system that does not demand that they entirely cease many of their everyday activities or rituals.
Most people use the inhalers according to a plan to eventually ceases with their use altogether, and will usually reduce consumption over the course of a twelve week period. Most doctors will not encourage patients to rely upon inhalers for more than six months in total because it is a clear indicator that it is not the right approach or that the inhaler has simply “replaced” smoking as a habit.
