I quit smoking cigarettes 4 months ago using nicotine chewing gum as (as directed) as a cesation aid. Now I think I may be addicted to the nicotine chewing gum. I wasn’t real worried about it until a friend told me that now I may be more prone to get cancer of the throat, jaw, gums than of the lungs.
I thought that since the chewing gum contains only the nicotine
and none of the other harmfull substances or by-products of cigarettes (tar, carbon monoxide, amonia etc.) that I would not be at risk for any cancer from the nicotine chewing gum.
Is it the nicotine that causes cancer or the smoke and other substances from cigarettes? Is my risk of cancer for chewing 4 pieces of 2 mg. gum/day the same as 2 packs of gigarettes/day?
Any suggestions for breaking this nicotine chewing gum habbit?
(Other than going back to cigarettes!)
The point of using the nicotine gum is that once you get out of the habit of smoking, and get over the cravings “hump”, then you wean yourself off the gum. You’re not supposed to use the gum as a continuing nicotine “fix”. You’re supposed to taper off.
And thus any increased cancer risk due to long-term use is supposed to be moot, since you’re not supposed to be still chewing the gum for years and years.
i’m glad i made a search before posting my “help! i’m addicted to nicotine gum!” question. murphydog, i feel your pain. i can’t specifically cite (sorry), but i’ve seen articles that state there is virtually no cancer or other health risk from the gum. however, it is kind of a pain in the ass because of the expense, jaw aches, etc.
i guess i would add to your question, isn’t there some sort of natural remedy on the market for nicotine addiction? i remember hearing about some sort of pill that “binds to your nicotine receptors” to help you quit, although my flim-flam sensors went up upon hearing that particular bit of advertising. if not a scam, what is it??
i haven’t smoked a cigarette in over two years, and i even quit the gum in 2003 for about three months, but i was so irritable and stressed-out i finally went back to the gum. now i’m considering having a second child and would really like to quit the gum. i’ll probably just wind up cold turkey-ing it, but if there’s anything else that would help (that i wouldn’t also get hopelessly addicted to), i’d love to hear about it.
I too am in the throes of nicotine gum addiction. It is far better than smoking, but to say the gum is completely safe is incorrect. Nicotine is a stimulant. It pumps up the ole ticker and can increase blood pressure. The higher the dose (say, 4mg gum vs. 2 mg gum) and the higher the frequency of the dose (number of pieces over a period of time), the closer one comes to nicotine poisoning.
Heart palpitations, dizziness, headache, nausea, and even hiccups can be indicative of nicotine poisoning. WebMD and the like have more detailed info.
Last time I checked (by calling the consumer line on the product package), the manufacturer of a popular brand had no data for long-term use of the product. I got the “use only as directed” party line. A more ambitious dope than me could search Medline or one of the medical monster databases for peer-reviewed research relating to long term use of nicotine gum.
One side effect was mentioned to me by my dentist. Because I chew five or six pieces a day, some of my teeth have worn down a bit irregularly. He knew right away that I used nicotine gum. On the flipside, chewing the gum has left me cavity free for quite a while.
Bottom line: Use as directed and all should be fine, but definately let your doctor know you use the product and be honest with yourself about your consumption level. Nicotine gum is a drug (as regulated by the FDA), and all drugs have side effects. Read the labeling, and if you have problems with your ticker, talk to the doc before using the products.
A quick jaunt on Medline produced several articles related to nicotine gum, but relatively few that discussed its side effects or risks associated with long term use.