Some people stay on the gum for a lot of years, of course this is not recommended but i feel that as long as it is helping you to stay clear of smoking nicotine then it is okay. With this quit i was prepared to stay on patches forever if it helped to stop me from smoking but it was my 3rd week of the low grade patches (7mg) that i realized i just didnt need them. But i do keep a couple of patches in the back of my purse, sort of my insurance backup, i have never needed them but i like knowing that they are there. Also in the early stages i cut my high grade patches in half, only cos i am such a scrooge, and also because they were so darn irritable to my skin and they still worked for me. Crikey i have a mate that quit 10 years ago and still carries the lozenges for occasional use, (if he is partying). Your mind and your heart will tell you when it is time to lower the dosage, when your body feels comfortable you can take that next step. Goodest of good luck and congrats on yr quit so far.. this of course is just my humble opinion hope it helps and hope i havent caused any controversy.

One thing to keep in mind is that any Nicotine Replacement Therapy contains nicotine. It replaces smoking as the source of nicotine in much lower dosages than you would receive from smoking. But it is still a source and it is still addictive.

Cutting the gum into smaller pieces is perfectly acceptable. Cutting patches is not. That will defeat the dosage regulation mechanism resulting in possibly too much or too little.

If the 14 mg patch was too much, try the 7 mg.

Everyone is different & needs different amounts. I quit for 10 months About 5 yrs ago using the patch for 11 days This time I wore a patch for 24 days & now just chewing about 5 pieces a gum a day. Use whatever you need for however long it takes-- good luck!!

All good advice. But you can just start chewing gum as well. My husband used the nicotene gum he just cut down and then started on regular gum.