Stop Smoking Gum - To Use Or Not To Use?
David Smythe
The stop smoking gum is a popular smoking cessation device used all over the world. This article attempts to probe into the safety and the effectiveness of this method.
Of the various smoking deaddiction methods available, the stop smoking gum is becoming very popular in recent times. Part of its popularity stems from the fact that it is extremely convenient to use. It only has to be unwrapped and popped into the mouth - that is all. And chewed like a normal gum. This simple gum is supposed to highly decrease the smoker's craving for a cigarette and gradually take him or her away from the smoking habit.
The stop smoking gum is considered to be a safe remedy for smoking cessation. In fact, it is considered to be so safe that it is available over-the-counter in the US and is also available in the check-in shopping malls. But, is the stop smoking gum really as safe as it is made out to be? Can a smoker safely use it to curb his or her smoking habit? This does require some discussion.
One important thing to be realized is that this gum has nicotine in it, yes it is true, the gum has nicotine as its active component. Well now you might wonder how it is rational to cure the cigarette induced nicotine addiction with nicotine? But yes it does wok and this is how- the addictive substance in cigarettes is nicotine and it is because of this that the smoker is unable to stop and keeps going back to cigarettes. Though it happens to be addictive, it does not result in physical damage, for which the tar is responsible.
Seen this way it will seem logical that nicotine is being used in the gum. This way while the person is chewing gum, the craving for cigarettes would subside and the damage that it could do to the body is also avoided. These gums are made available with different levels of nicotine content, the highest of which is 4 milligrams. For the hardened smoker a more concentrated gum is required in the beginning and they could come down as time passes. In a period of time the addiction slowly comes down and then goes away completely.
But there is a body of experts who think this may not happen at all. They maintain that nicotine is an addictive substance and as long as it is introduced into the body, the addiction would not cease. In fact, there is a danger of an addiction to the gum itself. Several medical experts have found this contention to have some truth in it. That is the reason why many nonsmokers - and alarmingly, some underage children too - are buying these gums. It is enough evidence that the nicotine gum can create an addiction of its own.
Even the amount of nicotine that is present in the stop smoking gum can pose an issue. These gums can contain differing amounts of nicotine - ranging from 1 milligram to 4 milligram. It must be noted here that each cigarette contains about 1 milligram of nicotine. Therefore, the higher concentrations of the gum contain as much nicotine as four cigarettes put together. In addition, the gum can be kept in the mouth for as much as thirty minutes, which does mean more contact of the addictive substance.
In fact most of the methods that are used to curb smoking have come under inspection these days. In the gum therapy the nicotine addiction is considered not as harmful as the destructive properties of tar that the cigarettes are infamously known for. But in the larger sense there are huge doubts as to the working of these therapies. There are many cases where people have tried the gum therapy and still get back to smoking as the therapy never really cured their problem of addiction.
Therefore, it is totally up to you to decide if you want to opt for this alternative keeping in mind the above discussed points.
About the Author:
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