How Does Nicotine Gum Work?
Introduction
According to the American Heart Association, more than 47 million people in the United States smoke. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 440,000 of those people will die this year because of their addiction to smoking. With such high morbidity rates, it is no wonder that many people are looking for a way to quit. One of the most popular ways to help smokers quit is nicotine gum.
What it Does
When people become addicted to smoking cigarettes, what they are actually getting addicted to is the drug nicotine inside of the cigarettes themselves. This drug has a powerful ability to rewire the body and brain to become dependent on its presence in the bloodstream. When you quit smoking all together, the body goes through a withdrawal process -- basically the body's way of protesting your decision to quit. One of the hardest withdrawal symptoms to deal with are the cravings for cigarettes. Nicotine gum helps by lessening these cravings, which in turn helps dampen the effects of other withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting.
How it Works
Nicotine gum works by slowly introducing small amounts of nicotine gum into your bloodstream. When you place the gum in your mouth and chew it, your saliva dissolves the nicotine and allows the drug to travel via the lining of your mouth into your bloodstream. At first you will chew one piece every one to two hours in the place of having a cigarette. Over the course of the following months, you slowly use less and less gum until you no longer need the nicotine.
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