Acceptable Alternative?
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
A new gel is set to hit the shelves at Walgreen’s. This one does not sanitize your hands, but satisifies your craving for a cigarette. That’s right, just rub it in!
The product, called Nicogel, is the invention of biochemist Dr. John Walters of Great Britain.
Unlike traditional nicotine replacement therapies such as gums and patches, the gel gives an instant hit, going straight into the blood stream within 10 seconds, mimicking the smoking experience, and can stave off cravings for four hours.
It’s intended use was to help stave off cravings in the increasing number of places that ban smoking, such as planes, movie theaters and other public areas. It is now being considered as a stop smoking aid. It gives you a tenth of the tobacco you use in a cigarette. The clear gel, which will soon turn up in other stores, has all the components of tobacco but lacks many carcinogens that are formed as cigarettes burn. After a couple of pumps of its dispenser, just rub the Nicogel into your skin, and get your nicotine fix fast. It’s manufacturer, Nicogel Ltd., claims it can get a dose of nicotine into your system about as fast as smoking a cigarette.
So, is this an acceptable alternative to smoking? Are we going to start pulling out our hands and rubbing them together instead of pulling out a cigarette and lighting it? I don’t know, that puts kind of a creepy picture in my head, not unlike watching someone smacking their lips when eating. I don’t think I’m ready to go that route, but I can see how this may help people who are really trying to quit, and similar to the use of the nicotine patch.
As an interesting sidenote, Nicogel is also being studied for use of foot ulcers in diabetic patients! Apparently, application of the gel is being studied to see if it increases healing time in those diabetics who suffer from the foot ulcers. Clinical Trials.gov
It will be interesting to see if this really is a breakthrough in beating this awful habit as the news media seems to think, or if it is all hype. If you are really struggling, anything is worth a try, right? I’d like to hear from anyone who has tried this.
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5 Comments
subscribe comments feedTracy
January 11th, 2007
Wow, that gel sounds interesting. Unfortunately I haven’t used it so I can’t give much input. However, I have heard of this Nicotine Nasal Spray. It also seems pretty weird! I can’t imagine using it. But if it helps, I say go for it.
RayPays
January 12th, 2007
ummmmm - you didnt quit last time - you stopped for a while… i have been fighting nicotine addiction for over 30 years. The increased dosage of nicotine the manufacturers have put in cigs for the past 5 years or so is beyond criminal - what a way to keep a customer. Ive tried to quit several times over the years and have tried every kind of method. the longest i ever stopped was 3 yeasrs. I am on Chantrix right now, 5th day. the smokes taste like crap for the first time today and my plan is to stop in 2 more days. wish i had the gel because the only thing about chantrix is it does not stop the gnawing crave. its funny though, you crave and light up and it tastes like the bottom of your shoe on a rainy day. take few hits and put it out as quick as possible. i think i can do it with this and gum.
rubyredshoes
January 13th, 2007
I had not heard of Chantix before. So, do I understand this correctly that use of this medication makes the cigarette taste bad also? That’s a good idea.
Call it quit or call it stop, my body still went through the whole withdrawal thing. I’m not discouraged though. They say that the average ex-smoker had 7 previous attempts under their belt.
I hope this medication works for you. Please stop back and let us know how you are doing. Hang in there!
rubyredshoes
January 13th, 2007
Raypays, I have an email in to Walgreens to try to find out when it will be on the shelves. I’ll post it here if I get any further info.