Preparing for Medication & Side Effects

Preparing for Medication & Side Effects

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As part of your quit attempt, you’ll be using medications and nicotine products (also known as ‘pharmacotherapy’) that will help you stay smoke-free. There are three available treatment pathways, depending on which service you’re registered with:

• Combination nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) - every week, you will be issued with a patch and an oral product that contain ‘clean nicotine’, which means they only contain nicotine and not tar, carcinogens or other harmful products found in cigarettes. During your cessation journey, the strength of the patch will be reduced, and the oral product will be removed, to wean you away from nicotine.

• Vape – this is another form of ‘clean nicotine’. You will receive a vape, with a weekly supply of pods, varying in strength and flavours. There’s a lot of bad press about vapes, but the devices provided by ABL Health are not disposable and are regulated, so they’re legal and safe to use. 

• Varenicline/Champix, Cytisine or Zyban – if you’re over 18, you may be issued with tablets that will change how you react to cigarettes, with a lot of people being disgusted by them. Depending on the tablet you choose, you’ll receive a one-off supply or a fortnightly prescription. However, your GP will have the final say about whether you can take these tablets, so you will need to answer some further questions first, to help them make a decision.

Your chosen product will only be issued every week/fortnight, depending on which treatment you choose. This ensures that you won’t be overwhelmed by receiving too much product.

Side effects

As with all health products, there are common side effects for each medication and nicotine product. These will be explained in the patient information leaflet that you will receive with each item but are also summarised below.

Patches

• Nicorette 16hour Invisipatch (25mg, 15mg and 10mg)

• NiQuitin 24-hour patch (21mg, 14mg and 7mg)

• Nicotinell 24-hour patch (21mg, 14mg and 7mg)

**Side Effects: **Headache, dizziness, nausea, flushing, upset stomach, skin irritation, trouble sleeping, redness and itchiness (where patch is applied)

Oral products

• Nicorette Icy white gum (4mg and 2mg)

• Nicotinell Freshmint gum (4mg and 2mg)

**Side Effects: **Nausea, headache, heartburn, coughing, hiccups and throat irritation

• Nicorette Inhalator (15mg)

**Side Effects: **Nausea and mouth/throat irritation

• Nicorette QuickMist mouth spray (1mg)

**Side Effects: **Headache, nausea, vomiting and changes in taste

• Nasal spray (10mg/ml)

**Side Effects: **During the first two days – nasal irritation, sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes. The frequency and severity of these will reduce as you continue to use them. Other side effects include nausea and headache.

• NiQuitin CQ Mini Lozenge (Mint) (4mg and 2mg)

• Nicorette Cool Lozenge (Icy Mint) (4mg and 2mg)

**Side Effects: **Sore mouth or throat, throat irritation, jaw pain, hiccups, nausea and headache.

• Nicorette Microtabs (2mg)

**Side Effects: **Throat irritation, hiccups, nausea and headache

Vapes (Edge Go)

• British Tobacco (18mg and 12mg)

• Blackcurrant (18mg and 12mg)

• Very Menthol (18mg and 12mg)

Side Effects: Dry mouth and tickly cough – drinking water will help.

Varenicline/Champix

• Day 1 – 3 = 0.5mg once daily

• Day 4 –7 = 0.5mg twice daily

• Week 2 – 12 = 1mg twice daily

Side Effects: Nausea, headaches and disrupted sleep.

Cytisine

• Day 1 – 3 = 6 tablets per day, every 2 hours

• Day 4 – 12 = 5 tablets per day, every 2.5 hours

• Day 13 – 16 = 4 tablets per day, every 3 hours

• Day 17 – 20 = 3 tablets per day, every 5 hours

• Day 20 – 25 = 1 to 2 tablets per day

Side Effects: Nausea, vomiting and disrupted sleep.

Zyban

• Day 1 – 6 = 1 tablet per day

• Week 2 – 9 = 2 tablets per day (or 1 if 65+)

Side Effects: Nausea, rash, disrupted sleep and feeling sleepy.

If you have any concerns, you can contact your GP or ABL Health.