WHAT ARE NICORETTE INVISI PATCHES?
Nicorette Invisi Patch is a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) used to relieve and prevent withdrawal symptoms and reduce cravings which occur when you cut down smoking or quit completely.
Nicorette Invisi Patch can be used as an aid to stop smoking by completely replacing all your cigarettes.
It can also be used in other ways:
- If you feel unable to quit completely or wish to increase the duration to your next cigarette with the overall intention being to cut down the number of cigarettes smoked.
- When you don’t want to or cannot smoke, for example – to avoid harm to children and family or for prolonged periods (around 16 hours) where smoking cigarettes is not allowed (in aeroplanes).
Nicorette Invisi Patch comes in 3 strengths:
- 25mg – releases 25mg of nicotine over 16 hours
- 15mg – releases 15mg of nicotine over 16 hours
- 10mg – releases 10mg of nicotine over 16 hours
When a Nicorette Invisi Patch is applied to the skin, nicotine is released and passes into the body through the skin.
The nicotine released is enough to relieve the unpleasant nicotine withdrawal symptoms and will also stop the cravings, but will not give you the buzz you get from smoking a cigarette.
The benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the potential risk of using nicotine from NRT. This is because it is the toxins in cigarette smoke such as tar, lead and cyanide that cause smoking related diseases and death, not nicotine.
NRT can help relieve nicotine withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, low mood, anxiety, restlessness and cravings when used in place of cigarettes.
HOW TO USE NICORETTE INVISI PATCH?
Before applying the Nicorette Invisi Patch, choose a completely clean, dry area of hairless skin on the front or side of the chest, upper arm or hip.
- Avoid placing the patch on any skin area that is red, broken or irritated
- Do not apply anything to the skin before putting on the patch as it may not stick properly
- Do not apply the patch to the same area on 2 consecutive days to help avoid skin irritation at the site
- The patch is designed to be work for only 16 hours per day and so should be removed before you go to bed.
Follow full instructions on how to apply the patch by reading the patient information leaflet provided with this treatment.
Adults and children over 12 years – apply one new patch of appropriate strength to the skin when you wake up and remove 16 hours later.
Do not use more than 1 patch at a time. If you lose a patch whilst swimming, bathing or showering, you can replace with a new patch.
For best results, most smokers are recommended to start on the 25mg patch (Step-1) and lighter smokers (who smoke less than 10 cigarettes per day) are recommended to start at 15mg (Step-2) for 8 weeks and then reduce the dose to 10mg for the final 4 weeks.
Step – 1: Begin treatment with Nicorette Invisi 25mg Patch the day after you stop smoking completely. Use a new Nicorette Invisi 25mg Patch daily for 8 weeks.
Step – 2: If successful and you have avoided smoking for the first 8 weeks, then reduce to the 15mg patch. Use Nicorette Invisi 15mg Patch each day for 2 weeks.
Step – 3: If successful and you have avoided smoking for the last 2 weeks, then switch to the Nicorette Invisi 10mg Patch daily for 2 weeks.
When using the higher strength 25mg patch, if you experience excessive side-effects, which do not disappear after a few days, you should move to the 15mg patch and use this for the remainder 8 weeks.
If you have left the patch on for too long, or smoked whilst using the patch, you may experience nausea, vomiting, increased salivation, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, headache and weakness. If you do suffer from any of these, please contact your doctor or A&E department immediately. Remove the patch and rinse the application site with water.
When attempting to quit smoking, advice and support usually improves the success rate. If you find it hard to stop smoking using Nicorette Invisi Patch or you are worried about restarting smoking without it, speak to your doctor or pharmacist.
