Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)

What is Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)?

NRT refers to stop smoking medications that include patches, gum, mouth spray, lozenges and inhalators. These are designed to replace some of the nicotine you would normally get from cigarettes to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms. To give you the best chance of success, it's important to understand how different types of NRT products work before you try them.

Patches are a long-acting NRT product, giving you a slow and steady amount of nicotine over time. The other products are fast-acting, which get the nicotine to you quickly, but do not last as long. Using both a patch and a fast-acting NRT product at the same time is known as combination therapy, and it can increase your chances of quitting for good. Chat to your doctor or pharmacist for more information on this approach.

You can learn more about NRT in the video below and exploring Quit Victoria's NRT video playlist.

Download the Stop Smoking Medications Guide

How do you know if NRT is for you?

When you quit smoking, you might experience withdrawal symptoms like anxiety, cravings, mood swings and irritability.

Learn your nicotine addiction level

Take our quiz to find out how strong your addiction is. If you have a strong, physical addiction to nicotine, NRT could be a good option for you.

GP or pharmacist

Chat with your GP or pharmacist for advice on NRT and how to use them. This is especially important if you have any existing health issues or would like to try combination therapy (two types of NRT at once).

Picture of an alarm clock on a windowsill next to next to 3 stacks of coins increasing in size with little plants sprouting out of top.

Are you worried that NRT is too expensive?

It can be hard to make the switch from spending your ciggie money on boxes of patches that could make you feel uncomfortable in the short-term. However, with a prescription from a doctor or finding products on special, you can pay as little as $1-$1.50/day for certain products. This is similar to the average cost of a single cigarette. Have you calculated how much money you'll be rolling in once you quit for good?

Use the quit savings calculator

Remember: Stop smoking medications are most effective for physical addictions to smoking. Habits (e.g. smoking while drinking), as well as emotions (e.g. stress), are common triggers to smoke. You can plan strategies to combat these triggers.

Read advice from people who successfully quit smoking using the NRT method

“My husband and I tried the patches and we have both quit. It was a financial thing after we sat down and worked out how much we were spending and it was a health thing as well. I had a horrible cough and since I have stopped, the cough has gone.
I used the nicotine spray, and had to put some good sleeping habits in place because I couldn't sleep when I quit.”

“I tried many ways to quit, I’ve tried patches, all the medications, the inhalers, cold turkey, this time I’ve gone patches and that’s working for me, yay!”

“I found the nicotine patches and inhaler worked for me.”

“I used nicotine patches and stayed away from friends who smoke for a while.”

“Nicotine inhaler and nicorette chewing gum were a good combo for me.”

“I did nicotine patches, gum and spray. They work differently so the mix was good.”

“I just used nicotine spray and will power.”