These Commit Lozenges are KILLING my digestive system. What am I doing wrong? I'm following the directions, but I am going through Tums like crazy because people can hear my stomach from 3 feet away.
Also am having almost non existent BM's. Any suggestions??
Yes, I believe you about the lozenges and the digestive problems!! I know...I've been meaning to post a warning on this board, and I'm still planning to do that, soon.
I was on the nicotine gum...for way too long too. That stuff is SOOOO darn addictive... So BE CAREFUL out there folks!!! I have hypothyroid, and developed GERD sometime in 2003, right after starting thyroid meds, and right before I quit smoking. I quit with the patch...and later switched to the gum. (BIG mistake!!) Anyway, long story short, I developed serious digestive problems. I am being sent to a gastro Dr. soon to figure this all out...but in a nutshell...my GP and I think I have a Hiatal Hernia, (mine is painful), gastric ulcers, (I've been using Mallox for 3 weeks, and my stomach's burning pain is tons better!) and we definitely know that I have GERD. (Reflux disease) I happen to think that nicotine gum had a lot to do with the stomach troubles. (also too, I take quite a few meds, ...which is hard on your stomach too)
My advice to you is to switch over to the patch,...soon! How many lonzeges are you using per day? If not too many, maybe you can just get on the 14 mg. patch, (instead of the 21 mg.) Then I'd do that for a month or so, and then move down to the smallest patch...the 14 mg. Then go from there. The next step would be getting off of that....and becoming entirely nicotine free.
I am now nicotine free, but it took me a long time. I think mentally, I was just afraid to give em up. I now find I'm doing fine without em!
Good luck!
Deda
To those that I owe replies to, please forgive me...haven't been feeling well lately, or out of my house too much with friends, when I do feel up to it. I promise to reply soon. Hope everyone's doing well....JJules...Barney..Barrie, Liamsmom...and others. Hang in there everybody...it just keeps on getting easier as times goes by..homest! Will talk to you guys/girls real soon!
These Commit Lozenges are KILLING my digestive system. What am I doing wrong? I'm following the directions, but I am going through Tums like crazy because people can hear my stomach from 3 feet away.
Also am having almost non existent BM's. Any suggestions??
NashVegasGirl....
Now I know your name...
Forgot to mention to you.... a lot of people have trouble with constipation after they quit smoking....I did too. Try Metamucil, daily. (I do, and it really works) If one glass a day doesn't do, try 2. You can safely take up to 3 glasses a day. I wouldn't keep waiting for it to go back to normal....just try the Metamucil...better than laxatives, because it's natural fiber. Eat more fiber, take in more water, etc. How long since you quit smoking? For some people, it takes a while for your body to come back to normal. For some people, the "quitstipation" goes on and on.
Hey Deda;
Thanks for all the helpful info. How weird is this, I quit after being diagnosed with Grave's (hypothyroid) as well. I had the radioactiove iodine treatment and went hyPO and started gaining weight, so I figured might as well get all my weight gaining out of the way at once. Its a horror show; I had lost 65 pounds and was looking FABULOUS when I was diagnosed. I take a prescription powder every day (a.k.a. Metamucil) for the other that has ALWAYS worked like a dream but NOTHING is touching this. Anyway, I really just wanted to know the digestive thing WAS due to the lozenges/gum and not something else. I have friends hooked on the gum but frankly I don't find these lozenges that intoxicating, and I was 2 packs a day for 20 years. They get the job done when I want a cig, and even the generics are so freaking expensive its insane. Just started taking Luvoxil (?) for the Graves and the weight gain has slowed down, I gained 21 pounds right after my RAI treatment, (no one told me how RAVENOUS you become) but I'm not eating more because of the smoking, just still trying to adjust to all the Hypo/Hyper BS. Plus I've had 2 endomyometrial surgeries in the last month (thats how my Graves was caught....I was bleeding for a year...shaking & hair falling out) so its just been an insane 6 months for me, but looks like it's finally starting to level out. Another thing I learned and this is a TOTAL miracle, is when your thyroid doc says your levels are 'perfect' or 'normal', if you were clinically depressed BEFORE you got Graves, then those numbers are wrong, because 'normal' is totally different if you were previously depressed. They dont talke that group of people into consideration when doing their research, but I got lucky, my shrink and my thyroid Doc are both at Vanderbilt and spoke with each other and so I was almost suicidal and my thyroid Doc kept saying 'you dont need medecine, your levels are perfect', until he talked with my shrink. NOW thyroid Doc knows what levels are 'Normal' and 'good' for ME, which are totally different than most people. Anyway, probably too much info and something I should post on the thyroid board, but this was SO critical in my recovery process I thought I'd share. Beth
You wouldn't believe just how many women on this board have thyroid disease too! Seems like every time I mention that I have it..in their reply they often say they have it as well...Graves or Hashi's...hypo or hyper. There might be some kind of link to smoking that hasn't quite been discovered, as yet. Actually I did hear there is. Cigarettes contain a substance, (theo-something), that surpresses thyroid function....nice..huh? If only we knew all these things BEFORE we started smoking!! But, at 16 or 17...who knows, we probably wouldn't have really cared...we were young, and we felt good...we wern't concerned with health issues.
Yes, my Dr. used to NOT agree with me about where my levels needed to be too. I just got downright huffy about it, and said, THIS IS WHERE I NEED MY LEVELS TO BE!! Now they allow me to be there with them. And my shrink has suggested adding Cytomel, for the depression part of it...and that has helped so much, not only with the depression, but the lingering pains that wouldn't go away!
Don't know what to say, NVG, about that problem that won't go away. I'm not surprised tho. I think it's a combination of the quitting smoking, and the hypothyroid....both have slowed down your metabolism...which controls that function too, unfortunately. Listen to this....I found out I was hypo, then quit smoking almost 3 months later, and then went through menopause soon after I started thyroid meds.....talk about slowing down metabolism! A real triple whammy! Ughhhh!!! Luckily, I haven't gained too much weight. Right now, I'm only 10 lbs over my pre hypo weight. But I eat so light, and exercise. It's hard to lose just 1 lb. with this disease. It sucks....It sounds like your on Levoxyl, which is basicly the same T4 med that I take. Adding some T-3 (in the form of Cytomel) could possibly help you with that problem as well. You might want to inquire about it on the thyroid message board.
Yes, I know those longezes are expensive....I've seen them at Walmart. Don't know why they cost so much, compared to the gum....and yet I think the patches are the best deal of all. The gum is reasonable IF you don't chew more than a few pieces a day. There was a long time though when I was chewing about 10-12 pieces a day! When I tapered down, I cut them up in 1/3's....till I was down to one piece a day, and then 1/2 a piece a day, then 1/3 a piece a day...then nothing. It's great to finally be nicotine free!
When did you quit smoking NVG? Can't remember if you said in your 1st post...
Re: Tearing Up My Stomach 
So BE CAREFUL out there folks!!! I have hypothyroid, and developed GERD sometime in 2003, right after starting thyroid meds, and right before I quit smoking. I quit with the patch...and later switched to the gum. (BIG mistake!!) Anyway, long story short, I developed serious digestive problems. I am being sent to a gastro Dr. soon to figure this all out...but in a nutshell...my GP and I think I have a Hiatal Hernia, (mine is painful), gastric ulcers, (I've been using Mallox for 3 weeks, and my stomach's burning pain is tons better!) and we definitely know that I have GERD. (Reflux disease) I happen to think that nicotine gum had a lot to do with the stomach troubles. (also too, I take quite a few meds, ...which is hard on your stomach too)
Re: Tearing Up My Stomach 
But, at 16 or 17...who knows, we probably wouldn't have really cared...we were young, and we felt good...we wern't concerned with health issues.
Now they allow me to be there with them. And my shrink has suggested adding Cytomel, for the depression part of it...and that has helped so much, not only with the depression, but the lingering pains that wouldn't go away!
Listen to this....I found out I was hypo, then quit smoking almost 3 months later, and then went through menopause soon after I started thyroid meds.....talk about slowing down metabolism! A real triple whammy! Ughhhh!!! Luckily, I haven't gained too much weight. Right now, I'm only 10 lbs over my pre hypo weight. But I eat so light, and exercise. It's hard to lose just 1 lb. with this disease. It sucks....It sounds like your on Levoxyl, which is basicly the same T4 med that I take. Adding some T-3 (in the form of Cytomel) could possibly help you with that problem as well. You might want to inquire about it on the thyroid message board.
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