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Kicking nicotine from your day-to-day lifestyle can be difficult. Nicotine can be highly addictive and have some unpleasant side effects with continued use.
You may be interested in taking a break from smoking or nicotine use or, perhaps, you’re expecting an upcoming test for work or health reasons. Whichever your reason, there are some warning signs that signal you need to detox nicotine from your system and start fresh.
Negative Effects of Nicotine
When nicotine enters your body, it takes only ten seconds to reach your brain. The brain responds by releasing adrenaline which gives you a buzz and a feeling of euphoria. This buzz often makes people feel good, leading to the desire for more nicotine once this feeling wears off.
As you smoke or consume more nicotine, your body will develop a tolerance for nicotine, which causes you to consume more of it and more frequently to reach the desired effects.
Unfortunately, this can lead to withdrawal when you go without consuming nicotine. Withdrawal symptoms are typically your body’s way of letting you know you need a break, a slow down, or to quit entirely – whichever works best for you.
Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms

Many people give up when trying to quit nicotine or flush it out of their system because of the many withdrawal symptoms associated with it. As quickly as 30 minutes to 4 hours after your last usage of nicotine, you may start to experience negative symptoms. These symptoms may increase in severity and can last for up to a month.
Your body may need to detox from nicotine if you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms:
- Headaches
- Cravings for more nicotine
- Insomnia (inability to sleep)
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Irritability
- Increased appetite
- Coughing
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Constipation
- Mental fog and slowness
How to Effectively Detox from Nicotine

If you think you need a break from nicotine or are preparing for a work test or medical exam, there is a more effective way to flush nicotine out of your system than the “cold turkey” method.
Pharmacist-developed nicotine detox supplements are an effective and affordable manner for nicotine detox. These types of products are designed to effectively, safely, and permanently remove nicotine and cotinine from your system. Cotinine is created when your body metabolizes nicotine, and since cotinine is the agent checked for when a nicotine test is performed, it is imperative to have a product that rids your body of both nicotine and cotinine.
Detoxing from nicotine may lessen the severity of withdrawal symptoms or may lessen the time you experience withdrawal symptoms by reducing the time you have residual nicotine or cotinine left in your system.
Additionally, nicotine detox supplements will decrease the amount of time you test positive for cotinine in a urine test which can give you peace of mind if you are worried about passing a cotinine urine test; in fact, some nicotine detox kits come with urine test strips to use at home so you know when you are no longer testing positive.
With natural nicotine detox supplements, your body will quickly remove the nicotine and cotinine using its natural excretion processes. If nicotine detox is something you’d like to pursue for health reasons or for an upcoming urine test, a nicotine detox supplement will likely make the entire process easier.