Hi hopeful2,
You might want to talk to a health care professional about a reasonable plan for weaning off the gum.
Right now, your primary focus should be dealing with life without cigarettes. Even with the nicotine to relieve the cravings, you are dealing with a major behavioral change. That desire to fire one up doesn't necessarily go away in two weeks. To be honest, I still have that behavioral desire from time to time. When you pair that with a real physical craving, things can get out of hand.
Another factor is that, unless you are chomping gum all day long, you are most likely getting less nicotine than when you smoked. So you are already experiencing some physical withdrawal. You might want to assess your own reaction to that before deciding on a next step. If you are feeling ready for a decrease in 2 weeks, go for it. But if you start having some of those edgy internal cries for a cigarette that you feel you can't resist, have a piece of gum and regroup.
One of my pitfalls was trying to go too long between lozenges. Since the nicotine is absorbed more slowly than with a cigarette, I would get pretty cranky over not getting the "hit" that my body was craving. Those were the moments in which I wanted to just light up a smoke and give the whole thing up altogether. If I made sure to take a lozenge at the first sign of craving, that didn't happen. And I could always spit it out if I got what I needed and decided I didn't need any more.
Keep on doing what you are doing and don't worry too much about trying to wean off from the NRT too fast! Take a page from Working on It... slow and steady wins the race! Remember to reward yourself often and be especially kind to yourself when ever possible! You deserve it!
