Hi ya I gave up smoking 4 years 3 months ago(yes I still count) lol!
I did it using the NHS smoking cessation service and patches. I went from 20 a day to none
The best advice they give on the NHS service is don't do the step down programme with patches, use the full strength patches for 12 weeks then come off them all together. I tried the step down approach twice and not only was it expensive it didn't work for me either.
I also use an inhalator as a crutch for a while too, i originally got a trial pack and used it alongside the patch which is perfectly safe to do, then just had the inhalator for a week or so after the patch kind of as emotional support. I didn't buy any further cartridges just eked out the trial pack for as long as possible.
The problem with giving your body nicoteine is that it continues to have cravings between the hits so by using full strength to none method you reduce the nicoteine anyway as there is not as much in a patch as there is in fags.
I also found that physically putting the amount of money i spent every day in a sealed clear jar gave me an incentive to continue. After 6 weeks I had bought myself a new digital camera.
Good luck and feel free to pm me if you have any questions or need some extra support.