Anyone using Nicotine patches for Long Covid?

Cutting the patches causes all the nicotine to be released at once, from what I heard. Therefore you should tape the part you don't want to touch your skin.

if the 7 mg patch is causing these symptoms, try taping half or 3/4ths of the patch so you don't get so much. Make sure you arent cutting the patch!

Yeah, I tried with half taped off. I think if I experiment further I’ll try to find correct dosage with gum.

Two reactions with nicotine: 1) no issues worth any discussion or 2) nausea, what I call the "Copenhagen buzz", skin irritation, or some more minor symptoms.

I recall as a 10 year on on my initiation to manhood (so described by an older buddy) that it had no negative effect on me, except the buzz (this was a very mild old brand), but two others had issues. One turned green and started vomiting the other was "high" and he was light headed. The average "dip" of Copenhagen (the strongest of the brands) is 11 to 12.8 mg nicotine.

The responses I hear in my family are the same as listed.

Nicotine is in much lower quantities in tomato (firm green, not ripe, nicotine protects the fruit from pathogens and insects), potato (dispersed throughout, although I would avoid eating the carbohydrates as they convert to sugar and which both are inflamatory...bad for you), pepper (eat all you can, mild to hot, hotter is better as it had more capsaicin and vitamin C), eggplant, and some spices in that family, and outside that family of plants (Solanaceae) cellery and cauliflower.
These are really "bioavailable".

If you use gum, try the 2 mg. Just break the surface of the gum a bit with your teeth and put it in your cheek or under your tongue for direct absorption into your blood stream. Each five to ten minutes you need to slightly chew the gum and then put it back in the cheek or under the tongue. It will take a number of times to render all the nicotine. This method prevents the nicotine from getting into your stomach.

A 3 mg pouch of Zyn or similar product causes less mouth watering and more direct absorbtion and you can choose flavors.

Cost per mg of nicotine is the least in the pouches. Zyn can be purchased at a large discount if bought in volume on the website.
Walmart or similar chain is the least expensive. In volume, it is less than $4 per "can". The site we used was Northerner.

Just worth mentioning, I dipped Copenhagen or other brands for 36 years. I had the flu only twice in that time and rarely had anything else my siblinngs or parents had or later in my own wife and children. The insurance company made me quit. I notice my buddies that still dip today have had little or no Covid. This is now supported by several published research papers this year on nicotine and Covid or long Covid.

Each person had to "find" the dosage which works for them. The suggested dosages had little or no effect on me. I had to dose and wait for response for about three weeks until I found my rate. Then the effect was extremely significant. All my long Covid symptoms went away after about 15 days of treatment on the correct dose for my body. I expect the response is dependent on a) other nicotine intake (we eat a good bit of cauliflower, cellery, peppers, and tomatoes), b) individual metabolism, c) body weight, and d) the level the body is impacted by Covid or long Covid.

My cases of Covid and long Covid have been bad to severe.

I believe the nicotine, from my response and my familes (daughters, son-in-law), wife, and others I communicate with is a game changer. The published research shows that the nicotine blocks some cell receptor sites and modulates cytokinin (cause for cytokinin storm in the body which is an over reaction to the virus from our immune systems).

Nicotine and addiction? Well, are you addicted to peppers, tomato, egglant, cellery, cauliflower, or potatoes?

Our cells have nicotine receptors. Nicotine is in some of the "healthiest" vegetables. Nicotine protects the fruit from disease and insects. Nicotine is a minor plant alkaloid. Other plant alkaloids include caffeine, vincristine, emitine (life saving drug), and others.

Nicotine can be toxic if high levels are taken. Read up on this by searching the word string: nicotine, Covid, toxicity, alkaloid, and dosage.

Individual cigarettes, for comparison, have from 1.1 to 1.3 mg nicotine.

My intent is not to advocate smoking in any way. As for smokeless, much published research and meta analysees have shown no negative impact on health or in specific regions of the world (one), some significant health issues. This latter I find strange. The region is very unregulated on pesticide use. It makes me wonder if this is not the issue with the types of health issues, while Europe and the US basically have no or few health impacts. I am not advocating use of smokeless tobacco. This is just information.

Search:
The health impact of smokeless tobacco products: a systematic review

Meta-Analysis
Meta-analysis of the acute effects of nicotine and smoking on human performance

Remember, eggs, coffee, plant fats, peanut ingestion during pregnancy and nursing, plant oils, and many other food or food constituents were bad for us in the 1980s to 2000s and now have been disproven and actually in most cases are considered to be positive health impact sources. Why? Misdesign, misanalyze, misunderstood, improper sample size of population, and many other reasons where why this problems occured. These reports or papers impacted significant health recommendations doe decades. There was sigmificant negative health impact caused by these errored papers and reports.

Peanut allergy increases significantly in population.

Damage to major joints increased in the population (several confounding factors were also present such as body weight, arthritis, other diseases).

These are a very few examples.

Also, significant impact occured to various food production systems because of this errored reporting.

Hello everyone,

Like many of you, I had been suffering from the effects of covid from my first known diagnosis (Dec 2020). Had lost taste/smell…with that being the most obvious symptom. Recently started to consider that my brain fog and extreme anxiety and exhaustion were also contributing. Unfortunately I had just always chalked those up to a busy life with a stressful job and active kids in sports…on top of possibly starting menopause at age 45. So who really knows what’s going on, but like many of you…I would try anything to get back to some sort of normal. It’s been a hard road in recent years, to say the least. And a journey most people don’t understand. Fast forward to last week…I was told to try nicotine. I never heard of this, which is crazy enough because I was constantly seeking out articles to find some sort of hope. Well, I started with Gum (tried for 4 days) and then moved into patches for simplicity. I am 1 week into it and I am happy to report that I am now smelling things and also smelling things accurately!!!! I can’t believe it but it’s also been such a huge boost for me mentally. Don’t feel as anxious or as messy mentally as I had been for so long. It’s been so exciting!!! I am making a point to inhale anything and everything with a possible scent. It’s hard to remember what normal or accurate is, but it’s slowly coming back. I am constantly telling others what I smell to see if I am correct! It’s been such a bizarre experience but it has given me hope again!!! No negative side effects after a week…just great things!!! I pray that anyone reading this gives it a try because I understand how lonely and isolated I felt before and to even have a small victory of any kind can completely change despair to hope and it’s a game changer! Hugs and best of luck to all of you…YOU ARE NOT ALONE…stay strong!

Alayton, Cropdoc, and everybody,

Thank you so much for this story. I can’t even tell you how happy I always feel to read a SUCCESS.

I will go back to gum and give this another go.

I tried them (7 mg) for 7 days. And, yes they provided relief. I could function at least 50 % better. But then, when I left them, all of my symptoms returned, even stronger. I used them again for another ten days and again my condition improved, followed by relapse when stopped using them. Thus, in my experience, the nicotine patches do help, but you probably have to use them for a long time.

I used the Step 3 (7mg) patches for a month, then off a week, then on two more weeks. It's been a month since then and they reduced my fatigue, brain fog, and muscle pain by approximately 70%. I was slightly nauseous for the first couple days, but that passed. I noticed improvement within the first week and by the fourth week I had all the benefits that I would see. I haven't regressed at all in the last month being off the patch. Very grateful for the relief so far, I've had LongCovid since Oct '20, so while I'm not back to pre-covid days, I'm able to do more than I have in 3.5 years.

Switch to 4 mg gum. Chew gum to break coating. Put gum in your cheek. Periodically slightly chew and return to cheek. If you chew it a good bit accidentally, spit out the saliva. Many people are nauseous when ingesting nicotine. Chew 4 of the gums per day.

Pennies on dollar compared to patches. I use Rugby brand gum, no sugar (inflammatory).

In my and my families use we have found there is a dose level for each person. Range varies a good bit from 4 - 6 mg per day on the low end to 40 mg per day for myself.

Also, the length of time to overcome Covid or Long Covid varies per person. It takes me about 15 to 24 days on the correct dosage to alleviate all symptoms. The range in dose and days on dose depends on (my observations) weight, metabolism, severity and duration of the Sars 2 infection.

More weight, fast metabolism, severe Covid symptoms cause higher dose rate and longer duration.

How to determine dose takes some time. Method: when in Long Covid, as you are, try dose and delivery method (as you have) for 7 days. Log response. If no response or weak (still symptoms) reponse add 4 to 8 mg per day (your choice - 4 is slower, but all tolerate better while 8 mg is faster to find your dose level). If no or low response, change delivery method on same dose, observe 3 days. If no or little reponse (there will be a response based on many people I have helped with this including family, friends, this site, and clients).

Delivery options:
1) 7 mg patch: (serveral good companies, about $1 to $2 per patch). Expensive, patches are not fun to manage (they aggrivate my skin).
Ranges from 7 mg to 21 mg per patch.

2) gum: 2, 4, 8 mg gum per piece. Pennies on dollar compared to patches. Easy to manage. Fast delivery of total dose. Be careful, my adult daughters and wife have stomach sensitivity.

3) pouches: 3 mg to 6 mg. Brands vary.

We use Rugby no sugar 4 mg gum, Zyn 3 and 6 mg pouches (least expensive of all delivery methods is pouch at 6 mg), and 7 mg patches. I use coffee flavor or cinnamon flavor 6 mg Zyn.we buy bulk, Northern website, less than $4 per can of 15. Pouches are tiny and not noticable. Delivery is supreme and best effect.

You have a rate, dose, and response. All my family have responded to their "rates" and duration times.

For reference, read my other posts on this site on this topic. Much more information or search: Long Covid nicotine patch dose reponse symptoms

You will find at least 5 publications on NCBI or PubMed on this topic string. Search using your search engine/web browser.

Blessings from God on you. Amen.

Jt