Anyone using Nicotine patches for Long Covid?

Posted by tgroff @tgroff, Apr 19, 2023

There is lots of discussion on Facebook Long Covid forums about nicotine patches helping with long covid symptoms after a few days of adjustment to the patches. Any thoughts on this?

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I use nicotine and it works! I had long COVID hit me twice. This caused POTS and caused me to get my gallbladder removed. I did not know if I was going to be able to work anymore. Depression really set in. As anyone knows that is dealing with this, doctors cannot figure it out and you are willing to try anything to get better! Nicotine saved me!

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I’ve just been reading about the nicotine gum, which has a lower dose than the patch. It appears this is the best way to start and I’m planning on doing so.

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Hi! Did you have the treatment as a result of long-haul Covid? I’m researching various therapies and just read about Apheresis treatments. It looks promising.

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I have been using 14mg slow release nicotine patch since Jan 2025. At first it felt like I had taken speed. After 2 weeks I felt simply amazing. It gradually wore off or my inflammation increased from stress but I'm super tired and cognitively slow again. I've read about people cycling 5 days on/2 days off. Whatever you do, nicotine is a drug and you should do this only under medical supervision. It's very very experimental and so far I've only seen case reports, no clinical trials or research.

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@da69

Not heard of this but i will try anything at this point.

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There have been no clinical trials or research, we only have case reports to go on. My infectious disease Dr put me on 14mg slow release patch last Jan and I felt "cured" within very little time (I was already doing well and this was the final boost). However, I was under severe stress from Jan-April and that caused my symptoms to act up again. With the nicotine patch I'm exhausted and brain foggy, last Friday unable to drive. I finally inquired with Mayo and all the big NYC hospital long Covid programs. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

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@anneb22

Thanks for sharing! I was aware that healthy, non-smokers have been using nicotine gum to increase focus well before the pandemic. I bought some nicotine gum a while back but have been hesitant to use it for fear of any bad side effects. Gum seems like a safer starting point than going immediately to a patch though.

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Well sugar free gum chewing is beneficial to your oral hygiene because it makes you produce more saliva. Safer? I don't think there's a difference. The patches are extended release so you'll feel the benefits all day rather than only when you pop a chiclet.

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