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Nicotine Patches?
Hello fellow, Parkinson’s people! May God bless you all. I just wanted to ask if anybody has had any success or failure using nicotine patches to help your symptoms? A friend of mine wants me to try it, but I wanted to do research first and ask on this forum also.
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11 Replies
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I’ve never actually heard that nicotine patches can help with symptoms. But I’m currently looking for anything that will improve my mom’s condition, so it will be very interesting to read if anyone has had experience with nicotine patches.
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Good morning John-Robinson,
In January I asked this very question of my PD doctor. Hope this helps!
“Dear Dr. R—
I have two friends who think I should try nicotine patches for my PD. What is your opinion of the nicotine patch approach?
His reply: Oh my…I am VERY skeptical that nicotine is of any use for a person with Parkinson disease. There is no evidence for a benefit, only conjecture. Plus, nicotine is very addictive stimulant. I don’t recommend it to anyone except cigarette smokers or tobacco chewers who are trying to quit. It is at least safer than cigarettes and chewing tobacco.”
God bless,
Greg Phelps
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I used nicotine patches for a few years until I finally gave up. The idea with nicotine patches is that it has a similar effect as dopamine does. Personally I never felt it really did much so I gave up. There is a clinic in Paris which uses nicotine as an alternative. But as I also have said on this forum, Mannitol powdered sugar has really been helpful, more so than any medication. I also realize that Parkinsons reacts very differently from one patient to another.
Give the nicotine patches a try if you want, but I haven’t met anyone who has used it for long.
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Clinical trials with nicotine patches have shown that they are NOT effective for PD symptoms; if anything, they make you feel worse and can cause skin irritation. So, if you seem to experience short-term improvement, it is probably a placebo effect.
https://evidence.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/EVIDoa2200311
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John, I started using nicotine patches around 6 weeks ago and I felt the effect right away, same day if not immediately. This is not a replacement for c/l such as Rytary that I use but rather is used in conjunction with it. The symptom that I hoped to eliminate was fatigue. The patches have solved this problem. I can now stand throughout an entire church service, walk further and faster (now over 3.0 mph) and do not feel like just sitting on the couch watching television. I do not expect it to cure my Parkinson’s or even delay the progression, but I sure do feel better and am more active than I have been in years. If this is the placebo effect I am happy to pay for it. I know it won’t work for everyone just as Mannitol did not work for me, but for the cost of a patch it is worth trying. You will know right away if it works if you are like me. If it does not work you can give the rest of the box to a smoker and maybe save a life. (Note: I have tried several brands and only the CVS brand worked. I am not sure why. They come as part of the Nicotine Transdermal System. Step One is 21mgs, Step 2 is 14 mgs and Step 3 is 7 mgs. Cost is about $40 for 14 patches and less with coupons. I started with 7 mgs and moved to 14mgs. One patch a day.) I was resistant to trying this at first since there are very few good studies on nicotine and Parkinson’s since no company is going to get rich on nicotine patches, thus doctors will not recommend them although that is beginning to change. In any event they work for me and I pray that they will keep me feeling as good as they have since I started on them.
Best regards, Clay
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I have used a daily nicotine patch(7mg) for over 9 months and I believe it has helped my energy level and has made my parkinsonian symptoms less. Helps mainly by reducing the brain “fog” I was experiencing.
Nicotine is NOT addictive as many medical docs think, it is the OTHER chemicals that are allowed to be put in tobacco products that are addictive (the added pyrines and up to 600 different chemicals) put in cigarettes.
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Okay, I’m not expert in the field, but a short Google search suggests that nicotine IS addictive. Very addictive, in fact. Here’s a line from the website of the American Lung Association: “Research suggests that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol.” (https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/health-effects/nicotine)
BTW, the fact that a substance is addictive does not mean it shouldn’t be used medicinally. One has to weigh the pros and cons. The main question, I’d say, is what does research say about the effect of nicotine on PD symptoms, and how good that research is.
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Here’s some research I did. Hope it helps.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/does-nicotine-patches-help-par-hnJcWxMqS2CXWp9C70BhAQ#0 -
Hello friends. I used nicotine patches for 3 months and never felt any improvement in anything. You have to be careful with so many recommendations made on social media; I think they are more harmful than healing. Everyone now has the cure for everything: Mucuna, vitamins with the whole alphabet, all the juices, legumes, peptides, etc. I particularly stopped taking all that and I think I feel better. I only take Carbidopa-Levodopa 25/100 three pills a day and a 10mg antidepressant daily.
I stopped stressing so much with so many supplements. What I am doing is, 3 times a week, 90 minutes of hyperbaric chamber, 3 minutes of cryotherapy, and 15 minutes of red light bed. I’ve already had 17 sessions. So far, I haven’t felt any change; they say from what I’ve read that the effects start to be felt from the 20th session onwards. I’ll tell you later. Greetings.
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Statistically, smokers have a lower incidence of PD than non-smokers. There has been conjecture that nicotine might somehow be beneficial in this regard, although clinical trials have not borne that out. Early in my PD journey, e.g. 2015, and with the consent of my neurologist, I tried the patch and I felt like it helped me. It seemed to smooth out symptoms throughout the day. I liked the idea of a steady release of nicotine from the patch. Eventually, however, I developed a skin sensitivity to the adhesive in the patch, which persisted no matter which brand I tried. I then tried the gum and lozenges, but they seemed to give me a quick jolt of nicotine, which was not comfortable and I abandoned the whole nicotine adventure. I have since read that there is evidence that the low levels of carbon monoxide smokers get from their cigarettes stimulates some sort of a protective effect in neurons, but it has not been confirmed. At any rate, don’t take up smoking to treat your PD!
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I have started using nicotine 7mg patches a couple of weeks ago. I told my neurologist about and he said there could be something to it as it does offer an anticholinergic affect but he couldn’t vouch for or against. The way I think it has helped me is better sleep. Insomnia has been my worse symptom by far. Besides feeling crummy after not sleeping, it exacerbates all the other symptoms. I don’t get pepped up from using nicotine, quite the opposite. I also started taking large dose selenium most days and incorporating brazil nuts into my diet.
Since the Covid fiasco, I’m very sheptical to believe anything mainstream science exposes. Lie to me once shame on you, lie to me twice…… I don’t believe every snake oil remedy either. However, I did find some research from a doctor expousing the benefits of nicotine use for Parkinson’s and for the treatment of Covid. Many people don’t know it, but there is nicotine in the night shade vegetables; Eggplant containing the most, I believe. Although, I beleive that I have found benefit from nicotine, there are two other remedies I find help more than anything; fast walking(the longer the better) followed by rest and low to no sugar/carbs in my diet. Besides that, being still and quieting my mind when overwhelmed or jacking my brain up with loud music and dancing when needed, helps(no one sees me dancing, it isn’t pretty). Most of all, keeping faith in an all loving and powerful God and his son, Jesus Christ!
My neurologist told me 3 years ago when I was officially diagnosed that the next few years of my life were not going to be my best. I got angry and discouraged when he said that, but then took it as a challlenge. I am determined to prove him wrong and so far I’ve done pretty well. After losing my ICU RN position a couple of years ago due to my PD, I was quite lost, but I just turned 60 years old, and now I know there is life after PD. Now, if I could just stay away from Tillamook Peanut Butter Chocolate ice cream:) Another quick thing that might help. I feel better when I eat nothing but crispy beef bacon and a fried egg or two in the morning. The sugar really is a huge problem in my humble opinion and our brains are made out of cholesterol so fry those eggs in a lot of grass fed butter. Best of luck to all of you! As they say, this is not medical advice, but it sure does help me.
Barry H.
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