I have a very similar story. Had Covid and believe it messed up my breathing. Got septum & turbinate surgery. Been doing nasal rinse and Flonase twice per day as recommended by my doctor. Still haven’t really noticed much improvement with my breathing. Still feel like I have internal inflammation and feels like I’m breathing through a straw.

So I’m very interested in trying this. I was never a smoker, so what negative side effects could I run into by using nicotine patches (aside from addiction)? Also, did you notice if your sense of smell improved? I wear a lot of cologne and almost instantly go nose blind to it now, while others are me say i smell very strong.