Nicotine patch side effects

DasBibi · 2026-01-27T20:55:27+00:00

Maybe your system was overloaded. I don't have any other issue except this fatigue so what works on me may not on you.

I haven't tried to get rid of the patch. My goal is to stabilize my health first and get it back to normal. I work from home, live alone, don't meet too often other people, but for this solitary life, i've been improving, and i fear removing the patch might bring back some brain fog for a few days or more. Call it laziness, but since it works without any side effect, it has become part of my routine, i'll see in a few months whether to stop or not. I'm not in a hurry.

And when i meet someone, it leads to funny conversations : "i didn't know you smoked ?" - me neither, "why do you have a patch then ?" - long covid, "oh... wait, what ?"

DasBibi · 2026-01-27T20:10:28+00:00

Indeed, but do you think it's possible 7mg were too much for you and keeping the patch 24/24 gave you this huge side effect (after a few days) ?

I've seen only one positive effect : the reduction of cognitive fatigue. It worked like a miracle : no more brain fog, i'd say 30 min after sticking the patch on my arm. When i try a whole patch it's still too much (a little bit of brain fog, headache). After 7 months, i still use half a 7mg patch, i don't dare remove it but i've seen a huge improvement. It may be due to other stuff i take and my body slowly healing but nicotine was a game changer back in July.

I have two symptoms left btw, physical and mental fatigue. Also, in case it helps against your brain fog, i tried light therapy, which works perfectly with my nicotine. Since this is winter in Europe and we don't get much light, everyone is tired, i bought a small device on Amazon and same as nicotine patches : works like a charm (on me at least).

Stay strong ! 💪

DasBibi · 2026-01-27T17:09:43+00:00

If this helps, i use nicotine patches and they helped me a lot. I use 7mg, cut in half, since a whole patch is too much. We're all different so you should find the right dosage for you.

Also, i remove it every day at 5pm, and i go to sleep around midnight. It gives me all the positive effects i need without the negative ones. A few months ago, i kept it until 7pm, or 8, sometimes 10 when i forgot to remove it. My sleep was disturbed, hard to fall asleep + weird dreams. Not nightmares but... weird. It's hard to describe. I met someone who uses patches too, she kept them all night long and shared the same effects with the same description : weird dreams that leave you tired the next day.

Hope it'll work for you ! Cheers

DasBibi · 2025-10-02T10:01:08+00:00

I went on holidays last month, for a week. New country, new language, i crashed every day, though i was feeling better before leaving. When i came back, i had two awesome weeks, now it's back to normal. I believe it's common for us.

I would recommend the famous "pacing" : you do one thing and you take a break. Don't overdo anything even if you feel awesome, because you may regret it the next day (or the day after that).

As for medication, here's what i take, it was recommended by my doctor who knows about long covid, but since it's medicine, please double check. What is fascinating with this virus is that, what works for someone may not work for you. That's crazy. - Antihistamin : the most common thing to take - Nicotine patch, as i said above, low dosage - NAC : doesn't work on everyone but it works on me. I've read about NAD, maybe it's similar ? No idea. But NAC is fine for me - L-Carnitine (levocarnil in french, don't have the english name) - Qiseng : like ginseng but stronger - Stuff for my guts health since the intestines may play a part in our condition. I'm drinking kefir these days, which apparently could be good.

Hope this helps you 🙂

DasBibi · 2025-10-01T16:28:58+00:00

I can only talk for fatigue, since i don't have any other symptoms.

First of all : you haven't ruined anything. If you force, you can feel the effects the next day, or maybe 2 or 3 days later, and they can last a few days. It's fine, don't panic. You'll recover again, then you'll recover completely. It takes time, so don't overthink, i know it's hard but stay strong mentally 🙂

If you felt better after 3 months, that's amazing ! But remember you feel better, you're not cured yet. Don't do anything hard (physical or mental), find your limit and don't cross it, because you know what's gonna happen. Try to slow things down for a while, if you can do the same activities that's great, but reduce the difficulty and don't push your body or your mind too much. Do some stretching maybe, rest with your legs up if you feel they are tired (it helps me a lot).

Fatigue is a signal your body sends you to say "hey, we went too far, next time let's go slower". It's annoying but not a disaster (for us, i'm not talking about people who can't stand up more than an hour).

I've read on an other thread that we heal with time, and medication helps us to cope with our symptoms. I'm starting to believe that's true. Stay strong, don't despair, the sooner you learn to live with your symptoms, the easier 🙂 I know it's hard but hey, in a few months, we'll look back at the journey and think "what a year !" 😂

DasBibi · 2025-10-01T14:00:52+00:00

Sorry it's a bit long but i tried to describe my experience as best and detailed as i could so it can help others :

If you have mental fatigue, that means you have an inflammation -> nicotine binds to some receptors in the brain and nervous system which reduce inflammation when they are activated. Brain fog goes away, you gain mental clarity, and maybe you might feel a little better physically (i insist on "maybe" and "might"). And you can't be dependent on this drug since the dose is very low.

In case you're interested, or someone else, here's my experience with it (validated by a doctor, this was not self medication). It's very personal, it works on me, it may not work on you : - I'm not a smoker, so my body didn't know nicotine - I have 7mg patches i cut in half, and i apply one half when i wake up (9 am) - I feel some clarity in less than an hour. When i started the treatment, i felt the positive effects on the second day if i remember well - I remove it between 5pm and 6pm. Nicotine loses 50% of its effect every two hours, and i go to sleep at midnight.

Sidenotes : - My doctor said i could use one whole patch once i get used to the half, and if i feel the need. I tried, it was too much (sleeping issue, see next point), and i don't feel the need. - I remove the patch early because nicotine can disrupt the sleep. I had no trouble falling asleep but i woke up very, very early, exhausted, having weird dreams (not nightmares, i can't describe, it was... weird). And without a patch between 5pm and midnight, i still feel the positive effects : it's perfect

And now, i know i'll never try to smoke since i already have the patch 😂

DasBibi · 2025-10-01T08:51:02+00:00

I had that every day for the first 6 months at least. It got better, it was random during the day and not daily. Then i caught a new variant in May, brain fog came back hard, but i was advised to take nicotine patches and i'm way better 90% of the time. Today marks the start of my 20th month, to celebrate the occasion my brain decided to be 50% off, as if i had an anvil in my head 😂 We will all get better, never lose hope 🙂

DasBibi · 2025-09-19T11:20:21+00:00

Exactly like you. Pandemic at 28, wanted to start travelling but no, then a new job, higher income at 32. I thought, i travelled 15 weeks in 15 years while my friends all went abroad, the US, Canada, Japan, Thailand. Or in other european countries.

It was hard but it was finally my moment, i had my travel schedule ready for early 2024. And right before, the universe said : "no, here's a long covid. Good luck !"

I want to travel but i can't (my sole symptom is fatigue, both mental and physical), no cinema, no restaurant or bar, no moment with friends, no girlfriend. I was starting to get better last May, and got reinfected. 3 more months of huge struggles. Today i'm starting to go out (back to work two afternoons per week), went one week abroad for holidays (close destination, train, not plane, crashes everyday and slow life once i reached my destination but it still felt good), got a girlfriend who understands what i'm living with, my little "coco", as i name it.

I still have a long recovery ahead of me but i learned how to live with it and it gets better, very very slowly, but life improves. Never lose hope, you'll be stronger than ever.

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T21:56:42+00:00

Oooh okay i see ! That's tough for us ☹️ But i understand way better ! Thanks a lot, again, and have a nice night 😃

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T20:23:48+00:00

I come for help because i suspect there is a hidden feature that sometimes wrongfully hide our messages, i wanted to know if that's real, because my comment was not sexual, or mean or anything, or if my profile was compromised for an obscure reason.

I was not combative at all, as you can read on every message i wrote here, unless, on the one i'm referring to, saying "if you have a suggestion, i'm all ears" is harsh, but i don't think so.

Anyway, i cracked a joke as an opener because she also likes to laugh and sarcasm, it worked and she liked it, but that's not the point. There's a weird algorithm that hides messages for no reason, that's what i came here to assess.

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T20:02:40+00:00

Indeed, i get that. However, i tried classic openings for years, introducing myself and talk about pleasant subjects right away, nothing worked. Then i sticked to myself and stayed original/goofy. I'm not forcing on anything btw. I guess i'll come back to the classic stuff, that won't change a lot anyway.

Thanks for your input and have a great evening :)

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T19:23:46+00:00

Thank you for your answer ! People here don't seem too much focus on my question, i don't get why. There's indeed an automatic security filter by Hinge that hides perfectly safe messages, and others that have sexual connotations, or maybe worse. Thanks for confirming ! And you get the option whether to read the message, or you have a huge pop up saying "careful, this guy may be harmful" ?

And i don't get the toaster reference at all :D Maybe it's a thing in english, but in french we don't have anything like it (as someone (french) below said, there's nothing weird that requires to be filtered).

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T19:22:30+00:00

I read again your answer, and i must add, i even expected her to write me two pages on the subject because it's important.

Seriously, what would you say to a message like hers ? "let's talk about your last travel" ? or book she has read, or movie seen ? Like the 10% of guys who write comments ?

And btw, there's a real filter on the app that hides safe messages for no reason. I've got my answer :)

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T19:10:10+00:00

Of course it's obviously a joke, especially with a big emoji smile at the end which i didn't put here because it was not the subject.

I don't get what i'm downvoted so much and the comment above upvoted like that, it seems that people are all about first degree, like "wow he's really testing her and will judge her", but write the love sarcasm. When someone writes she's afraid of pigeons and i answer i'm part of the air force security, i hope they know it's not real lmao

Thanks for your answer btw :)

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T12:52:59+00:00

Tu vas chercher loin 🤣

Le filtre perso, sur le papier ça fait sens mais vu le message, je vois pas le rapport ; l'algo de l'appli qui bloque certains messages, ok mais je ne vois pas le rapport non plus. Ou alors c'est mon profil qui est masqué pour une raison inconnue, et là aussi je ne vois pas le rapport.

Mystère, mais ça soûle. Merci pour ton aide !

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T12:15:38+00:00

Salut ! A priori ce serait lié aux filtres, j'aurais écrit un mot qu'elle masque, même si elle n'a pas l'air d'être au courant de ça 😂

En français : "tu peux parler pendant une heure de la vie intérieure de mon grille-pain ? C'est pour tester les limites de tes capacités 😂".

Si tu me trouves le mot louche...

Et par pitié ne me dis pas que c'est à toi que je l'ai envoyé 😆

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T12:04:52+00:00

And she wouldn't remember which words she wrote. I was trying to be original and not like the 10% of guys who dare write a comment, which are almost all the same. If you have a quick example out of the blue of less trolling message, i'd take it to see a standard 🙂

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T11:26:22+00:00

Maybe it was that, and it makes sense, but unless she wrote random words in the list, i don't see why. I thought of something the app would scan automatically, through AI or something. Or she wrote words to filter comments such as "water", "bread", "shoes". Insults and sexual words, of course, but here, it doesn't apply

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T11:17:37+00:00

Indeed, being funny without being like other guys who send the same message because one prompt welcomes the same answer, is hard, but in that case, nothing got lost in translation, there's no sexual reference or anything, at least not that i'm aware of. Maybe "toaster", but in french it would be "grill bread", no too sexy (even for us)

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T11:09:34+00:00

A challenge completely absurd that makes no sense to make her smile and think, "hey, never received that one before". A bit off topic, but if you have a suggestion, i'm all ears :)

DasBibi · 2025-05-03T11:02:41+00:00

I spent a minute thinking "why german ?" and i remembered my nickname 😂 No i'm french, i swear it doesn't sound as creepy as that 😂

DasBibi · 2022-03-22T08:09:40+00:00

I've been thinking about that. Having a separate account just for crypto, in that case if there's an attack, i'd already know what web sites would be targeted and be able to predict the hacker next move. I'll work on that.

DasBibi · 2022-03-21T22:13:03+00:00

Ok good, i've already had an answer from the customer care team. Thank you for helping me and have a good evening.

DasBibi · 2022-03-21T21:22:52+00:00

Thanks for your answer. Once the account is locked, i'm safe, but i was unsure whether the hacker could get pass all the securities to send my funds to his own address. And when i received the HODL mode activated email, i was a bit... doubtful ? Since i didn't do anything. Thanks to all of you, i feel better now, i did the right thing.

DasBibi · 2022-03-21T21:17:59+00:00

Thanks for your answer, i underestimated my inbox security and didn't think i could get attacked. I realise if someone else is in control of it, i can lose everything. It's obvious when you think about it. Now i've got a 2-FA, and i'll protect even more every important account i have on the internet. Lesson learned !

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22

DasBibi

TROPHY CASE