Long Covid, ME/CFS, PEM and Nicotine Patches Success Story
Long Covid, ME/CFS, PEM and Nicotine Patches Success Story
Misha G.
I know this is long, but I wanted to provide the details to others that I tried looking for when I first started Nicotine Patches.
Caught Covid in late May 2024. Had multiple ambiguous symptoms - headaches, nausea, altered menstrual cycle,
Acne (never had before), gastrointestinal issues, unusual fatigue, multiple swollen joints - for a couple months until ME/CFS and PEM hit hard mid October.
Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome was my worst symptom. I went from being an athlete who worked out an hour and a half to two hours a day, 5-6 days per week to being bed bound most days.
I quit my job mid September with no backup or disability. I didn’t even know I was sick yet. I was just struggling so bad with energy and the stress from my job.
A Kaiser doctor did diagnose me with LC at the end of November after conducting every test in the book for other causes.
I was essentially disabled for eight weeks straight before researching nicotine patches and deciding to try them.
I basically did 7 mg for three weeks:
Day 1, I felt no effects.
Day 2, I had roughly 20% reduction in symptoms and in the evening that day, felt almost completely normal for the first time in months.
Day 3, I had more energy, but felt a general malaise feeling. That day, however, I did get my tetanus, pneumonia, flu, and Covid booster shots, so that was likely why.
Day 4, upped dose to 14 mg - similar to day three, but had nausea by the evening.
Day 5, did 14 mg again - super rough. Bedridden most the day. Zero energy, had nausea and no appetite.
Day 6, dropped back down to 7 mg - felt almost completely like myself the whole day. I even worked out for the first time in over a month.
Day 7, rough, basically bedridden all day.
Day 8, started a little better in the morning and moved up to completely normal by the late afternoon.
Day 9, felt great. Even chaperoned a field trip that included a 2-mile hike.
Day 10, rougher, mostly bedridden.
Day 11, physically felt a bit better, but emotionally had a rough day - took my new dog to the vet where the last time I had been there was to put my old dog down.
Day 12, felt almost normal again.
Day 13, felt great and got another workout in.
Day 14, felt great.
Days 15-21, continued from 80% better to 100% better.
I took about a week off the patches. I had no issues, relapses, nor side effects. I was planning to fly to get my kids back from their dad’s on January 3rd. Given the proposed mechanism of action for the nicotine patches and that they worked for me, I believe they may be preventative. I decided to use 3.5 mg patches a couple days before I flew and for a few weeks after my kids got back to help with preventing infection with Covid again.
At this point, it has been nearly 2 months since I started the patches. I feel completely back to normal and some days better than I did before long Covid. I believe I feel better than before due to taking NMN, NR, and NAD+. I struggled with minor fatigue before long Covid due to autoimmune. I’m also 36 and a single mom of two boys.
Things to note about the patches:
* I used Rugby brand.
* I cut patches with no issues.
* When I felt sick from the higher dose (14 mg) of patches, it was a delayed effect. I felt fine in the morning and didn’t feel nauseous with a headache until the evening.
* I do have a genetic marker that causes me to metabolize and build tolerances to substances quickly. The latter may be why I was able to start at 7 mg with no issues.
* I quit smoking over 10 years ago and I smoked for eight years.
* There were a couple days where I felt off and my heart rate was funky while on the patches.
It definitely made me nervous, but I pushed through and everything was OK.