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Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

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Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#41

Post by lolc »

> The researchers will administer nicotine patches to some of the participants for a period of 4 to 5 months,

Wow. Hooking participants on nicotine for research seems like an extreme measure to research this. I know that nicotine-patches cannot be compared to cigarette-hits in addictiveness. But still, I take it as given that a few participants will start to smoke tobacco after this.

Since the effect promises to be really big though, I'll accept the argument that it's worth to study it. I just wonder how we'll deal with a positive result. Will the at-risk population actually be advised to take nicotine preventatively?

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#42

Post by ficklepickle »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #36
helsinki wrote: post #17

As someone who has been wearing nicotine patches every day for several years, the thought of the general population buying up my life source is terrifying. I now have a 400 day supply arriving tomorrow.

> As someone who has been wearing nicotine patches every day for several years I think you're the first person I've encountered who desires to use nicotine patches indefinitely. Isn't the idea usually to gradually wean off of them instead of just continuing to use them forever?

To be fair, he didn't say he desires to use them. Just that he does. There can be many reasons why it is not a good time to discontinue nicotine. For example, if one is at a risk of returning to cigarettes. In that case, it is a much safer alternative.

Myself, I vaporise moderate amounts of nicotine. It is not part of my identity, it just got me off cigarettes. I have no plans to reduce or discontinue my usage at this time. A stable mental state and staying off cigarettes is more important right now.

Abstinence is a noble goal, but it is not always practical. In those cases, reducing the harm is desirable.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#43

Post by ficklepickle »

Same with meth. Anecdotally, apparently users are resistant to respiratory viruses. The expected covid outbreak on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver never materialized, despite widespread lack of masks and social distancing .

I can't imagine anyone is too eager to do that study. If I was covid health care worker, I'd probably be on a low dose of amphetamines right now. Purely as prophylaxis, of course.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#44

Post by watwut »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #39
watwut wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never heard about that and definitely did not noticed anything like that when I stopped smoking.

How long and heavy you smoked probably matters, and if you aren't expecting it you may not notice your sense of smell and taste slowly getting sharper over a few months. Personally, quitting smoking led me to eat far less fast food, as I noticed how terrible much of it tasted.

Parent claimed this: Regaining sense of smell is one of the major changes that ex-smokers notice after quitting.

Slow change over course of moths that you don't notice unless you know about it is hardly that.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#45

Post by tylerjwilk00 »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #28
dmix wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All diseases cause inflammation, it's the bodies basic response to everything, like cuts and whatnot. That said, this may also be why they figured out certain steroids helped COVID patients by reducing this hyper reaction. I rememebr reading some steroids became a frontline treatment at some point mid way through the year at certain medical centers. But any pathologist would have known immediately about the risks of…

For sure, but severe covid seems to involve a disproportionate amount of inflammation that itself causes organ damage. I think the medical term is a cytokine storm?

Indeed. It appears Cytokine Storms [1] are a big threat with Covid-19.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#46

Post by boomboomsubban »

watwut wrote: post #44
boomboomsubban wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long and heavy you smoked probably matters, and if you aren't expecting it you may not notice your sense of smell and taste slowly getting sharper over a few months. Personally, quitting smoking led me to eat far less fast food, as I noticed how terrible much of it tasted.

Parent claimed this: Regaining sense of smell is one of the major changes that ex-smokers notice after quitting. Slow change over course of moths that you don't notice unless you know about it is hardly that.

Major changes that happen gradually are incredibly hard to notice if you aren't expecting them, and even if you did notice you might just think it's because you got over a cold or spring is here or similar.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#47

Post by sgtnoodle »

bzb6 wrote: post #38
sgtnoodle wrote: post #18

Lol, I've been saying this since July. Severe covid is due to organ inflammation from overaggressive immune system response, and nicotine is an immune system suppressant. The one episode of Dr. House where is was actually sarcoidosis (a systemic inflammatory disease), the patient didn't have any symptoms because of his use of chewing tobacco to manage his weight for wrestling.

Do we currently have no medications that can stop that inflammation from occurring?

Corticosteroids, hydroxychloroquine, methotrexate, and I'm sure dozens of others. Immune system suppression isn't something one should do without supervision of a doctor, though. Notably, most effective drugs have non-trivial side effects or cause their own long term damage.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#48

Post by ipsum2 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #30
ipsum2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking cessation lozenges are kinda gross, they mimic the taste of smoking.

The point is to be unappealing otherwise there will be no cessation.

Right, but it would be bad to use lozenges if you didn't smoke before, which was the parent's point.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#49

Post by watwut »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #46
watwut wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parent claimed this: Regaining sense of smell is one of the major changes that ex-smokers notice after quitting. Slow change over course of moths that you don't notice unless you know about it is hardly that.

Major changes that happen gradually are incredibly hard to notice if you aren't expecting them, and even if you did notice you might just think it's because you got over a cold or spring is here or similar.

"ajor changes that ex-smokers notice after quitting" is something completely different then "Major changes [...] incredibly hard to notice".

If it is hard to notice, then it can't be major thing ex-smokers notice.

Re: Another French Study Looks Into The Use of Nicotine Against Covid-19

#50

Post by nubiius »

ficklepickle wrote: post #43

Same with meth. Anecdotally, apparently users are resistant to respiratory viruses. The expected covid outbreak on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver never materialized, despite widespread lack of masks and social distancing . I can't imagine anyone is too eager to do that study. If I was covid health care worker, I'd probably be on a low dose of amphetamines right now. Purely as prophylaxis, of course.

Great, but meth isn't the drug of choice for the DTES so how is this relevant?
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