Has anyone used nicotine patches to improve attentiveness and concentration?

During one of my searches I came across this thread on another board that deals with nootropics: (err, crap, since I'm a newb I cannot post URLs, it's from the "immortality institute" site). The person talks about using nicotine patches as a substitute for adderall XR and I was wondering if this was practical. He also discussed stacking galantamine and nicotine patches but never posted a followup - would this be safe?

Thanks for your input once again.

It is well established that nicotine improves various aspects of attention and concentration:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...xt%20Word%5D%29

The problem lies in its addictiveness, and the question of whether the pros (possibly enhanced attention and concentration) of using a nicotine patch for a non-smoker outweigh the cons (addictiveness that may make you a slave for life to the nicotine patch).

Are you willing to be a slave to the patch?

if it's as safe as vitamine c, i would be.

to my knowledge, nicotine is safe (though there is such a thing as nicotine intoxication). It's the addictiveness that's the main problem.

I guess it depends on how the patch affects me.. If it improves my quality of life to the extent that I suspect a concentration enhancing substance would, then I suppose.

Do you know if there would be any problems using it with galantamine?

There won't be any problem. Out of curiousity, where are you getting your galantamine? Smart-nutrition.net sells it, but they package it themselves and there seems no way to verify purity.

Nitcotin will screw with your head. It causes chemical changes in the brain.

Theres other ways to improve concentration, this is not the best way.

I remmeber reading an obscure paper that stated rats given the equivalent of a cigarette and a coffee first thing in the morning showed increased life span. Not a popular study really.
I know that nicotine is also used as a anti-oestrogen.

I bought some nicotine gum today super cheap! (i work in a pharmacy)



I'll report back soon on how it goes...

As I posted in a previous forum topic, addiction to nicotine isn't just having an addiction with no real physical side-effects. Rather, there are significant effects associated with purely obtained nicotine (with no tars associated with it). Nicotine in rats has shown to prevent neurogenesis, particularly in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (important for aspects of certain "memory"). Also, apotosis is increased as shown by pyknotic cells in the dentate gyrus and the CA fields and other prominent areas.

You may think you are getting only "benefits" with increased arousal/attention and no adverse effects. The reality is that you are, including the addiction itself.

There are other modes of action that can be taken to increase arousal.

Not to mention that nicotine is a stimulant which speeds up the CNS. This has a whole array of problems associated with it, such as death in prolonged use.

Addiction to nicotine in other forms (gum, tobacco) seems more likely than by the patch. Although, its cognitive effects seem more likely to be experienced in the other forms, as well.