Can nicotine patch be used as nootropic ?

In order to improve concentration and memory ?

i said nicotine patchs and not cigarettes because i guess nicotine patchs are safe and less addictive .

Right ?
Answer me plz...

PS. Is nicotine itself toxic or maybe harmful ?

It will improve concentration only if you are going through withdrawal from smoking, I don't think it will do anything but give you the addiction if you use it without a habit.

I prefer to use them as a dream aid.

I am no-smoker , but can patchs really give me the addiction also if patchs contains low concentration of nicotine ?(around 7 mg all day long time released )

PS . dream aid ?what is it ?

The patches are full of nicotine, which you know, so it definately can give you an addiction. Whether a non-smoking user will feel the urge to take up smoking is another matter. Most likely all you will get is a slight irratability for a few days after you discontinue use. The patches also give you very vivid dreams/nightmares and help me enter a lucid dreaming state if I'm having difficulty. However there are safer methods, you should search brain meta before you decide to use patches for dreaming.

Thanks you for your advices .

I could never figure out the attraction of tobacco smoking. You don't get high, but you get addicted! Then you get cancer and die.

Maybe that is the cause of my bi polar.....I really need to quit smoking, its hard after 6 years though, I have tried it cold turkey and by the end of the day I am seeing red. I am sure I could deal with that part of it, my girlfriend on the other hand could not. Even if I did put myself through the agony of quiting, I am sure I am putting myself at risk of having a stroke from anger issues.

Smoking as a cause of bipolar disorder? I highly doubt it. If anything, the opposite is probably true; tobacco contains a fair amount of lithium, which in theory (at least in my mind) should in a sense manage the disorder. It seems to me that smoking would be a means of self medicating, not a cause.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?D...Pubmed_RVDocSum

If glycemic response is the only evidence relating smoking as a cause of bipolar disorder, you essentially prove that smoking is as much a cause of bipolar disorder as eating potatoes on a regular basis. Who knows, maybe this can be a contributer to mental disorders, but I highly doubt it is the cause; if such were the case, I would suspect that with an increase in diabetes, you would see a proportional increase in bipolar disorder.

My girlfriends sister has Bi-Polar and some other mental issues and I can honestly say that nicotine will have next to no effect considering the severity of bi-polar. She thought myself and my girlfriend were working undercover for the police trying to get her arrested at one point. At another she thought her ex-partner was going to break in when they went on holiday, and finally thought her father was talking to her through a picture she has. Nicotine is the least of her issues.

Note that the glycemic index of carrots is misleading. The glycemic response test is typically based off of 50g of carbohydrate vs. 50g of glucose; to get 50g of carbohydrate from carrots, you would be ingesting many many servings. The typical serving of carrots should produce insignificant blood glucose response. Note also that the glycemic index of ice cream is significantly lower than that of potatoes, and also that glycemic response is dependent on processing and cooking method, not just the food itself.

I would have simply thought the millions of people who smoke and yet do not have bi-polar disorder would have been evidence enough???

You are trying to say that nicotine itself (i mean not smoked) can cause cancer ?

HAHA I doubt it but if the nicotine patch does cause cancer, maybe we can use marijuana to treat it

The Journal of Clinical Investigation reported (Vol. 111, pp. 43-50):
"Local administration induced a considerable growth inhibition of malignant tumors generated by inoculation of epidermal tumor cells into nude mice. Cannabinoid-treated tumors showed an increased number of apoptotic cells....
"These results support a new therapeutic approach [cannabis-based ointment] for the treatment of skin tumors."


BMI is a terrible indicator of health... My BMI is 24.4 (a mere .6 off from being "overweight"). Another 5 pound and I am officially overweight. Now this makes absolutely no sense as my body fat % as of today was 4.6%

Anyways, now back to nicotine, interesting studies going on with the synergistic combo of nicotine and galantamine~

I'm still not sure why we're talking about BMI and healthy foods = healthy brains. A statement was raised that implied nicotine caused bipolar disorder, can we get back on track?

Mea culpa! I apologize. I assumed, wrongly, that this topic included dsicussion about diet--the list of things we need to ingest, or avoid ingesting. I was wrong. Therefore, I will remove what I wrote in this thread and leave you to your discussion, and research, of the topic as is, 'nicotine'.

Its cool Lindsay, its all good, only I think we were getting out of scope a little. But as I said, nicotine is no nootropic!

are you sure ?
anyway can someone list the positive brain effects of nicotine ?
and what about galantamine , maybe a combination of both these compounds can give better results ?
and at least galantamine is better than nicotine itself ?

If it was a nootropic, then im sure the guys and gals here would be more active/vocal in this thread. Im not sure on galantaminou, but why do you think it they would work together?

coz i heard that the result of takin togheter these compounds are synergistic , that it 'll improve much more concentration , focus and mood.
is it true ?

I believe nicotine works by activating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, whereas galantamine acts on other receptors, thus using the two in combination creates synergy. I will try to find some articles that back this up later.

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/reprint/...03.063586v1.pdf

First thing I found, may be of some interest.

very interesting..

Yes I'm quite sure it's not a nootropic.
The positives and negatives are overshadowed by it's addictiveness.
Galantamine would be a better choice than nicotine.

thx life mirage .
btw i see your posts on ImmInst.org , you are very qualified .
You are a medic , right ? what kind of medic ?

Medical Doctor.
Your welcome.

Speaking from experience, only consider nicotine as a very very very last resort!

I had problems focusing and staying alert, even after trying for a year with vitamins and herbal supplements, and none of it seemed to work.

I decided to give nicotine a try (the old fashion way, not the patches). And yes it did work, immediately. Focus, alertness, attention, active thoughts were increased dramatically. I also noticed an increased memorization capacity and memorization speed. It also decreased my hours of needed sleep as well. But as all things, it wears off after tolerance is built up, so the positive effects went away in about 6 months, and the reverse began to happen. The nicotine would in turn make me tired and sleepy. I immediately stopped, because it wasnt helping.

Be careful, many people are sensitive to nicotine, and it may give you a "rush" type feeling and may trigger a panic attack if you are prone to it. Patches contain a lot more nicotine than cigarettes, so this may amplify the negative aspects of nicotine, especially if your body has never been exposed to it before. And yes, you can overdose on nicotine, and it can be fatal.

Those that are easily addicted to things (aka have addictive personalities) definitely dont even consider giving nicotine a try, because you'll be easily hooked and it will be terribly hard for you to stop using it.