[michelpp]

I caught covid for the first time in jan of 2024, the illness itself wasn't that bad for me, like a common cold, but the aftereffects lingered for months. Eventually my ability to smell and taste came back in a few weeks, but the mental brain fog would not let go. I would sleep over 12 hours a night and still be tired. According to my fitness tracker my daily step and energy burn counts were cut in half. It was so bad I forgot my own phone number at one point and my gmail password. Looking at a screen of code was impossible, I couldn't focus for more than a few seconds. My friends commented on the noticeable changes in my acuity and behavior.

Based on some online anecdotal evidence, I decided to try nicotine "therapy". I bought 4mg smoking cessation mints, cut them in half with a pill cutter, and took 10-12 2mg doses per day at roughly one hour intervals. The effect was immediate and brain fog lifted in less than a week. It was like coming out of a long dream, or like I had been stoned for six months and then suddenly I was sober again. My fitness stats have exceeded where I was before I got sick.

This is just my own anecdotal experience, and there have definitely been some downsides. The mints are about $50/month. My dosage has ticked up a bit and I'm certainly addicted, at least once a day I take a full mint instead of a half for an extra kick. I'd like to taper off, but I'm not sure if I do how to know if any effects are withdrawal or resumption of the covid brain fog. I have a light caffeine habit (2 cups every morning) and I don't see the mints being any more harmful than the coffee, so I think I'm just going to stick with it.

[ogig]

I suggest you to never try a real cigarette if you haven't already. Given that you are already addicted to nicotine the kick of the real deal could be too much to handle. And you don't want that habit, talking by experience. It's good that you found a drug that helps you, just don't inhale it.

[keymon-o]

I'd never suggest anyone to try a cigarette, but from my experience being addicted to nicotine is not easily translated to being addicted to cigarettes.

It takes a really different state of mind to start a cigarette habit especially due to awful taste and effect of ingesting a strong concentration of chemicals on your body that has nothing to do with dosed concentration of 'mostly just' nicotine.

It may be anecdotal and subjective reasoning, but I battled vape addiction differently than cigarette addiction. I'd classify tobacco addiction more of an emotional addiction, while vaping was more based on nicotine addiction which was more mechanical and predictable than the former.

[jovial_cavalier]

I have a similar average intake to you, and I've been on it much longer, about 3.5 years. I have had periods where I go off the stuff entirely, including a whole month and a half earlier this year. I've also had periods where my intake has spiked much higher.

The withdrawal symptoms are actually strangely pleasant to me as long as I'm in the right mood and have something interesting to focus on. You will get irritable at things you shouldn't, but as long as you keep that in mind, you should be able to stop yourself from totally flying off the handle. In terms of "fogginess," I find that it's actually mostly in your head. As in, I feel like my mind is dulled, yet when I present myself with a task I somehow find it solved to about the same standard that I'm used to. If you end up feeling foggy coming off of the stuff, give yourself at least a week or two to adjust.

[deinonychus]

>The withdrawal symptoms are actually strangely pleasant to me as long as I'm in the right mood and have something interesting to focus on.

i actually find this true, too. i’m dependent on nicotine lozenges and if i’m out and about and for some reason i don’t have my nicotine, i feel pretty locked in and focused on the task at hand (probably so i can hurry up and finish and access some nicotine). i often feel a bit chatty, too. maybe i haven’t tried being off it long enough to feel irritable. but this interesting headspace makes me optimistic that maybe quitting won’t be so bad, and that maybe the nicotine is somehow depressing my arousal and i’d be better without it (all the time).

[xtiansimon]

Curious, have you noticed any change in gum health?

I was chewing the gum (not mints) for half a year going from 2mg to 4mg several years ago. I experienced receding gum line from inflammation.

[deinonychus]

not him, but i use the amazon brand lozenges. they’re mints you tuck like a zyn, rather than gum. much less spicier in my mouth and doesn’t irritate my tummy like gum did. haven’t noticed any mouth issues but im sure a dentist wouldn’t approve

[mentos]

Out of curiosity what brand of gum did you choose? A few years back I had tried nicotine gum to see if it might encourage my sense of smell to improve, it’s been muted since Covid. It helped but the larger effect I noticed was one day in particular my word recall was phenomenal where usually I struggle and always grasping.

[fragmede]

I caught Covid march 2020 and it broke my brain. watching Netflix was too difficult. I'm better now through a wide variety of things, but nicotine, via patches for me (half of a 7mg patch - don't want to get used to too much), gave me my life back. That, and a vagus nerve stimulator.

[zingababba]

Lol, exact same story here except I caught covid very early days and started nicotine in 2023 after I stumbled upon the trials and anecdotes for the first time. Although unlike you I have tried quitting a few times and my brain fog absolutely comes back. The reason I would prefer not to do nicotine is for me (it seems like this is not the case for you) there is a very clear inflammatory aspect I cannot deny which impacts my exercise.

What is actually quite interesting to me is over the two years since I started nicotine I have grown increasingly disgusted with caffeine to the point where I just prefer not to take it any longer.