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Sarah14-Letting you know about nicotine patch

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/15/2008 1:42 PM (GMT 0)
Sarah14, you asked for me to let you know about the nicotine patch and if I think it is helping.  I do feel that it is helping.  I started the nico patch and eating fiber wafers for breakfast the same day.  Since then I feel that I am seeing improvement.  Saturday and Sunday I felt great!  Sunday I did not have a movement of any kind.  Today I am bloated big time, but then Saturday night I had my first bit of red meat.  I ate a bit of meatloaf and then yesterday I ate 3/4th's of a hamburger and a small piece of chocolate cake for daughters bday.  This morning a bit uncomfortable, bloated, and 6 movements.  But I am feeling a bit better.  Was exciting Saturday and Sunday to feel as good as I did!

 

Gigi1227

 

Posted 9/15/2008 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
Just wondering what your doctor says about nicotine patch... I am at my wit's end- nothing is working at this point and I am willing to try almost anything.

Do you feel any side effects?
Posted 9/15/2008 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
does that really work? i heard about a study that uses cigarettes and/or marijuana. i can understand how the second one works but how does nicotine help im curious?? like what does it do to help you? im not sure if i can write about marijuana i'll look but if im not suppose to then my bad
Posted 9/15/2008 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
Just thought i'd post this up, a study from 2005...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/35173.php

Carbon Monoxide Helps Shut Down The Intestinal Inflammation That Causes Ulcerative Colitis
20 Dec 2005

Doctors have long known that smokers rarely suffer from a common form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) called ulcerative colitis, but they didn't know why. A new study in the December 19 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine might help explain this apparent resistance. Scott Plevy and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh now show that carbon monoxide (CO), a component of cigarette smoke, helps shut down the intestinal inflammation that causes ulcerative colitis.

CO is best known as a toxic air pollutant, but small amounts of this gas are also produced in the human body as a normal by-product of metabolism, suggesting that the effects of CO must not be all bad. High dose CO gas is lethal, because it robs the body of life-sustaining oxygen. It is this asphyxiant property of CO that has earned it a bad reputation. But recent scientific studies have shown that CO -- at least at low concentrations -- has a redeeming quality: it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.

It is this quality, according to Plevy and colleagues, that allowed CO to ease the symptoms of IBD in mice. The group traced the action of inhaled CO to a protein that is produced by immune cells called interleukin (IL)-12. IL-12 is normally produced during infection and helps activate the immune cells that fight off the invading pathogens. But chronic production of IL-12 in the gut also drives the inflammation that causes ulcerative colitis. Inhaled CO inhibited the production of IL-12, short-circuiting the disease-causing inflammation.

The researchers are now trying to unravel the specific cellular components that are required for CO to inhibit IL-12. In the meantime, Plevy thinks that inhaled CO might provide some relief for patients with ulcerative colitis. But non-smokers with IBD shouldn't necessarily break out the Marlboros, as cigarette smoking is a risk factor not only for heart disease and cancer but also for Crohn's disease, another form of IBD.

Nickey Henry
[email protected]
Journal of Experimental Medicine
http://www.jem.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/35173.php
Posted 9/15/2008 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, my doctor did put me back on the nicotine patch. Here is some info that may help you:

http://ibdcrohns.about.com/od/ucandnicotine/Ulcerative_colitis_and_Nicotine.htm

And this bit of info from www.medicinenet.com/ulcerative_colitis/article.htm

It has long been observed that the risk of ulcerative colitis appears to be higher in nonsmokers and in ex-smokers. In certain circumstances, patients improve when treated with nicotine.

My husband and I quit smoking March 11, 2008. I actually started flaring mid-May even though at the time I had no idea what was happening. I was officially diagnosised 8/25/08.

Hope this helps. I do not advise by any means to start smoking or if you have quit smoking to go back to it. The nicotine patch may be helping me right now. Either that or the fiber wafer or both.

Gigi1227
Posted 9/16/2008 3:55 AM (GMT 0)
I had my first flare within a year of quitting a pack a day habit. Then was diagnosed with UC a few months later. I only recently started using the patch (21mg; the strongest ones) to get rid of this mild-moderate flare that has been going on for many months. It really helps me. I stopped using the patches for a while, but the Pred, Asacol, Imuran alone weren't doing it. I wouldn't go back to smoking even to get rid of this disease, but the patches do help. Another help for me is VSL#3, a probiotic. Good luck with it!
Posted 9/16/2008 11:31 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you jenjim - I am glad to know that. I too am taking a probiotic along w/ all the others. I am like you, don't want to go back to smoking - love the freedom from the cigarette - but if I have to have the patch the rest of my life then so bit it.

Gigi1227

By the way, is your husbands name Jim? Just curious! My husbands name is Jim as well!
Posted 9/16/2008 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the update, Gigi. I'm glad something seems to be helping you.

I've got a cold and am feeling all stuff up and yucky. I haven't had a cigarette since yesterday at 3 p.m.though which is really good for me. I'm trying not to have any since I'm not feeling good and don't want to feel worse, but I don't know how long that will last.
Posted 9/16/2008 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
Sara-- try Afrin nasal spray, original formula. It should get you unstuffed for ca. 12 hrs. per dose. / Old Hat


Posted 9/16/2008 3:46 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Old Hat!
Posted 9/16/2008 9:52 PM (GMT 0)
Interesting posts.  I also smoked from age 19 thru mid 40's, but was never a heavy smoker.  More or less I was a social smoker.  I would smoke maybe three cigarettes a day.  I stopped because I found myself getting short winded when walking up hills.  The doctor asked if I smoked and embarrassed me into stopping, which wasn't hard to do since I smoked so little.  I always had IBS but didn't get UC until I was 52.  I asked the GI doctor when I was hospitalized in May about the nicotine patch and he said he doesn't recommend it.  Now I wonder.
Posted 9/17/2008 12:00 PM (GMT 0)
Is this a crazy disease or what? And the different ideas that doctors have. So far I really feel that my nico patch is helping. Of course, I am continuing on my meds and pretty much of a bland diet as I was told to when I was diagnosised in August. However, when I started eating the fiber wafer for lunch and putting my nico patch on (which I did both of these on the same day) I have been seeing improvements. I don't have the pain I had and my movements are softly formed. Never thought I would get excited over my movements! I did try a bit of red meat this weekend and Monday I did suffer so that told me to stay away from red meat still. But I tell you what that 3/4ths of a hamburger was melt in your mouth good!

Gigi1227
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