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Nicotine and UC?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 5/28/2012 3:35 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone had success with nicotine patches or gum and which is best? Is it worth trying? Already taking remicade and soon adding imuran reluctantly.
Thanks
Posted 5/28/2012 4:01 PM (GMT 0)
Some will disagree with me but I think that adding nicotine is a really bad idea. It might reduce UC symptoms but it can also lead to addiction, heart disease and insulin resistance. If you're looking for alternative therapies, a lot of people on this forum can give ideas for diet modifications and supplements that they have found effective. Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant/smoking cessation drug, has reduced some of my UC symptoms:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellbutrin#Other_uses
Posted 5/28/2012 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
I talked to my Dr. about nicotine patches. He said it is NOT the nicotine that reportedly helps with UC symptoms, it is the CO2. So the only way to see if it would really help, would be to smoke. After smoking for 30 years and quitting 5 years ago, I would never start again. nono
Posted 5/28/2012 4:45 PM (GMT 0)
nicotine is a huge help to my UC. If I wasn't on any right now I would be in a flare. Ive done nicotine gum and e-cigs but I have yet to try patches. For me, I needed a pretty high dose of nicotine to see its effects, about 25-30 mg a day. Being a non-smoker I had to work up to this dose.

Does nicotine work? for some - absolutely. Is it an ideal drug? definitely not. But it is a decent short term solution until other drugs like imuran take effect
Posted 5/28/2012 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
This abstract suggests that nicotine, for both UC and CD (not just UC), dampens colonic inflammation while worsening small bowel inflammation, which may explain why smoking is considered "beneficial", IBD-wise, for UC but bad for CD- though in theory it would be "beneficial" for crohn's colitis. Curiously, it didnt help my Uc when I tried a combination of smoking and patches- I was a lifelong non smoker. All it did for me was give me more urgency, a racing pulse, higher blood pressure, headaches, nightmares, and imsomnia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11317692

The MAP article that is on another thread, suggests that smoking/nonsmoking, pre-IBD, determines whether one is likelier to get UC or CD as a variant of the same common, possibly infectious disease. Supporting that theory are interesting stats- eg Mormons, who rarely smoke, overwhelmingly have UC rather an CD, yet their overall IBD incidence is the same as the general population.
Posted 5/28/2012 9:10 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, I agree with Probiotics reply above...they actually consider smoking (including second-hand smoke) as an actual trigger for the develpment of crohn's specifically...researchers say that it's one know trigger for CD...of course that likely doesn't mean it's every CDers trigger.

I have crohn's colitis (my CD was affecting my small intestines as well for the first few yrs when I became sick, as well as my colon, rectom and anus) but when I quit smoking, my symptoms became much worse and so I started again, but smoke only 6 cigs/day...luckily my CD still has not affected my small intestines again considering I am still a smoker.

IBD is such a weird and nasty disease.

Here's a link regarding the carbon monoxide and inflammation in the colon....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060103084934.htm

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