Posts

Nicotine Risk-Benefit Analysis with Low-Dose Patches

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Created with Gemini AI by Troy Roach -- 28, Sept 2025 Risk-Benefit Analysis in Long-COVID and other complex diseases -- Hope vs Innaction Each person needs to know the risks and benefits of any intervention. I appreciate the concern for safety — it’s important, especially in a community where people have already endured so much medical neglect. But I think your stance of taking zero risks is missing the other side of the risk/benefit equation. Yes, nicotine is vasoactive (although it increases bloodflow to the brain and other major organs). Yes, we should be cautious with anyone who has underlying cardiovascular disease. But the blanket framing of “this could go bad fast” doesn’t reflect the actual data we now have. We published an N=231 study on nicotine use in Long COVID and ME/CFS . This isn’t just scattered anecdotes anymore. The majority of participants reported sustained improvement in symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, orthostatic intolerance, and post-exertional malaise. ...
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Nicotine as part of the treatment for Botulism?

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  https://www.biorender.com/template/botulinum-toxin-a-effect-in-neuromuscular-junction?utm_source=chatgpt.com Can Nicotine Help with Botulism? Note: I am not a doctor, just a citizen scientist researcher Short answers: 1. Nicotine is worth experimenting with since it might have indirect benefits even if it doesn't have direct effects on the bacterial infection. 2. Any release of bacteria can cause a Herx. Lymph drainage and hydration are essential. 3. The problem is that botulism affects the release of acetylcholine (presynaptic), while nicotine acts on the post-synaptic side of signalling. However, it could still have effects on the presynaptic side -- if the scant animal studies are relevant in human cases. 4. Go slow with dose increases and don't go past what you can handle, Herx-wise.  5. Track data daily because you might not see the changes if they are not tracked. Here is a link to the deep dive from "Chatty" Chat GPT's deep dive: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_...
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A nasal antihistamine stops Long Covid in an acute infection!

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Image created by Gemini AI by Troy Roach (August 2025) This is HUGE if true! Data is impressive in a randomised trial ! TLDR summary: 1. Use the nasal spray daily... especially if you feel run down or like you are getting sick. 2. Definitely use it two times a day during and after an acute infection. 3. It might help with Long Covid and MCAS by reducing histamine, but it is probably not a cure. 4.  Azelastine might be a useful alternative to chlorpheniramine. In a quick search, I see many options for  Azelastine but strange pricing, but only one oral (not nasal) option for  chlorpheniramine. 5. Both of these drugs have been around for decades so they are cheap and there is good safety data on them. 6. I have been using a different class of nasal spray the second half of my LC journey called Avamys (Flonase). These two can be used together and do different things. Flonase reduces inflammation while the studied spray is an antihistamine. If true, regular use ( many infecti...
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Bitter Taste Receptors on the Skin and in the Gut -- Nicotine Effects

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(Credit: <a href="https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/bitter">Bitter Vectors by Vecteezy</a>) Watching this video on the history of Bitter taste receptors that are also present in the gut and on the skin got me thinking.... More questions than answers. Let me know if you have any of the answers so I can update this post! Some background to follow my thinking: Nicotine is bitter . About 10% of those who use low-dose nicotine patches ( according to our current research ) experience skin irritation . Low-dose nicotine collects at high rates in the gut when it comes from a patch -- as much as 80x compared to the amount in the bloodstream. Thus the digestive side effects even in smokers when the dose of patches is too high. Bitterness is not always bad, but evolution taught us that bitterness = danger. This is dying out in humans. The bitterness receptors in the gut don't connect with the brain directly like in the mouth. Their reaction is more local. This m...
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Post-vax biomarkers -- it is Not Psychosomatic!

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Post-vax biomarkers -- it is not psychosomatic! "Screen capture from Dr Been's YouTube video on this topic" It has been obvious for years that the research into people who are post-COVID-vax injured would hold valuable insights for Long Covid, MECFS, POTS and many others who have also been suffering for years with similar symptoms -- even long before Covid ever came along! Note:   It took years for researchers to get past the stigma and finally start doing some real research on this subgroup of what could be called a post-viral injury ( PVI ), but it is not always viral... so a bigger umbrella would be Post-inflammatory-Injury (PII) or Post-Trauma-Injury, PTI or Post-Trauma-Syndrome PTS . I like the PTS term since it is more inclusive, but it is important to highlight the fact that "Trauma" here is being meant in the most broad sense of anything that causes inflammation can trigger this syndrome which I consider to be a kind to mTBI (minor Traumatic Brain Inju...
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Long-Covid, taking a step back to find the route etiology

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  "Taking a step back to look at the big picture." Created by D. Troy Roach on Midjourney (26-02-2023) Long-Covid, taking a step back to find the route etiology The TLDR: Long-Covid is essentially a minor Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) . Technically it would be Acquired Brain Injury ( ABI )... but I do not see it as fitting either term. I think there should be a new category of brain injury such as Post-Trauma Brain Injury (PTBI?). Post-Trauma is better than post-viral because it can encompass any physical damage to the brain which may be from bacteria or mold or even some kinds of chronic stress. But I will leave that debate for another post and I use mTBI or TBI below.  In fact, I believe that the root cause of many diseases = mTBI. From Depression to MECFS, to MS, to Alzheimer's...to Parkinson's disease. Long Covid is just one "flavour". The exact disease is a factor of age, genetics, environment, region of the brain that is affected, cause(s), etc. Just ...
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Glutamate Kindling for a Post-Viral Fire

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(Tired brain- AI image by Troy Roach with the help of Copilot, --10th Oct 2024) Johny Harris thinks he knows why everyone in the modern/Western world is tired. He is not talking about MECFS or LongCovid, but this theory could explain why post-viral diseases are on the rise in many countries. A video link , ...but here is a short summary of the relevant data: There are two steps: 1. The main culprit is too much neurological stimulation/choices which leads to glutamate overload. 2. This is made worse by a lack of rest/sleep to flush out the glutamate. ( Kat Boniface of Renegade Research has a much more complex/detailed glutamate theory she is cooking up. Follow her if you want to know more about the details behind glutamate. ) Johny Harris cites the relevant research in the video if you are interested, but the conclusions are quite obvious. Why does this matter to me if I have a post-viral illness? Much like my HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) thesis , we are empowered in our recovery when...
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