Nicotine Patch Trial

It came to my attention that people's been trying nicotine patch for MECFS and long COVID. The theory goes: the virus antagonizes the nicotine receptors, impairing cholinergic transmission. I don't buy the theory. If the theory is true, people should recover once the virus is gone. Besides, no neuro-impairment does explain Post-Exertional Malaise. But nicotine turned out to be strongly dopaminergic. And dopamine is what downregulates activated microglia. So, I figure it should work at least as well as Sudafed. 

I bought a box of no-name nicotine patch from Amazon and tried 35mg for 6 days. As expected, the effect did not last long. It was effective exactly for 2 days. It was super effective though, while the effect lasted. It's not a viable long-term treatment, but I could use it tactically: with Sudafed, I may be able to keep PEM under control for up to 3 days. My PEM these days usually last less than a day. 3 days at the most after a backpacking, which resembles a normal recovery. (It's more like between normal recovery and PEM). If I can keep PEM under control, I should be able to exercise to my heart's content at home. I already tried it after biking to REI on the 21st, and it appears to be successful. I'll continue the tactic and see if I can keep PEM under control for good.

Bike to REI

The bike stood standing all Summer long while I was busy backpacking Yosemite, Trinity Alps and South Yuba. The tires went flat and wouldn't inflate because the tire beads went off the rail. I took the wheels to the shop, and they wanted to $80 to get them cleaned, reseated and inflated. I figured I might as well get a new set of tires instead spending money to fix the old ones. I've been meaning to upgrade them to 28mm anyway. I got a set of Continental 5000 S TR for less than $100 on sale on Amazon and got them installed myself. I was all set to take out for a test-drive. Then the front derailleur broke. I turned the LH adjustment screw too far and it went off the metal plate. The plastic underneath it wasn't able to hold up the tension without the metal plate and it broke. So, I got a new derailleur for $35 and now it rides like new. I was on the roll: I figured I'd get a new saddle as well. REI had Bontrager commuter saddle on sale, so I went to pick it up yesterday. 

15-mile bike ride in 2018 was a milestone. Now it's a non-event. I just hopped on the bike and I was back home 2 hours later. Back in May, I still struggled for a few days after the same ride. This time, no post-exertional struggle. The difference? probably the pollens. I was struggling throughout the Spring pollen season and the ride did not help. 

Oh, I almost forgot: I slapped on 3.5mg of nicotine patch on the second day. I'm usually flush with dopamine on the first day after a heavy exertion, so I didn't need an aid on the day after. I just took 30mg Sudafed just in case. I got off nicotine patch on the 3rd day and I felt a little sluggish. Nothing I'd classify as a crash though. So, maybe it is the nicotine that prevented the crash. 

Anyway, it's been a while since I wrote. I haven't been writing because I've been distracted with video. I decided to document my trips with video this year and have produced a few. It takes quite a bit of work to produce video, though. Not only you have to film, but you also have to spend a lot of time editing and narrating. It may get easier eventually, but for now it's been sucking up a lot of my time. 

I'll probably go back to writing after this season. Writing, not film making, is what I enjoy after all. It's also something you can do just with your laptop. No camera, no script, no narration. But films definitely have an advantage in documenting your life: you will get to see how you were, years from now.  Your life on YouTube will still be there with the way your look when you turn 80.