# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Lucid Aids >  >  nicotine patches for non-smokers?

## davehedgehog

I'm 18, and I've never smoked, but I'm curious about using a nicotine patch to try and get some vivid dreams. I would use the lowest dose one. Is it safe to use one? And what are the side effects?

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## no-Name

The side affects are all that of a nicotine patch. Increased risk of cancer comes to mind.
If it works for you, and you don't mind using it, feel welcome to do so.  :smiley: 
Please post your results if you find any~

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## moe007

> The side affects are all that of a nicotine patch. Increased risk of cancer comes to mind.
> If it works for you, and you don't mind using it, feel welcome to do so. 
> Please post your results if you find any~



I would like to kindly attest to the fact that nicotine causes cancer. That is a false belief because of the colossal link between smoking and lung cancer. Smoking causes lung cancer because of all the toxic chemicals in cigarettes, or other forms of tobacco entering your lungs. i.e. tar, *carcinogens* (in tobacco smoke) etc. 

A Nicotine path circumvents these harmful substances from entering your lungs/body; hence, not carcinogenic. 

The negative implications of nicotine patches include: nausea -for those not use to the effects of nicotine, dizziness, upset stomach, rapid heart beat, etc. ( a full list of effects can be looked up from various resources, preferably reputable sources)

Nicotine is not carcinogenic, however it is very addicting - rated pretty high up there..next to heroin, cocaine.

What nicotine does is it binds to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, allowing the brain to be fooled into releasing excess amounts of "reward" chemicals. Dopamine, serotonin, endorphines, noreepinephrine, etc. That causes the buzz, thus, the acetylcholine surge provides the perfect environment for WILDing. 

When the nicotine is fully metabolized, the neurochemicals return to normal amounts, causing the person to crave the previous feeling - crave another cigarette. This is a vicious cycle, and that is why many smokers find it near impossible to quit.


If you are responsible enough to mediate your use of nicotine patches, sporadically using it only for the purpose as a lucid aid; it is up to you to use this approach. 

If you have an addictive personality, I wuld highly recommend that you find an alternative lucid aid, as this one lead you into a dark abyss.

Regardless, ask your physician beforehand.. to make sure you are not taking any overlooked risks.

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## no-Name

> I would like to kindly attest to the fact that nicotine causes cancer. That is a false belief because of the colossal link between smoking and lung cancer. Smoking causes lung cancer because of all the toxic chemicals in cigarettes, or other forms of tobacco entering your lungs. i.e. tar, *carcinogens* (in tobacco smoke) etc. 
> 
> A Nicotine path circumvents these harmful substances from entering your lungs/body; hence, not carcinogenic. 
> 
> The negative implications of nicotine patches include: nausea -for those not use to the effects of nicotine, dizziness, upset stomach, rapid heart beat, etc. ( a full list of effects can be looked up from various resources, preferably reputable sources)
> 
> Nicotine is not carcinogenic, however it is very addicting - rated pretty high up there..next to heroin, cocaine.
> 
> What nicotine does is it binds to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, allowing the brain to be fooled into releasing excess amounts of "reward" chemicals. Dopamine, serotonin, endorphines, noreepinephrine, etc. That causes the buzz, thus, the acetylcholine surge provides the perfect environment for WILDing. 
> ...



Oh absolutely! 
Sorry for the mis-information, thank you for clearing that up. I agree with your post whole heartedly.  :smiley:

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## moe007

> Oh absolutely! 
> Sorry for the mis-information, thank you for clearing that up. I agree with your post whole heartedly.



No need to apologize  :smiley:  

Many people are under the impression that nicotine is an evil substance and causes lung cancer; on the contrary, trace amounts of nicotine absorbed by means other than inhalation can be linked with various therapeutic benefits: increased alertness, engagement, and creativity.. as well as appetite stimulation, constipation relief, and of course, as a lucid aid. 

It is the tar and the plentiful carcinogens, that are inhaled along with any smoked tobacco(or any other smoke-able substance), that may lead to cancer.

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## captainfantast

While we're making corrections... to attest means to agree with.
I've been considering trying nicotine patches for myself, for the sake of the enhanced alertness, reflexes and cognitive function. I hadn't heard about the dreaming part and now I'm rather curious about that too.

Also nicotine is a possible miracle cure for alzheimers, schizophrenia, depression and a whole host of other mental disorders, which I lack, but still.

The only trouble I can see is going onto the patch and never having tried cigarettes. I dont reccomend you take up smoking of course, but one cigarette wont kill you, contrary to popular belief. Just to know what a nicotine hit feels like.

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## Captain Sleepalot

_Captain Fantast's post...brought to you by Phillip Morris_.

If you've never smoked or dipped, I wouldn't recommend trying nicotine patches for anything. Nicotine IS addictive and even if you don't have an addictive personality, you might find your body to be otherwise.

That said, as an ex-smoker still addicted to nicotine I use the patches at night and I may have found my power lucid dreaming supplement...the enhanced dream effects are remarkable and I have had more lucids in the past two weeks than in the last six months total.

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## Bolo

You guys ......     How can you compare Nicotine to Heroin?
And how can you advise a person who never smoked to try it?
You're all full of crap.... no offence.

You should read Yuschak's book....   
* Nicotine can indeed be used as a LD aid. However It's not to be consumed on a regular basis, mainly because it causes desensitization of the Nicotinic Receptors, which leads to decreased ability to LD. (for this reason it also can't be an Alzheimer medicine).
* Nicotine is addictive, but definitely not something to be afraid of. (Sure, if you have a bad history with cigarettes you should be more vigilant).
* Does NOT cause cancer.
* Has some pretty nasty side effects in high doses. (If you use a patch for LDing - be sure to take it of THE MINUTE you're done with your attempt.)

Reading Yuschak's wonderful book is a MUST!!!   :wink2:

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## Dream Warrior

I would just like to add that I have experimented with nic patches with great success. If you are going to do it I would recomend doing at least 7mg as you will find that a tolerence builds up and the patch is less effective after a while. The first few times are quite amazing though. My longest/most vivid and stable lucid dream ever was on the first night with the patch. The dream felt like it lasted a couple of hours and the scene was completely stable and no fading to black or blurring. The level of mental clarity was amazing too.

I will also add that this is not a quick fix, shortcut type drug. If you are still not very good at LDing then this will most probably just give you intense crazy dreams or night mares (and believe me when I say this). You can have the most intense vivid night mares you have ever experienced! It's basically going to kick things into overdrive. If you have good control this will mean awsome lucid dreams, if not so good you may wet the bed...  ::?: 

Just my 2 cents

Cheers,

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## Bolo

Was that a WILD? (first night on Nicotine)

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## Dream Warrior

> Was that a WILD? (first night on Nicotine)



No it was a DILD. I don't think that it would be of much use for WILDs . It can take a hell of a long time to get to sleep when wearing the patch due to the stimulating effect of the nicotine. But then again I suck at WILDS.

 The way it worked is it just made the dream super vivid which sort of just triggered lucidity. I don't know if this would work for everyone. I seem to have a lot of LDs this way. It's like the vividness of the dream is your reality check, and suddenly your just lucid dreaming. I think the nicotine must stimulate the part of the brain responsible for logic or something. But like I said before, if you know how to lucid dream already it can be like a cheat, but if you don't then it probably won't work.

I have used other stimulants and had similar effects. Phentermine (a weight loss pill) gave me lots of random DILDS, even when I wasn't thinking about LDing. I've also tried WBTB and taking a NoDOZE pill (just cafeine and B6) just before I fall back to sleep. It's a bit tricky though. If your body absorbs the pill too fast you might have trouble getting back to sleep and it won't work. You could try eating something oily first, like peanut butter, which will slow down digestion. So far though, none of the other "suppliments" I've tried compare to the nicotine patch.

DW

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## Bolo

I agree... it's hard to fall back to sleep with Nic patches.... and you do get some VIVID ,strange dreams! But DILDs are not what a Lucid dreamer should rely on.... IMO of course...

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## Dream Warrior

> I agree... it's hard to fall back to sleep with Nic patches.... and you do get some VIVID ,strange dreams! But DILDs are not what a Lucid dreamer should rely on.... IMO of course...



If you want to LD you should rely solely on any one thing. Try as many techniques as you can but some will just be easier than others. For me, I get most of my LDs through DILD and I don't have to do anything to bring them about so I'm not complaining  :smiley:  . I'm starting to get atleast 3 per week. I would love to be able to do the same with WILDS, I guess I'll just have to keep practicing...

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## Bolo

> If you want to LD you should rely solely on any one thing. Try as many techniques as you can but some will just be easier than others. For me, I get most of my LDs through DILD and I don't have to do anything to bring them about so I'm not complaining  . I'm starting to get atleast 3 per week. I would love to be able to do the same with WILDS, I guess I'll just have to keep practicing...



We could be getting into a totally different discussion now, but I'll stick to the thread and remind you that the LDS(supplements) approach (including Nic) aims towards WILDs and not DILDs... However, if you get sufficient results with DILDs , then who cares about the LDS normal approach? 
3 DILDs a week is impressing!  ::bowdown::

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## Dream Warrior

> We could be getting into a totally different discussion now, but I'll stick to the thread and remind you that the LDS(supplements) approach (including Nic) aims towards WILDs and not DILDs... However, if you get sufficient results with DILDs , then who cares about the LDS normal approach? 
> 3 DILDs a week is impressing!



Make that 4 (just had another today  ::D: ). 

I disagree with you there...LDS are not specifically for WILDs. Where did you hear that? Most of them just increase vividness and recall which are both essential for any technique.

Anyway, we are getting a bit off topic, so to the original poster: Yes it is relitively safe to use a patch if you really want to try it out. Just don't do it all the time. I'd say at max, do it once every couple of weeks. This is to make sure you don't develope an addiction and also because any more than that will probably build a tolerence and it won't be very effective. As stated above, you might get some insomnia or nausea if you've never smoked before. Treat all drugs with respect and do your research.

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## Bolo

Also to the original poster:
Before trying Nicotine, you may wanna start with Galantamine, Mucuna Pruriens, 5-htp, Melatonin... etc.  Thomas Yuschak wrote a great book/guide on the subject - "Advanced Lucid Dreaming - The Power of Supplements"

a link to purchase:
http://stores.lulu.com/advancedld

One of the best books I've ever read!!

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