Nicotine patches. What if you don't smoke?

My grandma is in the hospital. When I went to visit her she was really I guess wired. She was trying to eat and her hand was shaking, I asked if she was alright and she said she felt nervous. I asked to nurses to give her a nerve pill. Later that day I went back to visit, and was talking to the nurse. She was reading back the medicines that they were giving her. She then says she has the nicotine patch on. I asked why? She doesn't smoke, so I ripped it off of her. Since she doesn't smoke, how would having that patch on affect her? She was so up in arms all day yesterday that they ended up having to put the nerve medicine straight in her IV.I am pissed. Is this a medication error? But really what I want to know is the affects of having one on when you don't even smoke. Thanks!

To make it clear I never made it seem like I have any type of degree. I was asking the affects. And if you look, the effects of nicotine are not always to make you relaxed. You read everywhere not to smoke before you go to sleep cause it causes the heart rate to go up. I'm a smoker, and some times I smoke to relax. But putting straight nicotine into someone who has never smoked, there body is not use to this.

The same effects of smoking and actually worse for a person who does not smoke because it is a sudden raise in blood pressure and makes them very nervous. So, what you saw was the effects of nicotine, she is lucky she did not have a stroke while on the patch.

It accounts for the shakes and being like high. There is such a thing as nicotine overdose. Check web MD.com Hospitals are dangerous these days you have to watch them.

You may want to contact her doctor and let him/her know what is happening. A nicotine patch for a non-smoker can do more harm than good. do it quickly.

I guess nicotine is supposed to calm you down, so maybe that was the reason. Still, it's kind of odd.

follow up with the hospital about the patch. The nurses should have seen she was reacting badly and removed the patch if that was the cause.
If it was a high dose patch it could have had a bad affect for her.

And your medical degree is from where???
Has it ever occurred to you that nicotine is also used as a relaxant?

wierd i would talk to the person who prescribed it and see what they say. then talk to a lawyer

Well its pretty reasonable to assume that her side effects were due to patch and yes she is lucky that she didn't have some complication due to that because nicotine can effect blood pressure. However, don't blame the nurse. She is just doing her job of completing orders. The orders are entered by the doc and since in big hospitals the patient usually keeps on shuffling between different consults, it could be anyone who entered the order. One thing, however is possible. If she drinks alcohol, the alcohol withdrawl can cause agitation though one has to be quite a heavy drinker for that. Also, old people usually develop agitation with infection, dehydration. So to solely blame nicotine patch for her effects is also not true, though of course it could have contributed. However, I would try to find out who put in the order and talk to him/her but perhaps won't make a big issue out of it. One thing for sure, you have right for not to be charged for patch in your hospital bill. I'm sure the docs will be considerate enough to consider your request.

All is well that ends well.