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I have been reading with much interest the messages about nicotine and PD. I smoked off and on (more on than off) for about 20 years. In Nov. '98, I quit, YEA!!!. Ten days later, one day before 43rd birthday, my first PD symptoms appeared (symptoms I paid attention too). I had noticed some minor twitching of pinkies, stiffness, balance problems, and even dropping cigarette at times. But, always managed to shrug these away with "I'm tired, middle age,etc.". Over the course of the next couple of months, symptoms worsened and after doctor visits and testing, PD was the diagnosis. My neuro told me the smoking had masked the symptoms. So after reading all I could find on nicotine and PD....I tried the patch. For me, it did not help. I wore the patch for a couple of weeks with no apparent changes. Neuro told me to not bother with it again...that if it was going to help, I would have seen improvement. I guess this is like everything else with PD.....an individual's disease. Sharon [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]