Are there any limits on who can use a nicotine patch to quit smoking?

Are there any limits on who can use a nicotine patch to quit smoking?

Linda Hyder Ferry (Associate Professor, Preventive Medicine and Family Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: How is nicotine gum used?; What are the most common side effects associated with nicotine gum?; What is a 'nicotine patch'? and more...

People who have problems using the patch, number one, are people who can't tolerate it with their skin. If you have itching, blisters, extreme redness, and your skin just can't tolerate it, that's one. But that's usually an adhesive problem. There's two or three different kinds, so try another company's product and you may tolerate that better. The other people who can't use the nicotine patch are people who get too many side effects from it. If they get nausea, if they can't sleep at night, some people just have to take the patch off at night, keep it on during the day. If you have recently had a heart attack in the last few days to a few weeks and you think you need to quit smoking, you had better get your doctor's advise. I wouldn't just put a nicotine patch on without finding out if that would be appropriate for you, so that there wouldn't be any unnecessary stimulation of nicotine to the chemistry of your heart electrical system.