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Is there any problem with wearing a nicotine patch on Yom Kippur or any other fast day? (sources please)

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According to Aish.com you may, because its not eating

(source: "Teshuvot V'Hanhagot" by R' M. Sternbuch, II 290).

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What?!? I mean, yes, Aish says that there‌​, but their source, Rav Sternbuch‌​, seems to be saying it's forbidden on YK! (Unless maybe I'm reading him wrong?) – msh210♦ Sep 21 '11 at 3:49
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@msh210: he's talking about "feeding through the veins" - i.e., intravenous nourishment. That's not necessarily the same thing as nicotine, which is not normally taken into the body as food. – Alex Sep 21 '11 at 3:59
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@Alex, I'll certainly grant it's not the strongest possible support for forbidding a nicotine patch, but if it's support for anything, it's for forbidding, no? – msh210♦ Sep 21 '11 at 4:17
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@Menachem: not really. It's that it's "ochel nefesh," but that includes other things that are commonly used for bodily comfort, like bathing. – Alex Sep 22 '11 at 3:06
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@msh210: if I'm understanding R. Sternbuch correctly, his objection to intravenous feeding is that even though it's not "eating," it interferes with the "affliction" one should feel by abstaining from food (צער מניעת אכילה). Well, since the nicotine patch is not replacing food, then that consideration shouldn't apply; the only concern would be whether taking substances into the body non-orally is considered "eating," and having established that it is not, then there's no reason left to prohibit it. – Alex Sep 22 '11 at 3:10
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