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Thanks Mar. Feeling much better! Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!!!
I hope so too, Doc. I think of my friends in Australia often, and keep you in my prayers.
BTW I was hospitalized last summer with a nasty fast onset Pneumonia that had me coughing up blood, and presenting at the ER with an O2 level of 78%. Every shallow breath was painful.
Tested negative for Covid twice. Although I was put on IV antibiotics for suspected bacterial pneumonia, CT Scans revealed ground glass opacities in my lungs indicative of atypical viral pneumonia. I was on 6 liters of Oxygen, and despite continually testing negative for Covid, they were trying their best to shoehorn me in to that diagnosis, discussing Remdesivir (which I flatly refused) and were talking about bringing in a Pulmonologist (measuring me for a ventilator, which I was pretty sure would kill me).
For two days, I begged my physicians to take me off Eliquis, and put me on Indomethacin, which led to lectures and stern recriminations from said physicians.
Three days in, I spit out my nighttime dose of Eliquis, and the next morning at around 4 AM, surreptitiously took a dose of the Indomethacin from the prescription bottle my wife had put in with my bag of personal effects.
Within two hours of taking the Indomethacin, my non-supplemented Oxygen levels were consistently above 90%. I informed my nurse of the improvement (although I did not mention the Indomethacin). She took me for a walk around the ward with an oxygen monitor on my finger to confirm, and I was discharged within a few hours.
I went home with a prescription for oral antibiotics, and remained (of my own accord) on Indomethacin for a total of 5 days.
I want to make clear, I do not recommend this for anyone!
One curious thing. This was late August and between late August and mid-late October, my somewhat low Hemoglobin levels had dropped from the mid 11s to the the low 8s, and Iron levels which are normally above 20, were practically non existent. I have since received Iron infusion therapy and am feeling much better.
Jus to be sure it was not due to a GI bleed of some type, I underwent a Colonoscopy, and Upper GI endoscopy, which basically turned up nothing beyond some diverticula, and a small hiatal hernia.
A quick question on Molnupiravir. Dr. James, you mentioned in another thread that Molnupiravir is mutagenic.
Wouldn’t dispensing a mutagenic to individuals infected with a pathogen potentially cause mutations within the pathogen itself, leading to a host of mutated and potentially dangerous variants?
If so, were one to multiply this effect by a vast number of individuals receiving the mutagenic, couldn’t this lead to potentially hundreds of thousands, or even millions of variants within a relatively short timespan?
Also, if this were the case, and an endless variety of variants were suddenly circulating, it stands to reason that the mutated variants will inevitably be passed along, infecting and re-infecting individuals being treated with the Monulpiravir mutagenic. This in turn would most likely lead to a further exponential propagation of double, triple, quadruple, etc. mutated variants.
It simply seems to me that attempting to treat a potentially deadly virus with a known mutagen is a very, very, bad idea indeed.
Thanks Doc. Good to hear from you!
Here, there seems to be mounting anecdotal and clinical evidence that Ivermectin is working, and working pretty well, especially when intervention is early.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8088823/
I was really skeptical of Ivermectin at first, and remain mildly so, but managed to obtain an emergency supply (just in case) through a telemedicine service here in the US.
Since posting, I have discovered additional resources here in the US both for telemedicine and pharmacies which will dispense within the US. I found these on the free speech platform GAB.com, in case anyone reading this cares to go poking around for them.
My ‘go to’ continues to be Indomethacin (75mg ER). I’ve used it several times (briefly) when symptoms have arisen, and it seems to knock them down in short order.
I’m also taking a daily regime of Vitamin D3, B Complex, Zinc, Iron, and Nigella Sativa (Black Seed) extract.
Thank you for the tip on molnupiravir. I’ll be keeping an eye on the research.
Warm regards!
Fitz
This is really exciting stuff. Thanks Doc!
According to the information presented by Dr. Richard Bartlett, of Midland Memorial Hospital (Midland-Odessa, West Texas, USA), inhaled, nebulized Budesonide is being used quite successfully to treat early/mid stage SARS-CoV-2.
Note: Along with potentially groundbreaking medical information, the following video contains a brief ancillary discussion of US politics, and political opinions relating to the handling of the pandemic in the US. I offer no opinion here on views presented, and suggest anyone viewing the video do so for medical information only, which I believe is far more important.
HCV has a direct neuroinvasive effect as well, as many of us will attest after getting our wits back post treatment.
This SARS-CoV-2 thing is really looking like much more than a simple Coronavirus, almost like a hybrid of different pathogens which are quite nasty on their own.
Once again, Jimmy, the “bleach” nonsense is a media fabrication. Please stop repeating it.
No one is missing anything if they can’t get Remdesivir. Have you even bothered reading the thread, Jimmy42?
If anything forcing people to look to other available treatments, e.g. Hydroxycloroquine, Indomethacin, Daclatasvir, et al, will SAVE, not cost lives.
Further, your attempt to turn this into a political thread to bash the Trump Administration and the US is frankly unwelcome, and completely inappropriate. If you’ve got a political axe to grind, there are thousands upon thousands of sites all over the internet dedicated to precisely that purpose. This isn’t one of them.
The nonsense about “injecting bleach”, is a total ‘fake news’ media fabrication which has made its way into world media quite deliberately, and continues to be propagated by individuals who either have a completely bankrupt and phony political agenda they wish to sell through disinformation, or are simply too lazy to have checked the facts for themselves.
I watched live the news conference from whence this outrageous lie arose, heard every word, and the nonsense you’re attempting to propagate on a public forum, never occurred. Never. So stop it.
Here in the US, the number of tests administered each day have increased over 400% since the US hit its peak with hospitalizations and deaths, months ago. Overall, while many more active cases are being discovered through expanded testing, overall hospitalization and death rates for the US as a whole are declining. Unfortunately, while the increase in positive results IS being reported, the rest of the information representing the larger picture is NOT being reported.
The latest news on Remdesevir is that it neither improves, or harms clinical outcomes for those with severe Covid 19 infections.
Cynically, whether or not patients live or die, Gilead is charging plenty for this snake oil, and frankly if I were the US Goverment, I wouldn’t want to pay for its wide spread use either.
Can only imagine how you’re feeling right now, although I do remember how I felt when it looked like the virus wasn’t clearing.
The above referenced study states:
“Furthermore, contrary to past interferon-based treatments, low levels of HCV RNA detected at the end of short-duration DAA therapy, and even after therapy, do not signify treatment failure.”
If I were in your shoes, I think I’d consult with my Gastroenterologist and have labs done again in 4 -6 weeks and make a decision based on those results, and not the initial EOT results.
But that’s just me. You need to consult your physician, and do what you think is most prudent.
Wow! Did not expect such a detailed response, Doc! You know, when the Remdesivir study results were publicized I remember thinking “what?, is this supposed to be good?” To me, a layman, the numbers looked like a complete and utter failure, yet it was being sold as the next great hope (?). Just didn’t make any sense unless one considers the Big Pharma profit motive. Then of course, it makes perfect sense. Sell a “cure” that allegedly takes 11 out of a 14 day disease course to kick in, and at the end of the day ends up killing slightly more old people than it “cures”, thereby adding significantly to Gilead’s balance sheet, and permanently subtracting long term liabilities from the federal government’s burgeoning medicare roles. Win/win right?
Anyway, Physicans here are quietly continuing to prescribe a Hydroxycloroquine, Azythromicin and Zinc cocktail , and in some places life is sort of resembling normal. Not the state I live in though. Still completely locked down, and literally helicoptering Covid patients in from neighboring states to keep the hospitals busy enough, and statistics high enough to justify the lockdown.
The payoff for our local politicos is an attempt to push through universal mail in (unverifiable) election ballots so that they get to put a a heavy thumb on the scale, and stay in power. No kidding!
Meanwhile, small businesses are dropping like flies, unemployment numbers are skyrocketing, and people are literally going insane from boredom and fear. I imagine it’s the same everywhere in the world right now.
Long after the virus has largely washed through, people are just now donning masks and gloves and regarding each other as potential illness threats.
This whole thing is utterly insane! Random serological antibody testing is demonstrating in no uncertain terms that the actual rate of infection is many orders of magnitude higher than the official numbers, which is actually a good thing, because it means tat real mortality rates are actually many orders of magnitude lowerthan the official tally, Instead of 3 – 4%, more like 0.3%, or in the neighborhood of common Flu, even without a readily available vaccine.
So called “social distancing” doesn’t seem to be making any real difference at all. Tested infection rates after an initial spike remain fairly constant. If you test 1,000 individuals, you’re pretty much going to get a fairly standard active infection rate. Test 100,000 for antibodies, and somewhere between 25% sand 40% have already had it and cleared it.
Joy, from way on the other side of this (cured) I can remember how frightening and nerve wracking this entire process was. Early in my treatment, I’d log on from the US, and if my fellow travelers from Australia, and New Zealand weren’t around yet, I’d honestly feel completely lost until someone I knew who was going through the same thing showed up.
I remember seeing other’s results who were undetectable at four, or six weeks into treatment and feeling frustrated that I didn’t seem to be clearing the virus as fast. Someone, perhaps Dr James, explained that it could take a while for the dead bits of virus to clear from my system.. Sure enough (can’t remember exactly when), my results came back clear. I remember feeling such a sense of relief… I could hardly believe it, and actually didn’t trust the findings.
As it turned out though, the virus was really, truly gone along with the death sentence that came with it. After a while even with an initial load of 9 million, the lingering bits and pieces were gone, forever.
Miracles do happen here with astonishing regularity, and you’re likely free, forever.
There’ll come a time, and sooner than you imagine when you’ll look back on Hep C like a bad dream that’s run its course, and you won’t ever feel it closing in on you again.
Don’t be discouraged Joy. You may still have bits of dead virus floating around. As I recall, it can take some time
I can attest to the gastrointestinal symptoms. Won’t go into detail, but it wasn’t pleasant and involved frequent and urgent trips to the bathroom. Fortunately those symptoms didn’t last long. A bit of nausea, but that didn’t last long either. Headaches too, and some chills but mild, and short lived.
Right after that severe backaches, and of all things joint pain in my hands. Not knowing any better, I wondered what the hell was wrong, but it didn’t occur to me that all of this was related. The joint pain was bad enough, I thought perhaps I should consider what I was going to do if I had to stop working.
At that point, I began to take high doses of Ibuprofen (600 – 800 mg) to deal with the pain and inflammation. That was probably a lucky choice as it turned out.
Then came the runny nose and itching in my lungs which I initially chalked up to seasonal allergies. Those symptoms progressed to a persistent and annoying dry cough, and occasional shortness of breath which brought out the Albuterol inhaler.
Eventually, but thankfully not frequently I started to cough up stuff that looked like and had the consistency of clear gelatin. Weird!
I can be a bit dense at times. It took several days to dawn on me that I had contracted Covid 19. That’s when having done some research on Hydroxychloroquine, I started looking around for the closest available analog – anything that contained a considerable amount of Quinine.
After I’d recovered, I remembered that I still had a 3 month supply of Chlorcyclizine (available ‘over the counter’ here) I’d purchased back when I was still being treated for Hep C, and wondered if anyone had ever looked into it as an anti-viral for Covid 19.
When Dr James responded with the studies on Indomethacin, I immediately passed the information on to my endocrinologist, and began suggesting in social media posts that others look up the research for themselves. Hopefully it’s had some positive impact
Well, as far as the US Media is concerned, anything BUT Hydroxycloroquine. Gilead has now managed to get Remdesivir emergency approval, and it’s being rolled out nationwide.
Not that that’s a bad thing at all if it works. It’s just disheartening to see effective non-proprietary treatments shoved to the back shelf of public consciousness in favor of what must be a relatively expensive proprietary treatment.
Hydroxychloroquine continues to be widely used, but continues to be panned by the mainstream press as “dangerous” and “snake oil”, so people who were once rightfully hopeful have become wary.
It’s really unbelievable that one of our political parties has so rabidly politicized the use of a proven and effective treatment that it is being smeared in favor of what looks like a less effective proprietary treatment. Make no mistake, this isn’t the so called right we’re talking about, and it is stunningly obvious, and equally shameful.
It’s rather poetic that NYT is now touting Thorazine as a potential anti-covid panacea. Sort of a modern day NeoFascist “Soma” for the unruly freedom loving masses.
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