Sunday, May 3, 2020

One study shows popular cough suppressant helps the COVID-19 virus reproduce

    Some important COVID-19 news. I'll be brief
    There have been a lot of studies about repurposing existing drugs to fight the coronavirus. These studies hold tremendous promise. Researchers who have tested these compounds have found a few that hold promise. But the were surprised to find that dextromethorphan, the cough suppressant found in Robitussin DM and Nyquil, actually aided in the replication of the coronavirus.
    This was an animal study, so it might not be a problem in "real life." But the best choice, in my view, if to avoid dextromethorphan like the plague.
    I've touted the non-narcotic drug benzonatate (Tessalon Pereles) before, but it is an outstanding cough suppressant. One front-line doctor has blogged that this is an excellent drug for treating the dry cough that comes with COVID-19. I also have had luck (for acid reflux cough) with over-the-counter Chloraseptic lozenges which contain benzocaine. The only choices I know of other than these are various opiods, which doctors are scared to death to prescribe. Pick your poison, just don't take dextromethorphan!

Saturday, May 2, 2020

The best time to "cure" COVID-19 is to treat it in advance with vitamins and supplements

Click to enlarge

    There is a lot of talk and argument about the best way to treat the COVID-19 virus. There is no officially recognized treatment, so it's pretty much every man for himself. This is a disease that has to be treated with hunches, not clinical trials. It seems to me the “cure” for the coronavirus would be to treat it in advance with vitamins, dietary supplements, and perhaps prescription drugs.
    The randomness of COVID-19 is scary. Most people apparently have little problem with this virus, with many being infected without even knowing it. Others are ravaged by it. Age and physical condition explain a lot of this, but it’s still scary.
    Vitamin deficiencies seem to be playing a huge role in who gets sick and who gets really sick or dies. More than two months ago I suggested taking decent doses of Vitamins C & D, along with a statin if a doctor had suggested one. This is now an official treatment protocol at at least one hospital (see below).
Vitamin D deficiency, by race
    Blacks have been especially hard hit by the coronavirus. Forty percent of whites have a Vitamin D deficiency; for blacks that number if more like 80 percent, because dark skin doesn’t produce as much Vitamin D as light skin. These figures are for the absolute minimum Vitamin D levels. Some experts say more Vitamin D is beneficial. With a higher threshold almost no blacks and fewer than 50 percent of whites have enough Vitamin D. The disparate racial impact of the virus might very well be in large part due to Vitamin D deficiency. I am at a loss as to why state and national leaders haven’t been urging people to take more Vitamin D or to spend more time outdoors, because there can be no harm from this. Instead they are closing beaches in an effort to deny the populace access to the sun.
    The chart at the top of this blog post shows a treatment protocol developed by Dr. Paul Marik, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. For prevention he calls for:
  • Vitamin C, 500 mg, morning and night
  • Vitamin D, 1000-4000 iu daily
  • Zinc, 75-100 mg per day for one or two months, then cut dose by half
  • Quercetin, 250 to 500 mg, morning and night
  • Melatonin, up to 2 mg at night
  • To the above Dr. Reb would add selenium
    Quercetin is a zinc ionophone, which is a fancy was of saying it helps zinc get into the body’s cells. Melatonin is an over-the-counter sleep aid with antiviral properties. Computer models show that both of these compounds might actually bind with the COVID-19 or Wuhan virus (the operative word here is “might"). But even without the binding there is plenty of benefit.
    To Dr. Marik’s prevention or pre-infection protocol I would add the need for a selenium supplement, the best source of which may be a multi-vitamin. A study in China found huge differences in COVID-19 cure rates based on regional differences in selenium levels. Much of China has virtually no selenium in the soil and thus the citizenry has low selenium levels in their bodies. A few areas have ultra-high selenium levels. Those in the selenium-rich areas had cure rates three times the average; those with the lowest selenium levels had death rates five times the average. (Why, oh why, did this report decide to use different measurements, cure vs. death rate, for the high- and low-selenium groups?)!
    Most Americans have enough selenium, but a little more won’t hurt. It is far better to have selenium and not need it than to need selenium and not have it. A good multi-vitamin can provide this, along with any other trace minerals that might help in the fight against a virus.
    It’s important to adjust our thinking insofar as a “cure” for the Wuhan virus is concerned. Most of us will get it at some point; a delay in infection will just give us much better treatment options -- hopefully far better than the ones I've outlined above. The only cure for this virus is not to die and to recover with little or no damage to our bodies. For those who prep their bodies in advance COVID-19 is likely to be like the flu, or even like a very mild cold. For those with severe vitamin or mineral deficiencies, hello Grim Reaper.
    Beat COVID-19 by treating it now. I've given you the recipe, so at this point the choice is yours.