This year's flu shot side effects gave me a COVID scare but I would take it again

    I got my flu shot six days ago. I would do it again but this year it was not fun.

    I had two days of arm soreness that was a little worse than normal. I didn’t think much of it. Then came the weekend and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday sleeping. I am lazy, but when I finally managed to get out of the bed I headed downstairs and hit the couch. I was just completely exhausted.

    Monday morning came and I felt sick, with the muddled feeling that one gets when coming down with a virus, plus I had a little bit of a cough and the edge of a sore throat. I didn’t connect it with my flu shot so I headed over to the RedMed clinic in New Albany to get an instant COVID-19 test. It came out negative. For good measure they did a flu test, strep test, and general viral test, all of which came out negative. They told me in all likelihood it was a reaction to my flu shot, but insisted on doing a PCR test. I got the negative result on that test late today.

    I’ve never had a bad reaction to a flu shot before, and while it wasn’t pleasant the good news is that the strong reaction means I developed a strong immune response to this year’s flu strains. With all of the precautions we’re taking against COVID-19, I don’t anticipate a bad flu season, but it is possible to have both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time and I don’t think that would be a good thing at all. Most people have no problems at all with their flu shots, so by all means get one.

    My case of the mini-flu included two days of exhaustion followed by two days of feeling pretty bad. I am mostly better but am going to spend one more day at home for good measure. I’m glad I don’t have the Rona as of yet and that I don’t have to face the flu shot again for another year. And a couple of days of feeling a little bit bad is better than actually catching the flu – especially this year.

I said it in February and it's true today: Vitamin D important key to surviving COVID-19 infection

Marik Protocol (Click to Enlarge)

    Back in late February 2020 I mentioned the importance of taking Vitamins C & D as a way to ameliorate symptoms of a COVID-19 infection, which at that time I said we all would eventually get. I also recommended taking a low-dose of a statin if a doctor had recommended one in the past. Many people quit taking statins due to muscle pain when the solution is simply to lower the dose or frequency.

    That wasn’t my only advice. In February I also urged the wearing of masks in crowded places and called on churches to stop the repulsive practice of forcing congregants to rush around and shake hands during the service. And I suggested researching various drugs that might have been effective against SARS-02 and MERS, assuming that they might also be effective against COVID-19. (I also suggested stocking up on grocery staples such as hamburger meat; folks, you need to listen to me!).

    On May 2, 2002, I blogged again, and far more explicitly stated the importance of Vitamin D in battling COVID-19. I also shared the Marik Protocol, shown above, and pointed out that the best time to “treat” the virus was in advance. The Marik Protocol has been modified since May to include the heartburn medicine Pepsid, which is available over the counter and has been shown to be effective against the COVID-19 virus. My early advice is being proven correct.

    One thing to keep in mind is that in battling COVID-19 we must never rely on double-blind studies. They are far too dangerous and time consuming. Instead we must study correlations and analyze whether there is a scientific basis for such correlation. The correlation between Vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 lethality is now about as sharp as such a correlation can be.

    I would urge everyone to follow the Marik Protocol, which now consists of:

• Vitamin C, 500 mg, morning and night (no harm in taking more)
• 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
• Pepsid, 10-20 mg morning and night

    Consider adding to the above a low-dose multi-vitamin and a selenium supplement.

    After this whole thing is over I’d like to see the FDA disbanded. They should be telling people right now to take Vitamin D, if nothing else, but the agency is doing nothing. Instead, they sit around waiting for double-blind studies, by which time the virus will be gone or we’ll all be dead.

    I wrote extensively about Vitamin D deficiency in my earlier post, so no need to repeat it here, save that supplementation is especially important for blacks. I would urge you to read about this. Unlike the case with most vitamins, it is possible to overdose on Vitamin D, so taking 10,000 iu daily is probably a bad idea unless you are having regular blood work.

    As a matter of public policy we need to encourage every citizen to follow the Marik Protocol, exercise caution, and go on about their lives. Simple precautions can keep us alive and keep our country going.