Dr Louis P Coates

Risks of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding after covid-19: nationwide self-controlled cases series and matched cohort study

Coronavirus Update 5/6/22 - Blood Clots after Covid
BTHO Covid-19

Good news Covid numbers are way down along with deaths and hospitalizations. In fact most cases of Covid we are seeing now only have mild to moderate symptoms. However, there are still some things to be careful of. Personally, now it is these types of complications that concern me much more than Covid itself. A little over two years ago I first wrote about suspecting that Covid is an endothelial disease and can cause clots. Since that time I have suggested that taking a baby aspirin is recommended unless you have a specific contraindication to aspirin use.

Well now multiple studies are showing that people with Covid are at a much higher risk of developing blood clots for many months after they have recovered from Covid. In this study I linked below in British Medical Journal they found that compared with the control period, incidence rate ratios were significantly increased 70 days after covid-19 for deep vein thrombosis, 110 days for pulmonary embolism. This makes clinical sense because typically you get a deep vein thrombosis prior to getting a pulmonary embolism as most pulmonary embolisms are DVT’s that break loose and go to the lungs. Pulmonary embolisms are extremely dangerous and are considered a medical emergency. Incidentally, there was also an increased risk of bleeding for up to 60 days.

This correlates to what we are seeing in the clinics. There has been a substantial increase in the number of deep vein thrombosis we are diagnosing since Covid began. While in this study they found the risk to be highest in patients with severe Covid-19, I personally have seen deep vein thrombosis and even pulmonary embolisms in patients who had only mild Covid symptoms previously.

It should also be mentioned that diagnosing a deep vein thrombosis or even a pulmonary embolism is a difficult diagnosis to make. Many patients do not have significant symptoms until it is too late. So there is likely a significant number of undiagnosed DVT unaccounted for in these numbers.

So what should you look for to protect yourself from being a statistic? Remember that clots are also causes of heart attacks and strokes. So you should monitor for signs of clots, pulmonary embolism, stroke or heart attack:

* Facial drooping
* Weakness or numbness of one arm or leg
* Slurring your speech
* New swelling, tenderness, pain or discoloration in your legs
* Sudden shortness of breath
* Shortness of breath with exercise. If you can’t do things you used to be able to do then see your doctor or go to ER
* Chest pain or pain radiating to the neck, arms, jaw or back
* Coughing up blood
* Racing or irregular heart beat
* Low blood pressure, dizziness or fainting

Call 911 or go to the Emergency Room if you’re experiencing any concerning symptoms. Do not ignore these symptoms as they are potentially life threatening.

In light of this I think it is reasonable to consider using a baby 81mg aspirin for at least 3-4 months after Covid unless you have a contraindication to its use. In addition CoQ10 and NAC have potential anticoagulation properties and should also be considered. You should also stay active as the more your blood circulates the less likely it is to form a clot. When you are sitting, put your legs up as this helps prevent clots too. Remember there are also many other risk factors for DVT’s and PE’s such as hormone therapy, recent surgery, cancer, obesity, clotting diseases, lung and heart disease just to name a few. If you have additional risk factors for clots you should take extra precautions and be aware of the warning signs we mentioned above.

https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069590

Here is a repost of the supplements we have discussed to have potential benefits.

Quercetin from 250mg up to 1g twice per day Remember this is a Zinc ionophore.
Vitamin D3 Take this for sure if you are deficient and I now recommend taking it either daily or weekly as long as your values are not too high. Remember too much vitamin D can cause issues. However, if you are diagnosed with Covid-19 take 50,000IU immediately as this appears to have significant benefits.
Sleep greater than 8 hours per night
CoQ10 100-300mg per day: a potent antioxidant that potentially helps balance oxidative stress, increase vasodilation, prevent clot formation and decrease vasoconstriction.
Zinc any amount is probably good but take what you can tolerate without making you feel bad up to 40mg. You do not want to be Zinc deficient as it is how many drugs like HCQ work.
Melatonin 0.1mg to 10mg at night. Take what you can tolerate and what helps you sleep without making you feel drugged or tired in the morning. If you are diabetic watch your sugars.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) - 600mg twice per day shown to decrease severity of influenza, improve lung functions in COPD, antioxidant properties, potentially helps prevent clotting and with mental disorders. Caution for asthmatics as there is potential for bronchospasm but this is rare.
Vitamin C 250mg to 500mg twice per day. Effects debatable in oral form but IV did help in China. But is proven to strengthen immune system
Green Tea either drink some or 1 pill per day alternate zinc ionophore if you don’t have or don’t take Quercetin
Famotidine 10-20mg twice per day potentially inhibits viral replication and helps with heartburn
Baby Aspirin 81mg aspirin to thin blood and help prevent clots but only after discussing with your physician to make sure you have no contraindications to its use.

As always the information and understanding of COVID-19 is changing rapidly. This information is for education purposes only and you should never make changes to your health without consulting your personal physician. Make a virtual appointment with your physician and discuss your health and the best possible treatment plan for you. It is also important to reiterate that there are no clinically evidence-based integrative prevention or treatment strategies for COVID-19 infection.

Let’s all keep praying for all that are ill with this virus in the world.

Gig’em!

Risks of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding after covid-19: nationwide self-controlled cases series and matched cohort study Objective To quantify the risk of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding after covid-19. Design Self-controlled case series and matched cohort study. Setting National registries in Sweden. Participants 1 057 174 people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 1 February 2020 an...

Clinical significance of micronutrient supplements in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis

Coronavirus Update 3/19/22 - 2 year anniversary
BTHO Covid-19

Thank you for all the prayers. My surgery went well and I am home recovering now. Have a little time to catch up on things.

As of a week ago it’s officially been 2 years since my first post on Covid now. What a crazy two years it has been. That first post here on facebook had over 181,000 views. The original post on Texags has had 1.1 million views. It quickly grew into an entire forum. I have spent hundreds, probably thousands of hours researching and writing articles for everyone. I want to thank the executive staff at Texags again for all they have done as I am convinced the Covid-19 forum saved many lives along the way.

I wrote articles and answered your questions nightly for most of the first year. As things settled down we decreased the information to a few per week.

I have personally had Covid twice and treated thousands with it. I have seen about everything you can imagine related to Covid now. People with long Covid having consequences like blood clots, hypertension, arrhythmias, autoimmune diseases and lots of severe lung disease.

The posts started as a way to answer questions for my patients but quickly went much bigger. I am personally glad for all the things I learned about Covid-19 and was able to pass on to help save many lives.

The pandemic unfortunately has become very political during this time. But regardless of your political beliefs the case numbers are now down significantly. In addition hospitalizations and deaths are way down. Due to the infectiousness of Omnicron a significant number of people now have natural immunity so this will likely help to continue to keep the numbers down and should dramatically decrease hospitalizations and deaths barring some significant mutations in the virus.

One of the first things we recommended was vitamin D supplementation and that has seemed to hold true throughout the pandemic. Here is a new meta-analysis of 26 studies evaluating vitamin C, Zinc and vitamin D effects on hospital length of stay, intubations and mortality. While none showed a decrease in mortality vitamin D did decrease length of stay and risk of intubation.

It should be noted as we have mentioned many times that Zinc inhibits viral replication but because of its positive charge can’t get through the membrane. So it requires an ionophore to carry it across the membrane. Thus, you need Quercetin or Green Tea along with the Zinc to make it work so results are not surprising.

It’s been a long two years and I appreciate all the help from other physicians and scientists along the way. I am very glad I was able to help so many of you through this challenging time.

https://clinicalnutritionespen.com/article/S2405-4577(22)00002-X/fulltext

As for those asking about the Aggies, yes I believe they were shafted as there is no logical explanation as to why they were left out of the tournament.

Here is a repost of the supplements we have discussed to have potential benefits.

Quercetin from 250mg up to 1g twice per day Remember this is a Zinc ionophore.
Vitamin D3 Take this for sure if you are deficient and I now recommend taking it either daily or weekly as long as your values are not too high. Remember too much vitamin D can cause issues. However, if you are diagnosed with Covid-19 take 50,000IU immediately as this appears to have significant benefits.
Sleep greater than 8 hours per night
CoQ10 100-300mg per day: a potent antioxidant that potentially helps balance oxidative stress, increase vasodilation, prevent clot formation and decrease vasoconstriction.
Zinc any amount is probably good but take what you can tolerate without making you feel bad up to 40mg. You do not want to be Zinc deficient as it is how many drugs like HCQ work.
Melatonin 0.1mg to 10mg at night. Take what you can tolerate and what helps you sleep without making you feel drugged or tired in the morning. If you are diabetic watch your sugars.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) - 600mg twice per day shown to decrease severity of influenza, improve lung functions in COPD, antioxidant properties, potentially helps prevent clotting and with mental disorders. Caution for asthmatics as there is potential for bronchospasm but this is rare.
Vitamin C 250mg to 500mg twice per day. Effects debatable in oral form but IV did help in China. But is proven to strengthen immune system
Green Tea either drink some or 1 pill per day alternate zinc ionophore if you don’t have or don’t take Quercetin
Famotidine 10-20mg twice per day potentially inhibits viral replication and helps with heartburn
Baby Aspirin 81mg aspirin to thin blood and help prevent clots but only after discussing with your physician to make sure you have no contraindications to its use.

As always the information and understanding of COVID-19 is changing rapidly. This information is for education purposes only and you should never make changes to your health without consulting your personal physician. Make a virtual appointment with your physician and discuss your health and the best possible treatment plan for you. It is also important to reiterate that there are no clinically evidence-based integrative prevention or treatment strategies for COVID-19 infection.

Let’s all keep praying for all that are ill with this virus in the world.

Gig’em!

Clinical significance of micronutrient supplements in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis Micronutrient supplements such as vitamin D, vitamin C, and zinc have been used in managing viral illnesses. However, the clinical significance of these individual micronutrients in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. We conducted this meta-analysis to provide a quanti...

Doctors are actually patients too! See you on the other side.

Unfortunately due to the weather we are closed today. If we can get to the office we will try to do televisits this afternoon for those who need to be seen!

Coronavirus Update 1/04/22 - Coronavirus Protocols
BTHO Covid-19

Happy New Year everyone. It has been almost 2 years now since my first post on Covid-19. Lots of things have changed so based on what we know it is time to start rethinking the outdated protocols we have for coronavirus. First we need to stop focusing on positive cases and start looking at hospitalizations and deaths. Knowing that Omicron is turning out to be more infectious and less virulent, it will burn through the population like a wildfire on a windy day in the middle of a drought. Total number of cases will continue to rise rapidly.
In addition we know that even vaccinated people are catching it and having mild symptoms. However, very few are getting hospitalized and dying with the Omicron variant so the panic needs to stop.

For evidence just look at the worldometer cases for where Omicron was first seen in South Africa. (see photos) You will see a tremendous spike in cases, actually the largest spike in cases they have seen to date. However, when you look at deaths you will see there is no corresponding spike. Actually the deaths are at some of the lowest levels during the pandemic.

Isolating for 10 days now makes little to no sense. Luckily the CDC last week recognized this and changed this recommendation from 10 to 5 days. However, an even better protocol would be to stay home while you are sick. Once you are symptom free for over 24 hours you can return to work or school. Vaccinated and previously infected individuals are frequently having only minimal symptoms. Testing of asymptomatic vaccinated people also makes no sense. Even if they do test positive they are unlikely to have enough virus titers to shed the virus for long so why even test them. We are forcing them to be isolated for previously 10 days and now 5 days for no legitimate reason.

For instance, athletes testing positive should be allowed to return to participation as soon as they have a negative test or are symptom free for 24 hours. Isolating for 10 days for a disease that is unlikely to be harmful to the majority in that age group just doesn’t make sense. The argument of protecting the high risk and elderly makes no sense anymore. They have had ample time and opportunity to get vaccinated.

The vaccine while not 100% effective in preventing Covid it does dramatically decrease your chance of getting it and being hospitalized or dying. So if you are at high risk it is past time to get vaccinated. As for vaccine mandates they make no sense at all. This just creates hostility towards the company or government for those that do not wish to get vaccinated. The better solution is EDUCATE not mandate. Then those that wish not to get vaccinated it is their educated decision.

Shaming people who choose not to get vaccinated also needs to stop. They are not putting you at risk. If you want to protect yourself then you get vaccinated and stop telling someone else what to do. You don’t know their history! Maybe they have an autoimmune disease or clotting disorder and in that case the vaccine is likely more dangerous to them then Covid.

Same goes with masks. Studies with surgical masks show they only protect you around 33% of the time and only 66% when put on a Covid positive patient. In addition cloth masks only give approximately 11% protection. So rather than argue with someone just protect yourself the way you see fit and let them do the same.

Vaccinating school age children definitely should not be mandated. Particularly knowing that the risks of myocarditis are more than initially thought even though still extremely low, parents need to make this decision not politicians or school boards. In a study in the New England Journal myocarditis was found in 2.5 per 100,000 in all ages and 10 per 100,000 in teenage boys. The risk of death in children from Covid is estimated at 5 per 100,000 so also very small. Parents need to have the chance to weigh these risks themselves, not have someone else tell them what they have to do.

Using therapeutics for those at high risk needs to become common practice. We have good studies now on monoclonal antibodies, Paxovid, Molnupiravir and Fluvoxamine. We also have some potentially good data on vitamin D, Quercetin, Zinc. and melatonin.

We know that obesity, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension all are risk factors for disease. So encouraging people to diet and exercise and control their health issues is imperative.

With current data on the coronavirus it is extremely likely that it will continue to spread. It is likely that for the majority of people Covid will be like a cold. For many it will be like a case of influenza with cough, sore throat, fever, chills, night sweats and body aches. For a rare few it will still cause hospitalizations and even death. Due to the tremendous numbers of cases we will still almost certainly see a small spike in hospitalizations and deaths. However, do not the media scare you with these raw numbers as percentage wise these numbers will be much smaller than before. Partially due to the virus being less virulent and partially due to the fact doctors are better equipped to stop the disease now.

Here is a repost of the supplements we have discussed to have potential benefits.

Quercetin from 250mg up to 1g twice per day Remember this is a Zinc ionophore.
Vitamin D3 Take this for sure if you are deficient and I now recommend taking it either daily or weekly as long as your values are not too high. Remember too much vitamin D can cause issues. However, if you are diagnosed with Covid-19 take 50,000IU immediately as this appears to have significant benefits.
Sleep greater than 8 hours per night
CoQ10 100-300mg per day: a potent antioxidant that potentially helps balance oxidative stress, increase vasodilation, prevent clot formation and decrease vasoconstriction.
Zinc any amount is probably good but take what you can tolerate without making you feel bad up to 40mg. You do not want to be Zinc deficient as it is how many drugs like HCQ work.
Melatonin 0.1mg to 10mg at night. Take what you can tolerate and what helps you sleep without making you feel drugged or tired in the morning. If you are diabetic watch your sugars.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) - 600mg twice per day shown to decrease severity of influenza, improve lung functions in COPD, antioxidant properties, potentially helps prevent clotting and with mental disorders. Caution for asthmatics as there is potential for bronchospasm but this is rare.
Vitamin C 250mg to 500mg twice per day. Effects debatable in oral form but IV did help in China. But is proven to strengthen immune system
Green Tea either drink some or 1 pill per day alternate zinc ionophore if you don’t have or don’t take Quercetin
Famotidine 10-20mg twice per day potentially inhibits viral replication and helps with heartburn
Baby Aspirin 81mg aspirin to thin blood and help prevent clots but only after discussing with your physician to make sure you have no contraindications to its use.

As always the information and understanding of COVID-19 is changing rapidly. This information is for education purposes only and you should never make changes to your health without consulting your personal physician. Make a virtual appointment with your physician and discuss your health and the best possible treatment plan for you. It is also important to reiterate that there are no clinically evidence-based integrative prevention or treatment strategies for COVID-19 infection.

Let’s all keep praying for all that are ill with this virus in the world.

Gig’em!

www.haystackhelpradio.com

This weeks radio show on the Omicron variant

https://www.haystackhelpradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DR.-COATES-Show-77-12-29-21.mp3

www.haystackhelpradio.com

Effect of early treatment with fluvoxamine on risk of emergency care and hospitalisation among patients with COVID-19: the TOGETHER randomised, platform clinical trial

Coronavirus Update 12/25/21 - Therapeutics for Covid
BTHO Covid-19

Merry Christmas to everyone! Ironically it was this time last year when I tested positive for Covid! We had a Covid Christmas in isolation so looking forward to actually having a normal Christmas again this year.

For those worried about Omicron please see my previous post or listen to my podcast on it a few weeks ago. In summary Omicron is much more contagious and will spread like wildfire across the country. However, it appears to be much less virulent. This means it will overtake all the other variants. This looks to be holding true. Go to worldometer and look at the huge spike in cases in South Africa and the UK, then look at the deaths and you will see no corresponding spike. So this is not an all bad thing. If Covid’s fatality rates continue to fall with these mutations we can end the madness.

Now those who are high risk should get vaccinated as soon as possible. If you do get infected, get monoclonal antibodies and take the supplements we have discussed many times here. Hopefully you already are taking them. But now you also have other options. Here are a few with recent promising studies.

The Pfizer pill Paxlovid for Covid that was just approved for emergency use.

What is it and does it work?

Plaxovid is a new antiviral medication aimed at Covid. Its generic name is Nirmatrelvir. It is designed to block the activity of the SARS-CoV-2-3CL protease. This is an enzyme that the coronavirus needs to replicate itself.
Our current vaccines work by recognition of the spike protein which with mutations in the variants spike protein this is leading to them becoming less effective. This medication works intracellular so it is likely to not be affected by these types of mutations.

So does it work? In the clinical trials they found that when giving Plaxovid early in the disease process it caused a 10 fold decrease in viral load at day 5 versus placebo. So this sounds great but does it lead to better outcomes? The answer is an astounding yes! In high risk patients they showed an 89% reduction in hospitalizations and death when given within 3 days and 88% when given within 5 days of the onset of symptoms.

Another study with standard risk patients showed a 70% reduction in hospitalization and no deaths in the treated population, compared to placebo. A secondary endpoint of alleviation of all symptoms for four consecutive days, as compared to placebo, was not met. This is excellent news!

As for cost and availability this will be determined but I am sure it will be very expensive.

So what about the Merck pill for Covid?

Molnupiravir is the Merck drug for Covid. It is a small-molecule ribonucleoside prodrug of N-hydroxycytidine (NHC). After oral administration of molnupiravir, NHC circulates systemically and is incorporated into viral RNA by viral RNA polymerase and subsequently misdirects the viral polymerase to incorporate either guanosine or adenosine during viral replication. This leads to an accumulation of errors throughout the viral genome that ultimately renders the virus noninfectious.

In a trial of 1433 participants randomized to placebo or treatment group it was shown to reduce hospitalizations and deaths about 30% when compared to placebo. This was significantly less than Plaxovid which was about89%.

Unfortunately this drug is likely to also be expensive

Fluvoxamine for Covid

First, what is Fluvoxamine? Fluvoxamine is an old antidepressant that is in a class called SSRIs. This means it prevents the reuptake of serotonin in the synapse of neurons thus increasing the concentration of serotonin. However, it also has some anti-inflammatory properties. fluvoxamine is a key to unlock the sigma-1 receptor, which has a significant role in controlling inflammation. Fluvoxamine may also increase melatonin, which we have discussed previously having anti-inflammatory effects. More good news is that this drug is extremely cheap at under $4.

A study recently published in the Lancet was a double blind placebo trial of 1497 patients. There was 741 in the treatment group and 756 in the placebo group. The end point was being in the ER for over 6 hrs or being transferred for admission to the hospital. In this study it was found that people on fluvoxamine 100mg twice per day for 10 days showed a significant 32% reduction in hospitalizations and ER visits. They found an absolute risk reduction of 5% in the treatment group which means a number needed to treat of only 20. This means for every 20 treated with fluvoxamine you prevent one hospitalization. The other positive in this trial is the side effect profile was very low. This trial was actually stopped early because it met the endpoints early in the process. This is very good news but people are asking “How can an antidepressant have such positive results on Covid-19?”

Great question and the simple answer is that fluvoxamine is a ligand for meaning it stimulates the sigma 1 receptor in the mitochondria of the cell which through a complicated process slows down the cytokine storm which is what is believed to be responsible for most the severe symptoms in Covid.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(21)00448-4/fulltext

Here is a repost of the supplements we have discussed to have potential benefits.

Quercetin from 250mg up to 1g twice per day Remember this is a Zinc ionophore.
Vitamin D3 Take this for sure if you are deficient and I now recommend taking it either daily or weekly as long as your values are not too high. Remember too much vitamin D can cause issues. However, if you are diagnosed with Covid-19 take 50,000IU immediately as this appears to have significant benefits.
Sleep greater than 8 hours per night
CoQ10 100-300mg per day: a potent antioxidant that potentially helps balance oxidative stress, increase vasodilation, prevent clot formation and decrease vasoconstriction.
Zinc any amount is probably good but take what you can tolerate without making you feel bad up to 40mg. You do not want to be Zinc deficient as it is how many drugs like HCQ work.
Melatonin 0.1mg to 10mg at night. Take what you can tolerate and what helps you sleep without making you feel drugged or tired in the morning. If you are diabetic watch your sugars.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) - 600mg twice per day shown to decrease severity of influenza, improve lung functions in COPD, antioxidant properties, potentially helps prevent clotting and with mental disorders. Caution for asthmatics as there is potential for bronchospasm but this is rare.
Vitamin C 250mg to 500mg twice per day. Effects debatable in oral form but IV did help in China. But is proven to strengthen immune system
Green Tea either drink some or 1 pill per day alternate zinc ionophore if you don’t have or don’t take Quercetin
Famotidine 10-20mg twice per day potentially inhibits viral replication and helps with heartburn
Baby Aspirin 81mg aspirin to thin blood and help prevent clots but only after discussing with your physician to make sure you have no contraindications to its use.

As always the information and understanding of COVID-19 is changing rapidly. This information is for education purposes only and you should never make changes to your health without consulting your personal physician. Make a virtual appointment with your physician and discuss your health and the best possible treatment plan for you. It is also important to reiterate that there are no clinically evidence-based integrative prevention or treatment strategies for COVID-19 infection.

Let’s all keep praying for all that are ill with this virus in the world.

Gig’em!

Effect of early treatment with fluvoxamine on risk of emergency care and hospitalisation among patients with COVID-19: the TOGETHER randomised, platform clinical trial Treatment with fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) among high-risk outpatients with early diagnosed COVID-19 reduced the need for hospitalisation defined as retention in a COVID-19 emergency setting or transfer to a tertiary hospital.

www.haystackhelpradio.com

Radio show last week on the Omicron variant.

https://www.haystackhelpradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DR.-COATES-Show-73-12-01-21.mp3

www.haystackhelpradio.com

Coronavirus Update 11/30/21 - Omicron Variant
BTHO Covid-19

What do we know and what do we need to know about the new omicron variant.

First the variant has about 30 mutations in the spike protein. Why is this important? Well the spike protein is how the virus enters our cells. Thus, this directly determines how infectious the virus is. In addition it is the focus of how the vaccines work.

The mRNA vaccines are designed by having the instructions (mRNA) of how to make spike proteins injected into our body. Consequently, our ribosomes in the cytoplasm of the cell read the mRNA then produce spike proteins. Our immune system recognizes that spike proteins don’t belong and develop antibodies to destroy the spike proteins.

So if there are too many mutations in the spike protein it potentially could make the spike protein unrecognizable by the antibodies. This would mean the vaccine would lose some or possibly all of its effectiveness to protect you.

In addition changes in the spike protein could make the virus more infectious as we discussed this is the way that the virus gets into your cells. Mutations either make it more infectious or less infectious. If it becomes less infectious the mutation disappears quickly and we don’t hear much about it. So most of the ones you will hear about are going to be more infectious as we suspect this one is. This allows them to spread and become more prevalent in the population

However, it should be mentioned that more infectious does not necessarily mean more virulent. In fact so far, there is no indication the variant causes more severe disease at all. In fact from a physician in South Africa Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who is a board member of the South African Medical Association, and first alerted authorities to the presence of the omicron variant, said it presents "unusual but mild symptoms”. He states cases are showing fatigue, body aches, and mild headaches. No cough, loss of taste or smell as previously seen with other variants. This is very encouraging but let's wait till we have more cases and data to make any conclusions. Also lets see patients with risk factors that become infected and how they do.

It will also take weeks if not months to know if the vaccines are still effective against this variant. It is likely that they will at least have some effectiveness against the omicron variant. Now the worst case scenario, if for some reason the variant does prove to cause more severe disease and the vaccine is proven to be ineffective. Is this now a reason to panic?

No not really as it would not be difficult to make a booster specific to this new variant. Once the new spike protein is sequenced they could make a new mRNA booster with the new spike protein in it. This should not take long at all to get done as it is the same technology in the current vaccine just with a new sequence in it.

So while we may see a spike in cases due to it being more infectious, currently it does not look to cause anything but mild symptoms and will not likely cause a significant spike in hospitalizations. In fact if it does prove to be more infectious and less virulent with only mild symptoms this could be good news. As it would likely become the dominant variant and make Covid likely become just a cold. Let’s hope that becomes the case. We just need to keep watching as more cases particularly in high risk patients become available to study before any conclusions can be made. But the panic on the news is certainly not warranted with the data we have at this time.

Here is a repost of the supplements we have discussed to have potential benefits.

Quercetin from 250mg up to 1g twice per day Remember this is a Zinc ionophore.
Vitamin D3 Take this for sure if you are deficient and I now recommend taking it either daily or weekly as long as your values are not too high. Remember too much vitamin D can cause issues. However, if you are diagnosed with Covid-19 take 50,000IU immediately as this appears to have significant benefits.
Sleep greater than 8 hours per night
CoQ10 100-300mg per day: a potent antioxidant that potentially helps balance oxidative stress, increase vasodilation, prevent clot formation and decrease vasoconstriction.
Zinc any amount is probably good but take what you can tolerate without making you feel bad up to 40mg. You do not want to be Zinc deficient as it is how many drugs like HCQ work.
Melatonin 0.1mg to 10mg at night. Take what you can tolerate and what helps you sleep without making you feel drugged or tired in the morning. If you are diabetic watch your sugars.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) - 600mg twice per day shown to decrease severity of influenza, improve lung functions in COPD, antioxidant properties, potentially helps prevent clotting and with mental disorders. Caution for asthmatics as there is potential for bronchospasm but this is rare.
Vitamin C 250mg to 500mg twice per day. Effects debatable in oral form but IV did help in China. But is proven to strengthen immune system
Green Tea either drink some or 1 pill per day alternate zinc ionophore if you don’t have or don’t take Quercetin
Famotidine 10-20mg twice per day potentially inhibits viral replication and helps with heartburn
Baby Aspirin 81mg aspirin to thin blood and help prevent clots but only after discussing with your physician to make sure you have no contraindications to its use.

As always the information and understanding of COVID-19 is changing rapidly. This information is for education purposes only and you should never make changes to your health without consulting your personal physician. Make a virtual appointment with your physician and discuss your health and the best possible treatment plan for you. It is also important to reiterate that there are no clinically evidence-based integrative prevention or treatment strategies for COVID-19 infection.

Let’s all keep praying for all that are ill with this virus in the world.

Gig’em!