Where are we with COVID? Overall, We are Not in a Good Place

It was like magic. After three years of sickness, death, lockdowns, masks, taking our temperatures, measuring oxygen levels, suddenly everyone on the planet seemed so shout “Don’t talk to me about COVID anymore!”

The CDC loosened its guidelines, schools reopened, retail stores, big events, public transportation all became masks “optional.” When I’m outside about 3% of customers/travelers are masked. Medical offices (like WholeHealth Chicago) still require full masking.

The number of COVID cases being reported appears to be coming down. The New York Times reports a 19% drop in the past 2 weeks, but at almost 100,000 a day, that’s a lot higher than any influenza epidemic. Moreover, the real number is probably much higher than this. Most COVID is not reported anywhere, diagnosed with a home kit, and treated by a phoned in prescription for Paxlovid.

Our Covid Bad Places

BAD PLACE #1: The most recent COVID subvariant is BA 5 and because it’s so contagious, it’s now the dominant strain, just at the time the CDC put a hold on the second booster for anyone under age 50. This holdback isn’t to punish you but rather to improve the booster so it’s more effective against BA 5.

So: the risk of infection (or re-infection, if you’ve had COVID once already) is high because (#1) the virus is changing, (#2) you’re not protecting yourself, and (#3) the booster against BA 5 is not ready.

Recommendations: mask in public places; socially distance; for supplements, standard ‘good guys’ for your immune system

Thorne Vitamin D 5,000 IU daily

Integrative Therapeutics Vitamin C 2,000 mg daily

Thorne Zinc picolinate 30 mg daily

Five Defenders OR Transfer Factor MultiImmune daily

Infusion: Immune Boost IV (Call 773-296-6700 to schedule)

BAD PLACE #2: “Long COVID,” the persistence of a variety of symptoms weeks to months after your actual COVID test is “negative” is a worldwide phenomenon, affecting approximately half of the 236 million COVID victims. Basically, you’re feeling the damage to almost every organ in your body by the virus AND the residual effects of your body’s response effort to clear the virus. There are no definitively ‘positive’ tests for long COVID so its victims are experiencing a lot of difficulty when they apply for financial help like short term disability benefits (“Well, your tests are negative, so there’s really nothing wrong with you.”). On the plus side, just about all cases of long COVID do clear after a maximum of 15 months, usually shorter. Here’s an article from the Washington Post describing long COVID in detail.

BAD PLACE #3 is even more worrisome if this is possible. A newly published study from Oxford University, published in Lancet, and reported in the Washington Post, using a shared worldwide medical electronic system for COVID data collection, revealed high risks of persistent cognitive deficit (brain fog), late life dementia, epilepsy, psychosis. The most long lasting neurologic symptom in this group was brain fog, highest in patients over 45.

RECOMMENDATION: Physicians around the world have different theories for the causes of long COVID and brain fog symptoms. None of these treatments are FDA approved but all are safe and used in integrative centers worldwide

Nattokinase is an enzyme that reduces the excessive microclots triggered by the virus. The microclots reduce oxygen to the brain and cause “brain fog’

CytoQuel (Researched Nutritionals) is a blend of several supplements that reduce the pro-inflammatory cytokines felt responsible for long COVID which in turn inflame the tiny arteries deep in the brain substance and reduce circulation

Infusions of Ozone are being widely used for all symptoms long COVID including brain fog by enhancing oxygen to mitochondria. Here’s an article out of Italy.

Nattokinase and CytoQuel are in our apothecary.

To schedule ozone, simply call 773-296-670. You do not need to be a regular WholeHealth Chicago patient for any of our intravenous infusion therapies.

Be well,

David Edelberg, MD