COVID-wise, Labor Day weekend was pretty busy. I phoned in ten Paxlovid prescriptions, and obviously these were WholeHealth Chicago patients who had tested themselves and contacted me. Apparently, Immediate Care Centers are quite busy as well. Hospitalizations, still very low in comparison to pandemic days, are also on the rise. Interestingly, starting Paxlovid promptly, based on symptoms alone, is more important than having a positive COVID test. That’s right, if you’ve got:
- Mild to moderate COVID symptoms (fever, sore throat, loss of sense of smell/taste),
- You’ve had symptoms less than 5 days,
- You’re at risk of developing severe COVID (virtually any chronic health problem can worsen especially with long COVID).
Then, it’s perfectly reasonable to start Paxlovid, especially if you’ve just checked your own home test kit and found it expired last year. Although you can start Paxlovid without a positive test, it is a good idea to test yourself anyway. If you’re positive, then you’ll need to isolate yourself for five days. You should also test yourself when:
- You’ve been with someone who lets you know they’ve tested positive for COVID,
- You’re going to gather with a group of people, some of whom may be at risk for severe disease or are unvaccinated,
- So do remember to have a COVID test kit at home and periodically check the expiration date.
Prevention: It might be a good idea to start the supplement regimen we’ve recommended to ramp up your immune system. You probably have some of these in your medicine chest. Get them out and line them up on your kitchen countertop for daily use:
- Vitamin C 1,000 mg twice a day;
- Vitamin D 5,000 IU daily. Vitamin D is especially important. A recent study correlated low levels of Vitamin D with severity of COVID infection,
- Zinc picolinate 30 mg daily,
- Five Defenders (mushroom blend) OR Transfer Factor Multi-Immune twice a day.
Immune Boost IV
If you really want to be armed to the teeth, schedule our proprietary Immune Boost IV, which can be administered in less than 30 minutes at any of our WHC centers. You can now schedule this online without phoning us.
You’ll receive one liter of a balanced electrolyte fluid with a mega-dose of WholeHealth Chicago’s blend of powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory vitamins, including vitamin C, zinc, and B vitamins.
It’s well accepted that the strength of your immune system is very much dependent on the state of your nutrition. Both vitamin C and zinc, for example, have direct immune-stimulating and antiviral effects. However, many of us are deficient in one or the other (or both) because we’re either inattentive to what we eat or the supplements we select aren’t being efficiently absorbed by our digestive tracts.
The Immune Boost IV provides doses of these important nutrients approximately 20 times more potent than versions you take by mouth. You couldn’t swallow enough tablets to equal the IV dose without upsetting your stomach. Additionally, IV-delivered supplements bypass the breakdown by stomach acid and enzymes (and also detoxification by your liver) to work directly at a cellular level.
I frequently measure both Vitamin D and zinc levels in my patients and am really surprised how many people have blood levels well below average.
COVID Immunizations
The FDA is advising COVID boosters beginning in late September for people over age 65 and anyone with underlying chronic health conditions. The booster will protect you from “long” COVID. There is less evidence that having a COVID booster will provide additional protective benefit for a healthy individual under age 65 who has already been immunized. Recent research has shown that patients suffering “long” COVID actually improve after their booster.
Masking
The good news here is “probably not”. The COVID vaccine has so reduced the number of cases, the severity of illness, and the ease of contagiousness that mask precautions don’t appear on the horizon. They are “optional”.
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD
Thank you for your response, but that is exactly my point. If we, as high risk patients, can’t obtain safer medical care without having to ask staff to mask (which still means that anyone in the office who wasn’t masking prior that day has spread viral aerosols into the air and it’s very difficult to get that request across to all staff members during a visit), how are we supposed to be able to have regular access to medical treatment? How are we supposed to feel that our practitioners, who are helping us with complex medical issues, aren’t literally putting us at risk? The studies are clear that one way masking is much less effective. Even if staff temporarily use a mask during an appointment, no one else in the building is masking. This makes the waiting room, exam and treatment rooms, dangerous.
In 2018, almost 100,000 Americans died of infections they contracted while in the hospital for something else. Some were viral, some bacterial. Safety protocols were put into place to limit bacterial transmission. Why is it any different for viral transmission? While I understand that a medical practice is different than a hospital, a medical practice is simply smaller in size. Infection control was a problem well before the pandemic, and it’s even more of one now. Take away the fact that many patients are immunocompromised, and at much higher risk for complications from any viral infection, especially Covid, when compared to the general public – why knowingly add to the spread of disease in a place that is meant for healing? I urge your practice to reconsider in office masking practices – for the sake of both patients and staff. Thank you.
Dana Grant
Do you recommend masking for an international flight?
Tammy
I agree with Dana. Masking shouldn’t be optional, especially with asymptomatic infections being so common. I’m on year three of long covid symptoms with no end in sight. I’ve lost income, I’ve lost friends and family, I’ve lost so much since the beginning of the pandemic. So tired of being gaslit by doctors who want to cosplay 2019. The vaccine only cuts long covid risk by 25%. I have taken every booster and I am very supportive of vaccination, but don’t pretend that they are perfect and prevent every bad outcome. There are still deaths and long covid cases occurring in the vaccinated. Wearing a N95 or better (elastomeric) is the best way to reduce risk. As far as I’m aware, I’ve only had covid once in 2020, but the way things are going with medical professionals making masking optional, I’m just waiting for the day I get reinfected by negligence.
I’ve been shut out of most of the world because nobody will wear a mask. In person appointments have become super risky and I have to calculate my risk for every single thing that I do nowadays. I’m very disappointed in this practice and will be unsubscribing from emails.
Kaila
Hi Kaila,
Healthtip was referring to no mandate yet.
WholeHealth Chicago
Hi Dr. Edelberg. I am on Rifampin which interacts with Paxlovid. What other options are available for patients who are on Lyme/Bart drugs like Rifampin?
Barb Mockus
Thank you for this information, but I’m curious as to the masking comment, “probably not.” Is this in reference to in the office? If so, why? You mentioned the concerns about Long Covid. Research has shown that repeated infections increase the likelihood of LC. We also know the damage that this virus does to many – even those who do not develop LC. As a place of healing, shouldn’t patients and staff be protected from Covid as well as the many other viral infections that have seen an uptick since Covid started attacking immune systems? Or are we just supposed to hope that we aren’t one of the the unlucky ones, and not care if we pass Covid along to others who will develop complications? Ten patients over the weekend tested positive – so many aren’t even testing these days, so I’m guessing that the actual number of patients is much higher. Patients who frequent your medical practice. Why be a source of infection when a mask can greatly diminish the risk of acquiring Covid or any other contagious infection that a patient or staff member has? Current research states that at least one of those ten will go on to develop significant and life-altering complications of LC. Seeing as WH patients often present with underlying health issues, that number is likely much greater than one in ten. Masking when seeing medical practitioners is a simple way to literally save so many from the devastating effects of LC. It also allows those of us who are immunocompromised to access much needed in person appointments without greatly increasing our chances of becoming even more disabled.
Dana Grant
Hi Dana,
Please know that WholeHealth Chicago is happy to mask up at the request of any patient. That includes front desk, apothecary, clinical support staff and providers in office.
Healthtip was in reference to no mask mandate yet.
Thank you.
WholeHealth Chicago