Should we wait until symptoms are severe enough to require hospitalization?
“The standard of care for COVID-19 has been to withhold treatment until a person is sick enough to be hospitalized. It typically takes two to three weeks for someone with COVID-19 to get sick enough to be hospitalized, and during that time early treatment can be lifesaving.” Cardiologist, internist and epidemiologist Dr. Peter McCullough
Dr. McCullough, editor of two medical journals who has published 650 peer-reviewed papers, said this has been the first time in his career when he saw medical providers not offering early treatment for a disease.
So why aren’t we talking about treatments for COVID, for Long Haulers (see our blog on Long Haulers), and for the aftereffects some experience with vaccines? Where is the national education program offering recommendations for helping to reduce the risks of contacting COVID or at least helping reduce the severity of symptoms?
What happened to helping people become healthier. Have stronger immune systems. Less inflammation. Control of their health.
To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate. The current reality is that our nation seems to be focused solely on whether “To vaccinate” or “Not to vaccinate.” Potential treatments (except hospitalization) are ignored and even prohibited. Or considered misinformation.
The position of the FDA is that there are no treatments except Vaccines. The problem with this position is that vaccines are designed to build an immunity against a virus so your immune system can then protect you against the particular virus. They do not “treat” the virus once it has taken hold. Otherwise, anyone who gets the virus and just get a vaccine and that will treat the problem.
So, without denigrating the importance and impact of this debate, it should not stop the efforts of healers (physicians and others) to help their patients fight the COVID virus (or any other virus or disease) or to help their patients reduce the severity of symptoms and to avoid hospitalization.
Fear drives much of this debate. Those who believe in vaccination say we will all die if we do not vaccinate. Those who do not believe in vaccination say we will die if we vaccinate.
Today, we are living in an environment of stress and distrust. What is stress but FEAR, ANXIETY, WORRY! All weaken our immune system, which is the first line of defense against all viruses. Mental health has dramatically worsened since the Pandemic. Was it the national approach that worsened the mental health of millions?
A partial solution? We have many physicians in Texas, and elsewhere of course, who are focused on the reality of treating COVID, of treating the often long term effects of COVID. Many more are advocating and using reasonable and well-established holistic remedies to help prevent the side effects of many viruses and illnesses, not just the COVID virus. What about D3? Zinc? Healthy eating habits? Outdoor exercise? Quality sleep?
Healers/Physicians do not ask their patients: “are you vaccinated or not vaccinated.” If you have COVID, or are suffering from long-term effects of COVID, that question is not really relevant to the fact that you need treatment and care. That is what physicians and other healers do - or at least are supposed to do.
Personal Control. A loss of personal control also weakens the immune system and makes us more susceptible to illnesses. Many feel that our government is taking or trying to take control over individual health choices? Over how physicians can treat their patients. This loss of control also has a damaging effect on our health.
"Our government and other governments, and the entire world, has not lifted a finger to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death anywhere," McCullough said, pointing out the irony: "If there was a kid with asthma, would we let the kid wheeze and choke for two weeks before the kid has to go to the hospital? No, we give the child medications. We don't have randomized trials for every single thing that we do."
How can we regain some personal control of our health? While there are no guarantees in life, living a healthy lifestyle through diet, regular exercise, reducing inflammation, quality sleep, and quality supplementation, all can help strengthen our immune systems and reduce inflammation. It takes effort and unbiased guidance to achieve health. Even this is no guarantee and there is no magic pill. We cannot ignore the fact that the larger number of people in our country are not healthy (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, autoimmunity ….). We can only do our best to gain control of our health. The choice is ours.
Mike Clark, Director of Education, Seeking Perfect Health