Probiotics
★★★★★
After more than a year of these frequent long haul illnesses, I read medical studies showing that 70% or more of our immune system is located in our digestive tract. I began working diligently to strengthen my immune system by eating cultured vegetables and drinking probiotic drinks daily. I started very slowly with just small amounts of the probiotic food and drink so that my system could adjust slowly. I did this faithfully each day and within a couple of weeks I saw that my symptoms were milder and I was sick less frequently. After only a couple of months of this diet change, I had no long haul symptoms or illness at all and months later I've had no recurrence. I make my own cultured vegetables and my own water kefir ..... these are both rich in probiotics. I know now how very vital it is to maintain excellent gut health for a strong immune system.
I hope my experience will be helpful to others.
(Germany)
07/08/2022
Hi, could you share the recipe for culture vegetables and water kefir please?
Thank you
(Virginia)
10/31/2022
There are numerous books, videos, and web sites where you can find instructions for making your own cultured foods and kefir water drinks. Try book stores and libraries or search on line. One excellent web site is culturedfoodlife.com. I am confident that the probiotics in my diet greatly strengthened my immune system which effectively destroyed the COVID virus that had entrenched itself in my body. I continue to include plenty of these probiotics in my diet each day and the health benefits are remarkable.
Proper Hydration
★★★★★
Research Article of Interest
★★★★★
Came across this article today in the news and thought it might interest some of you.
Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44432-3
Deirdre
Hi Deirdre,
I haven't finished reading it yet, but I can kind of see where this article is going. So far what I see is that melatonin would be a very good countering agent for the issues they are describing about how the muscles are affected by long covid.
Two main things they are discussing as a result of SARS CoV-2 are decreased mitochondrial function and decreased Oxidative Phosphorylation Capacity (OXPHOS) in the muscles leading to reduced muscle function capacity and muscle fatigue which are exacerbated by exercise. In the following study it is shown that melatonin can counter both issues :
Here is a relevant quote :
We recently showed that melatonin counteracted mitochondrial oxidative stress and increased the activity of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) enzymes both in vivo and in vitro.
Melatonin has also shown the ability to restore mitochondrial respiration enzymes, one of the issues that they brought up in this study.
I'm not sure why they are completely ignoring the fact that SARS CoV-2 increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) very significantly in Covid-19 patients and then exercise further increases those ROS levels to levels capable of damaging muscle tissue and potentially causing fibrosis, essentially what they are describing in a roundabout way. Everything they are saying so far points toward the elevated ROS and RNS levels and impaired mitochondrial function associated with Covid-19 that are exacerbated by physical or even mental exercise. In long covid patients, these two seem to remain elevated as discussed in other studies.
Melatonin acts to return mitochondrial function to homeostasis and at a bare minimum significantly improves mitochondrial function and is a very potent scavenger of ROS and RNS through both direct antioxidant and radical scavenging by melatonin and its metabolites and indirect actions via upregulating many of the bodies own potent antioxidants and radical scavengers. The following May 2023 study clearly shows that both ROS and RNS are elevated in Covid-19 patients :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10219364/
Here is a very relevant study quote :
The results indicated that the serum levels of individual ROS and RNS were significantly higher in COVID-19 patients than in healthy subjects. The correlations between the serum levels of ROS and RNS and the biochemical markers ranged from moderate to very strongly positive. Moreover, significantly elevated serum levels of ROS and RNS were observed in intensive care unit (ICU) patients compared with non-ICU patients. Thus, ROS and RNS concentrations in serum can be used as biomarkers to track the prognosis of COVID-19. This investigation demonstrated that oxidative and nitrative stress play a role in the etiology of COVID-19 and contribute to disease severity; thus, ROS and RNS are probable innovative targets in COVID-19 therapeutics.
So here we are back to more evidence in total suggesting that ROS and RNS result in increased oxidative stress and increased levels of inflammation both of which are damaging to the body in multiple ways and to multiple body organs including muscle . While the exact methods of action that SARS CoV-2 uses to cause this elevated status of ROS and RNS have not been fully elucidated yet, other studies have suggested that using these two as potential targets in Covid-19 and long covid (LC) can be beneficial for patients with C-19 or LC.
Imo, it will be a very long time before science discovers the exact methods of action involved in LC and because of that it makes more sense for those currently suffering with LC to pursue potent antioxidants and radical scavengers in the case of LC. Melatonin meets this criteria as well as other potent antioxidants such as alpha lipoic acid (ALA) and are worthy of consideration. In the specific case of muscle tissue stress, topical melatonin may have a part to play as well.
Art
(America)
01/14/2024
A second round of covid is in my household. Ugh. My husband is in his 70's, it started with him. I am of course using the same supplements to fight it. I can only get him to agree to so many things. He doesnt like melatonin. I have been fighting it with everything I have, including increasing my melatonin (10mg) to one every hour from 6 pm to 10 pm, and if I wake up in the night I take another one. The other supplements are lysine, C, zinc, magnesium, we're both gargling twice a day with peroxide, salt, warm water. Oh and a daily dose of ivermectin horse paste and xlear nasal spray 4 times a day. This is day 4, he has improved so much! I, so far, feel fine and not going to test. My sister says I should be wearing a mask and gloves! :)
So probably the simplest and least expensive (free) option for long covid is to get morning and afternoon sun exposure to get more infrared radiation from the sun to increase melatonin levels naturally, improve mitochondrial function while increasing ATP production to provide energy for the cells to help speed the recovery process from long covid. Since it is winter and very cold in most areas, you can still bundle up and get the infrared radiation from the sun as it penetrates clothing whereas UV radiation does not.
Art
(NYC)
01/14/2024
Another research finds that long covid symptoms point in two directions- Dysautonomia (an umbrella term for various autoimmune conditions) and Mast Cells Activation Syndrome (not to be confused with other disorders involving mast cells).
There are articles:
“antihistamines improve cardiovascular manifestations and other symptoms of long covid attributed to mast cell activation” (Frontiers of cardiovascular medicine)
“Long covid following mild sars-cov-2 infection: characteristic T cell alteration and response to antihistamines”
There is also something about melatonin, but I have to read Art's posts, but in short it does lots of good things..
(NYC)
01/14/2024
If you or your doctor suspect Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, a very nasty thing for which there is no real tests or treatments, and want to try OTC antihistamines to see if it would make a difference, here is the guidance:
H1 receptor blockage. Choose one
• Loratadine (Claritin): Start with 10mg before bed for one week. If no improvement, 10mg in the AM on empty stomach and 10mg before bed
• Flexfenadine (Allegra): Same protocol as above with 180mg tablets
• Cetrizine (Zyrtec): Same protocol as above with 10mg tablets
• Benadryl : High probability of drowsiness so only use as a last resort. 25-50mg before bed (in my personal experience Benadryl doesn't cause drowsiness)
H2 receptor blockage:
• Pepcid: 20-40 mg before bed or 20mg twice a day on empty stomach.
Reading: Mast Cell activation syndrome and the link with long covid (Hospital medicine, Published Online:26 Jul 2022)
