Best Options When TESTING POSITIVE for COVID

OK, so it’s 2021, and you started to have signs and symptoms of a cold or flu.  A couple of years ago you wouldn’t have given it much of a thought, but it’s 2021, a long year and a half of wearing masks, doing social distancing, and making sure you don’t cough around anyone. Is it just the flu? You might ask yourself, have I been around anyone I know that was diagnosed with COVID or was recently vaccinated? Let’s remember, maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy my last meal.  Maybe I am starting to lose my taste and smell.  Better check my temperature and I wonder who has one of those oximeters to test my oxygen level?

In my last article, I talked about preventative options to boost your immune system. Today I want to focus on what YOU can do and what best options are available, especially since even a vaccine cannot prevent either you from catching or spreading the virus.  In my last article you probably remember that eating an anti-inflammatory diet alone will greatly help in minimizing the inflammatory symptoms of disease.  Obviously, this is true only if you have been following this diet for at least a few months and do not have any of the comorbidities that reflect excess inflammation in your body such as diabetes.  Just by following an anti-inflammatory diet alone allows you to minimize the chance of getting a chronic disease that requires ongoing medications and makes you susceptible to the life threatening symptoms of COVID.  

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For any individuals having any kind of cold or flu it is well known that Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Zinc is helpful for both prevention as well as to minimize symptoms when infected.  Therefore, it is not surprising that these have been found lacking in patients who have worse outcomes with COVID.  Two other reasonably known nutrients Quercetin and Melatonin are also showing benefit for optimizing outcomes in individuals infected with COVID.  Quercetin has a long history of being anti-inflammatory, an anti-oxidant as well as having anti-viral properties.  It is used in many supplements for allergies and also has been found to increase the absorption of Zinc.  Although Melatonin is best known as a sleep aid it also is a potent anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant as well as an effective immune booster.

The most controversial area in medicine and the media is the logic and proven benefit of using standard pharmaceutical drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine or more recently Ivermectin.  I feel that the best book to date is titled the Death of COVID by Coleen Huber NMD.  She combs through the research available that the medical and media establishment are ignoring.  

One cannot practice Integrative Medicine without appreciating the importance of the friendly bacteria in our bodies and the effect of foreign microorganisms on one’s health.  I have noticed that most of the medication and supplements that are anti-microbial cover a broader spectrum of organisms than initially researched.  Therefore, I am not surprised that drugs like Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin might have both anti-parasitic action as well as antiviral action.  Additionally, a significant part of medical treatment comes from doctors finding that drugs they prescribe have other beneficial side effects.  This standardly is called an Off-Label indication which means the drug has been shown to be safe, but not researched specifically for another health condition.  After a number of physicians report their successes, research projects are put together to statistically evaluate the benefits of the new potential therapy.  This is exactly how Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin have come to be used clinically for COVID.

Like most doctors, I occasionally have prescribed Hydroxychloroquine for patients traveling to parts of the world where Malaria is prevalent.  When I realized that one of the trade names for Hydroxychloroquine is Plaquenil then it was easy to understand why this drug was effective for COVID since its anti-inflammatory properties have been used for arthritic diseases for decades.   After all it’s the inflammatory storm that causes most of the immediate life threatening symptoms that lead to fatalities.  

As far back as 2005 an article in the Virology Journal from the National Institutes of Health stating that “chloroquine was found to be a potent inhibitor of SAR-CoV coronavirus infections and spread.”  When chloroquine was tested in primate cells the inhibitory effects were seen both before and after exposure to the virus.  In other words, chloroquine was both preventative and therapeutic.

Another interesting attempt to discredit the use of chloroquine stated that there was a high risk of arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death with its use.  If indeed that was true, then there would be a “black box” warning in the Physician Desk Reference, but yet the risk is uncommon enough that it is regularly used for people traveling to foreign countries.  In Dr. Coleen Huber’s book she reports 53 studies showing positive results of Hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID.  She also found 13 studies showing neutral or negative findings, but 10 of the studies where with patients being treated in the late stages of the disease.

Now in 2021, Ivermectin, another drug like Hydroxychloroquine that has been shown to be safe and effective for decades is also successfully being used to treat COVID.  In fact, both Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin are on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines.  With Ivermectin, Dr. Huber points to a meta-analysis of 49 trials in humans which all have positive outcomes.  To date, the main argument the FDA issues against Ivermectin is in regard to use of over dosage of the drug.  Ironically, most of this is due to the restrictive availability of the drug through physicians which causes people to purchase the over-the-counter veterinary equivalent and self-dose themselves.  

Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin both have a long history of being both safe and quite inexpensive making them ideal candidates for use with patients who have COVID.  The goal of any therapy is to treat as early as possible and to reduce the number of individuals needing hospitalization.   What makes Ivermectin particularly useful is its ability to block all three parts of the SARS-CoV2 spike protein which then prevents the virus from entering the human cell and undergoing viral replication.  

On a historical note, during the pandemic of 1918 known as the Spanish Flu, Osteopathic physicians were noted to have better success with patient recovery through the use of Osteopathic myofascial therapy to enhance breathing.  Osteopathic myofascial therapy is helpful for lymphatic circulation especially if you are experiencing any shortness of breath or tightness in your upper neck and back.  Osteopathic myofascial therapy helps break down congestion and increases the ability of your well selected nutrients to get to those areas of your body that need them the most!

Prevention is the best medicine through a strong immune system.  

1. Anti-Inflammatory Diet- vegetable focused whole food diet
2. Vitamin C + R-Alpha Lipoic 2 caps twice daily adults; 1 cap twice daily under 12
3. Vitamin D/K2 5000IU for adults ; 2000IU for children under 12 
4. Zinc Wellness 2 caps daily for adults; 1 cap daily for children under 12 
5. EMIQ Quercetin 2 caps daily for adults; 1 cap daily for children under 12 
6. Immune Wellness 3 caps daily for adults; 1 cap daily for children under 12 
7. Melatonin time released 2 caps bedtime for adult; 1 cap daily for children under 12
   
   

In conclusion, for those who have any symptoms, you can schedule a phone or Telemedicine appointment for a prescription of Ivermectin.  Additionally, recovery can be enhanced through the use of Osteopathic myofascial therapy, Nebulizer breathing treatments, along with a combination of Glutathione and Ozone IV’s.  

Dr. LaBeau has a nutritionally based Family Practice enjoying working with families and patients of all ages. As an Osteopathic Physician he finds that many of his patient’s health concerns are also affected by compromised circulation due to musculoskeletal malalignments. This total health approach of considering both body and chemistry allows him to treat the cause of a patient’s problem which renders more effective overall healing. 

‍For further information about Dr. LaBeau’s practice see drlabeau.com