Post #2: The Evidence for Treating Long-COVID
Early treatments are available to reduce or inhibit the effects of viral infection from SARs-Cov-2, but recovery after the fact can be aided by hyperbaric oxygen. Trust me...I'm a scientist
This post is a little self-serving.
And not what I was intending to write about.
Well, the self-serving part was intentional, but the subject matter was not. Anyway…getting off track here.
I wanted to dig into the published studies of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and the ability to affect neurological recovery from a number of conditions (brain injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, vascular dementia, etc…). Then I remembered that my colleagues and I recently published a paper reporting on the effects of long-COVID and the use of HBOT to recover/reduce post-infection from SARs-Cov-2.
So, why did I decide to do such a switch from writing about brain injury to the beer virus?
The literature on the after-effects of the symptoms brought about by SARs-Cov-2 (collectively called COVID19) are known to produce a neurological injury, along with other damages to multiple organ systems. The range of organs that are affected by SARs-Cov-2 are truly staggering, as the mechanism of entry is due to the ability of this biological wea…errr…ahem, novel virus of unknown origin (Biological Terrorism), to bind the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. The receptor is found in numerous tissues: oral and nasal mucosa, lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, spleen, brain, and arterial and venous endothelial cells. When bound, the ACE2/SARS-CoV-2 complex can affect the renin–angiotensin-aldosterone system and impact the kinin-kallikrein system that regulates coagulation AND inflammation (for my nerderen readers, see this ass-kicking paper here). SARs-Cov-2 symptoms are a large and varied - which is unusual for a respiratory virus (see Figure 2). It’s almost like it was designed to produce a wide variety of symptoms…but we know that can’t be the case, right? Bat soup and all that. Even though the evidence for that is nil and folks like Dr. David Martin have the receipts on the patents on the virus.
Figure 2 - Symptoms of SARs-Cov-2
The ability to treat (hell, PREVENT SARs-Cov-2 symptoms early on) are detailed in great and loving detail by Dr. Pierre Kory and the soon-to-be Nobel Prize nominees (only in a just and fair world), the Front Line Covid19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC). We know what this Beer Bug can do and how it goes about doing it.
But I am digressing from my main point…SARs-Cov-2 causes neurological injury that has been described and diagnosed as anxiety/depression/PTSD [ ]. What is truly fascinating is that the diagnosis between PTSD (or PTS) and traumatic brain injury (or PCS/PPCS…I swear they hand out money for making new acronyms) requires a finely honed diagnostic training (see the subtleties of diagnosis in this gem) to get an idea of the overlap and potential for misdiagnosis. What is described as PTSD for COVID19 is NOT PTSD…it is a BRAIN INJURY.
The overlap between SARs-Cov-2 and brain injury have two common factors: Inflammation and reduce blood-flow/mitochondrial dysfunction. Guess what therapy directly affects both inflammation and blood-flow/mitochondrial dysfunction?
How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) Works
The number of papers and articles that describe the pleiotropic effects that hyperbaric oxygen has on the body is, well, staggering. It is a $h!t-ton of minutia and not-so-minute effects on mitochondria, bone marrow, local leukocyte and lymphocyte effects . The slew of gene activation is also quite dramatic. For a recap on some of the established effects, see another paper that I wrote with my co-author Dr. James Wright (Col, Air Force, ret) on why HBOT is effective for brain injuries (see here). But to recap:
HBOT induces the release and production of stem cells from the bone marrow and other reservoirs of stem cells.
Stem cells are essential for tissue repair.
Stem cells are essential for blood vessel regrowth and growth.
Promotes mitogenesis (the production of new mitochondria): BTW mitochondria are the energy producers of the body.
Promotes mitochondrial repair and increased ATP production.
Reduces inflammatory markers across several key regulatory pathways.
Reduces edema (water retention and accumulation) and swelling: very important in tight spaces, like the brain.
Promotes neurogenesis (new neuron production) and synaptogenesis (new connections between neurons.
Reduces the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increases the production of anti-oxidant: big help against inflammation.
Upregulates repair genes (see this presentation by Dr. Paul Harch).
Upregulates the immune system to fight against viral and bacterial infections.
Improves blood flow to the brain (oh, yes…it improves blood flow to other “organs” too. See here and here)
Do I need to go on?
Does this mean that HBOT will work for everyone and is a miracle cure? Nope.
You have to work with your physician, doctor, wellness coach or other healthiness provider (TM) to address more involved problems.
As our team found out during the study, which Dr. Zant deserves the lions share of the credit for getting done (as well as Dr. Paulson), neurological symptoms and neurocognitive deficits that occurred directly after the infection had run its course could be measured with a standard neurocognitive computer assessment program called ImPACT (other programs like ANAM or CNSVS are used). What we saw with the treated Long COVID patients was very similar to what was reported with brain injuries after HBOT:
A large drop in the symptoms were measured and resolved completely for 5 of the 6 patients. The higher the score, the greater your impairment and severity of symptoms. The lower the score, the lower the symptoms and impairment. For this group there was a cluster of symptoms (most common =1; least common = 22) that was remarkably like those reported in brain injury clinical trials:
We weren’t the first or last to report improved outcomes with HBOT:
We have all the tools we need to prevent and recover from this virus.
Now, if only the insurance companies would get of the dime and cover it.
Thanks for reading and commenting. The spike protein itself is toxic and is the cause of much of the damage. The lipid nanoparticles have their own toxicity. If the reports from several sources are confirmed, the jabs are a platform for other technologies and other mRNA sequences.
HBOT is an effective treatment for Long-COVID because it works at multiple levels and in parallel. I have heard from private practices that HBOT does reverse the symptoms of the jabs. Recovery from stroke and other neurological injuries has been reported using HBOT. If HBOT occurs in parallel with other effective interventions, it acts as a force-multiplier in healing. It will be impossible (currently) for mainstream medical articles to report on vaccine injury with any honesty, let alone treatments for it.
HBOT in the range of 1.3 to 2.0 ATA (either at 21% or 95-100% oxygen) has shown reparative effects in mTBI, stroke, early stage Alzheimer's, cerebral palsy and in MS. From the reports I have heard and my experience with these treatment profiles, I believe that it will be one of the most effective treatments for vaccine injury.
Great post, thank you. As the symptoms of vaccine injury appear similar to long covid, at a guess this may also benefit the vaccine injured. Have you seen any evidence for this? Thanks