It’s been a blissful few months as COVIDF has retreated into the background, likely to remain with us forever but hopefully as a nuisance not the million+ killer it was for the last couple of years.
So, two new items.
First, in what can only be described as a huge waste of taxpayer money, a very large and very scientific study found ivermectin does not reduce COVID symptoms.
Shocking, right?
Details…
- double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled platform trial
- 1206 US adults with COVID-19
- median time to sustained recovery was 11 days in the ivermectin group and 11 days in the placebo group.
Hucksters, charlatans, former US presidents and other of the willfully-ignorant will undoubtedly parse, lie, misstate, ignore, or otherwise continue to claim that a veterinary medicine for treating bacterial infections is actually a cure for a viral infection.
to quote a T-shirt recently spotted…
Lab leak, nefarious plot, or animal-to-human transmission?
Last week the new broke that the US Department of Energy thinks – albeit with “low confidence” – that COVID leaked out of a Chinese lab.
This is sort of like saying “Tom Brady is going to sign with the Yankees as a pitcher…heard this from a guy I know who was on a plane sitting next to a woman who looked like a reporter and saw her writing that Brady’s heading to spring training in Tampa…”
This is NOT to disparage the scientists at DoE, rather to remedy what seems to be a serious lack of reading ability on the part of too many who can’t seem to grasp – or rather refuse to accept – that things are rarely black-and-white, or as friend and colleague Pier Rousmaniere notes in his signature line;
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. – Voltaire
[Unless, of course, one has completed a rigorous 1200 person RDB – CT study]
Nine Federal intelligence agencies have completed their research on the “where did COVID come from?” question…Two of those concluded a likely lab leak, five said natural causes and two said they don’t know.
Given the really lousy record these state-of-the-art labs have when it come to keeping deadly viruses contained, it is certainly possible it leaked.
Reality is – it is unlikely we will ever know – for certain.
What does this mean for you?
Read carefully before posting.
Thank you for sharing this information. I manage chronic Long COVID and host the largest clinical social media support groups globally. The most important medications in the acute phase of infection are antivirals, antihistamines to counter the MCAS histamine cascade that causes inflammation, anticoagulants because COVID makes the platelets stickier and prone to micro-clotting and clotting, and anti-inflammatories to address the MCAS related inflammation. 4-12 weeks post infection is associated with the highest risk of sequelae developing, regardless of the severity of infection. For these people, the medications mentioned with the exception of the anti-viral are essential, and some people benefit from serotonin focused medications to minimize the depression and anxiety caused by the neural inflammation that disrupts the serotonin absorption.in the brain. Ivermectin in the post COVID phase can function as an anti-inflammatory. Low dose naltrexone (LDN) helps to reduce neural inflammation and boost dopamine levels (another happy hormone). There are additional strategies for things like self-care and breathwork that also help prevent or manage long COVID symptoms.
Hi Delainne – thanks for your observations. Appreciate you sharing your views on effective medications for the acute and post-acute stages of COVID.
I tried with little success to find sources for your suggestion that ivermectin can function as an anti-inflammatory. There were a couple articles extolling or reporting on ivermectin’s anti-inflammatory properties but they appears to be more speculative than experience based.
If you have a source or sources please share.
be well Joe
Apologies – My intention was to talk about the use of Ivermectin in Long COVID. As you mentioned, there are many opinions and conflicting research studies. There has not been enough time for the clinical trials to be completed on Ivermectin yet, but we are getting closer. A lower dose Ivermectin nasal spray is getting a lot of attention as a delivery method that reduces the risk of toxicity is currently in clinical trials.
Ivermectin in the acute phase is showing to have limited success as a viral replicator inhibitor – this is better achieved with anti-viral medications like Paxlovid, that stop the viral mRNA replication necessary duplicate itself genetically. Ivermectin has been used to reduce other secondary issues caused by the infection, such as pulmonary inflammation. It is also being used off label to reduce inflammation in Long COVID, similar to the way that hydroxychloroquine, originally labeled as an anti-malarial, was used off label for Lupus and fibromyalgia about 20 years ago, while clinical trials were underway.
This study from Research Gate concludes Ivermectin may be effective in treating the subsequent persistence of inflammatory and coagulation disorders, and to have immune and clotting modulatory effects, with a chance to diminish, shorten and even completely correct almost all the symptoms by using IVM in the post COVID phase. (PDF) IVERMECTIN IN LONG-COVID PATIENTS (researchgate.net)
This report from the NIH offers: There is insufficient data to support or oppose the recommendation for IVM treatment of COVID-19 (Lind et al., 2021). Physicians need to remain cautious when administering IVM to COVID-19 patients in actual clinical practice, determining the most effective IVM dose, combination, and timing for their patients so as not to compromise patient outcomes. It is necessary to determine the most effective dose, combination, and timing of IVM for the patient as it may affect the patient’s outcome to some extent (Wehbe et al., 2021). Of the 18 clinical trials collected in this study, results showed that the use of IVM is slightly better than other regimens in terms of mortality, length of hospitalization, and RT-PCR conversion rate. These studies are not powered sufficiently to detect differences in the secondary outcomes, so a positive conclusion could not be reached. Is Ivermectin Effective in Treating COVID-19? – PMC (nih.gov)
Anecdotally, I will share that the subject of Ivermectin is a hot topic in my largest Facebook group COVID-19 Long Haulers Support, where thousands of group members have reported that Ivermectin has been a highly effective tool in their recovery. To explore this further, I just posted a medication poll asking what medications people are benefitting from in their recovery. H1 and H2 blockers (over the counter antihistamines and anti-acids) have the largest response so far. I am happy to share the poll results after a day or so or you can view the real time responses here. We should see some good numbers in about 24 hours.
thanks for the additional information Delianne – appreciate you sharing.
Hello Delainne – again thanks for sharing your observations.
I reviewed the research you provided and have a couple observations.
– the research methodology described in the IVERMECTIN IN LONG-COVID PATIENTS (researchgate.net) document is quite weak; it does not approach the standard for credibility. Unlike the research described in the post, it is not a double-blind, randomized control trial but a retrospective review of patient records.
– the NIH documents cited suffer from the same lack of rigor. Not only are they inconclusive, they predate the much more rigorous study cited in my post.
– finally self-reported “results” from a Facebook poll are exactly what we don’t need. There are far too many examples of groupthink assessments being completely wrong to give any credence to this approach.
I note you refer to the lack of clinical trials specific to ivermectin and long COVID. Again, when these trials meet scientific standards the medical community will be better able to determine ivermectin’s efficacy or lack thereof, potential side effects and other metrics necessary to assess utility for specific patients.
It is certainly possible ivermectin has some positive impact however nothing in the credible research published to date identifies any such impact.
The net is we now have a rigorous, peer-reviewed DB – RCT study conducted by very credible researchers that clearly addresses the uncertainties cited in the research you listed.
Thanks again for sharing your observations.
Be well Joe