STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM TO PREVENT, OR TREAT COVID19 INFECTION

Lessons learned from the pandemic

By Ronald Peters, MD, MPH

Several prominent integrative physicians, such as Dr David Brownstein in Michigan, are successfully treating patients to prevent Covid infection, or, recover following infection. Dr Brownstein has treated 85 Covid patients and no one has been hospitalized, no one has been diagnosed with pneumonia, and there have been no deaths.

The purpose of integrative medicine is to improve function, in this case within the immune system, airways and lungs. In this manner the natural intelligence of the body is restored and much better prepared to defend against a viral attack.

The powerful natural intelligence of the body to fight viruses has been developing over eons. Consequently, nearly 10% of modern human DNA, like yours and mine, contains viral genetic material which has been adapted to prevent infection.

Conventional doctors are trained to treat disease with drugs, and they have no training in how to improve immunity. Integrative physicians, like Dr. Brownstein and many others, focus on improving the immune system to help fight infection as well as prevent them.

There have been many epidemics in history,  and usually more people survived than those who died, clearly indicating that the overall health of the individual, especially the strength of the immune system, are essential to fight disease, as well as preventing it in the first place.

Dr. Brownstein encourages his patients to start the viral protocol at the first sign of illness: vitamins C, A, D and iodine.   In addition, due to the severity of COVID, he recommends starting to nebulize hydrogen peroxide 3% early into the illness as well.

Having them increase the frequency of nebulizing hydrogen peroxide and iodine helped them all. Some of the sickest were advised to nebulize every hour or two for a short period. IV nutrients, including vitamin C, as well as ozone treatments have helped many.

SUMMARY OF INTEGRATIVE MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND CONCEPTS FOR COVID AND OTHER INFECTIONS

Vitamin C

Vitamin D

Vitamin A

Iodine (see “Core Temperature” below)

Intravenous nutrient therapy, especially vitamin C as preventive, or, if you have symptoms

Nebulized hydrogen peroxide 3%

 Your body normally uses hydrogen peroxide to kill cells that are infected with       viruses.  A virus itself is not living and therefore cannot be killed. When the immune cells are overwhelmed by any viral virus, such as Covid, influenzas, cold viruses, the additional hydrogen peroxide helps your immune cells to do what they are already designed to do.

For nebulized hydrogen peroxide instructions, please visit:

http://www.drwlc.com/blog/2020/03/21/hydrogen-peroxide-nebulizer-to-treat-covid-19-infection/

Organic, whole food diet consisting of gluten free whole grains, vegetables, beans, small amounts of animal protein, dairy free and sugar free

Avoid the flu vaccine

A 2020 US Pentagon study that found that the flu shot INCREASES the risks from coronavirus by 36%. “Receiving influenza vaccination may increase the risk of other respiratory viruses, a phenomenon known as “virus interference…’vaccine derived’ virus interference was significantly associated with coronavirus…” Read more: https://healmindbody.com/vaccine-misinformation-flu-shots-equal-health/

Reduce stress

Chronic stress, i.e. worry and anxiety, may be the most common and powerful immune suppressants

The “fight or flight” stress system has helped humans survive on earth for tens of thousands of years, But now, this same stress system is killing us through stress related diseases such as heart attack, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes. How do you explain this paradox?

The stress physiology prepared our ancestors to run from wild animals or attack them in the hunt. It helped them defend against invaders who wanted to steal the village food supply. Our stress system is well designed to protect us against dangers by running or fighting.

In modern times, however, the dangers are no longer physical. We no longer run from our fears because they arise in our minds daily in the form of worry and anxiety. We no longer fight our enemies, because the enemy has moved inside us in the form or anger, frustration, resentment, and depression. “Fight or flight” has become “fear or anger” and this powerful system is responding to imaginary dangers for which there is no appropriate action.

You want to prepare for possible dangers, such as Covid, but preparation and planning is not worry.  Worry is fear and there is an old saying “what you fear, you draw near”.

Read more: https://healmindbody.com/fear-worry-anxiety/

ADDITIONAL IMMUNE SUPPORT, INCLUDING HERBS AND OTHER BOTANICALS

Improving core body temperature to 98.6 F (37 C) increases immunity and overall resiliency.

Bats are reservoirs for more than 60 viruses that can infect people, including Ebola, SARS and many others. When they fly, bats increase their energy expenditure (metabolic rate) and body temperature, resulting in body temperatures similar to those seen in other mammals that have a fever (100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit). This suggests that flight protects bats from infection in the same way that fever protects mammals — by boosting their immune response.

If the high metabolic rates and high body temperatures that accompany flight activate the immune system, then flight could be the ultimate explanation “for the evolution of viral infections without overt signs of illness in bats,” the researchers wrote in a paper in the May issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. “Daily high body temperatures [from flying] thus might arm bats against some pathogens during the early stages of infection,” they said.

https://www.livescience.com/44870-bats-viruses-flight.html

Stop, if you can, medications that lower temperature including Tylenol, ibuprofen, and aspirin.

Herbs that increase core body temperature

And they will also help the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis, which is our central stress response system. Fear and worry trigger cortisol release from the adrenal glands via the HPA axis in order to prepare you to meet the danger.  Too much cortisol is HPA hyperactivity and to little is due to HPA underactivity usually secondary to years of stress. Interestingly, many of the HPA support herbs are also anti-viral and one is anti-fungal.

Therefore, the herbs that increase body temperature, Improve HPA function, and improve immunity are:

Rhodiola rosea

Holy Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum)

Green tea (Camellia sinensis)

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera)

Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis)

Oat seed (Avena sativa)

Optimize your body weight.

Obesity is associated with increased risk for numerous diseases as well as weak immunity due to altered cytokine synthesis, reduced antigen response and diminished function of natural killer cells, dendritic cells and macrophages.

UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION ONLY

Stop high blood pressure medications called ACE inhibitors (such as  Capoten (captopril), Vasotec (enalapril), Prinivil, Zestril (lisinopril), and Lotensin (benazepril))  Your physician will guide you to use other medications, as well as help you change your lifestyle, diet and mind style to gradually lower your blood pressure.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is an enzyme attached to the outer surface of cells in the lungs, arteries, heart, kidney, and intestines. Research has shown that ACE-2 surface receptors are the point of entry for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

ACE inhibitors and ARBs are popular medications used to treat hypertension, heart failure, and renal disease, but they can raise ACE-2 receptors on the surface of cells. There was a concern that more surface receptors in the lung would allow more of COVID-19 to enter cells or make the effect of the virus much worse. An editorial in The Lancet early in the COVID-19 pandemic stated that physicians should stop the medications that work on the renin-angiotensin system.

There continues to be a debate in the scientific community about the role that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) play in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection.
There are several herbs which will maintain good blood pressure control with fewer side effects especially if part of a nutritional approach.  They include:

African Snake root (Rauwolfia vomitoria)

Hawthorne (Cratageus monoogyna)

Mistletoe (Viscum album)

Jamaican Dogwood (Piscidia piscipula)

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

Herbs that reduce inflammation in the bronchioles and lungs.

High potency curcumin prevents lung damage by inhibiting Nuclear factor-kappaB, or NF-kB for short. NF-kB is a protein complex that controls transcription of DNA, cytokine production and cell survival. It is found in almost all animal cell types and is involved in cellular responses to stress, such as free radicals, heavy metals, and bacteria and viruses.  NF-κB plays a key role in regulating the immune response to infection, but dysregulation of NF-kB is associated with many disease states such as AIDS, atherosclerosis, asthma, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, muscular dystrophy, stroke, and viral infections, all of which are associated with increased inflammation.

Curcumin prevents lung damage by inhibiting high levels of NF-kB

Turmeric and especially its most active compound curcumin have many scientifically proven health benefits, such as the potential to prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer. It’s a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and may also help improve symptoms of depression and arthritis. BioPerine, which is piperine, or, black pepper extract, enhances curcumin absorption substantially.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP)

Silver has been utilized as a medicine since ancient times to treat scores of ailments, including the bubonic plague. Colloidal silver is a suspension of pure metallic silver in water, that is used to dramatically reduce the activity of the HIV virus in AIDS patients, slow down the ravages of the hepatitis C virus and combat other viruses in general. It works by interfering with the enzymes that allow a virus to utilize oxygen thus suffocating it so it cannot do damage in the body.

Silver nanoparticles in the right concentration (parts per million) are viricidal for active infection. Used as a spray into the throat or sinuses, or nebulized into the lungs, silver nanoparticles will kill viruses and bacteria.