There were too many actions by public health that flew in the face of (my) medical training- having a rapid, organized, cohesive plan and a stratified response based on risk are a few examples.
Being told to go home, do nothing and wait till you get so ill you had to rush to the hospital was a nonsensical approach. Medicine doesn't say that to people with diabetes, hypertension, or depression... Prevention tends to be represented amongst functional, holistic and integrative medical providers... why couldn't the government suggest getting physically active, losing a few lbs, taking vit D (for example) to start?
Cutting medical providers (on the front line of care) and university hospitals out of problem solving is illogical and a loss for public health. They are fertile sources of innovative treatment ideas. I don't blame individuals (in the general public) who seek ways to reduce risk, treat at home. I myself made several changes, including dietary (such as- cutting sugar out) to give my body a slightly better chance to protecting itself the way it was designed.
my residency training director had a phrase framed on his office wall when i interviewed- there is no such thing as a free lunch (referencing pharma)... it speaks to your question about pharma's generosity. Medication is important, a needed tool and access to treatment is important, however we forget our health does lie in our hands and there is so much we can do about it. thanks for this piece.
Yes, well stated here! I won't argue whether repurposed drugs work, but we already have a long history of their safety so why not at least try something than do nothing?
Part of me believes that a big issue came with doctors' teleconference calls to patients and that lack of personal interactions helped to distance many doctors and so it may have been a little easier for medical professionals to "avert their eyes" and tell themselves "it's not their problem", but that's a bit too cynical for me so I try to avoid thinking like that but at the same time it's difficult not to.
It's certainly true now that treating diseases at the root of their problem instead of letting it fester and get worse is the best way to keep things under control. It's a strange way of thinking where we are being told this virus is extremely dangerous but also we will not try anything to deal with this super serious virus until it is way too late.
There certainly is a lot of things going on here that seems highly questionable. The idea that PAXLOVID will be provided to us and we are expected to act as if this is a gift from the government and Pfizer without sitting down and asking where the money is coming from is so strange.
that's an interesting question- if telemedicine created distance in the clinical relationship enough to avert eyes. i don't know what the answer is. I noticed a different way was needed to continue working via telemedicine to keep people engaged.
one thing that struck me was being in the same situation as my patients; when they were moving, i was moving, when they were stressed, anxious I was stressed, anxious, when they couldn't get supplies, I couldn't. If they were sick, I knew people who were sick, they experienced loss as I experienced loss. I think the degree of fear, stress, anxiety, isolation, grief (and trauma of all this) may be underestimated for its impact on decision making (for either party), this may take time to unpack.
i also wonder if working in the grey area of treatment may not fit every doctor... or patient for that matter. Possibly it is a human trait, I don't know (sortof thinking aloud here). again, good chat!
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the SOTU. Glad I didn’t, because the part you described would have put me in fits. The most bewildering thing about the last 2 years has been the fact that when someone tests positive the official advice is “oh well! Wear a mask and hope you don’t die!” My unvaxxed family (to our knowledge) has never had it, but we take Vit C & D daily and I have quercetin and zinc on hand. I also “know a guy” for IVM ;) I’d rather try those than paxlovid, thanks anyway, Pfizer.
Well, there were a lot of other parts that would possibly infuriate you as well, but I zeroed in on this part because it just stood out to me based on what I've been writing. It feels like such a hollow victory dance, the same way that they're patting themselves on the back for sending out antigen tests which most likely arrived way too late for many people (it did for me) and then providing tons of N95 masks which were left out of their packaging and would no longer be considered sterile. It's all about bravado and nothing about approaching things rationally and sensibly.
In my 54 years as an RN, there has never been an illness, condition or even injury that we did not seek to prevent or treat as early as possible. “Nip it in the bud!” With that in mind, I started looking, reading, listening for a signal as to what to do to stay well for my family and others. I discovered there was a protocol to prevent and treat Covid-19 early. We used it and shared it successfully with those; everyone one got well; no one was hospitalized. Sadly not in time to help our 39 yr old neighbor who suffered 6 wks in ICU never seeing his family again. Too many people suffered needlessly.
Extrapolating the efficacy and safety records of repurposed drugs then applying them is how clinicians can use their knowledge to address new presentations of illness.
Your story provides a tale of two perspectives to COVID. When I would check the comments section on mainstream news outlets it was filled with epithets and vitriolic anger at people for not being vaccinated, blaming them for keeping the pandemic going, idiots who are eating tubes of "horse dewormer" and killing themselves. They acted as if they were so above all of those other people, as if they were more intelligent that people willing to at least try something because they were "following the science".
Then I look at other YouTube videos discussing repurposed drugs or criticizing COVID protocols, and the comments section feel like a complete 180. They're essentially filled with sadness or guilt, with so many people saying "I knew someone who got ill and was thinking about telling them about X but didn't and they got seriously ill". Many comments like that where people felt they should have at least alerted friends and family to what's out there.
On one hand, there's a group of people who think that there's nothing that works unless stated to work by the NIH, while another says that there may be something out there that's at least worth trying.
But even then, not even telling people to take vitamins and exercise is a catastrophe on its own! It's shameful how the medical community has become so PC that it would rather not help treat someone if it may end up offending them.
I haven't looked to deeply into PAXLOVID aside from how well it compared to Ivermectin. I wonder if she believes it's due to the P450 enzyme inhibitor Ritonavir causing a build up of the protease inhibitor. I may want to look deeper into renal toxicity but aside from the liver the kidneys are one of the biggest targets for drug toxicity.
Yes, both hepato and renal toxicity. This lack of early treatment is the real pandemic. In kidney disease, no early treatment is offered (hey, we can dialyze you when you're near death. Sound familiar?) by the traditional medical establishment. No drugs is what they mean. It's lifestyle, diet, etc. Plus real benefit with herbs and peptides. But no one makes money off those
Couldn't agree with you more. I work in a hospital pharmacy in the northeast and saw (and continue to see) how therapeutics were not used effectively to combat the disease, as we received shipments of Regeneron and subsequent antibodies, which collected dust in our refrigerators for months! As Paxlovid and molnupiravir came into our possession, it was the same case, as I did not see these treatments being used. I finally sent a letter to our clinical/management team, voicing my concerns regarding the absence of timely implementation of early treatment therapeutics and suggested they go back and review biothical principles, which seem to have been disregarded by most in medicine throughout this whole pandemic. I am convinced that one of the major drivers of the lack of use of these therapeutics is that they all are for outpatient use and may not allow the hospital to secure as much government covid monies. Our inpatient use of Remdesivir, on the other hand, has been consistent throughout the pandemic.
There were too many actions by public health that flew in the face of (my) medical training- having a rapid, organized, cohesive plan and a stratified response based on risk are a few examples.
Being told to go home, do nothing and wait till you get so ill you had to rush to the hospital was a nonsensical approach. Medicine doesn't say that to people with diabetes, hypertension, or depression... Prevention tends to be represented amongst functional, holistic and integrative medical providers... why couldn't the government suggest getting physically active, losing a few lbs, taking vit D (for example) to start?
Cutting medical providers (on the front line of care) and university hospitals out of problem solving is illogical and a loss for public health. They are fertile sources of innovative treatment ideas. I don't blame individuals (in the general public) who seek ways to reduce risk, treat at home. I myself made several changes, including dietary (such as- cutting sugar out) to give my body a slightly better chance to protecting itself the way it was designed.
my residency training director had a phrase framed on his office wall when i interviewed- there is no such thing as a free lunch (referencing pharma)... it speaks to your question about pharma's generosity. Medication is important, a needed tool and access to treatment is important, however we forget our health does lie in our hands and there is so much we can do about it. thanks for this piece.
Yes, well stated here! I won't argue whether repurposed drugs work, but we already have a long history of their safety so why not at least try something than do nothing?
Part of me believes that a big issue came with doctors' teleconference calls to patients and that lack of personal interactions helped to distance many doctors and so it may have been a little easier for medical professionals to "avert their eyes" and tell themselves "it's not their problem", but that's a bit too cynical for me so I try to avoid thinking like that but at the same time it's difficult not to.
It's certainly true now that treating diseases at the root of their problem instead of letting it fester and get worse is the best way to keep things under control. It's a strange way of thinking where we are being told this virus is extremely dangerous but also we will not try anything to deal with this super serious virus until it is way too late.
There certainly is a lot of things going on here that seems highly questionable. The idea that PAXLOVID will be provided to us and we are expected to act as if this is a gift from the government and Pfizer without sitting down and asking where the money is coming from is so strange.
that's an interesting question- if telemedicine created distance in the clinical relationship enough to avert eyes. i don't know what the answer is. I noticed a different way was needed to continue working via telemedicine to keep people engaged.
one thing that struck me was being in the same situation as my patients; when they were moving, i was moving, when they were stressed, anxious I was stressed, anxious, when they couldn't get supplies, I couldn't. If they were sick, I knew people who were sick, they experienced loss as I experienced loss. I think the degree of fear, stress, anxiety, isolation, grief (and trauma of all this) may be underestimated for its impact on decision making (for either party), this may take time to unpack.
i also wonder if working in the grey area of treatment may not fit every doctor... or patient for that matter. Possibly it is a human trait, I don't know (sortof thinking aloud here). again, good chat!
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the SOTU. Glad I didn’t, because the part you described would have put me in fits. The most bewildering thing about the last 2 years has been the fact that when someone tests positive the official advice is “oh well! Wear a mask and hope you don’t die!” My unvaxxed family (to our knowledge) has never had it, but we take Vit C & D daily and I have quercetin and zinc on hand. I also “know a guy” for IVM ;) I’d rather try those than paxlovid, thanks anyway, Pfizer.
Well, there were a lot of other parts that would possibly infuriate you as well, but I zeroed in on this part because it just stood out to me based on what I've been writing. It feels like such a hollow victory dance, the same way that they're patting themselves on the back for sending out antigen tests which most likely arrived way too late for many people (it did for me) and then providing tons of N95 masks which were left out of their packaging and would no longer be considered sterile. It's all about bravado and nothing about approaching things rationally and sensibly.
Your last sentence pretty much sums up the past two years.
In my 54 years as an RN, there has never been an illness, condition or even injury that we did not seek to prevent or treat as early as possible. “Nip it in the bud!” With that in mind, I started looking, reading, listening for a signal as to what to do to stay well for my family and others. I discovered there was a protocol to prevent and treat Covid-19 early. We used it and shared it successfully with those; everyone one got well; no one was hospitalized. Sadly not in time to help our 39 yr old neighbor who suffered 6 wks in ICU never seeing his family again. Too many people suffered needlessly.
Extrapolating the efficacy and safety records of repurposed drugs then applying them is how clinicians can use their knowledge to address new presentations of illness.
Your story provides a tale of two perspectives to COVID. When I would check the comments section on mainstream news outlets it was filled with epithets and vitriolic anger at people for not being vaccinated, blaming them for keeping the pandemic going, idiots who are eating tubes of "horse dewormer" and killing themselves. They acted as if they were so above all of those other people, as if they were more intelligent that people willing to at least try something because they were "following the science".
Then I look at other YouTube videos discussing repurposed drugs or criticizing COVID protocols, and the comments section feel like a complete 180. They're essentially filled with sadness or guilt, with so many people saying "I knew someone who got ill and was thinking about telling them about X but didn't and they got seriously ill". Many comments like that where people felt they should have at least alerted friends and family to what's out there.
On one hand, there's a group of people who think that there's nothing that works unless stated to work by the NIH, while another says that there may be something out there that's at least worth trying.
But even then, not even telling people to take vitamins and exercise is a catastrophe on its own! It's shameful how the medical community has become so PC that it would rather not help treat someone if it may end up offending them.
Not to mention,as my wife the doctor who specializes in early treatment for kidney disease says, PAXLOVID is kidney toxic
I haven't looked to deeply into PAXLOVID aside from how well it compared to Ivermectin. I wonder if she believes it's due to the P450 enzyme inhibitor Ritonavir causing a build up of the protease inhibitor. I may want to look deeper into renal toxicity but aside from the liver the kidneys are one of the biggest targets for drug toxicity.
Paul Rjust now
Yes, both hepato and renal toxicity. This lack of early treatment is the real pandemic. In kidney disease, no early treatment is offered (hey, we can dialyze you when you're near death. Sound familiar?) by the traditional medical establishment. No drugs is what they mean. It's lifestyle, diet, etc. Plus real benefit with herbs and peptides. But no one makes money off those
Couldn't agree with you more. I work in a hospital pharmacy in the northeast and saw (and continue to see) how therapeutics were not used effectively to combat the disease, as we received shipments of Regeneron and subsequent antibodies, which collected dust in our refrigerators for months! As Paxlovid and molnupiravir came into our possession, it was the same case, as I did not see these treatments being used. I finally sent a letter to our clinical/management team, voicing my concerns regarding the absence of timely implementation of early treatment therapeutics and suggested they go back and review biothical principles, which seem to have been disregarded by most in medicine throughout this whole pandemic. I am convinced that one of the major drivers of the lack of use of these therapeutics is that they all are for outpatient use and may not allow the hospital to secure as much government covid monies. Our inpatient use of Remdesivir, on the other hand, has been consistent throughout the pandemic.
Has anyone looked into what paxlovid actually is yet and if we’d even want to take it??
The author did a brief review a while back: https://moderndiscontent.substack.com/p/pfizer-releases-an-interim-report?s=r
Thank you!!