The paragraphs below contain everything the public health agencies should have said three years ago. They didn't and that's why people died. They still haven't and this is why people will continue to suffer. If you don't want to suffer a week of upper respiratory misery at best or a lifetime of post acute sequelae of COVID (PASC or "long covid") at worst, read and follow everything below...
Everyone needs to know the truth. SARS-CoV-2 (SC2) is never going away. If you're sick, you have covid. Testing is pointless. This man-made chimeric will forever out-compete every other virus on Earth. Further, there will never be a durable antibody solution to SC2. For decades, we've known that the spike proteins of human coronaviruses (HCoVs) mutate constantly. We get reinfected with HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E over and over again throughout our lifetimes. In that regard, SC2 will prove no different. One key difference between SC2 and these other HCoVs, notwithstanding the endosomal entry capability of omicron variants, is the engineered furin cleavage site.
If you took the mRNA vaccines thinking they would do something beneficial as a prophylactic, I'm sorry, you were sold a bill of goods that pharma could never deliver. You've been infected and reinfected just like the rest of us unvaccinated. IM vaccination induces systemic IgG immunity to specific blood borne antigens. IgG antibodies do not transcytose from serum into the portal of entry (nasopharyngeal mucosa) for respiratory viruses with any significance - certainly not enough to prevent infection from a virus now possessing an intrinsic R0 in the 20s! Why? Because dimeric secretory IgA is the primary antibody allotype that is responsible for sterilizing the upper airway. This is the way God designed mucosal immunity.
IgG antibodies do transcytose from the basolateral to the apical side of lung parenchyma and the GI tract via the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) - a misnomer because FcRn is expressed in adults as well. But that will not prevent you from getting infected and reinfected as has now become completely obvious to the world. Further, the virus will forever mutate to evade complete neutralization from these antibodies (even sIgA Abs derived from prior natural infection). The vaccines will always be coded for extinct or near extinct variants. It's just the way it is.
If anyone doesn't believe what I've written so far, go spend a few months and read everything published in Frontiers in Immunology over the past 30 years. It's all there.
For those who have never been vaccinated against SC2: the risk of immunothrombogenesis (clotting caused by our own immune systems going haywire) leading to hypercytokinemia, coagulopathy cascade, respiratory failure and death occurs once - with your initial infection that leads to complement and adaptive immune system activation. This risk is extremely remote and stems first from a genetic predisposition. Severe covid was never caused by comorbidities, but they do exacerbate an already perilous immune system overreaction, particularly excessive IL-6 due to obesity.
Regarding one and done, my hypothesis is that it's the presence of IgG3-N (antibody subclass to SC2 nucleocapsid protein) that causes a cascade of immune dysregulation led primarily by complement hyperactivation. Because nucleocapsid protein is highly conserved amongst all SC2 variants, the life threatening hyperinflammatory reaction some of us experienced as a result of delta or wild type infections will never be repeated with this virus irrespective of how the spike protein continues to evolve (or be lab engineered - hello Pfizer directed evolution lab folks!) to evade antibodies.
Severe covid was never virally mediated pathology. It was caused by our own antibodies. This is why remdesivir was worse than useless, and why it was/is stupid to restrict HCQ to hospitalized patients (the acute viral infection is self limiting, no replication competent virus exists during the hyperinflammatory phase unless hiding in microclots/immune complexes or the individual is severely immunocompromised - which certainly can cause PASC but never caused respiratory failure).
So what do we do? The most important thing when you are sick is to clear the virus as quickly as possible. Spike protein is cytotoxic and biologically active all by itself. This lab creation is a monster and it will destroy our bodies, wreck our brains, cause organ damage, clots, etc. It's sheer evil and they did this. However, they are not immune to this virus and they will get infected over and over again and suffer the consequences of their own gain of function science experiment stupidity no matter how many useless boosters they inject.
Everyday, I gently apply dilute povidone iodine (PVP-I) to my nasal tissues with a soaked q tip as soon as I wake. I do the same when I get home whenever I'm out and about in public. Right before bed, I saturate my nasal tissues again. Each time I do this, I gargle for 30s with mint Listerine mouthwash. If I am living with sick family members (like I have been for the past two weeks) or I get sick myself, I do this 6-8 times daily until everyone is feeling 100%.
I've been doing this for almost three years now, and I have experienced ZERO adverse side effects. If using PVP-I in this manner would harm anyone, it's me. My nose is seriously messed up - deviated septum and vasomotor rhinitis. Twenty-five years ago, my then ENT doc tried to set me up with Flonase, Nasonex, and other glucocorticoids long before they went OTC. Each one led to chronic nosebleeds so I had to discontinue every one (just as my otolaryngologist experienced himself). I get rebound congestion (medicamentosa rhinitis) if I use oxymetazoline just one time! Daily use of dilute PVP-I has been completely uneventful.
Povidone iodine comes OTC typically at 10% concentration. That's waaay too strong, although interestingly 5% concentration is used for eye surgery prep and post op. Sterile saline solution (the plain stuff for soft contacts) is how I dilute down from 10%. 0.7% has worked beautifully for me. If you don't want to bother with diluting, then just buy the Betadine gargle which is 0.5%.
I use a q tip to deposit the solution as a topical antiviral. If you want to use a spray bottle similar to what's used for oxymetazoline (Afrin), that's probably fine. I just don't like spraying solution up my nose ever since that Zicam olfactory/anosmia mess back in 2009.
Last time I was sick (early Spring 2023 presumably XBB), I recovered my smell within 18 hours instead of the typical 5-7 days using this protocol.
You can gargle with this solution as well. It's possibly more effective at time to viral clearance than mint Listerine. But I prefer the mouthwash as it limits the amount of PVP-I I have to mix up. So it's a convenience factor for me. Plus there are oral health/dental benefits from the Listerine. Never swallow the gargle solution. It won't help the infection in your GI. That's what IVM taken on an empty stomach (and quite likely NAC) is designed to address.
Infants and young children should not use povidone iodine. And adults with preexisting thyroid disorders should discuss with their doctors before using povidone iodine. My blood work (TSH, T4, etc) has consistently shown no impact.
Daily supplements include quercetin, bromelain, zinc, vitamin D (cholecalciferol) only late Fall through mid Spring here in Wisconsin, vitamin C (pure ascorbic acid), and vitamin K2.
Daily Summer sun exposure keeps my calcifediol over 100 ng/ml with no oral D3 supplementation. Calcitriol has always remained in range ~76 pg/ml.
These are the facts. In my household (including wife and adult children), I was the one who was always getting sick (pre-covid). Now, I'm the one who is rarely sick while everyone else gets sick during times of high infectious pressures (like right now) because my family doesn't listen to me. Learn from their mistakes. And then go about living your life to its fullest potential absent fear and uncertainty.
Thanks for that advice. I'll follow it! Too bad families can't learn from the wisdom we've spent so many long hours acquiring, but will listen to some dumb poop on TV or at the bar.
Hi Aaron! Just an FYI in case you haven’t seen it because it went to junk folder, but this stack article made me think of a few questions for you, so I emailed you. If you have time, would love your thoughts…..not trying to be a pest 🪳 🕷️🐝🕷️🪳, so no pressure.