Vitamin "D" and Covid-19

[jbeegoode]

According to a Natural Grocers magazine article the severity of Covid-19 is mitigated by Vitamin D.

 The study published in May. Data on 212 patients. 85% of  them with normal solid levels of "D" had mild symptoms. 73% of patients with low Vit "D" experienced severe or critical infections. "D" reduces the inflammatory response and infection rate.

Oh yea, these guys sell a lot of vitamins.

Jbee

[ric]

right at the start of covid , back in march ,  we sat down and thought about it as a flu variant.   we concluded that it would be impossible to avoid the virrus so to minimise the effects building the imune system and enhancing lung function were the way to go.   vit d from sunshine, vit c from home grown salad crops in short term and fruit in long term would help immune system. general mild exercise would help lung function.
at the same time i started taking a vit d complex as a general nerve and brain boost.... wee turned hi viz vest coloured and my frequent (1 or 2 a week ) migraines ceased. i havnt had one since.

more recently weve been looking at aspirin,   theres evidence a daily dose will help prevent tumours, arthritis ,heart attacks and dementia

the aspirin causes stomach ulcers research was done when more profitable pain killers were developed.    by feeding mice upto 100 aspirin in a single dose.   the " research" found exactly what it was intended to prove and gave a headline to market the more profitable alternates.

the more i read of medical and nutritional "research" the less i trust the headlines... and that includes the "expert opinions"  ie guesswork surrounding covid.

google the anual number of deaths in US from cancer....or any other major cause of death in any country,   its many times the covid rate.   weve trashed the worlds economy, many businesses and many individuals livelihoods for what is actually a   run of the mill virrus.

[MartinM]

The association between sunlight, vitamin D and the immune system, particularly regarding viruses, has been known for a considerable time. Sunlight was widely used as part of the treatment in the 1918 flu pandemic and continued to be used until the coming of modern drugs in the second world war.

There were articles about this early in the pandemic and I am currently involved in a Public Health England Covid study looking at the effect of time outdoors and diet on immunity. There has been much evidence coming out of the crisis to show that those reacting badly to Covid have low vit D levels and that those with good vit D levels have not been having bad reactions. This may at least partly ecplain why the BAME community have been suffering particularly under Covid, as they tend to have significantly lower and widely defficient vit D levels. Vit D supplements are not particularly effective, but may have a useful role in winter when we cannot make our own.

But no-one should need to take vitamin D during the summer. We can all make more than enough by getting out in full sunshine regularly, without sunscreen and with sufficient flesh exposed - the more the better, although the period of exposure required is not long, and of course should not risk burning.

The role of vit C I think is rather less clear, but any good diet should maintain healthy vit C levels.

[ric]

uk schools have brainwashed a generation of kids and their parents.   a glimmer of sun and our grandkids dont go out the door without sunscreen....unless theyre with us for the day...... weve got bad memory and forget it

[jbeegoode]

I had a friend that generally couldn’t taste his food for a couple of weeks. I had a another friend in overweight waddling not good health that spent three weeks in intensive care, figuring that she probably wouldn’t make it.

We went up to the White Mountains to try this new glamping set up. At  over 10,000 ft. attitude, DF came down with some covid-19 systems. After three or four days, she was able to drive the way home. She is healthy. Laying naked on a mat in the sun seemed to rejuvenate her.

I came down with the same symptoms the day after she left. A swollen pounding headache, enough to just lie in bed. I found myself gasping for breath and getting dizzy. I figured that the elevation was not helping, but I didn’t have it in me to break camp. So, I lay there for several days alone in the wilderness listening to the rhythm of the rain on the tent and drinking liquids.

I called DF and told her, when I was weak and too tired to talk and then put my cell on airplane mode and time went by. DF knows how I have been about not getting to a doctor and just laying there getting extremely sick. The next morning, I was feeling like sitting up after days and a pair of Sheriff deputies showed up. How they found me, I don’t know. Anyway they had been very helpful to DF and went out of their way with a sincere commitment to “Protect and Serve.” We were both touched to see a couple of guys like that, during these times of paramilitary powers, control fear tactics for any interaction, and seeing people beaten and shot on the streets in mass repression. Very refreshing.

“Better get off airplane mode and call your girlfriend,” they said. If the sun isn’t out, the battery doesn’t charge, off of airplane, the battery doesn’t stay up for very long when “searching.”

I began to do better, but feeling kind of stuck. After a week of illness, I was able to incrementally pack up and then push out of there. It takes about two hours to pack up that tent and it is over 100 pounds of dead weight.

I got back exhausted. I am not gasping for breath like up there, but still not getting around well. DF feels recovered. So, I’m going to a doc today, figuring that we have been blessed with mild cases of this stuff. Laying naked in the sun sure seemed to help. It was like being recharged myself. I also ate lightly hardboiled eggs, because that provides the good cholesterol that the body uses to manufacture Vitamin D.

My point being that If not in good health and stressed, I could see this stuff really messing somebody up. It is very dangerous. It doesn’t feel like a common flu. I feel like my lungs have shrunk to less than half capacity. Not able to breathe is scary.
I don’t think that diminishing it to a “run of the mill virus” is in step with reality. Without measures that have been done, this world would be looking totally different and we might have ended up with the same measures in much worse circumstance of death and congested hospitals.

There should have been better prep for this inevitability, but the funding was cut by Trump and his Republican “small government” for bigger profit cronies. We are over ready for a war that we will probably never fight, using more resources than the next ten countries combined, because there is profit to be made by the military industrial complex. The funding for the “inevitable’ outbreak was taken. That is why there is worldwide economic destruction and pandemic. We could have been ready for this. I saw it coming, when they defunded a couple of years back. They are now pointing fingers at scapegoats, calling out conspiracies, blaming everyone but themselves. To quote one of Trump’s lies, “Who knew?”

DF was tested at work a few days before we left. The negative results came in after she had been obviously exposed. The patients were being screened before admittance, but two got past and people got sick at her work. I read that 30% of test results are faulty. Everything seems to bear witness to those faulty test results. This thing is much different than it would seem because the results of testing are faulty. The other factor is that she wasn’t retested, but told to just stay home till she felt better. This is the third time that I have personally heard this kind of story. So, there are millions of people who get it and are not tested, so the percentages of deaths to better outcomes are lower. BUT, this should also tell you that the stuff is contagious as holy heck and more people will die. More evidence is the irresponsible decisions by State Governors based on political pressures from the owners of the Republic has caused huge resurgences in places like my state Arizona and Florida (there are lots of sunbelt old retirees here, who it will kill). It is contagious as holy heck and it makes people extremely sick and lots of them die.

Your lawn catches fire and you better be quick to keep your feet from being burned, while you put it out. A good wind on the prairie will carry fire faster than the best horse will run.

P.S. So, I go see a doctor today. The nurse takes the vitals and asks questions. I reveal that it has been over 7 days. He reveals that policy doesn’t allow testing after 7 days. I explain the crappy efficacy of the tests. I really didn’t go to get tested. I went to make sure that my severely diminished lung capacity was not an issue.

The doctor finally checked me out and I got stuck with a test, who’s results won’t be available for another two to eleven days. The test was every bit as brutal as the reports. It is no wonder that people that administer get inaccurate results, just with the body’s natural resistance. She asked me to, “please don’t grab my hand,” in advance.

If it is Covid positive, the odds are 70% accurate that it shall pass, (could be days, or lingering months), but she can’t tell me when. And it probably isn’t a bacterial infection.

If it tests negative, then it may be something else. Then, they will ask me back, but that is in the realm of 30% inaccurate.
All of the statistics are wrong, there is nothing to be done, nobody has any certainty. Do I attempt to breath hard, exercise my lungs, or feel like my chest is caving in, just stay inactive? Nobody can tell me. So, I’m grateful that this is a hopefully mild case.

Good news, my appetite is down, the pants that I bought to accommodate my weight loss from the last coronavirus in the spring are hanging loose on my hips. I may end up better than ever.

The antigen blood test may be the place for me, but it has mutated to a more infectious starin and nobody is sure if the resistance lasts for more than a couple of months.
Jbee

[MartinM]

Sorry to hear about your illness, and that you live in a country run by a mad man who seems to want everyone to get it. Hope you recover soon and no lasting effects.

[nuduke]

Oh dear, Jbee.  Sounds as if you've both had the plague alright.  Do I read that you've had it twice in 3 months.  Can that happen?  Surely you get some immunity if you've had it once.  Maybe you had 2 strains - covid and another flu?
You've had so much bad luck with health in the last year or so.  Get fully well soon, buddy.

John

[jbeegoode]

To clarify that question, just before going to Mexico in mid February, I had a corona virus. It was similar to the corona that I had a year before at Christmas time. I even suspected that it might have been Covid-19, because of the symptoms. This is different, today.

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm fed up with the private health industry and its ignorance and greed and particularly the political.  The policies, the out and out lies of the Trump administration and the corrupt fools that run governments based on the control of those who pay for their elections.

This country used to be a leader in the world. We used to be proud that we would go around the world and help others. We were great and we were a global good, but now, the policy is only self interest and a bully. We are pariah. America has diminished significantly in recent years.

We should have been ready for this pandemic, a plan, resources, ready in place to act and helping to pull everyone out globally. Statistical data and analysis could certainly be be prepared for, coordination between countries could tell us better what we are dealing with. I am sickened, by what amounts to a tin pot despot fascist dictator only suitable for a tiny backward country. We have confusion, scapegoating, conspiracy accusations, uncertainty, lies, misleading information and shot in the dark chaos. Trump took away the funding over two years ago, leaving us totally unprepared for an inevitable situation. He did nothing in the early stages, but lie and wish it away. We were told not to wear masks, because we didn't have enough masks to go around, and that is directly from de-funding. All of this we knew, would happen when the funding was taken away. The cause of the severity of the chaotic depths of the damage economically and by all humanitarian values was caused by Donald Trump when he de-funded the organizations to handle pandemic and shrank back from world leadership.
SO, the response is to further de-fund all needed support and "make deals" for a vaccine for an elitist few Americans and silence the facts, making us all more ignorant and unsafe to get reelected at any cost.

Right now, my perspective is tinged/clouded with the overall sense of toxicity. It is as though my entire world is a poison soup, as I get sensitive to cleaning out the new house, an old house, and can't breathe from this virus. The rains have come and life is much more sticky with humidity. It will be a good day when I'll again walk in the mountains, breathing free and healthy with every part of my being, released from the inept burden given to me from a corrupt system based on and overrun by the capitalist greed of a few in wealth and power.
Jbee

[nuduke]

Well, if it's any consolation, much of what you aver is true for the UK too, particularly ill preparation with a history of underfunding (mostly due to the austerity from the 2008/9 market crash and depression).  We have had tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people ill like you were and many suffering long term after effects that could have been avoided by earlier action. We have had thousands of health workers illness and deaths that could have been avoided by better PPE stockpiling.  One earlier, bolder decision to lockdown a week earlier (or better a fortnight) or even like the least touched nations - lockdown when the very first cases became evident, would have both avoided death and illness but also mitigated the worst depression since the 1930s that is looming but has not fully hit us yet.
As predicted (by me!) as soon as lockdown is eased in Spain, France and Germany and elsewhere, the disease begins a renewed rise.  A significant proportion of people are NOT being sensible and prudent and following instructions but everywhere (particularly USA) are being selfish, venal, wrongly sceptical and downright ignorant (you see them crowding around with no protection or distance on news reports around the world every day) and as long as this continues we will not be free of the plague  The instances of rapid spread in cold store workers for me clearly points to an unstoppable rise in infection as the cold weather begins to establish in the autumn along with the regular winter flu (other covids?).  It will thus make the Covid 19 problem worse when people don't know the difference between normal flu and Covid 19 flu.
'Leakage' of people, travelling between countries, that don't take full quarantine and hygiene precautions because they don't think they are infectious (what do they know?), or need to take precautions come what may, or need to go to work for economic survival, will also ensure that those countries that have battled the plague more successfully will see its reintroduction with ever more economically damaging lockdown consequences.
You will have gathered that I see no reason for optimism and predict death rates and disabling post-recovery syndromes in the coming months across the globe, far in excess of what we have already experienced.  The only difference between today and middle ages plagues is that we know what's causing it and can cure some people better.  The herd of humanity doesn't seem to have learned anything more about prevention of spread than the populations of the mid-1300's
John

[jbeegoode]

There is already a mutation that spreads quicker. There is all of your aforementioned concerns, which are manifesting in an even more lethal, grander infection base worldwide.

I can't breath very well today, Covid-19. Across the nation people are rising up because they saw oppression take lives as they cried, "I can't breathe." The People standing in the streets can't breathe because of the use on teargas, to stop their freedom of speech in an election year. A Federal boot, based on Federal lies, is calling them terrorist/anarchist and expanding boots on the neck of the people for the profit of an elitists few. These are racking up profit while the millions of renters face financial catastrophe to save the wealth of banks and corporations. It's weird, but anywhere i look, people are having trouble getting out and breathing freely and without fear. We're all masked, smelling our last putrid meal with our last breath.

So, to me, your lack of optimism looks optimistic.

If a few make trillions while the rest of us suffer, because our lives are only valued by economic production values honed by government rule melded with the corporate and wealth. Then, yes, the plague will get worse, the Earth's nature will diminish, and the result will be something un-imagined. The same economic system as the 1300'S. too.

My dilemma is what to do when somebody suggests to me to hold onto my pants!
Jbee

[ric]

weve all got different perspectives to view covid from.   for me sat in rural england my only direct experience of covid is the panic buying in supermarkets back in april and its effects on my normal once a week or so shopping trip.   only once have i had to wait to get into a supermarket.  theres been times i havnt been able to buy every item on the list, but we keep normally  full cupboards.... no toilet rolls on the super market shelves once or twice isnt a big deal if your buying to keep the cupboard full rather than because youve run out.

the wife runs a business from retail premises in the village, that shut down end of march, got a 10 k payout from government . so thats no big deal.    ive changed focus slightly  done less work in other peoples gardens , but repaired and sold more mowers... customers rarely wanted to shake my dirty hands anyway so not much has changed......

ive worn dust masks when needed all my workin life so know a bit about different grades of filtration and problems of bad fit, enough to know that wearing a "face covering" into a shop isnt going to stop anyone catching a virus.

back at day one we were told lockdown was designed to reduce the number of infections to a level the health sevice could cope with, there was never any informed belief that it would stop infection completely.


as weve learned more its become apparent that the effect of the virus on individuals varies widely from no discernable symptoms right through to needing mechanical ventillation.... apparently determined by the underlying health of the individual....which can be affected by all sorts of factors from housing density , air quality , diet , other medical conditions etc .

general conception over here is that american diet and lifestyle has resulted in an unheathy obese population fuelled by coke and macdonalds so their bound to be hit by whatever virus is doing the rounds.

vacination is seen by some to be the answere.... how long have they been doing flu vaccines?   they aint got that right yet there aint a hope in hell of getting a covid 19 vaccine working and guaranteed safe before its mutated into covid 2x so the vaccine becomes useless.  leave out the logistics of actually delivering it to everybody (that wants it)

[BlueTrain]

With all due respect, I am certain you would have found the diet and so-called lifestyle of my relatives and myself 70 years ago to be extremely unhealthy. My mother did not make it to 50, although her mother lived to be in her 90s. All my other grandparents died before I was born, although I have no idea if they were in good health or not. None made it into their 80s and neither did any of my aunts and uncles on my mother's side. In my wife's family, however, they are quite long lived.

I have sometimes mentioned on another forum that where I live, few people are obese, or so it would seem. Kids are active, high school girls look like Amazons and going by the obituaries, people somehow manage to live fairly long lives. But my own daughter who has lived in another state for years as well as overseas, actually mentioned that she saw a lot of overweight people when she was in school in this other state. So it might made a difference where you live, as well as the family you chose to be born into.

I understand there was a polio epidemic in the 1950s. My wife's only uncle managed to contract it in Arizona and died within a week.

[jbeegoode]

People have been coming to Arizona for clean dry air and sunshine since white Americans arrived. Tucson has been home to sanatoriums of all kinds. Doc Holiday, 1880's, came here for his consumption (TB). My dad, had to escape D.C. to recover from his parachiditise (sic.)There was for years a health recovery spot with full nudity in the sun as the principle guide/cure. Canyon Ranch and Miraval brands originate here. 

Predisposing health conditions are affecting people's reaction to that virus, also how big a cloud of the stuff that you walk through and breathe in will determine the severity according to at least one study. There are less healthy and unhealthy folks everywhere. Modern lifestyles, with crappy food, lack of exercise, and stress are obviously contributing, just like age. Seems to be quality, not quantity of age. When you are run down and can't get around well, you have a tendency to get sicker. Pretty apparent in general rule of thumb.

Science, source: New York Times, explained a study. You go to a restaurant and sit down at a table. The ventilation direction makes a huge difference, One person has covid at the table and 50% odds are that you will get it. The next table down the way and you are 75% odds of getting it. It will carry and be effective across the restaurant, but dissipates dramatically, after those first two tables. So much for the simplistic thinking of 6 foot social distancing. This study comes out and a week later the governor opens up restaurants around the state. He said a decision based in "science." He was not paying attention to science. His decision was based on political expediency, lousy half ass decision making, and economic considerations instead of lives. He is a liar and people have died because of him and his cronies. Same, Texas, and Florida. These governments don't care about health, or people, they care about profit. We are just cogs in a wheel. Two weeks later, right on time, those states became hotspots, and guess who shrugs his shoulders and claims, "Who knew?" 

There is no true leadership, just scared little pigs reacting to stay elected. These people were not selected because they are smart. Their elections are paid for because they know what to say to the donors and do what they are told. They often believe what the donors tell them. We have a buffoon posing as a responsible, intelligent, thorough leader. Frightened people want to believe in the lie, aka, fools.

We knew that the masks could not be 100% effective, but that they would reduce odds of infections. The "95's" were shown highly effective when worn properly in China. People blindly accept so called authority, instead of thinking for themselves. Healthcare officials bureaucrats, are particularly invested in who makes decisions for them. They wouldn't allow nurses to wear masks at first, and those that could had to do a particularly rigorous protocol. It boiled down to stupid. All that you have to do is be aware when wearing a mask, to realize how it fits is how well it filters. Just breathe and smell. If you can smell outside aromas, you can breathe virus. I see stupid people running stores with people all around with masks hanging down under their noses. It is pitiful how stupid people are, their resources for their decision making, and those being lead by stupid authorities.
Jbee

[ric]

i popped into our local morrisons supermarket this week.... we were all being good , wearing masks, waiting in the 2m spaced q..... behind the tills the cafe has reopened....no masks in sight there ..... guess the egspurts hadnt  thought u could sup a coffee through a straw wearing a mask

[Peter S]

The only way to be sure of avoiding the virus is to lock ourselves away, alone, in antiseptic rooms and hope for the best. Anything else is a calculated risk and a reliance on everyone else doing as much of the right thing as possible. Life has to go on, and we are still too near the onset of this situation to realistically try any other sort of life than the one we had six months ago. For the day-to-day it’s a case of every little helps, whether that’s masks, hand washing or keeping our distance. Even allowing for some very questionable statistics from around the world it’s not yet had the impact of the 1919 pandemic, and if we each, individually, do our bit the odds are still in our favour.