Covid . alternative cures?

Did anyone read the report the other day saying that patients should be put on oxygen masks and not ventilators, because the symptoms are more like altitude sickness, not pneumonia? It seems that the blood needs oxygen, not the lungs.
I’m trying to find more information on the subject online.

Yes I read that ventilators are not a good idea. They are very intrusive and as you say are not supposed to be giving the correct treatment to the lungs. Not many people survive a ventilator. I know if I went in I would not be having one.

It’s actually horses for courses. Some patients do well enough on additional oxygen, via a mask or those little tubes up your nose, others need CPAP machines and others need to be intubated and for a ventilator to take over the whole breathing process. It will also have a humidifier, adding heat and moisture to match the patient’s body temperature.
If you have milder symptoms a face mask or nasal mask will allow pressurised air to be pumped into the lungs.
So it’s not a case of “better” or “worse” but what is appropriate for the patient.

You can’t say “not many people survive a ventilator” my DH was intubated on several occasions after surgery and while extubation has to be handled with extreme care and sometimes the patient needs to go back on the ventilator if it is attempted a little too soon, it’s not a case of “not many people surviving” mechanical ventilation.

I’ve read about the similarly with altitude sickness, too. Patients whose SATS would normally mean they’d be unconscious are able to conduct a normal conversation, unlike in pneumonia. The issue seems to be that the oxygen isn’t getting from the lungs into the blood, which would tie-in with what others are saying about the blood vessels being affected.

I think we should leave this one up to the health care professionals and scientists to sort this one out

Don't listen to Trump, this man is insane, how anyone could vote for him is beyond me.

People who need to go on to ventilators are very sick and would possibly not survive without intervention, Chestnut. Going on a ventilator gives them more of a chance as it allows their body to recover.

The report didn’t say patients shouldn’t be put on ventilators - www.google.co.uk/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN2251PE

This may be what sonpmebody upthread was referring to regarding hydroxychloroquine

A malaria drug widely touted as a potential cure for COVID-19 showed no benefit against the disease over standard care -- and was in fact associated with more deaths, the biggest study of its kind showed Tuesday.
The US government funded analysis of American military veterans' treatment courses was posted on a medical preprint site and has not yet been peer reviewed.
The experiment had several important limitations, but adds to a growing body of doubt over the efficacy of the medicine that counts President Donald Trump and right wing news channel Fox News among its biggest backers.
Researchers looked at the medical records of 368 veterans hospitalized nationwide who either died or were discharged by April 11
Death rates for patients on hydroxychloroquine were 28 percent, compared to 22 percent when it was taken with the anti-biotic azithromycin -- a combination favored by French scientist Didier Raoult, whose study on the subject in March triggered a surge of global interest in the drug.
The death rate for those receiving only standard care was 11 percent.
Hydroxychloroquine, with or without azithromycin, was more likely to be prescribed to patients with more severe illness, but the authors found that increased mortality persisted even after they statistically adjusted for higher rates of use.

MawB - ventilators are appropriate for other situations but not apparently for covid. As someone said the problem is getting the oxygen into the blood, not into the lungs. People who have no trouble breathing have been suddenly dying because the oxygen is not getting into the blood.

ventilators are appropriate for other situations but not apparently for covid

Absolutely not true Please have a look at that link I’ve just posted.

Vitamins d and c are being used as treatment, in high doses. I don't think that taking these will do any harm and may just boost the immune system. Think that it's important to keep open minded

No vitamin C and D are not!!

Please - can people stop posting stuff that isn’t true. It creates and spreads misinformation which is absolutely not helpful.

Here we have a new York doctor describing the problem of low oxygen levels in the blood (hypoxia) and why people become so critically ill so suddenly.
Life threatening oxygen drop
Here is his article in the New York Times:
New York Times

The fact remains that incubators are putting oxygen into the lungs when the oxygen is needed in the blood.

The facts are that ventilators are saving lives, that clinicians are reviewing how and when ventilators are being used and with who (as with any treatment in new and emerging conditions) to improve outcomes and that far more research is needed.

I read that 80% of coronavirus patients on ventilators actually die?

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but it is thought that increasing our intake of vitamin D may help.

Provided the recommended daily dosage of a supplement isn’t exceeded then there is no harm in trying.

Of course in this lovely sunny weather we could all strip off outside!

Please - can people stop posting stuff that isn’t true. It creates and spreads misinformation which is absolutely not helpful

Absolutely, hear, hear. .

I think a certain US President may well be on here judging by some suggestions ?!

80% of coronavirus patients on ventilators actually die

Again, not accurate - the actual figure is far moire nuanced.

Please, everyone - if you or your family are unlucky enough to develop severe symptoms and require to be admitted to the ICU then let the nurses and doctors with their many, many years of experience advise and treat you, rather than being swayed by the posters on Gransnet. The figures are not 100% accurate at the moment because obviously no long term, large scale studies have been carried out - but you’ll be treated according to the best evidence we have available at this time.

Chestnut
1) we are not talking about incubators
“Intubation” means inserting a breathing tube to enable mechanical ventilation
2) the purpose of our lungs is to help oxygen from the air we breathe enter the red cells in the blood. Red blood cells then carry oxygen around the body to be used in the cells found in our body. The lungs also help the body to get rid of CO2 gas when we breathe out.
If a patient cannot manage that unaided and oxygen delivered via a face mask or nose pipes is insufficient, or if the lungs will not inflate without intervention, they are put on a ventilator to “do the breathing” for them.

To say that 80% of patients on ventilators die sounds like a weird “fact.”
If you need to be ventilated and do not have access to a ventilator, you will 100% die.
Please as Sirchenjin has said can we stop bandying around half truths, uninformed hearsay or downright old wives’ tales.

That’s a very interesting article, SirChenjin. Thank you.

The fact remains that incubators are putting oxygen into the lungs when the oxygen is needed in the blood.
Sorry, used the wrong word there, should have been ventilators not incubators. But to back up my statement, a study has found that only 34% of covid patients put on ventilators survive.
Coronavirus and ventilators

“This latest ICNARC research found that, of the 4,078 patients where an outcome was known, some 2,067 have died, while 2,011 were discharged.

This mortality rate of 50.7 per cent among all people admitted to intensive care is slightly lower than in ICNARC's last report at the start of April - which put the death rate at 51.6 per cent”

Survival rates are based on numerous factors but please - take guidance from the clinicians and nurses treating you.