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Health

Covid . alternative cures?

(104 Posts)
starbird Sat 25-Apr-20 14:20:45

I’ve heard that there are scams offering a cure for COVID but are there any ‘alternative’ cures that might help reduce our chances of catching it?

I have heard that pineapples - leaves boiled for an hour and drinking the liquid, or eating any part of them including the core, is a remedy used in many tropical countries to reduce fever and inflammation and is being used by people for Covid as well. ( Bromelain tablets have the same active ingredient).
I also know someone using a homeopathic remedy that she says is widely used in India - again three well known anti inflammatory remedies.
I know that any good diet would help but find it hard to stay away from chocolate!

Callistemon Sun 26-Apr-20 12:18:35

Chestnut had they not been put on ventilators then, possibly, nearer 100% may have died from the virus.
Ergo a proportion who may have died, possibly 34%, will live because a ventilator allowed their body to recover.

Yes , SirChenjin any advice on here should be taken with a huge dose of whatever salt is recommended. Or no salt.

GrannyLaine Sun 26-Apr-20 12:49:51

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

And can I second that too? Some of the stuff that has been posted on this thread is frankly ridiculous. And worse, may ramp up anxiety levels for those who are continually afraid right now. Maybe consider why frontline staff are given years and years of training in critical care, rather than half an hour on Gransnet?

growstuff Sun 26-Apr-20 14:59:26

SueDonim I read somewhere that it's the other way round. Covid-19 causes mini embolisms, so the blood isn't getting enough oxygen to the lungs.

Some people have a cytokine storm, which means the immune system goes into overdrive and causes major organs to be damaged.

I think it depends how individuals are affected. There isn't a "one size fits all" treatment.

Daisymae Sun 26-Apr-20 15:04:28

Doctors in New York have been treating Covid patients with high dose Vitamin C
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-can-large-doses-of-vitamin-c-prevent-or-help-to-treat-covid-19-11966790
Open minds please

Chestnut Sun 26-Apr-20 15:05:12

In truth, experts worldwide are discovering things about this virus all the time, and their findings do not always agree. So who is to say what is factual and what isn't? We are all constantly learning, and the treatments they are using for covid now may not be the same in a few months time. I find it all very interesting and would not dismiss new discoveries that doctors are making just because they are not currently recommended. With that attitude medicine would never have made any progress.

notanan2 Sun 26-Apr-20 15:10:12

You get full ventillation when you are near dead through illness. Its what they do when you ARE dead and they resusitate you.

Or if you are aneastgetised for treatmemts you need to be asleep/paralysed for.

So keep the death rates on ventillators in prospective. Also lots of people on ventillators are in multi organ failure anyway: renal, heart etc

MaizieD Sun 26-Apr-20 15:24:37

Chestnut

As far as I am aware, from my 'O' Level biology, the lungs are the means by which oxygen enters the bloodstream. As described by MawB a few posts ago.

Do you know of any other mechanism for passing oxygen into the bloodstream? I certainly don't...

Chestnut Sun 26-Apr-20 15:28:41

MaizieD - it was found that patients who had no trouble breathing suddenly had critically low oxygen levels in their organs. That was why they felt that pumping oxygen into the lungs was not the way to go, because that is the treatment for people who cannot breathe properly. Read the above articles for more details.

notanan2 Sun 26-Apr-20 15:28:47

Back when everyone was posting that everyone should get a ventillator I did point this out.

You have to be pretty sick for the benifits of a ventillator to be worth the (sometimes fatal) risks.

Ventillators are bad for everyone. Unless you are in such a bad way that you are less likely to make it off one that one one.
You also have to be quite phsically strong to make it off a ventillator

notanan2 Sun 26-Apr-20 15:32:19

Not really Chestnut. Ventillators arent so much just about Oxygen as about delivering pressure too to keep the lungs open. Or about doing the breathing in and out for you if you cant do that yourself. Depends on the type of ventillation

The blood clots are treated with blood thinning medication, but that is no good to you if you arent breathing so some people with clots still require ventillation

SirChenjin Sun 26-Apr-20 15:40:50

Daisy did you actually read that article?

Amongst the many things I could take from it I’ll highlight “At the moment, there is no evidence that taking vitamin C supplements could prevent or cure the respiratory illness COVID-19, a UK health expert has told Sky News”.

Stop with the misinformation.

MawB Sun 26-Apr-20 15:42:53

From that article on Vit C
At the moment, there is no evidence that taking vitamin C supplements could prevent or cure the respiratory illness COVID-19, a UK health expert has told Sky News
This bit is good though.
Posts have also been widely shared online about the supposed wonders of vitamin C, including one of a quote by the late doctor Robert F Cathcart, who said: "I have not seen any flu yet that was not cured or markedly ameliorated by massive doses of vitamin C

You note, the late doctor

All this stuff about “keeping an open mind” is exactly what the Donald was saying.
And some wonder how he came to be elected? confusedconfused

MawB Sun 26-Apr-20 15:43:48

Xd posts Sirchenjin !

Daisymae Sun 26-Apr-20 15:44:57

Not saying that it would prevent or cure but may boost the immune system.
Dr John Campbell has stated that there is lots of evidence for Vitamin D and Immunity, there's a recent video on YouTube.
There is lots of evidence, so its hardly misinformation. People have to make up their own minds, but its hardly new news.

Daisymae Sun 26-Apr-20 15:45:54

Well we will all be late, sooner or later, supplements or not!

notanan2 Sun 26-Apr-20 15:46:14

We have the resources in the UK for all ITU patients to be under a specialist ITU dietician that ensures correct nutrients, vitamins and minerals, so its a bit different to payer systems

notanan2 Sun 26-Apr-20 15:48:26

Remember also that in NY its people from poor areas getting sickest, so most likely to have a baseline of poor nutrition and deficiencies.

As I said on another thread, the "cures" arent new and fancy. Your best shot at getting through covid is the usual suspects: lower blood sugars, hydration, fitness and a varied diet.
Nothing new.

SuzannahM Sun 26-Apr-20 16:00:00

I hope this is open minded enough for you.

It should be noted that the high doses of Vitamin C being administered in New York are being given intravenously, not through the stomach. It is also being used for the critically ill - when someone is fighting for their life side effects of their treatment may be considered the lesser of two evils.

Vitamin C is believed to assist in fighting inflammation, thus supporting the immune system. BUT only small amounts of Vitamin C, less than 100mg, can be absorbed by the body at any one time, the rest is expelled in urine.

Large amounts of Vitamin C can also lead to diarrhea.

SirChenjin Sun 26-Apr-20 16:01:59

You said they are being used as a treatment for COVID-19 Daisy

They are not.

Vitamin C and D have been used for many years as supplements but they are not used to treat covid.

I wish people who peddle this nonsense would stop. It is factually incorrect information. Enough.

Daisymae Sun 26-Apr-20 16:03:49

According the report on Sky News Doctors in NY and China are using as a treatment.
A quote 'Doctors in New York have been prescribing critically ill coronavirus patients large doses of vitamin C, and it is also being trialled in hard-hit China where COVID-19 originated. '
Factually correct.
S

SirChenjin Sun 26-Apr-20 16:07:09

Show me where vitamin C is a recognised treatment for covid-19 and is specifically linked to positive outcomes.

Daisymae Sun 26-Apr-20 16:08:16

I give up!

Gwenisgreat1 Sun 26-Apr-20 16:09:24

After having TB I decided to take a daily dose of Turmeric. I have found great improvements, I've hardly needed any antibiotics apart from last year I had a dose of pneumonia (I did get over it very quickly). Whether turmeric will keep me clear of covid I don't know, but I'm sure it will give me a fighting chance!

SirChenjin Sun 26-Apr-20 16:09:40

You can’t - because the trial (a tiny one with 140 participants) doesn’t conclude until September.

I will now repeat the headline from that Sky article because for some reason you don’t seem to have understood it

At the moment, there is no evidence that taking vitamin C supplements could prevent or cure the respiratory illness COVID-19, a UK health expert has told Sky News.

notanan2 Sun 26-Apr-20 16:12:05

ALL ITU patients get vitamins.

Many of them get a high dose into their veins. The rest get it through a NG

Its not a "cure" its normal care.

Its going to make more of a significant difference in areas of poverty where people go in already defficient or malnourished.

Especially in areas where addictions are rife, these are the people who usually get the high doses by vein (and its not just vit c)