I wanted to post a first hand report on my adventures with Covid-19.
While I may seem to be "jovial" and lighthearted in my posting title, it was truly miserable, and one of the few times that I felt that I actually could die, though not in the way you'd "feel like dying" with a bad case of the flu.
When I was hit with Covid it began fairly mild on day 1.
I was watching some TV and stood up. Doing that gave me that "I'm getting sick" feeling, but this was mid-March before cases really began to show in my region. In fact, I began to feel much better as the day progressed, though I was tired.
The infection began getting hit hard on day 2. I began to get a fever, and the lethargy just got worse. At this point it subjectively felt different from any infection I can remember. I stayed in bed, but someone called my name from the other room, and continued talking, though it was clear, I couldn't quite grasp the words.
There was nobody else in the house.
I began to take both hydroxychloroquine* and azithromycin** on that day, along with 50mg of zinc daily and propranolol as needed for some strange and frightening autonomic problems. My arms would get ice cold, I'd feel dizzy as if I was going to pass out. This continued for the next two days, with respiratory issues beginning on the night of day 4. Also interesting, it was also for the next two days that I could hear the talking in the other room, very clearly, yet without understanding what they were saying. It was so clear that I thought I might have had some sort of accelerated dementia. It didn't help that I was no longer clear thinking, though I was the first day I heard the voice. Between the voice, the fever, the disorganized thinking, and especially the dysautonomia, I really felt I could die.
The next day I began to feel better. This happened fairly quickly over the next few days.
By day 7, I was up and functioning well. After a few days without fever, I was out and about.
You should be saying to yourself, “But you’re only one data point, and this is anecdotal”
This may be true, but it’s the next part of the story that I find compelling and why I'm posting this.
I stopped all the meds on day 6. I had no fever and felt mild fatigue, but had no other signs of infection.
Three days later I had significant diarrhea and began to get a fever. It couldn’t be the Covid since I was symptom free for several days. It must be due to the antibiotic; perhaps I'd acquired C. diff. Then the diarrhea stopped, but the fever didn’t. It was a second round of Covid, albeit milder, but still miserable.
Point is that I appeared to be in total remission after day 6 of beginning hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc. (I also took propranolol for hypertension and the dysautonomia). When this treatment was stopped, symptoms returned a few days later.
This is an unlikely progression of the infection, but makes sense if the treatment was indeed effective and halted too early, before sufficient antibodies were produced and before the virus was totally cleared. It also explains the recurrence of the initial illness, the milder, yet miserable symptoms. I'd likely formed some immune response during the time I had self-medicated, but not enough to to totally suppress viral replication without them.
There is no doubt in my mind that when taken very early, this treatment is potentially efficacious. I would offer it to my own family if there were no overt contraindications.
Again, I acknowledge this is one data point, but I feel it is a compelling one.
This is my personal case report. Yes, the long Q-T syndrome is a possibility, but that wasn't an issue for me. Perhaps it was the propranolol, which is used to help prevent arrhythmia due to a long Q-T interval.
That's my report.
I am a male and pushing 60.
Needless to say, you may want to check with your doctor before you try this. I just didn't have time to do so myself, and no doctor would see me, except telephonically at that time.
Take a look at Figure 2 in the following "notorious" French study.
https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC7102549/
My experience largely followed the hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin line on this graph.
I believe that this study has been unfairly dismissed by many, especially physicians and the usual "talking heads" on TV. First, it appears to me, that for symptom/illness relief, this protocol must be started early. Once inflammation is in overdrive, then ridding the body of the virus is unlikely to directly correlate with clinical improvement, though one would suspect that it's still a step in the right direction, albeit an incomplete treatment protocol.
I'd also like to add one more observation. While I've seen studies utilizing both hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, and hydroxychloroquine alone, I haven't seen a study using only azithromycin. It could be that this is the primary active compound, which is very safe for most.
* Hydroxychlorquine dose on day one, 400mg twice, then 200mg twice each day on all following days
**Azythromycin 500mg each day
