A Time to Speak

After listening to the news media, medical journals and opinions thrown around in private and public circles, it is time for me to speak.

I will speak out this testimony about my work, gone about quietly and cautiously in caring for early outpatient SARS-CoV-2 patients in my private practice. I will stop here and emphasize that last phrase for you so that you catch it: “in my private practice.” I am not beholden as an employee physician to any organization, hospital or group, therefore I practice independently, on my own license, without experiencing the inertia exerted “to do or not do” by any “owners.” This is an important point, for it will speak volumes about why I’ve been successful and free to do as I have done in the best interest of my patients.

When SARS-CoV-2 hit last year, I shut down my private practice only briefly to re-group and determine how I would protect my staff, my patients and our neighbors in the professional building where we work. Because I already had telemedicine services built into my communications platform, we went virtual immediately. My office never missed a beat while the big box clinics scrambled to figure out what to do and train their docs to use Zoom.

At that time, like all of you, I listened to the news daily and eventually keyed in on emerging information about HCQ plus azithromycin and zinc for early treatment of SARS-CoV-2. The first patient I treated was in April 2020. I was scared for my patient, who was considered at risk of hospitalization and respiratory support due to type 2 diabetes, overweight and asthma. I was also so scared by the media hoo-doo over heart arrhythmias that I actually went outside with my EKG machine and plugged it into the patient’s SUV to get a baseline and post-treatment EKG on the 3rd day. To my delight, the patient felt better within 72 hours and never had an ounce of respiratory distress or a change in the baseline EKG. The course and dose of HCQ I obtained from my local compounding pharmacist, dosing it similar to the Z-pack. This seemed to be brief enough to not cause harm, but still strong enough to stop SARS-CoV-2 early on.

I didn’t really have a lot of new SARS-CoV-2 positives again until the fall. Contrary to what you heard from Dr. Fauci, we were seeing variations (thus variants) of the virus all along. The early fall 2020 variant presented more like sinusitis, then devolved into chest inflammation and pneumonitis. I was fooled once by this presentation and that patient went on (untreated early) to develop pneumonitis that took weeks to heal. From then on, as cases continued to present, I began observing the very predictable clinical course of SARS-CoV-2 that was never fully described in the medical literature at that time. There is an initial prodrome of profound fatigue, malaise, headache and body aches followed by upper respiratory symptoms of congestion, etc and perhaps loss of taste and smell by the 3rd day. Following that, the virus settles in the chest by 5-7 days and causes dry cough and chest tightness and a sense of shortness of breath. Most of my patients never had a fever. The ones that did were usually 50+ year old males with risk factors including overweight/obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension. They would present with acute flu-like symptoms within 3 days of onset and very ill. All of these patients responded quickly to the combination of HCQ + azith + Zn with budesonide and albuterol inhaled when indicated IF THEY WERE TREATED WITHIN THE FIRST 3-7 DAYS OF THE ILLNESS. Those who needed inhaled steroids felt better after the first treatment. All were grateful that I treated them quickly. The worst side effect I’ve seen with HCQ is diarrhea, but most patients can hack that for the 5 day course I prescribe.

The oldest patient I treated with HCQ + azith was my most cautious. He was a 75 y/o male who had had a heart attack that same year. He was diabetic, obese and prone to heart failure. He got SARS-CoV2 around Christmas time. I watched him closely at first, tracking his progress through the predictable clinical course and was ready to treat at the first signs of chest tightness and short of breath. Without a new EKG, I dared to give him a short course of HCQ + azith, high dose Vit D3, zinc and pepcid. He was better in 3 days and was actually peeved that he still had to be quarantined at Christmas, even though he felt well. So much for acute fatal arrhythmias from that deadly combination of HCQ + azith. (although that only happens <1% of the time anyway).

Over the course of the late fall and winter I watched, observed and treated (when necessary) those that got SARS-CoV-2 in my private practice. I treated those who were the sickest and those with risk factors. I saw patients through their illnesses with only one trip to the ER and no hospitalizations (one patient waited a little too long to initiate therapy and was seen in ER but was never admitted or on oxygen). This experience convinced me that these early treatment regimens with HCQ + azith + Zn, etc. work. I felt (and still strongly feel) completely comfortable using them when needed.

At the beginning of 2021, new data was emerging about the use of ivermectin for prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2. I was glad there was another weapon available for use, especially coming from experience using it successfully around the world. My only hesitancy using it was my own unfamiliarity with ivermectin. I mean, how many times does an urban U.S. doctor ever treat intestinal worms?

I used ivermectin first in a 50+ year old patient who wasn’t getting over the diarrhea, fever, malaise rendition of their SARS-CoV-2 infection. 11 days into their illness, I started ivermectin as a 2 day course that turned into 4 days. The fever, aches, diarrhea and fatigue went away. They had no side effects from ivermectin and they were grateful I had intervened with the medication to get them over the infection.

Today, I am 1.25 years into SARS-CoV-2 as a treating physician. I have read everything coming into my house in the form of medical journals, newsletters & e-mails waiting expectantly to hear 1) A clear series of case presentations of the predictable early course of SARS-CoV-2 and alerts on the variations of presentation, especially since introduction of the “vaccine” and 2) What to do and when in the course of early SARS-CoV2 illness. In those publications I found some case studies of weird things like “CoVID toes,” Kawasaki-like illness in children, I read about perceived racial and social disparities in testing and care, mask on/mask off recommendations, experimental vaccines on the horizon and even the original Pfizer EUA petition to the FDA. NOTHING in respected medical journals hit my door with a viable early management algorithm until late January 2021. This was a small review article in the American Journal of Medicine entitled “Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 Infection” https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(20)30673-2/fulltext It reviews creditable studies that were published in support of use of HCQ alone and in combination with azith. and Zn and explains how their mechanisms of action work against viruses like SARS-CoV-2. It hit the news with only criticism that the Journal was endorsing the use of HCQ, which the media was frantic to debunk. However, none of the “discredited studies” from France, the Lancet or NEJM were sited in the article’s references. So, there still stands evidence and rationale that HCQ is safe and effective in early use, though if you Google it, it looks like HCQ is an urban legend.

The same response has again occurred with randomized, controlled trials as well as good quality observational studies with ivermectin. Out of that research, we now have at least one excellent metanalysis by Dr. Tess Lawrie, et al (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34145166/) demonstrating strong evidence that ivermectin is effective at every stage of SARS-CoV-2 illness, including prevention. The FLCCC has an excellent review of the evidence on it’s website as well (https://covid19criticalcare.com/ivermectin-in-covid-19/). So far, this evidence has been laughed away as “pseudoscience” by the ivory-tower medical experts quoted all over the news and internet. On that, I’d like to speak a word to you high and mighty experts: my patients and I are laughing at YOU. I invite them to dialogue directly with patients and doctors who have successfully treated early SARS-CoV-2 with these regimens. Tell us to our faces that early treatment doesn’t work, that what we’ve experienced is "false and misleading information.” There are no patients out there suing doctors for using these medications early yet there are millions of people world-wide that could have been salvaged by these early treatments. Shame on you everyone in the medical community from experts to community health authorities to legislators and doctors on the ground for not picking up these available treatments and using them in our fight in this pandemic! Wars are never won with just one modality. Wars are fought and won with everything from prepared troops and brave leadership, to strategy, ground, naval and air capability, guns, grenades and bombs. You give an effort like this EVERYTHING you’ve got, not just a one-pony show. Which leads me to my thoughts on vaccination.

I am a biochemistry and molecular biology major. I worked in a DNA lab. I have interest in virology. I’ve had all my routine vaccines and my kids are vaccinated. I’ve been in primary care, dealing with the bane of cold season for 15 years. Colds are a multi-million dollar a year business. Urgent cares love it because it’s their busiest season. Physicians have asked for a vaccine against the common cold for decades and have always been told the same thing: these viruses mutate person-to-person so quickly that we can’t make a successful vaccine. So now here we are with a common cold virus that’s so novel, we can vaccinate against it? Red flags raised all over the place for me. So, I read up on the new technology. Elegant in it’s biology, mRNA as a potential vaccine vector and therapeutic agent has been studied for 30 years. What I found is that vaccination against SARS-CoV-1 was attempted in the routine fashion, but killed people due to antibody priming. I read that the only applied mRNA human therapies to date have been done as last ditch efforts to treat terminal cancers, genetic, neuromuscular and neurological diseases with highly mixed results, often killing the patient due to immune hyper-responsiveness. I read and remembered mRNA is finicky and hard to work with. It’s flimsy at room temperature and body temperature, so getting it into the cell is difficult. Even if you get it into the cell, naked mRNA causes such a strong immune response in the host that it’s damaging to the body. So, I started digging for animal trials. Surely if this technology is so cheap and effective and avoids all the regulations required for cell-culture derived vaccines, then the veterinary field must be using it to vaccinate. After all, herd animals and domestic animals get annual vaccines just like humans. Guess what? They’ve been looking at animal applications (like rabies vaccines, etc.) for years, but nobody’s done it yet. That’s right. No animals have even been widespread vaccinated with a mRNA vector vaccine. Fascinating. I find it hard to believe that the FDA and other governing safety agencies worldwide would EUA a new vaccine technology that has not even shown efficacy or safety in animals first…

I will stop here and say that I find it wise and prudent to take pause and scrutinize these facts as a whole. When there is a lack of sufficient evidence and experience with any new technology applied to the human body, one SHOULD BE expected to be wary, and willing to watch and wait for adequate answers to materialize. Normally, it takes 7 years of highly organized and supervised study to get a vaccine to market, but in this instance we’re supposed to accept, at the manufacturer’s word, that these experimental drugs are safe and effective after many important steps were half-assed in an effort to “warp speed” it to us? “Only fools rush in” is a wise adage to apply here. To publicly ostracize, censor and denigrate the opinions of those who would like to watch and wait with caution before they apply an unknown to their body is offensive, ignorant, intolerant and audacious. Shaming them with statements like “you’re being irresponsible” or “you’re killing others” is false, outrageous and indecent. Here’s the truth: the answer to the question of vaccine safety, efficacy and long-term effect is “we don’t know.“ Every official document associated with these experimental drugs states so. The honest answer to “we don’t know” will only come after a period of watching and waiting, collecting data, analyzing it and then making a scientific determination of its merits good and bad. This will take years; it always does. But what we have today is an all-or-nothing propaganda machine telling us “vaccinate or die!” or even “vaccinate or be fired!” or “vaccinate or never travel again!” The list of discrimination and lies goes on and on. People have the right to do nothing in their medical care and there’s not a damned thing anyone can do about it. The art of medicine is a constant negotiation, not a dictum. Period.

And then there’s the whole question about whether or not vaccination is even necessary. I agree with Dr. Simone Gold who stated in a speech that SARS-CoV-2 is “a big nothing burger” when it comes to deadly infectious disease. When you compare it to real dangers like smallpox, yellow fever, and the Spanish flu of 1918 there’s no comparison. Without early treatment, only about 2-5% of patients will ever die of SARS-CoV-2 and we know who those people are likely to be: of advanced age and or with certain co-morbidities. Real infectious disease menaces like I mentioned are >50% lethal at every age!! I’d break my neck to get smallpox vaccinated if it ever emerged again. I’d risk variolation if that’s all I could muster and make my kids do it too. Not this nothing burger. Not when >95% of patients at every age will recover from this virus UNTREATED. Not when I’ve experienced and have on hand effective early treatments for those who need it which can take that 2-5% mortality rate down to 1-2.5%. Not until safety trials are handled appropriately instead of half-ass or blatantly ignored with this grand “experiment.” Not while I see a substantial number of my own patients in a clinic of <500 people sustain traumatizing and near-deadly side effects from this “safe and effective” experimental drug. I cannot endorse this vaccine at this time except for the elderly and frail who might benefit from it and that’s only if the patient WANTS it. That’s all I can muster from what I know now.

Now a timely word on the need for others to do as I have done treating early SARS-CoV-2. In the last week, I posted this to FB “Ivermectin, HCQ, azith. and budesonide don’t care if you’ve got delta variant or not. They still work great to kick early SARS-CoV2. We have what you need to prevent and treat” and included our phone number. That post went crazy. It reached >6000 views and then FB took it down due to “false and misleading information.” Ever since then, that post has lived on and we’ve done virtual visits on a dozen families. The fact that it got so much attention tells me that: 1) our office is likely the only one treating SARS-CoV2 in the community and 2) people WANT this kind of treatment one year into the pandemic because they have heard from the testimony of others that it works. I ask you, then, healthcare provider: if you have treatments available, with sound safety records and the credibility of your peers using them with success and not patient harm, why would you not at least try to use them? Why would you NOT want another weapon at your disposal that could make your patient better and not worse? Patients, as you read this, stand up for your doctors! If you want access to treatment, understand the price some employed physicians might have to pay for giving you care. There are rumored “naughy lists” in certain workplaces to discourage early treatment use. Call the hospital or clinic and complain. Let your legislators know you want doctors to be free to prescribe early treatments for SARS-CoV-2! And call the medical licensing boards and tell them your doctors should remain free to voice their medical opinion about controversial topics such as early treatment and vaccination and not face revocation of their medical license! https://www.fsmb.org/advocacy/news-releases/fsmb-spreading-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-may-put-medical-license-at-risk/

I mentioned before that wars are not won in one dimension; it takes everything you’ve got. Likewise, there’s no such as “one way or no way” in medicine; the patient always has a choice. There are CHOICES in SARS-CoV-2 for everyone that is amenable to their comfort level, disease risk or severity of disease if we are using everything we’ve got. There may be bias to choose one thing or the other, but that depends on the individual that is working with their doctor. The government and public health should get the hell out of the doctor-patient relationship and quit their damaging propaganda that vaccination is the ONLY WAY forward. This mono-logical thinking has got to stop for everyone, everywhere because people’s LIVES are at stake! I call on local legislative bodies and health departments, medical licensing boards and medical associations to come together and unleash this suppressed and underutilized tool called EARLY TREATMENT to lead the way OUT of another deadly SARS-CoV-2 season! If you won’t consider it, I promise more vaccinated and unvaccinated people will die this year. If the prevention of death and hospitalization is 50-70% with early treatment, why would you not endorse it? I don’t care about your religious or political affiliation, just open your MIND to the truth that lies in front of you and BE BRAVE. ACT NOW. It will take everything, all at once, to get this done but it must start at a local level of action. It has started with me and by the grace of God, I’ve been successful. What about you?