Covid Brain Fog: the survivors who forget whole holidays, can’t recognise their own car

Normal CT scan

Normal CT Scan

We really need to know “how many”.

The NY Times tells the story of some Covid survivors who are forgetting entire holidays that were taken weeks before they got ill. They stare at photos and recall nothing…  One 31 year old woman suffers from “white static” moments where she is so disoriented she washed the TV Remote, couldn’t remember who she was, or where she was.

This happens in other viral diseases too, as sufferers with chronic fatigue, ME, and ongoing inflammation will tell you. But the scale of it appears to be something unique. Months later some of these people are have given up their jobs.

Pam Belluck, New York Times

After contracting the coronavirus in March, Michael Reagan lost all memory of his 12-day vacation in Paris, even though the trip was just a few weeks earlier.

Several weeks after Erica Taylor recovered from her Covid-19 symptoms of nausea and cough, she became confused and forgetful, failing to even recognize her own car, the only Toyota Prius in her apartment complex’s parking lot.

Coronavirus

https://www.scientificanimations.com

Lisa Mizelle, a veteran nurse practitioner at an urgent care clinic who fell ill with the virus in July, finds herself forgetting routine treatments and lab tests, and has to ask colleagues about terminology she used to know automatically.

Dr. Murphey, scientific director for a brain-wave technology company, who couldn’t summon the word “work” in a recent meeting, said research is crucial so symptoms are taken seriously.

This summer, Mr. Reagan [50], the vascular medicine specialist, turned the stove on to cook eggs and then absent-mindedly left to walk the dog, Wolff-Parkinson-White, named after a cardiac arrhythmia. Returning to discover a dangerously hot empty pan, he panicked and hasn’t cooked since.

…finger tremors and seizures, neurological symptoms that sometimes accompany brain fog, meant “there is no way I’m going to go into surgery and teach a doctor how to suture an artery,” he said.

Read the whole thing…

So far, MRI scans haven’t indicated damaged brain areas, neurologists say.

So that’s something.

As many as one third of hospitalized Covid patients have some memory loss 4 months later

There have been 8 million known cases of Covid in the US and a lot of unknown ones, so we’d expect some stories like this. We hope this is a small percentage, but other studies albeit small, suggest as many as a third of hospitalized patients have memory loss nearly 4 months later. Many of those will be mild memory dropouts, but the rate of hospitalization for influenza is about 1.6%. It is much higher in Covid, more in the order of 10%.

Confusion, delirium and other types of altered mental function, called encephalopathy, have occurred during hospitalization for Covid-19 respiratory problems, and a study found such patients needed longer hospitalizations, had higher mortality rates and often couldn’t manage daily activities right after hospitalization.

But research on long-lasting brain fog is just beginning. A French report in August on 120 patients who had been hospitalized found that 34 percent had memory loss and 27 percent had concentration problems months later.

The French Study by Garrigues et al asked 120 former hospital patients about their recovery 110 days later. They find that most survivors have still have ongoing symptoms over 3 months later:

We included 120 patients after a mean (±SD) of 110.9 (±11.1) days following admission. The most frequently reported persistent symptoms were fatigue (55%), dyspnoea (42%), loss of memory (34%), concentration and sleep disorders (28% and 30.8%, respectively). Comparisons between ward- and ICU patients led to no statistically significant differences regarding those symptoms. In both group, EQ-5D (mobility, self-care, pain, anxiety or depression, usual activity) was altered with a slight difference in pain in the ICU group.

About half were active workers before hand, and 70% had returned to work. Though that means 30% still had not. One quarter still had diarrhea, one in five suffered hair loss.  Just under half reported ongoing shortness of breath. This is nearly four months later. It is not the flu.

From Comments at the NYT —  one Harvard Doctor  has lost three months of memory….

Clair Beard
Boston, MA

I had CoVID in March will full-blown encephalopathy. I was in bed at home for weeks, wondering how low my oxygen level had to be to make my lips that blue, believing that I was dying of heart disease, and unable to move in bed. I should add that I am a Harvard-trained physician with a full-time Harvard appointment and thirty years of work experience at two Longwood hospitals. I remember nothing until July and very little since then. My primary care tells me that I ‘dodged a bullet.’ I cannot describe the frustration and depression that comes with losing one’s intellect. I cannot imagine that cognitive therapy will help me, but I will give it a go if I can find a program. In a way, I am fortunate. I am resourced, have insurance, a good husband, and a home. Many, many people lack these resources. My best to those suffering from CoVID and more to those suffering the death of a loved one. Our lives could have been different with proper strategies and better management early on in the contagion.

Obviously people making policy decisions about the costs of lockdowns, or the value of stopping the virus need good data on these long haulers.

Is Covid the Goldilock’s Bioweapon?

As we mentioned last week, sometimes in war it’s better to maim and impair rather than kill outright. It’s almost as if SARS-2 has the right mix to divide the democracies of The West. Not too deadly, not too nice. It’s scary enough to have to do something, but not scary enough to get unity. If it was infectious ebola, it’d be gone.

Kesi roundel with five-clawed dragon design.jpgMeanwhile, whatever the CCP know about this virus, they appear to be as determined as ever not to let the virus roam. They are testing nine million people to contain the first outbreak in two months.

Otherwise the Chinese economy is recovering very well.

The list of potential long term problems grows. Heart, lungs, head:

 Three quarters of mild to moderate Covid illnesses show heart damage. (Puntmann et al) Two out of three in that study were not even hospitalized and this study was done two months after they recovered.  In May, the first reports of long term struggles came from Italy. In June, UK doctors loosely estimated that one in three may suffer long term damage. Last week UK doctors who were still sick six months after getting Covid-19, wrote to warn that their conditions were debilitating (Wise et al), with mystery fatigue, new allergies and cognitive problems.   “Results from China, Japan, and USA show that half or more of asymptomatic cases have lung damage.  The sobering UK health toll (so far) is 440,000 known cases, 42,000 deaths and 60,000 “Long Covid” (which means being affected for at least three months).  CT scans of asymptomatic cases turned up a surprising 70% with signs of lung damage.  (Though they are small non randomized studies Long, and Ran et al.).

The genetics says “Bioweapon”

My simple rule for new likely bioweapon releases is (and always was), to leave them un China. Why give any authoritarians the excuse to lock us down, or set up new cameras…

REFERENCES

Garrigues et al (2020)   J Infect. Aug 25 Post-discharge persistent symptoms and health-related quality of life after hospitalization for COVID-19doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.08.029 [Epub ahead of print]

Long QX, et al “Clinical and immunological assessment of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections” Nat Med 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-020-0965-6.

Puntmann  VO, Carerj  ML, Wieters  I,  et al.  (2020)  Outcomes of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in patients recently recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).   JAMA Cardiol. Published online July 27, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2020.3557

Ran and Topal, (2020) Annals of Internal Medicine.

Jackie Wise (2020) Long covid: doctors call for research and surveillance to capture disease, BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3586 (Published 15 September 2020)    BMJ 2020;370:m3586

7.9 out of 10 based on 64 ratings

127 comments to Covid Brain Fog: the survivors who forget whole holidays, can’t recognise their own car

  • #
    Just Thinkin'

    Was this from the Lamestream Media?

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    • #
      Kalm Keith

      Yes: there seems to be little mention of the ages of these CV19 “victims” nor of any co-morbidities which may have accentuated problems.

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      • #
        Jojodogfacedboy

        Also, you can get this virus again and it is much nastier.
        https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/dutch-woman-dies-after-being-reinfected-covid-19-global-cases-see-biggest-weekly-jump
        This shows the antibodies are very short lived.

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          But there is hope it seems….

          https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-corona-cocktail-provides-covid-19-immunity/

          “Tel Aviv University researchers developed the treatment to block the coronavirus’ progression.

          “By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

          “Move over, Mr. President, Israeli researchers say their new antibody cocktail to treat and prevent COVID-19 may be more effective that the treatment taken by Donald Trump after he came down with the coronavirus.

          “Scientists at Tel Aviv University (TAU) developed the treatment that they say uses natural antibodies that remain stable in the blood.

          ““Since the antibodies are natural and remain stable in the blood, one injection can protect against COVID-19 for several weeks, or even several months,” said Dr. Natalia Freund of the Faculty of Medicine.

          “”Our vision is that in the future, the cocktail will be used to treat COVID-19 patients – like the experimental cocktail administered to U.S. President Trump, or as a preventive measure for high-risk populations and medical personnel – until the much-awaited vaccine finally arrives,” Freund said. “This cocktail was developed naturally by the patients’ immune systems, which means that it is probably safe for use.”

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    • #
      ian hilliar

      Yes, Nancy Pelosi and the NYT trying to get rid of Trump, again, on grounds of mental incompetence….Or maybe just a practice run for Harris to supplant Biden, who appears to believe he is running for the Senate….

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Correct on all counts.

        In fact, the Dems have introduced legislation that appears to target trump, to establish a permenant sitting body staffed by party hacks of both flavours, to basically use the 25th Amendment to get rid of any president they dont like.

        If it goes through, how is the USA any better than some run down banana republic?

        The Dems are just repugnant, they need to spend 3 generations in the wilderness to be kept away from matches or anything dangerous, as benfits disciplining petulant, delinquent children….

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    • #

      The media reports the results of studies and you blame the media.

      What I want to know is why is there a pic of a normal CT scan?

      317

    • #
      Lawrie

      The New York Times no less. The least trustworthy of the US press just behind CNN as purveyors of fake news.

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    • #
      ImranCan

      Talking about forgetting things, apparently 40% of those called by ‘track and trace’ can’t remember anyone they might have had contact with in the last 48 hours. :). And my son at University here in the UK reporting that nobody is reporting or admitting anything if they get symptoms, to avoid everyone in their residential unit having to self-isolate. Got to love human nature.

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  • #
    Contemptible Blackguard

    It should be called Xi’s War against the world. And now the CCP have decided to ban our coal exports. What next?

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    • #
      el gordo

      Ummm … this is them playing bully and it also gives the reds a green tinge. They have developed more efficient coal fired power stations and better domestic mines, so they don’t really need us, but our iron ore exports are safe.

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  • #
    Graham Richards

    I wasn’t aware that Joe Bide had suffered Covid. Poor fella it appears it was a very powerful strain.
    He doesn’t even remember having it. Must have been around the time of the senate elections. Or possibly the earlier, just after the emancipation of the slaves!

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  • #
    Kalm Keith

    In the face of more media “bad news” the basic cause of memory loss may actually give cause for hope.

    Experience has shown that there are two forms of memory loss.

    The most obvious occurs when an accident or infection damages a section of the brain where information is stored and so causing it to be lost permanently.

    The second relates to the fact that storage of the memories we have is not instantaneous and requires a “settling in” period.
    Where a person is “knocked out” or concussed without permanent brain damage it has been found that the last quarter of an hour of memory is not there but earlier memories are.

    The possible good news, may be that undamaged areas of the brain may still have much of the apparently lost memories but the links or connections to that material have been damaged.

    The brain is a remarkable instrument and it may be that a little bit of time and becoming reacquainted with the lost material may create new access links to restore much of what was lost.

    Much like when we are driving along and a song comes on the radio from long ago but we can’t remember the singer’s name.
    An hour or so later that name will just pop up: the brain has been working in the background to find old links to the deeply stored memories.

    Live in hope.

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    • #
      John F. Hultquist

      K.K.,
      The topic is of interest to me because there is a period of 8 to 10 seconds of my life when “memory is not there.” The episode happened on the back of a horse. I remember nothing and he wouldn’t talk about it. Neither of us got hurt.
      I’d heard of this phenomenon but questioned it, until it happened to me.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        John, no dramas: horses rarely talk to people. 🙂

        If our brains were able to instantaneously “hold” and fix every moment of our experience we would soon run out of storage room.

        Some work has to be done to embed memories and generally this takes about 15 minutes so if you are concussed or perhaps even anesthetized you will probably wake up without any recall of those last few moments.

        An over-exciting moment on horseback might cause a rush of adrenaline that interrupts the memory “fix”?

        Longer term, it’s been known for a long time that repetition is the key to making memory permanent.

        The data enthusiasts will be pleased to know that there’s data to confirm this.

        In the U.S. in the days of telegraph transmission of messages using Morse code, there were training schools where they regularly tested the sending rates of students.

        A graph of words per minute against time is very interesting. It shows every student rapidly gaining wpm for a week or so, there’s then a plateau effect for a while and then the rate of acquisition takes off again. Amazing.
        Most likely the plateau period marks a change in brain function that eventually makes the embedding process more streamlined.

        More generally when we are learning something “by heart” it takes about seven repetitions to lock something in and the repetitions are best with longer and longer spacings between.

        Fascinating.

        KK

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    • #
      greggg

      Having M.E. I don’t remember much of the years of my life where I had more brain fog. The memories were never made. Memories from earlier in life when I had less brain fog that I couldn’t recall for years have come back as my brain function has improved.

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  • #
    Carguy Pete

    So, this could explain Joe Biden’s ever increasing mental lapses. Biden has had Covid19.

    Or it could be that he’s just old and demented.

    81

  • #
    Bob Fernley-Jones

    Are there any known cases of brain fog and severe fatigue developing in people who were asymptomatic or mild in the regular cold-like symptoms?

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    • #
      TedM

      Bob read the post again carefully and you will find your answer.

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      • #
        Bob Fernley-Jones

        TedM,

        I’ve read it again and can’t find the answer.
        I found plenty in the links that describes heart damage and long term effects after regular asymptomatic/mild base definitions, but in my view, the references to “brain fog” and fatigue are not clear as to their patient base.

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        • #

          Bob, an excellent question. No I don’t think anyone has done that study. The studies on cognitive loss are mostly on people who were hospitalized (and suffering moderate Covid symptoms).

          I imagine people who felt some memory loss coming on (if that does occur) but didn’t know they had Covid at some point, would assume it was normal cognitive decline. The only hint that this might be happening would be if cases of dementia rose above the normal trend lines. Though there are other factors during global pandemics which would confound the cause and effect link.

          There were excess deaths in dementia patients during the same weeks as Covid ran amok in hot centres like NY. But I don’t think that tells us much here either.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Most organs contain neural cells of some type, I wonder if it targets those specifically? That might be the link.

            The human body is basically a biocomputer with distributed “smarts” ( neural cells ) in most organs so presumably the brain can offload some of the compute load onto the organs and only have to deal with meta-data from the organs , instead of the whole compute load….may also explain “muscle memory” and why people with transplants can have memories they cant account for…..

            I wonder if it also increases the chnaces of proving this thing is a manufactured chimeric item, and designed to have multi-modal attack vectors on the host, to disable a population in more ways than one….

            40

          • #
            Bob Fernley-Jones

            Thanks Jo,

            What prompted me were two thoughts:

            1) For the past two weeks, during my regular morning bush walks, starting suddenly and varyingly ever since, when climbing steep hills my legs became weak and with moderate muscle pain. And, in the afternoon when working physically around the yard, I can only manage about two hours before becoming exhausted. I would be amazed if I have the virus because as you know, I’ve taken extreme precautions because of my age and live on a large block in isolation. Oh, (I nearly forgot) and this was all accompanied by much increased absent mindedness such as finding food in the microwave when it should have been in the fridge.

            2) Whilst I don’t think it’s possible to have it, I wonder about the definition of the term “asymptomatic”. My recollection is that we are only requested to be tested if we have cold-like symptoms.

            30

            • #
              John F. Hultquist

              Bob F-J,
              From thousands of miles away and with no medical training you have 3+ things I will note:
              Age, exhaustion, muscle aches;
              and also, maybe stress from Panic2020

              One might ask oneself if there is an under active thyroid involved.
              Just passing on an idea from a friend.

              40

    • #
      Broadie

      Dear Bob,
      In answer to your question memory loss appears to be quite common in a range of conditions

      That a news article is linking memory loss to post viral symptoms of Covid after President Trump has recovered from a positive test for said virus and that the Leader of the House Nancy Pelosi is threatening removal of the President on medical grounds appears to be fairly standard operating procedure for the ‘Swamp’.
      That is if my memory serves me well!
      Straight out of Media Management 101. Expect to see the link on the back of a taxi or side of a bus any time soon.

      60

  • #
    Steve Richards

    Typo: “main and impair”

    [Thanks. Fixed. I do appreciate the proof reading. – Jo]

    10

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  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    Have you ever been really ill in hospital with anything? It’s perfectly normal to have mental confusion and memory loss (and false memories), especially if you have been given any sort of sedation/anesthetic, and even more so if you’ve been on ventilation for a while.

    You’ve got thousands of people all around the world trying to make a name for themselves over covid, trying to be alarming. Why give them oxygen?

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141103192130.htm
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4103937/

    Just for starters.

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    • #

      you probably need to read the publication that you have assumed does not account for what you’ve just written.

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    • #

      MrGrim, I’ve reported on ICU dementia before. This is not that, and these ICU patients were described as being “milder ICU” cases. Most of the people in the study were not admitted to the ICU.

      It does help if you read the post…

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    • #
      Power Grab

      I haven’t ever been on a vent, but I had major surgery a few years ago, my first time to be under general anesthesia. Ever since then, I comment, when I can’t recall a word or item, that my painkillers left swiss-cheese holes in my memory matrix. I know some of the drugs they give you are meant to prevent you from remembering the surgery itself. But I found that the painkillers I took for weeks after surgery served to prevent me from being able to master new piano music. I’m normally a very quick study, but I would spend an hour practicing and be unable to lock in anything new.

      That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. 😉

      I have decided that, rather than fretting about memory loss, I just let the matter rest for a while, and then the missing word comes to the fore. I figure I just need to make more memory-connections to it using new pathways.

      One of my favorite tools for jogging my memory is to work crossword puzzles whenever I find one at hand. If I try in the morning, I don’t do very well. But if I come back to it late in the day, I do much better.

      Good, regular sleep also helps a lot to “settle” memories. My sleep is good, but I work insanely long hours and just don’t get as much as I would like.

      20

      • #

        Two things.
        Try phosphatidyl Choline. Many people are deficient,it’s hard to eat enough in our diets (egg yolks are by far the best source, but an average guy needs 5 eggs a day just to get the RDA.)

        Try B12. Hardest vitamin to absorb. (Biggest). But skip the cyanocobalmin cheap type. Go for methyl, or adeno or hydroxy cobalamin. Sublingual. Or OTC intramuscular ($5). B12 is important for myelin sheaths. I note that the use of NO as an anaesthetic (almost certainly NOT what was given to you) is known to wipe out B12 stocks. I don’t know if other anaesthetics have that effect. But older people are increasingly short of B12. Don’t let yours get too low.

        00

  • #
    Kevin a

    “They’ve Killed God; I Can’t Feel God; My Soul Is Dead” AstraZeneca Halts COVID-19 Vaccine Trials after Second Volunteer “Develops Neurological problems”
    https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/they-ve-killed-god-i-can-t-feel-god-my-soul-is-dead-astrazeneca-halts-covid-19-vaccine-trials-after-second-volunteer-develops-neurological-problems

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  • #
    TIP

    I’ll start paying inquisitive attention to these stories (well maybe not those in the NY times) claims and studies after the US elections.

    In the meantime im subscribing to insanely poor modelling, public hyperbole and political weaponising of a very contagious but very very weak and very very predictable covid virus.

    Happy to revisit in 2021.

    80

  • #
    Ruairi

    Even though your feelings are bad,
    With brain fog confusion and sad,
    If you fought and pulled through,
    Covid 19 or flu,
    Rejoice, cheer up and be glad.

    170

  • #
    David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

    Is there any data available about their vitamin D levels, before, during or after infection? Were any, or all of these sufferers given vitamin D, in any form or amount as part of their treatment?
    Or zinc? With or without an ionophore?
    Had any been treated with the Zelenko protocol?
    Cheers
    Dave B

    40

    • #
      sophocles

      I agree with you about Vit-D levels, David. Those of the sufferers would be very interesting. Some of those symptoms reported could be caused by Vit-D deficiency.

      But the answer seems to be No. Nothing has been assayed. Vit-D remains the forgotten hormone.

      50

    • #
      Lucky

      Vit D levels are irrelevant. This NYT report is a tool set up to get Trump for the event that mail vote fraud fails.

      11

  • #
    Matty

    I think we need to know how old were these people? “I thought I had dementia” one is quoted and sometimes they do and it just takes an episode of some kind for the dam wall to break. Car crash, illness, bereavement and what was somewhat early onset or latent can manifest suddenly. The Covid key is age.

    60

    • #

      Matty, one I quote is 31. Another is 50. The NY Times also refers to people who are 53 and 60. I’m guessing the Harvard Doc must be 55 or more to have 30 years of experience. The average age of the people in the French Study was 63. The UK docs were also 30 – 60 ish.

      The long hauler forums have stories of people who used ot run marathons — to the point people are wondering if over-training is a risk factor for severe covid or long covid.

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  • #
    Lori

    There is some research on vitamin c that is of interest. “High-dose intravenous Vitamin C has also been successfully used in the treatment of 50 moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in China. The doses used varied between 10 g and 20 g per day, given over a period of 8–10 h. Additional VC bolus may be required among patients in critical conditions. The oxygenation index was improving in real time and all the patients eventually cured and were discharged”
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590098620300154?via%3Dihub

    “ an increasing body of evidence suggests that high-dose vitamin C administration improves hemodynamics, end-organ function, and may improve survival in critically ill patients”
    https://www.wjgnet.com/2220-3141/full/v7/i5/52.htm

    I don’t know the results of this but an interesting study in Wuhan; https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/7/e039519#ref-8

    Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a key factor of fatality. Significantly increased oxidative stress due to rapid release of free radicals and cytokines is the hallmark of ARDS which leads to cellular injury, organ failure and death. Early use of large dose antioxidants, such as vitamin C (VC) may become an effective treatment for these patients. Clinical studies also show that high-dose oral VC provides certain protection against viral infection

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    • #
      Lori

      https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01446/full

      Three of the most important pro-inflammatory cytokines of the innate immune response are IL-1, TNF- α, and IL-6. Tissue macrophages, mast cells, endothelial, and epithelial cells are the major source of these cytokines during innate immune response. The “cytokine storm” results from a sudden acute increase in circulating levels of different pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, IL-1, TNF- α, and interferon. This increase in cytokines results in influx of various immune cells such as macrophages, neutrophils, and T cells from the circulation into the site of infection with destructive effects on human tissue resulting from destabilization of endothelial cell to cell interactions, damage of vascular barrier, capillary damage, diffuse alveolar damage, multiorgan failure, and ultimately death. Lung injury is one consequence of the cytokine storm that can progress into acute lung injury or its more severe form ARDS (27). ARDS leading to low oxygen saturation levels is a major cause of mortality in COVID-19. Although the exact mechanism of ARDS in COVID-19 patients is not fully understood, the excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines is considered to be one of the major contributing factors

      10

    • #
      tom0mason

      The BIG problem Lori is that doses of vitamin C over about a gram or so is NOT well absorbed by the human body. So that 10g to 20g amount taken over an 8-10hour period MUST be via an intravenous drip or injection.
      From https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/

      Oral vitamin C produces tissue and plasma concentrations that the body tightly controls. Approximately 70%-90% of vitamin C is absorbed at moderate intakes of 30-180 mg/day. However, at doses above 1 g/day, absorption falls to less than 50% and absorbed, unmetabolized ascorbic acid is excreted in the urine [ 4 ].

      It should also be noted that orally taken vitamin C is absorbed better when taken in smaller doses spread over time, e.g. 1gram/day as 6 doses of 170mg, or 8 doses of 125mg doses. This is especially useful when fighting/recovering from an infection as the smaller doses are more readily absorbed replacing the loss incurred from the infection.

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      • #
        greggg

        ‘My clinical opinion is that one gram of properly-produced and orally-ingested liposome-encapsulated vitamin C is as or more effective than 5 to 10 grams of vitamin C given intravenously, for an acute viral syndrome.’
        https://www.peakenergy.com/articles/nh20140411/Exposing-the-truth-about-liposomal-nutrients/

        Vitamin C absorption is impaired by carbohydrates. People find they’re less likely to get an upset gut from high dose vitamin c with less carbs in the gut. Higher blood sugar also reduces vitamin c absorption into cells. Glucose has a greater affinity for insulin receptors than does vitamin c.

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    • #
      Brenda Spence

      Very interesting, needs to be verified I think.

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      • #
        Serp

        Agreed; seldom does one see such a long bow deployed.

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      • #
        Kalm Keith

        Given that there are birds that go to sleep by tucking their heads under a wing I would also need a bit more support for her idea. Paradoxically the great danger is in having too much oxygen in the bloodstream and thus lowering CO2 to dangerous levels.

        20

  • #
    Furiously curious

    Surely this makes the case for the ‘cures’ – Ivermectin, HCQ, zinc, vitamin D, to be thrown at anyone with any sign of the virus. Wouldn’t stopping it’s propagation as soon as possible be a good idea? And it costs peanuts! I spent some time around the ME world, people devastated with any of 87 symptoms, and a medical establishment, and often family, that accused them of faking. Just get this thing out of the body as soon as possible, and like I said it would cost nothing. I’m getting more and more racist. Stupid white people drive me crazy.

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  • #
    anothermaninthemirror

    This supposed COVID FOG is so very typical of all Progressives propaganda….. pick something nebulous which is not able to be confirmed by facts…. send out a propaganda narrative about a “just over the horizon” doomsday happening…. keep relentlessly pumping out this narative until the sheeple are scared, panicked, fearful and thereby controlable. So obvious and the usual approach to more doomsday senarios by the woke Left…

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    • #

      And I can see why you would think that. There is a truth in that.

      Think through the corollary though. If Democrats push a scare — does that mean it definitely doesn’t exist, or could it be that Democrats would push the panic angle on the real and the fake?

      I suspect, as tempting as it is, it’s probably better not to use the Democrats to gauge the truth of anything.

      So we are left with the data.

      00

  • #
    Mark Smith

    It is doubtful the CCP is actually testing 9 million Chinese. They announce such numbers for propaganda.

    Now we see why Donald Trump was treated with Dexotrone – because COVID has undetectable damage that beocmes serious symptoms. Doctors ignorance comes out in their Donald Trump is more sick than he appears rather itz normal exra damage than COVID reeks in the background.

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      Fair point. the CCP lie about everything. There are many stories at the moment coming out of China that suggest there is no active infection — Eg throngs on the Great Wall. These may be propaganda shots too. Is there any evidence of lockdowns currently occurring, hospitals treating Covid patients, or of economic pain in China at the moment. I’d be interested in hearing.

      Epoch Times seem to have many links to inside China. I’m not seeing those reports there.

      Twitter was very useful in the early days of this pandemic for getting videos out of China. I’m not sure there is much freedom to do that now. The 3 Gorges Dam incident had hardly any tweets.

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        I agree, If you look at the coronavirus as the focal point of a propaganda war, you can see the CCP have played it extremely well. Causing most of the western world to fold up into blithering bags of jelly.

        Our MSM did not help either, by only ever providing data out of context and changing metrics when the data doesn’t support the narrative.

        Our elected representatives were just as complicit, by not doing their own due diligence and relying on the “advice” of their bureaucrats. Apologies to Craig Kelly and other active MP”s who do their own research and show considered thought in their public statements.

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          Indeed, the CCP exposed the weakest point in cushy modern democracies. People were so cushioned from reality they dithered over taking the cheap easy fast response, tried to maximize both health and the economy by taking minimalist slow responses and ended up in the worst scenario where the only solution was draconian lockdowns. We lost many lives and billions of dollars.

          A pandemic or a war is the only time democracies need to act lightning fast and in a coordinated way. It’s the only time that in order to protect freedom people need to temporarily give up some freedom. The sooner they do that the less freedom they have to give up. The faster they get real freedom back. It takes very decisive action. Waiting for “all the data” was a bet the wrong way.

          The Medical Swamps and CDC and UN and WHO were gross failures. They could have stopped this in early Feb if they closed the borders to China and did a fast lock and test of any
          Western spread. It would have been all over by March.

          Their pandemic plans were inept and useless. We didn’t have supply chains secure, we didn’t have a plan for a disease that was a cluster spreader, with a long incubation, with no treatment and no vaccine and asymptomatic spread.

          President Xi said “it’s only the flu” and the West believed him while on twitter it was obvious he was lying. More fool us.

          There is a huge win here for President Xi if Trump loses. Only if Xi were stupid or honorable would he not be feeding dissent in America with propaganda to wind up both the panic AND the anti-lockdown and anti-mask protests. Both help China.

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    Matty

    From today’s Oz….

    A million Australians seek mental health treatment….
    30% rise in Victoria over last four weeks…..

    Mental health and memory loss go well together and the otherwise healthy brain scans might be pointing this way?

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    Boris

    The first Synthetic Pandemic? Man who discovered HIV says Coronavirus is man made. CCP destroyed the evidence.

    Fixed it for you

    The man who [allegedly] “discovered” HIV says Coronavirus is man made.
    I’d suggest the science isn’t settled, yet.

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    Old Goat

    Interesting article Jo. It seems most of this information is coming out of the US and GB who are worst hit – it will require world wide studies for clarity . I am going to wait for at least 12 months until we are getting clear of covid to form an opinion on what the consequences were. At this point I am seeing lots of noise but hindsight may tell a different story.

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      John R Smith

      The consequences that really matter have nothing to do with medicine, disease, or health.
      Is this not so in Oz?
      Weird.
      Because IMHO ‘climate change’ doesn’t have squat to do with climate.

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        John, but if there is actually a nasty virus circulating isn’t it better to get that data (whatever it is) now?

        If the virus was a fake or a hoax, then the consequences have “nothing to do with medicine”. Is that your position?

        To check to see if that might be the case I read both pro and against cases, the scary hype and the “Barrington” type cohort. I read medical papers. I phone friends who work in Covid wards. Doctors all over the world are saying the same thing. Covid is not smallpox, but it is not the flu either.

        The business world is suffering dreadfully, but health is a higher priority than money to just about everyone when they have to make hard choices. Hence I don’t see how the economy can do well if there is a nasty virus out there? States with less virus are doing better economically.

        As a scientist, don’t we want always want to start with the data, even if the politicians ignore it? Reality bites.

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    bradd

    It’s all political at this point. This article is designed to equate Covid with Dementia in the minds of voters. So guess which major figure just had Covid? It ties in with Pelosi’s latest attempt to have Trump declared mentally unfit, which is itself a smokescreen to protect Biden.

    I am completely fed up with these one in a thousand horror stories about Covid, fueling people’s fears, but based on rare cases and unquantifiable claims.

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      bradd, read the post. There are numbers. The ones that matter are the hospitalization stats and the number of former hospital patients who are struggling 3 to 4 months later. I’ll have more to say when I get better hospitalization stats, but suffice it to say — as far as I can see, about “10%” of positive cases get hospitalized in Australia. About 3% of positive test cases die. Apparently about another 3% will get long covid or suffer some memory loss. We have the best testing in the world. The lowest Case Fatality Rate in the world runs at 1.5%. (India — are they using HCQ, I want to know).

      I want Trump to be elected too. I don’t think it helps him if he gets unscientific advice.

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      Tim C

      Yes bradd the whole world is conspiring against Trump. All the Governments, the media the health organisations, everyone of them is saying lets exaggerate this virus so we can harm Trump’s re-election bid. Please scuttle off down the rabbit hole called 8Chan, you belong there.

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    Andrew McRae

    This summer, Mr. Reagan [50], the vascular medicine specialist, turned the stove on to cook eggs and then absent-mindedly left to walk the dog

    That’s nothin’!
    The next week he returned from walking his eggs and made a horrifying discovery in the kitchen!
    😀

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    Allan

    Maybe the Victorian government politicians and senior bureaucrats had COVID-19?

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    William Astley

    The plot appears to be thicken.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/congressman-scalise-pelosi-turned-down-offer-to-implement-covid-19-testing-on-capitol-hill

    Why would Pelosi, the leader of the US Democrats and the second/third most powerful person in the US, turn down covid 19 testing on capitol hill and also refuse to take a covid test? Pelosi has since taken a covid test however the test has adminsted by a congress controlled doctor.

    Why did 80 year old Pelosi not wear a mask when she went for her hair styling? It is almost as if Pelosi is not worried about getting covid and is worried about any detectable medical traces that explain why she and other senior US democrats are immune to covid.

    So if the virus was engineered then the virus is part of plan, not a one bad thing to end the US and enable the Chinese to dominate the world. Which would explain why BLM seems so well organized and funded.

    So what would happen if the US military found out the Chinese and the US senior Democrats had colluded and there was bio evidence of that collusion? Flip the question around. If you were a senior US military leader and avide Democratic support what would you do? Would you have any other choice? Yep, that appears to be what is happening.

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      Tim C

      The William Astley appears to be thicker. Please go to 8chan if you want to peddle this drivel

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        William Astley

        Tim…
        I am just following the breadcrumbs. No imagination required.

        There are dozens of facts that support the assertion the virus was man-made for a purpose. The facts support the assertion that virus was not released by accident. China ‘covered’ up evidence of virus, pushed the rumour that the virus was only spread from animal to humans. China delayed providing the world the virus’ blueprint. On and on.. Just like a guilty country would do to hide something and to benefit from the virus.

        The Chinese are well organized. Ten-year plans and all that. This looks and feels very well organized.

        I see the Chinese taking over Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan is next on their shopping list. I see the Chinese taking over the ‘China’ South Sea. I see China stopping trade with Australia to force Australia to stop looking into the origin of covid.
        I see China taking over the large companies that control the internet.

        I see China using their money to control universities in the US and in the EU countries. I see US universities refusing to release information about China founding. I see the Chinese stealing industrial secrets from all of the Western countries.

        https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/05/21/multiple-universities-refuse-to-cooperate-with-federal-investigations-into-ties-to-china/

        MULTIPLE UNIVERSITIES REFUSE TO COOPERATE WITH FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS INTO TIES TO CHINA

        I see China taking over the hardware that controls all information flow on the planet.

        The Chinese have loads of money which they appear to have used to openly bribe, key individuals, in the Obama administration.

        There is evidence that the Chinese government blatantly bribed Joe Biden and John Kerry, using massive billion dollar deals with their sons and the capital firm ‘Rosemount Capital’.
        https://pjmedia.com/trending/as-biden-and-kerry-went-soft-on-china-sons-made-nuclear-military-business-deals-with-chinese-govt/

        Ten days after the Bidens visited China, the Bank of China — which is embedded in a complex network involving state ministries, security forces, and the Communist Party, and which provides capital for China’s economic statecraft — created an investment fund with Rosemont Seneca called Bohai Harvest RST (BHR). “In short, the Chinese government was literally funding a business that it co-owned along with the sons of two of America’s most powerful decision makers,” Schweizer explains.

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      el gordo

      Mr Astley you have a vivid imagination, but this has nothing to do with petty US politics.

      The fascists were manufacturing a WMD first strike weapon and some clown at the lab purposefully released the virus into the fish market to see what would happen.

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    nezy

    When it comes to reporting on WuFlu, I have to say that the recent articles on this site are akin to flogging a dead horse. Happily, the majority of comments seem to reject the level of conjecture and lack of a balanced view. In compiling the narrative it looks as if the anecdotal examples are cherry picked to appeal to a certain audience and are aimed at perpetuating a scare story which is becoming less alarming by the day. Jo’s piece earlier in the week on Tweets and Free Speech was well presented and made much sense – this one, I’m afraid, bears many of the hallmarks of the same type of sensationalism that was discredited in that previous post.

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      nezy, you are free to post data or evidence here any day.

      If, hypothetically, there was a disease running around the world that looked like a pandemic, acted like a pandemic and killed like a pandemic, isn’t it better to hear what the medical-science workers have to say?

      Just like I go to engineers to find out how well renewables work, I go to doctors who are patients or who treat patients to make sure the “hype” reflects something real.

      Because I have medical science training, I’m acting as a translator for medical science hands on people, just like I have trained myself to act as translator for electrical and mech engineers.

      Same logic. Same principles. Start with the data and follow ….

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        nezy

        Jo – no problem. Whilst I understand your thrust I think your arguments lack balance and skew towards the scary end of sensationalism. We can agree to disagree on that point but that’s my take. Your post has something to say but is based on such a tiny number as to be almost completely statistically insignificant. I have posted the following link previously which I believe puts the pandemic / casedemic in perspective. I have yet to see a firm rebuttal of this data and presentation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvFhIFzaac&t=7s. If you then accept there is a different position and perspective on where we are today with the WuFlu pandemic why not talk about it?

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        The issue is not so much one of not listening to medical science workers but rather, one of insisting on listening to medical science workers only and not listening to anyone else. Politician: ‘we must listen to the experts!’

        The trouble is, experts do not make trade-off decisions. That would be unethical and unprofessional. So they are tunnel visioned, if you like. Single issue focused. Some of them become quite strident in insisting their views must be respected and followed (note many letterists and commenters who say ‘I am a doctor and …’ yada yada.) Some of them seem to enjoy their moment in the spotlight (Fauci, Sutton, Ferguson etc). Many of them are downright wrong. Ferguson is possibly the worst of a bad bunch, but dozens predicted catastrophe in Sweden.

        I don’t blame the medical science workers. They are trapped by their own expertise. Many don’t have any expertise. They are wholly incapable of making a judgement decision for the population overall that balances competing interests. It is the politicians who I blame.

        As for this piece, I assume it is intended to warn against not treating COVID seriously. It didn’t actually say that, so maybe I’m wrong. But it wouldn’t be hard to describe a few people’s experience in a car crash and the subsequent debilitating outcome. I doubt it would convince me to argue for shutting down an economy until all cars disappear.

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        Nezysquared

        Well Jo – I have posted a couple of links which seem to me to be packed full of the data you wanted me to post. Have you had a look and are now able to refute what is presented? On balance I would have to say it far outweighs the anecdotal statements you have made in your post. It isn’t that you may be wrong and the data presented may be right – I think the real issue is that most people would expect far more balanced coverage, particularly of this subject, on this site. If you selectively choose which data to publish or reference in presenting an argument you are no better than the climate change alarmists who you have so successfully ridiculed over the years.

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          Nezy, you haven’t actually posted any scientific argument. A 37 minute youtube is a slow inefficient and indirect form of scientific discussion. If he has an argument cannot you explain it here? I have watched a few minutes of Ivor last week and remember being very unimpressed. Do you understand his arguments, or are you just hoping he is right? Anyone can “pack a video with data”. The existence of data is not an argument in itself.

          As for balance, I warned in the post that the numbers may be small. I linked to studies that suggest up to a third of all hospitalized cases suffer some form of memory loss and even more (most of them) some long term problems. I posted both the ominous case descriptions as well as reminding people this may not apply to many and we need the numbers. That is balanced.

          Plenty of people are evidently able to find unbalanced articles that cherry pick studies which ignore variables and discuss “whole country data” while ignoring three week lags, many risk factors and thus reach whatever conclusion they most hope to find.

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            peter

            I have watched a few minutes of Ivor last week and remember being very unimpressed.” Are you being fair to Ivor Jo? That comment of yours is an admission that you didn’t watch very much of the video. I have had critics of your climate blog say exactly what you said about Ivor but on your climate posts.

            Check the data. Surge in cases in N Hemisphere underway. Rising hospitalizations. Rising deaths as Vitamin D falls and winter comes.” Ivor talks about those very things with charts of the data. He is not against taking action against COVID-19, only the lockdowns. Even then he sees some lockdowns as useful where hospital admissions are overwhelming resources.

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        peter

        So Jo, what do you say to the arguments of Ivor Cummins in nezy’s link? He looked at the data, all the data. He would say that COVID-19 looked like a pandemic, acted like a pandemic and killed like a pandemic AND then has petered out like ALL previous epidemics, no matter what you do. The numbers for no-lockdown Sweden are looking very good now, much better than bloody police-state locked-down Victoria.

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          Check the data. Surge in cases in N Hemisphere underway. Rising hospitalizations. Rising deaths as Vitamin D falls and winter comes.

          Reasons death rates were lower in September:

          1. Young people most likely to be infected, not high risk older folk. Hence fatality rate lower.
          2. Vitamin D was at it highest level in August Sept. Now falling. Hence fatality rate was lower.
          3. Three week lag to death from tests (which can be up to 8 weeks or more). (This wasn’t apparent in many countries in the first wave because they didn’t do enough testing to show the true extent of infections — they missed the entire first peak, only starting to record new daily cases numbers properly as the deaths also peaked).
          4. Temperatures and UV drop as sun goes south — meaning higher doses of virus survive longer in the air and on surfaces. Higher doses mean worse illness. PEople more likely to spend time indoors, and that means higher doses too.
          5. Many people were wearing masks — meaning a lower viral dose and less deadly disease.
          6. Doctors have better treatment plans, so deaths are lower. (At least that isn’t going to change in winter as long as hospitals are not overrun.)
          7. High risk people can be isolated from young party goers for a while, but they can’t be cut out from society without draconian exile. No nation is able to protect the elderly once community spread really gets hold. It takes longer in the second or third waves to catch up with older folks, but it does catch up. Sadly.

          Check the Spanish Flu history. Three large waves of infections. The illusion of herd immunity means every time the rate falls as people self isolate and hide from the disease, many hopeful observers declare “herd immunity!” only to find the next wave returns…

          I have a post coming on this, and on Sweden — which is suffering from a different form of socialist failure to Victoria.

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            David Maddison

            Why isn’t there a worldwide campaign to give everyone vitamin D? Better yet, zinc as well. Even better, HCQ according to the Zelenko prophylaxis protocol as well.

            https://faculty.utrgv.edu/eleftherios.gkioulekas/zelenko/index.html

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              Exactly. Yes. Freedom lovers need to understand the science in order to pick the fights worth fighting.

              Fighting for Vitamin D Zn HCQ Ivermectin etc will pay off, and in so many ways. How many other diseases have we accepted illness that could have been reduced? How many antivirals have we ignored? The Big Pharma Swamp must be curtailed.

              I’ll be as popular as ebola for saying so, but fighting to spread the virus helps President Xi and Joe Biden.

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                David Maddison

                Jo, I find it interesting that traditionally the Left were opposed to “Big Pharma” and the Right, recognising the huge investment required to create new drugs supported them.

                Now, the Left see COVID as a means to fulfil their dream of population control and economic destruction of the West. They therefore reject simple cheap cures and support a vaccine which will take a long time, if it comes at all. Meanwhile people in the West will remain under moderate (most of world) to extreme levels of restrictions (e.g. Victoriastan).

                The Right generally accept the scientific evidence for the efficacy of the simple cheap treatments like vit D, zinc, HCQ, ivermectin and others.

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              David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

              Thanks David,
              That’s a great link, and will keep me occupied for days.
              (As we’re at the extreme of the numbering system I’ll reproduce it here for clarity.
              https://faculty.utrgv.edu/eleftherios.gkioulekas/zelenko/index.html
              Its recent references will be fascinating to follow.)
              And sort of relevant, the WHO is claiming Remdesivir has no value against COVID:
              https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-17/world-health-organisation-remdesivir-not-useful-for-coronavirus/12778296
              Cheers
              Dave B

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            Nezysquared

            Jo – you say check the data. To which data are you referring? Can you point to actual numbers for the statements you make? Most of what you say in your response above looks more like an opinion piece. As an engineer of some 40 years I have some understanding of statistics and can usually spot a data dredge (I won’t go there). So not having watched the video I can only presume you haven’t looked closely at his arguments so are unable to validate or reject his observations. That was all I asked originally. Do I understand his position? Yes I think I do. Do I understand yours? I believe so….

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              Nezy, I understand the frustration. I’m sorry I don’t have time to go through Ivor’s post. But I have written 130 posts on covid and left references and graphs and links as were relevant on all of them. We’re kinda stuck at this point in the conversation. I don’t want to rehash all the posts, I’m not sure what data you are seeking. Perhaps if you described the most convincing point Ivor made, we’d have some anchor point to begin.

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    German neurologist warns against wearing a mask: “Oxygen deprivation causes irreversible neurological damage”

    Friday, October 9, 2020

    https://huemaurice5.blogspot.com/2020/10/une-neurologue-allemande-met-en-garde.html

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      All those doctors who have worn masks for decades and have been suffering from irreversible neurological damage need to be warned…

      PS: Seriously, blood oxygen meters cost $20 on ebay. Buy one and see.

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    patrick healy

    I have a question.
    Can anyone tell me if any or all of those people were wearing masks/muzzles for a long time and thus breathing in all or part of their 40,000 ppm Carbon Dioxide which we all exhale?
    If so, it no surprise that they have diminished faculties.
    After all if 400 ppm CO2 can cause the world to end just imagine the harm 40,000 ppm would do.

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    John Galt

    Half the US voters and 99% of the world’s media have been suffering with similar brain fog symptoms since 2016.

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    The first paragraph carries a valuable clue. If the confused woman had proceeded to trash the teevee remote, then set the teevee out on the kerb, her mind would probably be clearing up by now. I kicked the habit when Nixon was having people shot, and calculated that since graduating the time freed up for reading, writing and translating came to about 900 books.

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    Ken Davis

    There is nothing new or unprecedented here. I have had ME/CFS since the 90’s following likely Mononucelosis. I know 1000’s of stories like this. The research has been done and I see nothing in the Post CoVid situation that is worse than anything before. It’s just that the scientific community have been a bit more curious and open about this than previously, although the usual suspects are bleating about psychological factors and “functional” bullshit.

    Nothing new under the sun.

    http://simmaronresearch.com/2019/02/coffi-fatigue-infection-me-cfs/

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      Rob JM

      A recent UK study showed about 3% of those infected have long covid. Recovery probably similar to overcoming chronic fatigue syndrome 6 months to 2 years.
      That’s problematic if your the main wage earner for a family with a 500k debt.

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    David Maddison

    Are there similar long term after effects with other common respiratory illnesses such as influenza?

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      el gordo

      Nothing definitive ….

      ‘Patients who survive influenza A (H7N9) virus infection are at risk of physical and psychological complications of lung injury and multi-organ dysfunction. However, there were no prospectively individualized assessments of physiological, functional and quality-of-life measures after hospital discharge.’ Nature.com

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        David yes there are long forms of injury after influenza. The problem with Covid is that the rate of hospitalization is so much higher than the influenza’s we normally face.

        Bar Spanish flu.

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    JB

    Don’t assume it’s a Covid symptom. Antibiotics have been tremendously over used during this “pandemic.” The NYTimes interviewed a doctor in a Detroit hospital early on who said that they probably killed one third of their Covid patients with antibiotics. Patients got C. difficile and died, not of Covid, but of uncontrollable diarrhea.

    My doctor-Dad taught me: “Doctors make mistakes all the time. Doctors make mistakes all the time.” Indeed, my family has been hugely impacted by medical errors. The only time I have ever ended up in an ER, it was due to a medical error.

    From a quick google of antibiotic-associated encephalopathy:
    ——
    https://www.empr.com/home/mpr-first-report/aan-2016/aan-2016-general-news/which-antibiotics-are-most-associated-with-encephalopathy/

    … “Antibiotics are an underdiagnosed cause of encephalopathy,” reported Shamik Bhattacharyya, MD, MS, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, and colleagues. “In critically ill patients, cefepime use, for example, was associated with encephalopathy in 15% of patients,” and the condition remains difficult to diagnose due to unclear clinical features.

    The researchers retrieved 292 articles from PubMed describing 391 patients. The articles were retrieved using the search terms for individual antibiotics as well as “encephalopathy,” “confusion,” “delirium,” “seizure,” “neuropathy,” “neurotoxicity,” “mania,” “hallucination,” or “psychosis” from beginning of indexing to October 2013.

    The number of reports for each antibiotic was as follows: penicillins, 73 (penicillin G procaine, penicillin, other); cephalosporins, 68 (cefepime, ceftazidime, and other); antimycobacterials, 65 (isoniazid, other); quinolones, 63 (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, other); macrolides, 54 (clarithromycin, other); metronidazole, 29; and sulfonamides, 29 (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, other).

    Data from these studies showed that cephalosporins were prescribed more frequently in older adults (median age, 66 years), leading to renal insufficiency in 72%.

    Among patients with prior psychiatric history, macrolides were prescribed most frequently in 20% of the studies.

    Penicillins were associated with psychosis in 54%, seizures in 16%, and myoclonus in 27% of the studies, while cephalosporins were identified in 34%, non-convulsive seizures in 57%, and myoclonus in 40%.

    For the anti-mycobacterial isoniazid, median days to toxicity was 21 (range, 1–360), and median days to resolution, 5 (range, 1–180).

    Psychosis was reported as being associated with the quinolones in 67% of the studies and with the sulfonamides in 68%.

    Metronidazole was associated with cerebellar toxicity in 48% of the studies, with a median of 19 days to toxicity (range, 1–180) and median days to resolution, 13 (range, 1–365).”

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      JB. Thanks for that informative comment.
      So the causes of cognitive trouble could be mini strokes, general inflammation, autoimmune reactions, and antibiotics. Presumably low O2 is not good for brains either. I wonder if there could be some mitochondrial damage — given the reports of ongoing fatigue.

      Yes, medical errors. sigh. But for best placebo effect Shhh! White Coats = Experts. Repeat after me…

      work for 10,000 pHD’s to come.

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    el gordo

    ‘President Donald Trump’s 14-year-old son Barron tested positive for COVID-19 but exhibited no symptoms, after both of his parents contracted the virus, First Lady Melania Trump said.’ SMH

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    Rob JM

    They have just discovered that SARS2 infects astrocytes, the main support cell in your brain. Basically anyone who is looking their sense of smell (65% of cases) is at risk of developing brain fog from encephalitis. If you have severe disease you are also exposed to ischemic stroke and if ventilated oxygen deprivation damage. There is also the potential to set off inflammation that leads to Parkinson’s and early onset dementia. The best estimate so far is 3% will suffer Long Covid which take 6 months to years to overcome much like chronic fatigue syndrome. Except this is hitting wage earners supporting family rather than teenagers, so the economic destruction could be massive for the debt slaves.

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    Kim

    Stress can also cause loss of memory as one is prioritising, focusing and skipping over things in order to get the job done and survive.

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    MadJak

    I can confirm from a friend who has been wrestling with Chronic fatigue syndrome for many years that their groups are getting swamped with COVID “long haulers”. And I mean completely swamped.

    Likewise, a Texan ICU specialist I was talking to a couple of months ago stated quite clearly – for many of these survivors, death would have been the cheaper option. When I asked why places like the US have had such high death rates, he explained it quite simply – when hospitals are overloaded, Triage conditions have to be applied. Under triage, more people are saved than without triage, but the death rates go up as decisions have to be made as to “which 30yo mum gets the ventilator”.

    It shouldn’t be surprising that it affects the brain adversely, as it attacks blood vessels everywhere.

    Anyone who thinks this is anything like the flu really needs to get reading. It’s one nasty sonnofabitch. It seems to have more in common with Ebola once it gets into the body than it does with any form of flu.

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      Good to see you pop in Madjak! Im interested in the long hauler forums — are these CFS forums in Victoria?

      And the early estimates were that Case Fatality Rates rose x 10 when the ICU beds were limited. It would have been gruelling to be making those “last bed” decisions.

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    DOC

    With 6 close friends having partners with Alzheimer’s, two being first diagnosed in their late 50’s, one wonders if there is a group of people whose physiology creates an extra sensitivity to infectious assaults such that they are more prone to cerebral damage than the population at large. One also wonders, on the grounds of this article, whether COVID-19 would accelerate that decline to permanent dementia or the processes leading to the final stages of it.
    Will we see a sudden increase in the diagnosis’ of permanent dementia from this virus over the next couple of years?

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    Bushkid

    Funny, those symptoms are exactly what my late husband suffered while taking statins (totally unnecessarily, as it turned out!) for a mis-diagnosed and totally non-existent “heart problem”.

    I wonder how many of these people noticing “post-covid symptoms” are also taking medications that have already compromised their nervous and other systems.

    I have to take all these reports, especially from doctors, with a very large grain of salt.

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    JB

    Joanne,

    Re: the placebo effect, how many people are being made sick by the opposite—the nocebo effect? Me thinks this thing has been managed for maximum stress and fear. Fear, as Bruce Lipton reports in “The Biology of Belief,” shuts down the immune system. And stress can contribute hugely to illness. How many people are receiving false-positive test results and falling ill just from the stress of worrying about possible symptoms to come, self-isolating, tracing of contacts, etc.?

    Here in the States, I find our public health officials both appalling and laughable. Early on, beaches, public parks, and hiking trails were shut down in many places. Fresh air, sunlight, and exercise were apparently bad for all of us suddenly. Then, this past September, classes at the local elementary school were all held outdoors under tents. Now, they are saying many will get sick again, as we retreat indoors out of the fresh air, as winter approaches. Unbelievable! It’s a giant mind-control experiment! On top of that, I would like to see public health officials who CANNOT say a single word about how to maintain a healthy immune system besides wearing masks and social distancing stripped of any and all degrees and offices that they hold.

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    JB

    Remember when a dry cough was THE number one Covid symptom? I had a contractor at my house midsummer, who said he had recently been switched to a new drug for his high blood pressure. The side effect was a persistent dry cough that was driving him nuts!

    Unless doctors have taken impeccable histories with every single patient, noting any and every drug that they are on and anything that they might’ve reached for in their medicine cabinets, there will never be a complete picture of this “pandemic.”

    BTW, there’s VERY good info here: drmalcolmkendrick.org

    In the recently posted video interview with Kendrick, he says the early UK NHS Covid policies were “criminally insane,” and that healthcare professionals were THE vector for disease amongst the elderly and vulnerable.

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    Harry K

    A potential synthetic origin for covid-19 is a bigger story than climate change (will certainly kill more people). Theres a brief timeline of events and papers here: https://humblescientist.github.io/2020/10/18/coronavirus_origins.html

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