Pain, Pain, Go Away!

A common ingredient in many cold medicines has been shown so ineffective that the FDA recently proposed taking it off the market. The ingredient, phenylephrine, "failed to outperform placebo pills in patients with cold and allergy congestion," say researchers from the University of Florida. "The same researchers also challenged the drug's effectiveness in 2007, but the FDA allowed the products to remain on the market pending additional research," according to CNBC .  Mostly placebos. Photo from Pixabay . I can attest that phenylephrine doesn't work. Before I stopped eating wheat, I constantly had nasal and sinus congestion. I helped keep Sudafed in business when the active ingredient was pseudoephedrine, but I noticed the PE (phenylephrine) variety didn't work at all. The only other decongestants I've found helpful are guaifenesin (Mucinex) and spicy food. Mucinex is expensive because it works! (The cheaper store brands work just as well, though.) Su...

It hit me Sunday night. After feeling tired and a little congested for a few days, I went to bed with a sore throat. Monday, I called in sick. The next day, I took a COVID test at a CVS drive through, worked from home and decided to go to bed early. But that day, I saw this video on Pfizer's new antiviral pill. I'd seen some videos from this YouTuber, John Campbell, before--he's pretty gung-ho on COVID vaccines. So I was surprised to see him talking up ivermectin, and I'm even more surprised it's still on YouTube: he describes how ivermectin does exactly the same thing the new Pfizer antiviral pill does, plus inhibit COVID in five other ways. It looks like the new drug is "Pfizermectin," an antiviral without ivermectin's long safety record or low price. I had some ivermectin, purchased when I was enthusiastic about the stuff after watching episodes of the Dark Horse Podcast with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying. First, I made sure I could get more...

Merry Christmas! First, I'm happy to say my cold got nuked out of orbit before it had a chance to set in. Hydrocortisone and Mucinex FTW! Second, my health is much improved from a year ago. The scary palpitations are now infrequent and only mildly concerning and I'm starting to slowly lose weight after upping my thyroid supplements again. (My latest test showed free T3 in the lower half of the reference range.) My digestion is better, probably thanks to lots of Pepto-Bismol early this year, peppermint lattes (LC, of course), L. reuteri yogurt, and adrenal supplements. I don't have all my energy back, but I've lost the neurotic fear of trying things like making a slipcover and no longer have the feeling of being in la-la land. Next year I'd like to try tuck-and-point the masonry on my house--I think I could now handle a tuckpoint grinder. Third, I'm thrilled to see the complete turnaround in dietary ideas. When I started low carb almost ten years ago, peop...

Propublica says, "Doctors who received payments from the pharmaceutical industry prescribed drugs differently than their colleagues who didn’t. And the more money those doctors received, on average, the more brand-name medications they prescribed."That's the result of their investigation using a large database of doctors and the prescriptions they write. Good news, though: you can use ProPublica's database to find a doctor in your area (in the US) who prescribes T3. Many patients have a hard time finding a doctor who'll write a prescription for T3. T3's official name is Liothyronine. Go to the site , click on your state, sort by drug (click on "drug"), and scroll down to liothyronine, and click on it. You'll see some of the doctors in your state who prescribe T3.  Sad to say that the the most common prescriptions in the database are atorvastatin (a statin drug) and levothyroxine (syncrap).  In happier news, I'm fighting a cold-...

Ah, the Fourth of July. The summer weather, the fat, juicy burgers, the fireworks, the last day I didn't have a cold for over a month. I woke up feeling good, got a lot done, but by evening I didn't even feel like standing on the corner to see fireworks. I called in sick the following Monday and Tuesday. On August 4--one month later, I took a turn for the worse and saw a doctor, who wrote a prescription for antibiotics and cough syrup. I called in sick for the next three days. Then I went to work--still coughing, coworkers telling me it would be OK to go home--and picked up my natural desiccated thyroid (NDT). I started taking it that Saturday--and soon my cold started getting better. As the week went on and I needed to up my dose of NDT, the cough started coming back to the point that I thought about going back to the doctor. But I upped the dose--and again, the cough mostly went away. I was thinking I'd need Sheriff Grimes on the case to kill the cold that wouldn't ...

I just found this from the Vitamin D Council: Also, readers should be aware (if they are not already) that vitamin D does not prevent all viral respiratory infections. As we noted in correspondence to our first influenza paper, rhinoviruses, the most common cause of the common cold, are not seasonal; that is, they are just as common in the summer as in the winter, and they do not have a lipoprotein coat for antimicrobial peptides to destroy....If you are already taking 5,000 IU a day and you get a cold, chances are that more vitamin D will not help much. No one should take large doses for more than a few days and then only if the infection is severe(1) However, vitamin D levels are inversely associated with upper respiratory tract infections .(2) If you haven't been taking any vitamin D, a moderate dose might help. Nevertheless, I have (mostly) gotten over my cold faster than some acquaintances, who came down with colds before I did and are still sick. (One coworker ...

Long-time readers may recall my sinus infection that just wouldn't die. Over six months, I took antibiotics, long naps, a decongestant that gave me an allergic reaction so bad I stopped to wonder if I'd wake up the next morning . It finally ended when I came up with SWAMP and took megadoses of vitamin D, Mucinex and salt. It's February and once again, I've been fighting off a cold for a few weeks. While SWAMP consists of taking 50,000 IU of vitamin D for two days, I've had to take 40,000 IU for the past several days to keep my cough from getting worse. I'm not the only one who's taken large doses like this long term. Jeff T. Bowles, a layman, wrote and self-published a book called THE MIRACULOUS RESULTS OF EXTREMELY HIGH DOSES OF THE SUNSHINE HORMONE VITAMIN D3 MY EXPERIMENT WITH HUGE DOSES OF D3 FROM 25,000 to 50,000 to 100,000 IU A Day OVER A 1 YEAR PERIOD (caps in original) about his research and experiences. Bowles is a little crazy, and his problems...

Between severe episodes of TMJ, an oncoming cold and a mountain of work, I was tired and miserable this time last night. Thank goodness I didn't use any common sense, but, as Tom Naughton would put it, used my functioning brain. Fifty thousand IU of vitamin D last night strangled the cold in its cradle by mid-morning today. A few doses of Umcka Cold Care probably helped. My TMJ is back under control. On the assumption that my roaming TMJ pain was from a tension, pain and spasm cycle spiraling out of control, I started taking ibuprofin every few hours. Some extra magnesium might have helped, too. It's needed for proper muscle function, and you can burn through more than usual when you're under a lot of stress. Vitamin D is a natural anti-imflammatory, so it might have helped as well. The TMJ pain started Saturday night after I missed lunch, missed a dose of ibuprofin and worked at the office for a few hours after the heat shut off. I don't do well skipping m...

Do people forget what it feels like to be well? I think so. While I was sick with a sinus infection, I remembered r unning around with my best friend last year , going dancing two or three times a week , and wondered how I ever had the energy to do all that. This morning, I woke up feeling healthy (even though I'm still coughing a little, and still taking Mucinex since I'm really afraid of a relapse). I got up at 6:30 (can't remember the last time I was up that early on a weekend), did some laundry, cleaned out the refrigerator, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, changed the sheets, took out the trash, bought some groceries and got to work around 10. Concentrating on my work was so much easier than it was when I was sick. (That it was Saturday helped, too.) I still have some symptoms of vitamin D toxicity. No vomiting, but I've had some momentary but severe acid reflux. I'd forgotten how painful that is. Nevertheless, I'm feeling better than I have in months...

Note: I've made some edits regarding the safety of taking vitamin D. Please read this post for further details on taking a large dose of vitamin D. SWAMP (sinuses with a mucus problem) is my hypothesis of treating sinus infections and other upper respiratory infections without antibiotics: to get rid of the bug infestation, you need to drain the swamp and activate some natural predators. You also need to restore the habitat's salinity. Who this is for: People with no access to medical care People who prefer over-the-counter medicines People who can't tolerate antibiotics, steroids and other medications Eccentrics who like to self-experiment If you have a serious respiratory illness, you can still do this, but please see a doctor as well--the sooner, the better.  My next door neighbor died of the flu; people die every day of pneumonia. If you need to save money, keep in mind that a serious case of pneumonia can put you in the hospital for several days. A sinus i...

Imagine that your sinuses are a stream. When all is well, the water (or mucus) flows along. There are some bugs here and there, but not too many. If the stream becomes blocked, the water backs up, sits still, and the bugs multiply. The stream becomes a swamp. Current thinking is to annihilate the bugs with antibiotics. My idea is to drain the swamp and activate some natural predators. As I understand it, inflammation causes your sinuses to become blocked. The mucus builds up, making a habitat for bacteria overgrowth. Thus infected, white blood cells enter the mucus, making it thick and less able to be moved along. A substance that's both an anti-inflammatory and immune cell activator is vitamin D. My thinking is that it should enable the body's immune cells to kill most of the bugs and un-inflame the sinus passages to allow mucus to flow. There's clinical and observational evidence that vitamin D is helpful in preventing and fighting respiratory infections. I've ...

Readers may know I'm trying to get over a persistent cough. The PA I saw on Saturday prescribed benzonatate, which I've been taking since then. Last night, I started thinking, "I don't remember breathing being this difficult." Nor did I recall a shower feeling like a mild beating. It was like my 38th birthday --the one where I was recovering from a car wreck. I see that these are some of the side effects of benzonatate: SIDE EFFECTS that may occur while taking this medicine include constipation; dizziness; drowsiness; headache; nasal congestion; nausea; or upset stomach...Symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; or swelling of the face, lips or tongue.  I'd take something for the pain that's in every joint in my upper body, but my stomach is too upset. At least I didn't take a full dose of this stuff. Note to self: take Mucinex or Umcka instead. No side effects for me, and it...

Three nights ago, I was having a normal Sunday evening dancing at my favorite club. Except for the afternoon nap I took, the tickle in my throat, and being completely motionless when I sat down, nothing was unusual. Maybe those should have been clues that within a few hours, I would go home early (!) and consider having my doctor check for strep throat the next day--my throat was that sore. Once I got home, I took all the vitamin D3 I had and went to bed. I’d read of colds being stopped by large doses of the sunshine vitamin, but the next morning, I felt velcroed to the bed. I still had a sore throat. I called my employer and croaked that I wouldn't be at work. Being a cheapskate, I decided to try to get well on my own before seeing a doctor. It’s Wednesday night, and I’m well again. Tuesday wasn’t bad, either--I did a boatload of work since I took Monday off. I had very little nasal congestion during this cold. My strategies: Vitamin D3 in 10,000 IU doses, two per day for two and...

Until recently, I went for two years without a cold. Normally, I get one every winter. Of course, once I started bragging about my good fortune, I caught cold. There are some cold medicines out there that my friends and family and I have tried. Our results: Mucinex: This stuff really does clear out mucous. It won't however, clear up pneumonia. (Someone I won't name really did think this would work.) Nevertheless, it's worth the price, and cheaper store brands area available that contain the same active ingredient (guaifenesin). Umcka Cold Care: I've popped four or five of these a day since Friday, when a cold started coming on. It's Tuesday and my cold is gone. I didn't have sinus pain or a stuffy nose at all--just a runny nose that felt like hay fever. Buy this with a box of tissues. Sudafed PE: This works as well for me as the original Sudafed. If I'm really congested, I have to take several doses (as directed) to get relief. The store brands are cheaper;...