COVID-19 and Mountain Medical Arts

We recognize and extend support for the personal and economic impact that COVID-19 and its international response has caused you.

Treatment, Testing and Vaccines
If you are sick

COVID-19 Treatment Information

Prevention

The most important aspects of your health and disease prevention include being up to date with your preventative well visit. Get closer to your ideal weight range, incorporate movement into every day, get adequate sleep, improve your coping skill and spiritual well-being. Ask for help.

Avoid flour, sugar and artificial sugar substitutes. Eat more plants. Having inflammation or being overweight are increased risk factors for the second phase of COVID. The first few days are a typical flu like viral illness, fever, loss of taste or smell, allergic symptoms, headache, nausea – pretty much anything goes! Then you feel a little better and think you kicked it, and then the inflammatory phase can set in – return of fevers, clots that leave you breathless, brain fog, fatigue and digestive issues. It can hit any organ system.

Testing Options

Testing options: PCR viral best option, rapid tests if + can be helpful (rare false + studies except for a batch of Abbott), false negative are very common though – especially with Omicron + tests may not show up until day 8 so please be careful to quarantine and mask until symptom-free or PCR negative at that point.

Treatment

Avoid flour and sugar and sugar substitutes. Eat more plants. – being overweight is an increased risk factor for the inflammatory reaction to COVID and other infectious causes (and life in general!)

Beginning on day 1 of illness take Immune Support Packets by Designs for Health (includes Vitamin D Complex with Vitamins K and E, Stellar C with citrus bioflavonoids and acerola, Zinc Supreme with Taurine and B6, N-Acetyl-Cysteine and Immunitone Plus’s unique blend features Elderberry extract, Arabinogalactan, Goldenseal, Echinacea, a variety of mushrooms including Cordyceps and Reishi

1 packet daily for at least 3 days or more to support your immune system.

This packet has the potential to decrease the severity of all viral infections in general – not just COVID. If you test + proceed with support for Phase II infection T1 helper cell support and Phase III IL6 T2 helper cell balance to prevent a threatening overstimulated inflammatory response.

Beginning day 3 of illness or any time after an infection that is not healing or resolving like you think it should (this can be fatigue, pain, cough, brain fog, really any constellation of ongoing systemic change).

Take Mitochondrial Renewal Kit Xymogen (includes Biotin, Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Arginine, Actinos Whey Peptide, Quercetin, trans-Reservatrol, Trans-Pterostibene) 1 Packet daily for at least 3 days or until symptoms resolve Add Perilla and ECG to this is the ideal combination of support.

Or make your own packets:

A form of alpha lipoic I like xymogen Neuroactives, or Neuroscience Calm G but any form fine, 100-600 mg daily as tolerated.

Trans-Reservatrol, Trans-Pterostibene.

Turmeric with black pepper and fenugreek, as a tea or supplement.

Perilla TCM Chinese medicine herbal three times daily VERY effective reversing T2 inflammation and regaining balance, 4 three times a day.

AllerDHQ, Sinuplex or other blend with quercetin and natural diet with lots of (onions, ramps, ginger, garlic, leeks, berries).

EGCg Designs for Health
Melatonin has been shown to have an inhibitory effect on the NLRP3 inflammasome, 1-10mg before bed
Vitamin D2 and D3 combined total should be near 60.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/vitamin-d2-or-d3

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d2-vs-d3#TOC_TITLE_HDR_7

Vitamin D3 is your sun and animal sources.

D2 is your plant and mushroom-based sources, many people with inflammation and mental health neurotransmitter imbalance need D2 to balance immunity and healing and mood. Leaving even store-bought mushrooms in the sun for many hours will increase their D2 production.

Ibuprofen 600mg every 6 hrs as needed achiness or pain that may be preventing ideal self-care, or Tylenol which for some people is working better for fevers (remember fevers do help you heal, but if they cause achiness or interfere with well being then you can take it) 500 mg every 4 hours as needed.

Aggressive nasopharyngeal hygiene:

Many sprays up nose and blow out, then tilt spray bottle and spray many times while inhaling and blocking the other until fluid reaches back of the throat – irrigating and cleaning nasal turbinates their entire length, past the ears and into the back of the throat. Google an image of the nasopharynx to help you visualize how to do this

Sterilize and refill bottles sterile (boiled) saline 1/8 teaspoon uniodized salt per cup of sterilized or distilled water.
Option to dilute colloidal silver to10-100 ppm, ie if 50ppm source, put 2-4 ML per 10ML bottle, this is a great natural antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory.
Option to add 3 grams NAC to improve mucosa immunity, and thin secretions.

Outpatient management for active disease:

Baby aspirin 81mg daily to prevent the small clots that become a risk 5-10 days after COVID infection starts. If you are already on 81 take 325mg, if you are already on 325 keep in close touch, you may need a CT or lab to see if you need more aggressive anticoagulation. Clots in the lungs lead to the severe shortness of breath or low oxygen, call us immediately or 911- if this happens.

Inhalers or nebulizers with steroids and albuterol to keep airways open and decrease inflammation.

Oral steroids a consideration:

Antibiotics like doxycycline or Zithromax for high-risk lung patients or if developing pneumonia due to stress of the illness. Oxygen if sats falling below 89%

Scientific considerations:

Integrative research for support https://www.ifm.org/news-insights/the-functional-medicine-approach-to-covid-19-virus-specific-nutraceutical-and-botanical-agents/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7410805/

Algorithm to reduce complications:

We recommend vaccination, over the last year it has become clear that reactions to the vaccine are far easier to recover from than the disease itself. We have data on well over 9 billion vaccinated people worldwide at this point, far more than any vaccine in our history, and because of how it works it is very unlikely to cause any unexpected long-term complications.

https://youtu.be/the81FQoAUI

How the vaccine works in your body – great animated education.
Booster if chronic illness or other immunosuppressed state.
If the vaccine is right for you, http://trhd.dst.nc.us/

Other considerations:

Plaquenil if any autoimmune predisposition can be helpful, or if past malaria
Ivermectin prophylaxis or treatment, especially helpful if you have travelled to Africa and other tropical areas, but even here parasites can complicate our healing. DO NOT BUY THIS AT AG STORES! Call to discuss safe doses and preparations.

Monoclonal antibody infusions at the hospital for high-risk patients – This is a one-hour infusion outpatient, you must have a documented + test before we can register you for this. It must be done within 10 days onset of symptoms. Using Sotrovimab now due to Omicron resistance to Regen-cov.

Histamine 2 blockers like cimetidine or famotidine have some antiviral properties that may help.
Paxlovid (ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir) can be taken within five days of symptom onset, 1 twice a day for 5 days in high-risk patients – emergency authorization approved. Caution if impaired liver or on any meds with p450CYP3A4 like many heart and antifungal meds etc.. I will not be recommending the other emergency-approved Molnupiravir without long-term follow-up given the risk of genetic mutations.

Other Considerations

(Alternative treatments should never be undertaken without a recommendation and continued care from a qualified medical professional.)

Plaquenil may be used as a treatment if patient has any history of autoimmune predisposition or malaria.

Ivermectin Prophylaxis or treatment may be especially helpful if you have travelled to Africa or other tropical areas, but even here in the U.S. parasites can complicate our healing. DO NOT BUY THIS AT AGRICULTURE STORES! Call to discuss safe doses and preparations. There are some preliminary studies that show it may decrease viral activity in the cell but so far the significant response is found only in tropical countries. Call us if you want to discuss this further and see if you should add this to your regimen.

Monoclonal Antibody Infusions may be administered at the hospital for high-risk patients. This is a one-hour infusion, outpatient procedure. You must have a documented positive test before we can register you for this.

Histamine 2 Blockers like cimetidine or famotidine have some antiviral properties that may help.

If You Are Sick:

Call the office.

We remain available 24 hours a day to help you. If we decide that you need to be seen in person, we will give you a time, and either come out to your car, see you in the back courtyard or on the porch whichever you prefer. Of course we do home visits at an extra charge. We will come out appropriately protected, for your safety, ours and our vulnerable or unvaccinated patients. We have been able to handle many visits on zoon, or by phone.

During regular office hours call 828-678-9352 and a nurse will be answering the phones or responding to your voice messages as usual.
The after-hours number is 828-675-6868. This number is also recorded on our answering machine evenings and week-ends. DO NOT USE THIS NUMBER DURING OFFICE HOURS, IT BYPASSES THE NURSES AND GOES DIRECTLY TO OUR CELL PHONES, INTERRUPTING OTHER PATIENTS.

At home, continue to follow basic precautions:

Vigorous hand washing for a full twenty seconds, including under your nails, with hot water and soap, many times a day, before leaving your home, and after any contact outside your home. Use hand sanitizer if a sink is not available – This is not a replacement for good hand washing!
Clean frequently touched surfaces daily, more often if you have visitors or numerous people living in your home.
Wear a mask if you are sick or caring for someone who is.
Avoid contact with anyone who has been traveling, or otherwise may have had exposure to the virus (health care workers etc.) or self-quarantine your whole family for fourteen days after they arrive home.

If you need to come inside the office, we will follow a stricter protocol:

Use the handrail outside only if you need to.
Use elbows or clean fabric to turn the front door latch (we have strung the screen door open)
Chairs have been removed from the waiting room. Stand until you are directed to a room. If you cannot stand, we should see you in your car, at least until your room is available.
Keep your hands together. You will sit on the exam table which has been cleaned. We will not be using sheets or pillows.
After you are seen, doors will be opened for you. Please refrain from touching anything.
We will be wearing cloth masks only, reserving N95 masks for sick contacts. Cloth masks do not meet guidelines for preventing transmission, but combined with above parameters will help diminish droplet exposure, and nearly two years in, it has worked for us.

We are tripling our efforts at sterilizing the doorknobs, chairs, equipment, surfaces, etc. in the office. We ask your help as well to help us keep the office safe in this uncertain time. In short, help us please by keeping fevers, sneezing, coughs, and mucous outside the building.

The virus enters the nose or mouth through contact and air droplets.

Wash hands and face whenever in public, irrigate nose with saline or colloidal silver spray 50 ppm. To do this effectively, spray up the nose and into the posterior pharynx by inhaling to the back of the throat, then swallow or spit out – this washes viruses and pollens out, to keep the initial entry point healthy and free of disease or inflammation. You can sterilize and refill bottles with colloidal silver 10-100 ppm or saline (1/8 teaspoon non-iodized salt per cup of sterilized or distilled water), you can also mix 2 grams NAC (available at Burnsville Health and Nutrition or through our Fullscripts account) in 10ml to improve the nasal mucosa immunity.

If you have been in a public situation where there may be people who have traveled and been exposed to the virus:

Quarantine Yourself

Even without symptoms. This virus has a 14 day incubation period before symptoms develop. Consider this an opportunity to pray, contemplate, start a creative practice, do self-care, consider new health and wellness goals, read, work from home, write letters etc. Don’t share dishes, towels, bedding. Wipe down touch surfaces like doorknobs, keyboards, counters, toilets and phones. Includes caution with pet contact, it is possible they can get this virus. This also includes going to the doctor – call your doctor to make sure you do not need to be seen, ask their protocol for seeing people at risk, but DO NOT expose medical personal or patients in an office or hospital if you have symptoms or are at risk. If you cannot quarantine yourself, do not touch or hug people or touch surfaces.

80 % of the cases for this coronavirus seem to be mild, according to the World Health Organization, just like the many coronaviruses you have been exposed to every year since you were born, and have caused those annoying colds you know so well.

BUT, may be moderate to severe, especially if you are elderly, have lung disease or other immune compromise, causing pneumonia or inflammatory lung reactions that can be fatal. Inhalers, oxygen, antibiotics for opportunistic co-infections or nebulized medications can help. If these are not adequately controlling shortness of breath, or you have rapid development of severe shortness of breath, you should call EMS or go to the hospital immediately.

We know that other RNA/coronaviruses change- more often than infections we have long immunity vaccines for (polio, pneumococcal) more on par with the flu -which we have to make a new vaccine for annually (and sometimes the vaccine is not fully protective, as you know.) Another example is Pertussis vaccine, which gives you immunity for near five years, like getting the disease, and is also severe in children and elderly.

In addition, zinc lozenges offer some mucosal protection, and medications like chlorpheniramine (antihistamines) have been found to decrease the inflammation leading to more severe symptoms.

We hope you can find the support you need to move away from fear and toward peace and a solidarity in this time of challenge, if not give us a call for ideas.

We encourage each of you to engage in life-affirming activities:

Garden
Walk
Be creative – listen to music, or learn to play an instrument, sing and dance!
There are many museums doing virtual tours for free, or get a free week trial and watch a Broadway musical.
Study something online.
Write letters to family or friends, by hand!

Eat fresh, whole foods. Avoid flour and sugar and alcohol. Support our local farmers – just ask if you need to know how to get these local fresh foods, efforts are underway to distribute throughout the county in a safe way.

The challenge of social distancing may also be an opportunity to know ourselves a little better, to know our world a little more intimately and to get closer to nature, or God.

We are hopeful that overcoming this time of crisis together, we will emerge a more unified people of our one world.

Blessings and Love to each of you,

Jeff Polgar, MD
Kelly Rothe, DO
Jonathan Polgar, PA-C