Healing Long Covid - Yannick's Story Part 2

This is a work in progress, as my day becomes busier and busier it becomes harder to sit down and flesh the story out. I don't want to keep this private until then, as people need hope and a guiding light, but bear in mind that I will be updating it as the days go by.

Healing Journey Continued Part 3

💡My thoughts at this time: What kind of damage can severe covid running rampant do other than mag depletion? Pancreas? Lungs? Brain? (acetylcholine, glutamate) brain fog. Fatigue (low NAD+).

It seemed like smokers were not catching it. What does nicotine do that stops covid from replicating? Smokers don't run as much, so maybe it's simply fewer deficiencies and stress that exercise or other diseases cause. This obviously has created a few theories about how to use nicotine to prevent or cure long covid.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working but rather is creating mixed results. A lot of long haulers think "screw it, I'll try anything at this point" and go for the nicotine patches. Nicotine does upregulate dopamine and neurotransmitters, so that can definitely help with feeling better, but the effect will be short-lived.

In fact, a lot of people in some of the long covid groups I'm in recount this exact scenario. Feeling good for 7 day, going off the patch and feeling terrible.

Niacin is still an important factor in my opinion and has a lot of benefits. I'll talk about it more later.

Nicotine patches theory

Nicotine patches are being used currently (2023) as a new long-haul healing strategy. Unfortunately, it is getting mixed results. Similarly, it makes sense that it is disrupting the acetylcholine neurotransmitter.

Nicotine and nicotinic acid, also known as niacin, share some similarities due to their chemical structures and biological activity.

Both compounds contain a pyridine ring, which contributes to their similar names. While nicotine is an alkaloid found in tobacco plants and known for its addictive properties, nicotinic acid is a B-vitamin (vitamin B3) essential for various metabolic processes.

Both substances interact with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the nervous system, but they have distinct effects. Nicotine primarily acts as a stimulant, whereas nicotinic acid plays a crucial role in energy metabolism and maintaining overall health.

💡When nicotinic acid (niacin) binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), its effects are generally weaker and less specific compared to nicotine.

While nicotine is a potent agonist of nAChRs, meaning it can activate these receptors effectively, nicotinic acid has a much weaker affinity for these receptors and does not typically produce significant effects on the nervous system when binding to nAChRs.

The primary function of nicotinic acid in the body is as a precursor for the synthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a coenzyme essential for various metabolic processes, redox reactions, and cellular energy production.

The role of nicotinic acid in these metabolic processes is distinct from its interaction with nAChRs. Therefore, the primary focus when discussing the biological effects of nicotinic acid is its role in metabolism and cellular health, rather than its interactions with nAChRs.

Around this time, at a certain point, I'm having random tremors in my leg, eye twitching, and eventually a mini heart attack. While I'm working from home, I get an eye twitch every 3 seconds. I start to think that my eye has been infected.

Earlier I remember getting viral conjuvictitis a few times. When I was younger any sort of pink eye could have been treated with some polysporin eye drops. In fact, it's probably what most of you have tried as well. Turns out with covid that it's viral, and can't be cured with anti-bacterial eye drops. No one is talking about it. No one is talking about how pets are dying in higher numbers too. Looking online for any information on dogs, cats, and covid comes up with nothing. In fact, some places try and call you a conspiracy theorist for even suggesting it.

It's definitely scary stuff. This leads me to start researching magnesium deficiencies. There's a lot to this. Exercise depletes magnesium really quickly. Without magnesium as a cofactor, you lose a lot of bodily functions.

Magnesium Deficiency Theory

Magnesium is an essential mineral for the human body, playing crucial roles in several physiological functions.

It is a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems regulating diverse biochemical reactions, including protein synthesis, muscle and nerve function, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation. Magnesium also contributes to the structural development of bones and is involved in DNA, RNA, and the antioxidant glutathione synthesis.

Moreover, it aids in the conduction of nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and normal heart rhythm, highlighting its importance for overall health.

A deficiency of magnesium, known as hypomagnesemia, can manifest in various ways due to its widespread involvement in bodily functions. Early signs of magnesium deficiency often include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As the deficiency worsens, more severe symptoms can develop, such as numbness, tingling, muscle cramps, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms. Chronic low magnesium levels are linked with several diseases, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis.

💡Chronic magnesium deficiency is often associated with normal serum magnesium despite a deficiency in cells and in bone; the response to oral supplementation is slow and may take up to 40 weeks to reach a steady state.

Healing Journey Continued Part 4

So many things need to be taken into consideration. Magnesium is just one of them, but also one of the most important ones. Magnesium absorption is usually disrupted via gut health with things like Leaky Gut, Inflammation, and Gut Dysbiosis.

These need to be addressed so that magnesium is better absorbed. This is another place where fasting is treated like the generator during a storm. Bring the electricity back on so that we can focus on building back the gut health, which in turn will start turning the gears in hundreds of other metabolic pathways.

Things really escalated with that mini heart attack I felt. It seemed like an accumulation of everything. Microclots, magnesium deficiency, fatigue levels, cytokine storm, and more. Obviously, I started back on the clot-busting theory, but to be honest, all the negative media press made me hesitant to take more ivermectin.

In hindsight, I kind of regret it.

The reason I say that is that later on, I use ivermectin during reinfection and bounce back in hours, avoiding any form of relapse, leading me to believe that there is more to the FLCCC protocol than meets the eye.

But anyways, since that peak symptom of the mini heart attack post-Delta infection, I start to have a few new side effects occur. I am now having sleeping issues. This is very odd and new to me because I had always been a very deep sleeper. It was kind of my superpower. I was always able to fall asleep quickly, even with loud noises, and sleep through anything.

Now I was having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Cue the Niatonin protocol. There was a time early on in the Long Covid days when a protocol mixed Melatonin and Niacin in large doses to beat the virus. They were definitely on to something, but in hindsight, it was only one pathway that was helping.

It was helping fall asleep, which is a very important process that allows your body to heal your brain and nervous system, but it was also resupplying the building blocks for NAD+. Niacin was taken as Nicotinic acid (the flush version) because it had a lot of studies backing up its safety profile and benefits in longevity. It's a precursor to NAD+ and frees up Tryptophan to be able to focus on building melatonin and serotonin instead. Knowing about NMN, I would have probably tried that sooner in the journey instead of Niacin.

Niatonin Protocol, Tryptophan, and NAD+ Theory

I ran into Dmitri Katz's protocol that people were swearing by.

It talked a lot about NAD+ and studies showing that Niacin (b3) was able to both destroy spike protein and give the body back its energy.

Some people were swearing at it. The literature on Niacin was solid. A lot of evidence shows increased longevity, and better blood biomarkers after years of Niacin use. The main issue was that niacinamide was potentially liver toxic, so people were advised to use the Nicotinic Acid version.

The main problem with that was that it caused a flushing reaction and a lot of people were too uncomfortable to continue it. During my long-haul journey, I believe that high-dose niacin supplementation did a lot to improve my energy levels, and it was one of the most impactful supplements.

After a few weeks of using Niacin and melatonin, I was able to go back to walking without crashing afterward, which indicated a restoration of NAD+ levels, at least somewhat.

Tryptophan Theory

Turning our attention to tryptophan - this amino acid follows two main paths in our bodies:

It aids in the production of serotonin & melatonin
It contributes to the Kynurenine Pathway, crucial for protein synthesis and NAD+

The serotonin pathway is vital. As a neurotransmitter, serotonin is a key player, particularly in the gut. Plus, it's the building block of melatonin, needed for sleep and acting as a potent antioxidant within mitochondria.

This is why so many people I've talked with swore by magic mushrooms helping them heal a significant portion of their LC. Now that I'm healed I will be playing with the effects of psilocybin as well, but I wish I had tried it even earlier.

💡Studies show that psilocybin is indeed a serotonin agonist. It primarily interacts with the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor in the brain, acting similarly to serotonin when it binds to these receptor sites. When ingested, psilocybin is converted into psilocin, the active form of the compound. This chemical then mimics serotonin by binding to the same receptors in the brain, which triggers a series of reactions leading to heightened neural connectivity and altered perception, often experienced as hallucinations. This interaction is also believed to be the basis for psilocybin's potential therapeutic effects. For instance, it has shown promise in treating conditions like depression and anxiety, potentially by helping "reset" brain activity patterns and promoting a greater sense of emotional well-being and openness.

Every time mitochondria create energy, they rely on melatonin to neutralize the free radicals produced as a byproduct. Insufficient melatonin spells doom for the cell. Melatonin synthesis within mitochondria is triggered by infrared radiation, primarily from the daytime sun.

Issues crop up when an excess of tryptophan is funneled down the kynurenine pathway, which increases due to:

The IDO enzyme, released in reaction to infection and inflammation
The TDO enzyme, released in response to stress
Depleted NAD+. Tryptophan (via the kynurenine pathway) is the body's fallback system for low NAD+. This is crucial - the body will always prioritize NAD+ production as it's vital for survival.

Excessive diversion of tryptophan down the Kynurenine pathway can lead to:

Serotonin/melatonin depletion
Conversion to quinolinic acid, a neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s, dementia, etc.
Induction of muscle atrophy, bone loss, and neurodegeneration
An increase in oxidative stress
A rise in anxiety

Covid-19 forces tryptophan down the kynurenine pathway via several mechanisms, including triggering significant inflammation, burning through antioxidants, and rapidly depleting NAD+.

The supplementation of Niacin, in this case, helps supplement the NAD+ pathways, allowing tryptophan to focus on melatonin and serotonin.

The conversion rate of tryptophan to Niacin is about 60:1 showing how powerful supplementing Niacin can be. 60g of tryptophan can convert to 1g of Niacin. Crazy stuff.

I was never a big fan of taking melatonin, as I believe there are some chronic risks, and in a perfect world, you'd want to promote your body to produce it naturally.

However, sleep is one of the most important parts of the healing process, so if nothing else is working, melatonin should be used as a crutch.

💡There are some interactions between melatonin and niacin that help lessen the flush, but at the same time taking higher doses of niacin also correlates to sleepiness. It acts in such a quick manner that the tryptophan is able to focus on melatonin production.

About one hour after taking niacin you can start to feel sleepy. Let me know if you try this out and if it works for you. Another natural way of getting to sleep quickly is taking an Epsom salt bath.

Healing Journey Continued Part 5

After another month or two, I was finally able to get my hands on some hydroxychloroquine. I found a semi-reputable shipper in India that had a strong profile with good reviews. I also asked for extra proof and received images of packages that were being sent out the last week, along with their tracking information which proved that they were delivered where they were supposed to be.

In hindsight, probably not the best thing for the shipper to be doing if someone was trying to catch people importing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, but other than that, perfection. I ordered about 200x 12mg ivermectin tablets and 500x hydroxychloroquine. All arrived very professionally packaged and sealed.

I can always send you the contact info if we're working together to heal your long covid or Lyme disease.

HCQ made me feel much better. There was enough anecdotal evidence, FLCCC recommendations, and support given by experts like Didier Raoult.

I would most likely still be taking it during vacation trips or other high-infection possible scenarios if it did not negatively affect autophagy. I deep-dived into the drug and noticed that a lot of the information was highly censored throughout Google and forums like Reddit.

One of my treasure troves of anecdotal experiences was the lupus forums on Reddit where Plaquenil (HCQ) is used by 90%+ of the members daily. I believe hydroxychloroquine is on par with ivermectin for the top spot when it comes to drugs that are so powerful yet safe for people taking them for long periods of time. Still, if I don't have malaria, and have ivermectin and dry fasting in my back pocket, I don't see a reason to take HCQ unless there's a dire emergency.

💡Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is widely used in the treatment of clinical diseases, including rheumatology and infectious diseases [16, 17]. Moreover, recent research evidence shows the positive role of HCQ in oncology research because it can inhibit autophagy by deacidifying lysosomes

A month after receiving the IVM and HCQ, it was time to go on a vacation to Cuba with some friends, and my family.

Understandably, I was pretty paranoid with going on a plane, the thought of sitting in a box with people coughing around me gave me anxiety. I started to build up a dose of hydroxychloroquine before going.

I still believe there's a mechanism that inhibits Covid from replicating well when there are decent serum levels of hcq.

Anecdotal evidence of people with lupus not catching covid over the last 2 years. However, everyone in my group caught covid, myself included. The panic of reinfection was pretty severe, but I started popping ivermectin the moment I felt the headache and fever setting in. I took a 12mg pill, followed by another one a few hours later. I was the only one in the group that felt good the next day and the only one at the breakfast buffet. Look back at the ivermectin theory section and the immunomodulating effect.

I believe that a mix of that, blood glucose regulation from the FX ligand, and possible ACE2 receptor modulation was enough to help. I also took Niacin, just because. The amount of help niacin provided throughout my long covid journey was enough to warrant using it in tandem. Not only that, the flush just feels like the body is actively doing something and is very reassuring.

One of my friend's ended up extremely sick and masked up on the flight back. I joked that we were transporting a zombie. So, in my anecdotal experience, IVM and Niacin are a powerful duo for acute infection and preparation for being in a high-risk place. I can't give a definite answer on HCQ, since I still caught something. You should also be aware as I provide this information, that everyone is different and not everything will work for everyone.

Acute Covid Prevention Protocol

Ivermectin 12mg once per day‌‌Berberine 500mg 3x per day with meals‌‌Activated Charcoal 5g beginning of each day‌‌1g flush Niacin, 10mg melatonin, before bed‌‌Magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K2, Zinc (taken with meal)‌‌Once over acute phase, prepare for extended dry fast

No matter what, IVM and hcq did not heal my exercise intolerance and fatigue levels much. Niacin was much better for energy levels, but

nothing helped as much as fasting.

Water fasting was difficult to do, and I was able to push through and do it a few times. long water fast was able to minimize my daily migraines. I believe that it cleared micro clots, but also stabilized the neurotransmitters ach, glutamate, and also overall improved digestion and with it, magnesium absorption.

That's the beauty of fasting. It restores every part of your body. You can't really control what comes first, but if you understand autophagy, you understand that there is a lot going on at once, in a lot of places. When acidity levels rise, and ketones start to flow, lysosomes get activated.

💡Lysosomes, membrane-bound organelles, play important roles in cellular processes including endocytosis, phagocytosis, and autophagy. Lysosomes maintain cellular homeostasis by generating a highly acidic environment of pH 4.5 – 5.0 and by housing hydrolytic enzymes that degrade engulfed biomolecules.

They are located throughout your body. Yes, some areas may get targeted faster if they are more urgent and if your body is able to shuttle to the area efficiently. Think macrophages and immune cells. Lysosomes are kind of everywhere, and that's why day 3 and up is important because that's when you enter chaperone-mediated autophagy. You want these enzymes to pull out the damaged cells and organelles and throw them to the lysosomes. ‌

The Vagus Nerve Theory

If you're having problems with your vagus nerve, there are some simple lifestyle changes that might help. One of these is getting into cold water that's less than 55F. This activates the vagus nerve and is also good for your gut. There's a connection between your gut and skin which can influence each other.

💡Spending time in the sun and eating seafood can also make you healthier. The sun helps your body make vitamin D, and it probably has other benefits we're still figuring out. Seafood has important nutrients like B vitamins and DHA that help your nervous system.

Paying attention to your posture is also important, especially if you have tight or weak muscles in your hips. This can affect your gut, vagus nerve, and other functions. Working on these muscles can make a big difference in your life. These methods show us that everything in our body is connected, and improving one area can have a big impact on others.

I experimented with meditation, and although it seemed to help a little bit, it just wasn't enough. Did I have to become a Buddhist monk to beat Long Covid? I wasn't ready for that.

Well, good thing extended fasting has clear scientific evidence that it helps the parasympathetic nervous system by downregulating the sympathetic nervous system!

In essence, fasting will heal your vagus nerve, without all the meditation, brain retraining, and breathing exercises.

💡The vagus nerve communicates information between the brain and the body, facilitating the physiological response to fasting. As with exercise, intermittent fasting also stimulates BDNF production. Experts suggest that BDNF increases parasympathetic (vagal) activity in neurons connected to the gut, arteries, and heart.

The Actual Solution after all this time

Dry Fasting. It all starts with Dry Fasting. If you want to heal, you need to start the journey of learning how to dry fast for longer and longer periods of time. Maybe you'll get lucky and heal up over a few years without dry fasting, but then one relapse via reinfection and you'll be back to square one.

Except this time you might really start to consider suicide. It doesn't have to be this way.

Dry fasting can be your ace in your pocket.

It is the generator during the storm. It is the foundation of healing your metabolic pathways and damaged organs. It increased absorption rates, heals the gut, and allows you to begin the journey of recovery. Yes, dry fasting by itself won't heal you to 100%, you need to understand deficiencies, and what is critical to your situation. But the end is in sight. You just have to pull the trigger and start. If you wait, it only means that your recovery will take that much longer.

As I'm writing this I've now been dry fasting for over 2 years. About a year ago I labeled myself healed from covid. I could work out, handle a full-time job, work on the dry fasting club, dry fast, play with my son, and work on my homestead. Little did I know that there was even more healing that would occur as I never gave up continuing to dry fast. In fact with subsequent fasts, I felt myself aging backward.

At this current moment, I feel like I have better energy than when I was 21. I have more motivation (dopamine), more vitality (NAD+), a better lipid profile, and better muscle composition.

Not only that, I know that covid is not over. I know that covid is lurking around the corner, those variants will either mutate or be released and if you've had long covid once, I believe that you are more susceptible to any variant. If you hang out in r/covidlonghaulers you'll witness waves of new people joining daily. You'll also notice