Readers of this site and listeners to my show are aware that I came down with some kind of Respiratory bug a week ago yesterday. Chest Congestion, BAD cough, which kept me up most of last night - again. This morning, my blood Oxygen Saturation was down to EIGHTY-SIX (86) when I first got up! That's way bad.
For what it's worth, I take Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2, and earlier this week, upped the D3 to ten thousand I.U. per day. I also take Naturello WHOLE FOOD VITAMINS, along with a Centrum multi-vitamin. I take Zinc Picolinate and Quercetin. I take Magnesium, Biotin, Co-Enzyme Q-10 (Qunol Brand), LAURICIDIN brand of Monolaurin, which I started taking mid-week last week when I felt something was wrong.
By a week ago yesterday, I was really weak and starting to cough. A week ago on that Friday, was the first night I was kept awake with coughing. That night, I had to take Robitussin DM cough medicine (OTC) and two Ibuprofen because I was running a very low-grade fever, 99.something.
The cough medicine worked after about an hour so I got some sleep.
On Saturday last week, I began taking Azithromycin, 250mg, which is a well-known, reliable, long-established, broad spectrum antibiotic that I have taken many times in the past, and which I KNOW actually works for me. The dosing is two tablets the first day, then one tablet daily for four or five days, after that, which ended yesterday.
There really is no way to determine if one is suffering from a Bacterial infection, which CAN be helped by antibiotics, or one is suffering from a viral infection, which CANNOT be helped with antibiotics. There is also no way to tell if one is suffering from BOTH at the same time.
So, to my thinking, because I was going downhill rather fast, I decided I would treat myself for BOTH, because if I did have bacterial, I would start addressing it, and if I didn't, there was no harm to me using the antibiotic. Now, maybe that's poor logic, but that was the logic I employed.
Yesterday was the final day of Azithromycin and frankly, it was NOT helping. The nighttime cough was persisting. That tells me this is viral. Maybe I'm wrong, but given Azithromycin's performance IN ME over my life, it generally works and shows good results within 48-72 hours. Not this time, so I think it's viral.
As mid-week arrived last week, my voice starting going, and all of you heard it during my radio show. I also developed very significant wheezing, so bad at night, the noise from my own breathing was keeping me awake! So I started taking Mucinex to break-up the congestion, and that helped quiet me down, ease the breathing, and allowed me to sleep.
Not a sore throat really, but just raspy, unreliable, voice.
Well, last night I was a mess with this crap. The very moment I laid down, I started coughing. Forcefully. Really forcefully. And Wheezing. Whether I laid on my back, or my left side, or my right side, the coughing and wheezing was merciless. I was up. Much of the night.
So I thought about what friends - whom I trust - told me earlier in the week, and again yesterday. They told me "Start taking Ivermectin."
Now, I HAVE real Ivermectin. From a Pharmacy. Capsules. And I have a written prescription for it. So I have the real deal - not just horse paste or what have you.
At 4:48 AM today, I took my first Ivermectin. 18mg.
I have never taken it before, so I wanted to make certain I did not feel any sort of adverse reaction. After taking more cough medicine, I laid back down. Hacked awhile longer, then drifted off to sleep.
When I awoke this morning, I felt weird. Woozy. So I stuck my finger in an Oxygen saturation meter that we keep up here for my wife, and was shocked when it read that my blood oxygen saturation was down to eighty-six (86). It's never below 95 ! ! ! !
I poured myself a cup of coffee and a few minutes later, took the Oxygen level again. Ninety-six.
So I'm getting hammered by whatever this is. It is not fun, at all.
But I have begun taking Ivermectin, will continue to take my vitamins, drink plenty of fluids and rest.
I'm just thankful there's been no major fever or vomiting. I DO have "the runs" off and on, so numerous bathroom trips, some quite urgent.
Whatever this is, it's nasty.
I hate being sick.
