follow up on "we will all get COVID"

judsoncarroll4
judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,498 admin
edited September 2021 in Pull Up a Rocking Chair: General Chat

NOTE FROM ADMIN: The following reflects the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TGN team. In January 2021, we made the decision to close any further forum discussion & comments on COVID-19 moving forward, as the general climate surrounding any discussion regarding COVID-19 had become increasingly political and divisive. We did not make this decision lightly, as we understand that COVID-19 was and still is a highly relevant topic in our world. However, our aim is -- and always has been -- to make The Grow Network's Forums a safe, pleasant, welcoming place for everyone, regardless of their political leanings, belief systems, etc. That said, this is still a great time to learn from each other about gardening, homesteading, and making home medicine, and we encourage you to explore all the other wonderful categories, posts, and comments on this site. We appreciate all members' continued cooperation with our decision. Thanks for helping us make TGN's Forums peaceful and pleasant for everyone!

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In Susan Weed's recent course, she says we will all get it. She is right. Several folks here on TGN have commented on that. Here is my perspective... and excerpt from the book I am writing... if you see any type-os, let me know. THe bottom line, is, don't freak out.

Colds, Flu and Other Viruses

Viruses are basically the opposite of the friendly gut flora we discussed under allergies. While certain fungi and bacteria evolved strategies to keep their hosts (us) healthy for their own good, viruses evolve strategies to be as difficult to avoid and to be as contagious and hard to treat as possible.

In order for viruses to replicate, they have to invade specific cells in the body. They have to get through our natural defenses, sneak through our immune systems, invade those cells and destroy those cells.

Viruses may use the specific qualities of mosquitoes or ticks that enable such parasitic insects to delay our inflammatory immune response to their bites, so that we don't feel them right away. Then they are able to feed on our blood, to sneak into our blood stream, go to the pancreas and then onto the specific brain cells that they must invade in order to replicate... hiding from our immune systems during a period of incubation. Next, they cause those cells to swell and rupture in cases of encephalitis.

Other viruses require human to human transmission, quietly incubating in lung cells until the perfect time to replicate, rupturing those cells, spiking the fever, causing congestion and coughing that allows them to spread from one host to another in saliva droplets. This is how most flus spread and why pneumonia is the main cause of death in flu (or COVID-19). Other flus, such as the Swine Flu, attack blood cells and cause hemorrhagic bleeding as their means of transmission. The common cold attacks the sinuses primarily, causing us to sneeze and our noses to run. 

Viruses develop in one species and then develop strategies to jump from one species to another, picking up bits of DNA from their hosts, allowing them to mutate and adapt with amazing speed. In fact, viruses come in two forms, DNA viruses and RNA viruses. DNA viruses are slower to mutate.  A DNA virus such as polio may be dramatically slowed and prevented with a vaccine.  RNA viruses can mutate so quickly that we cannot keep up - that is why there are annual flu shots.

According to Dr. Sharri Markson, as quoted in the Australian - "viruses target ethnic groups". Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote about how different ethnic groups have different health concerns and respond differently to medical treatments in his first book on medicine. However, when our doctors and scientists decided that all human cells are identical things viewed under a microscope in a laboratory, as opposed to individuals with unique heritage, they forgot that. Viruses did not. Viruses can attack a specific ethnicity until they develop the ability to better infect another ethnicity.

Simply put, viruses may have the most advanced survival strategies and ability to adapt of anything on earth... technically, they are not even alive. Viruses can survive in the ice of the Arctic and in the lava of volcanoes. They can use plants, animals and fungi as hosts. And, there are trillions of unique viruses.

What are we to do? We cannot avoid every virus that can infect us. We will never have effective vaccines to prevent all viral infections. Quarantine is effective in preventing the spread of some viruses. HIV/AIDS, for instance, could have been stopped and an epidemic prevented if contact tracing was used in the early days of the disease, if the sick were quarantined and treatment of those infected was done and they were stopped from spreading the disease by preventing them from having sex with uninfected people or from giving blood.

It seems like common sense that we would not want to give infected blood to uninfected people. As the old saying goes, "If you think you can trust the government, ask any Indian". Consider the smallpox infected blankets.

The truth is, we cannot avoid all viruses. We will, likely, all get COVID 19.

An interesting fact of history (according to Stephen Harrod Buhner in his excellent book, Herbal Antivirals) is that before the vaccine for polio and mass vaccination, nearly every American contracted polio... but, most were asymptomatic. Only about 8% of the population experienced symptoms of sickness due to polio. A much smaller percentage of children suffered severe results of polio.

COVID 19 has approximately a 99% survivability rate. It targets the elderly and those already in poor health... but, as I write this book, we are attempting to eradicate this RNA virus through mass vaccination, even though the inventor of the RNA virus vaccine, Dr. Robert Malone, says it is impossible.

That, is the bad news. The good news is that, as the vacation Bible school t-shirts for little kids say, "God didn't make no junk!" When we are infected with a virus, if we survive it, our immune system learns to recognize both that specific virus and similar viruses. From then on, we have natural antibodies and an experienced immune system that the virus cannot fool or hide from. In other words, we develop immunity. Our immune system can learn just like our brains can learn new information and our muscles can be trained.

For that reason, I am thankful that I caught both the Swine Flu and COVID 19 when I was young, healthy and strong enough to survive both. I can personally attest that COVID is a bummer...it was a bad flu that lasted about two months. It was exhausting. It definitely targeted my lungs.  I treated it with herbs and OTC, generic guaifenesin (Mucinex) and aspirin. It caused pneumonia and pleurisy. There were a few days and nights during which I though I might die.... but, COVID is NOTHING compared to Swine Flu!

Maybe you have not heard a lot about Swine Flu, but the epidemic of this virus, known as the Spanish Flu made the COVID "pandemic" look like nothing. At the close of World War 1, this RNA virus jumped species from pigs to humans, in the perfect conditions for the virus to spread in the trenches of Europe, in close quarters with poor sanitation and among weakened, exhausted young men.

This virus particularly targeted the young. Older people had already experienced a similar, but less deadly virus and had immunity. Those young men then came home, stopping in ports along the way. The virus killed more than 50 million people, far more than the war!

The virus causes no symptoms as it incubates. But then, it comes on like nothing else. Healthy young men and women would get up in the morning and start their day as usual... by noon they would be sick and by 5 pm they would be dead. Many would be dead by noon, hemorrhaging blood that infected others. 

I have done a lot of dumb things, so I won't say it was the closest to death I have ever come, but my experience with Swine Flu was as close as I have ever come to dying from a virus. One morning, I got in my vehicle to run a few errands. As I came to a stop sign, I noticed my brakes were spongey. My brake line had been cut.... no idea how or by whom. Thank God, I was able to coast into a local garage without losing control. I spoke with the man who owned the garage, an older, local mountain man who (of course) had to give me a hard time, asking whose wife I'd been "running around with" since someone had cut my brake line.

If you aren't from the south or a rural area, all I can tell you is that old men will insult you and pick on you only if they accept you...they won't say much at all to an outsider. So, I always appreciate that and give it right back.

This time though, I was aware that I was responding slowly. My mind was not sharp. Within 30 minutes, I didn't feel good at all. After he fixed my brakes, I finished my errands and was home before noon. By the time I got home, I had the highest fever I have ever experienced. I was vomiting violently, until the blood vessels burst around my eyes, giving me black eyes. Then came the diarrhea, which was also explosive. My bones, muscles and joints hurt beyond belief. I was chilled and so muddle headed that all I could do was get in bed and say a few prayers, fully expecting not to wake up. I did awaken, though, when the fever spiked.

Suddenly, blood was spraying from my nose... not just dripping or flowing but spurting. I passed out. When I came to, the fever had broken. I was drenched in sweat. The bed was soaked in sweat. I was exhausted and shaking all over. I got on my knees and thanked God I had survived. It was over. 

That is scary, isn't it... but the Avian Flu, such as H1N1, is supposed to be even more contagious and has at least a 50% mortality rate...and we have been freaking out over COVID, which has around a 2% mortality rate.

I had heard on the news of a Swine Flu outbreak, but I had no idea it had come to my region. Had I known, there are several herbs I would have used for immune support and as antivirals.

When the Spanish Flu hit, there were no effective pharmaceutical treatments. There was an herb though, that saved many lives. It was a fairly rare member of the Artemisia or Wormwood family, called Sweet Annie (Artemisia annua), an herb that is also useful for Malaria. This herb is powerfully antiviral, and should be grown by anyone concerned about the next "pandemic"... as well as the incompetence (and dishonesty) of our "leaders".

 ... more to come on specific herbs for viruses

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