Thyroid disease and Covid 19 risk

[lisabax]

This article appeared in a Facebook thyroid forum that I follow. I’m not a scientist, but should we be worried or is the data or the way it was collected, wrong?

sciencedirect.com/science/a...

[RedApple Administrator]

Thanks for posting this here lisabax.

The last para certainly does suggest we may have a cause for concern:

'Patients with thyroid disease should hence be advised to take extra precaution to minimize risk exposure to the virus. Physicians should be engaged in close monitoring of thyroid disease patients with suspected COVID-19, for timely detecting signs of disease progression. Finally, the presence of thyroid disease shall be regarded as an important factor in future risk stratification models for COVID-19.'

I wonder if diogenes has something useful to say about this?

[fuchsia-pink in reply to RedApple]

On the other hand, we're also told that good levels of T3 and vit D are beneficial - and that's something the people on this forum are quite good at getting right

[RedApple Administrator in reply to fuchsia-pink]

Absolutely. But what about the many who aren't on this forum, and/or are not optimally medicated. So many are kept on low doses of levo. So many are denied medication because their test numbers don't qualify etc.

[JuliaWM in reply to RedApple]

I have bad Hashimotos, have had it since aged 7 and am now 68, and I had Covid-19 badly. However I saved myself from my own work that I have been doing at Oxford on elderberry as an anti-viral and anti-bacterial. maybe you would like to read it . It is posted on researchgate.net a website where scientists share work before full publication. My full name is Julia Wermig-Morgan. It has been saving lives, so it seems, and now there are going to be two clinical trials, one done by WHO and one by the Sambucol company. but you can make your own elderberry cordial for it. though at this time of the year you would have to buy in the juice (from ebay) there is a recipe at the back of the paper which is a free download. No need to read it all, just skim. now I am trying to arrange trials in-vitro to see if it works for about 14 viruses thought to be possibles to cause future pandemics .Like Ebola, Zika, west Nile fever, Nipah, Hendra. But it does appear to be working for Covid-19. Julia.

[lisabax in reply to JuliaWM]

Thank you for sharing. This is excellent news. So many things we are learning about that can help . I will read the paper

[RedApple Administrator in reply to JuliaWM]

Thank you JuliaWM, this sounds fascinating!

[Susieg1 in reply to JuliaWM]

I am confused. There are many reports that elderberry contributes to the cytokine storm that has killed many people.

Can you clarify, please?

[JuliaWM in reply to Susieg1]

I replied to this and my reply was deleted.. I am one of the world experts on elderberries. It doesn't cause cytokine storm. It is immunomodulatory. if the immune system is weak it increases it a bit. If too many cytokines are released it dampens it down. Someone has taken away my answer. It is also safe for babies and pregnant women and the immunocompromised. there has been good research to show it is safe. In my dissertation I do recommend double checking and triple checking on this, but only because big Pharma is putting the fear of God into mainly the US readers who want to use elderberry. Big Pharma always does that. However elderberries have been used as medicine since the time of ancient Egypt and I have found no danger from the use of berries provided they are heated treated for a few minutes and the pips are strained out.

[Susieg1 in reply to JuliaWM]

Thank you for responding. I am in the US, so I did read all the reports of cytokine storm. I have used Sambuca often along with colloidal silver and echinacea whenever I feel anything coming on. I'm glad to know I can safely take it.

I haven't ever had the 'flu vaccine or the 'flu and only had a cold once about 18 years ago. I am 71!

I take many nutrients for my health and I am on Armour Thyroid. Currently taking iron and B12 because they both got rather too low since I haven't been eating as much meat.

Thank you for your information.

Blessings,

Susie

[JuliaWM in reply to Susieg1]

I think it is the pharma companies protecting their interests. ben Goldacre who is in my Oxford department wrote a book about it called Bad Pharma. but if you don't know what they are like, just read John le Carres book or watch the Film "the Constant gardener". You can't imagine how difficult it is to get something that doesn't make Pharma companies a lot of money through proper trials etc.

[tattybogle in reply to JuliaWM]

There is a reply from you posted at 3.02 pm . But it's shown right at the bottom of the page. If this was the reply you refer to , it will have gone there if you clicked on the 'reply' icon for the whole post rather than the reply icon directly underneath Susieg1 's comment.

Wouldn't want you to think you'd been subject to 'the silence of the elderberries' x

[RedApple Administrator in reply to tattybogle]

Ah thank you tattybogle for solving this little mystery! I was just reading through the thread, hadn't got to the bottom of the page and was wondering what could have happened for Julia to think her comment had been deleted.

[tattybogle in reply to RedApple]

That's good , i'm glad we haven't been discriminating against elderberries.x

[RedApple Administrator in reply to tattybogle]

Just wish this discussion had taken place a few weeks ago when there were elderberries around to be picked. Now we have to wait until next year to pick our own!

[tattybogle in reply to RedApple]

I'm allright jack!, due to the wisdom of poverty i currently have a freezer shelf full of elderberries & blackberries and 2 boxes of cooking apples from old 'left behind' trees hiding in plain sight on council land around my town, that the rest of the public have either never noticed , or they don't know how to recognise an apple tree anymore. (is elderberry trading against the community rules ?, i could be rich....)

[RedApple Administrator in reply to tattybogle]

Tattybogle, (is elderberry trading against the community rules ?, i could be rich....)

Yep, any trading on the public forum is against community rules

There were a lot of elderberry trees hanging over the path I walked along regularly where I used to live a few years ago. Nowadays I need to go further from home to find some, so unless someone gives me a reason to do so at exactly the right time, I tend to forget about them.

[tattybogle in reply to RedApple]

It's amazing how many old fruit trees get left behind, even in towns. Looking at old OS maps is very enlightening, and where there was once a wood , or a hedge line, , you'll now find an apple tree in what you nowadays assume is council planted shrubbery. Also any land that was previously owned by railway's and used for sidings is often still plentiful , even though it's now got a Next or Homebase store on it.

So keep your eyes peeled, cos there may be some closer than you think. Obviously you'll have to put up with kids saying "eurgh , what u pickin them up for ?" but i'm used to being considered unorthodox , so i don't care..... and i have free apple crumble.

[tattybogle in reply to JuliaWM]

As a person of the woods , i can't tell you how happy it makes me to hear that elderberries are proving so useful. The elder tree has always been treated with a great deal of respect ( woodsmen used to be warned to ask the trees permission before cutting it ) Call me an old hippy if you like , but if it helps fight covid effectively perhaps i'll have the last laugh...... best wishes for your trials , it's cheered me up immensely to hear about your work.

I've always eaten loads of elderberries , they're tasty and free, even if they are fiddly and mostly pip.

[Lora7again in reply to tattybogle]

When I was a child my grandfather would take me mushroom picking at a local forest. He came from a farming family and knew which mushrooms were safe to eat. Also my mother would take me blackberry picking to make homemade jam. I haven't made jam for years but I have been tempted to make some during lockdown.

[JuliaWM in reply to tattybogle]

Boil the berries , strain them through a muslin, add a little sugar and cook up then add a little corn flour and cook a tiny bit more and they make the most delicious pudding. Elderberry inhibits a whole lot of other viruses (and bacteria. In combination with glucosamine sulphate, chondroitine, and olive leaves it even makes a very effective combination therapy for HIV and AIDS. Yes, old wisdom is right. It is unlucky to cut one down, you are losing a valuable medicine chest -which is what Hippocrates called the elder. But I think the more we know how to treat ourselves the stronger we are. I am very much in favour of modern medicine, but who knows how long it will be available? I do need my T4 and T3 though. I haven't found an alternative for that.

[tattybogle in reply to JuliaWM]

Never thought about adding cornflour , i've always added to apples in a crumble. But i do find pulling through a fork speeds up the picking off the stems. And you get a good work out for arm muscles pushing them muslin once cooked. So does the antiviral effect still hold true even if you freeze them and cook them ?

Our family always uses raw garlic to fight colds and flu and tonsilitis and ...lots of things. But i've always assumed that once you cook things it would loose the antiviral /antibiotic properties.... so i smear raw garlic on toast for breakfast with a little olive oil and salt, and also crush half a clove and mix with peanut butter, morning and night if i feel ill. I seem to remember that garlic has to be chewed/mashed up in order to get the properties to work best ,so always do this but don't know if theres any truth in this , just seems to make sense to me. If you eat to much at once you get indigestion , but it's fine if you only have half a clove at a time. Yes it does make your breath and sweat smell of garlic, but i don't mind cos i swear i can feel it working, and it does seem to speed up recovery.

Has anyone done any work looking at garlic and covid i wonder ?

[JuliaWM in reply to tattybogle]

I have got an old fashioned mouli legumes. a sieve with a bit that pushes down through the sieve, for getting the skin and pips out. It is perfect. You should be able to buy one on ebay, they come up there.

not garlic, but Chinese research shows that leeks are effective for Covid-19. there have been proper trials. when I had Covid I drank an awful lot of hot diluted elderberry cordial and ate a lot of leeks. Vitamin D has definitely been shown to help too. but there is a bioactive molecules in elderberry which attaches to and goes right through the double membrane of Coronavirus and attaches to and destroys the DNA.

I have just reedited my paper and added two case studies of use for Covid and the paper is now bang up to date. I will be reposting it on researchgate soon. In the next week or two.

[tattybogle in reply to JuliaWM]

Loving your work , thanks for the elder tip.

i'll be going round smiling for weeks now ..thinking of all those who've laughed at me for sticking up for elderberries x

edit;

For the cooks here it's not just the berries that are tasty and free, Elderflowers are lovely in a pancake. And then there's elderflower cordial in Gin ....... thats nice too.

[madge1979 in reply to JuliaWM]

I’m intrigued .. thank you for your information .. I had heard this somewhere before .. but will check it all out ... I’m a huge believer in

Vitamin ( hormone) D3 .. High Dose !

And when my husband and I had , what we’re positive was Covid in March .. I’m 100% sure it got us through it .. 🙏

Mx🌹

[vocalEK in reply to JuliaWM]

My D-I-L has been concocting her own elderberry medication for years, and giving the children (she has 10 of them) a spoonful every morning during flu season.

[tattybogle in reply to JuliaWM]

Elderberry discussion on forum has resurfaced JuliaWM see recent post. healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

This research article on benefits of vitamin D, magnesium and B12

All are supplements many members on here already take

nutraingredients-asia.com/A...

Overwhelming evidence on vitamin D

pulsetoday.co.uk/news/clini...

bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m38...

grassrootshealth.net/blog/v...

[Zazbag]

I caught covid back in March whilst undermedicated. I would say it was moderate. I had a cough, breathing difficulties and some other odd but minor symptoms. It took about 3 months for the cough to go and for my breathing to go back to normal. I had issues with fatigue during and after but I think that was just hypothyroidism. I'm on liothyronine now and feel great.

[lisabax in reply to Zazbag]

I was similar to you. Started Dr Myhill's Vit C protocol as soon as I got the cough and the temperature, and got away with a mild dose, but it did go on for about 3 months, waxing and waning..

[Hidden in reply to Zazbag]

I caught in March too which was months before I was medicated at all for my thyroid.

I had a very mild case. I felt unwell enough to go to be at 1in the afternoon, woke the next day with an horrendous sore throat (worst pain I've ever known.) that lasted about 2 days and then a persistent cough for about 3 weeks.

[JuliaWM]

No. It doesn't. It modulates cytokines> so if the immune system is weak it revs it up a bit and if there is a cytokine storm it dampens it down. It is extremely safe even for babies, pregnant women and the elderly and infirm. Big pharma always has a go at anything they can't make money out of (read "bad Pharma " a book by someone in my Oxford department, Ben Goldacre) particularly American pharma firms have a go at anything like elderberry. It can be classified as a safe food. but it must be heat treated for a few minutes. The Sambucol company have issued a statement saying it does not cause or exacerbate cytokine storm. I just suggested more trials to allay because the doubts some people (mostly American ) have.

[Susieg1 in reply to JuliaWM]

Yes, Big Pharma is against anything they can't patent. Evil giant.

[vocalEK]

This company lifedna.com offered me a COVID-19 report for $19, based on my DNA results, which can be uploaded from 23andme, Ancestry, and other sites where you have been tested. I uploaded my 23andme raw data.

It was nice to find out that genetically, my liklihood of infection is lower, the severity if I do become infected is intermediate, and that I would be unlikely to suffer side effects if treated with chloroquinine. If treated with Lopinavir, I would likely have a lower bioavailability of the drug or that lower amounts of the drug reach my blood circulation.