Posted on 04/12/2021 9:53:48 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
...Some drugs that neutralize stomach acid, such as famotidine, are associated with reduced severity, but others, such as Prilosec, correlate with higher infection rates and risk of death, at least in patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infections.
In a retrospective analysis posted on medRxiv of roughly 1,300 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, Nakaya and colleagues found that individuals taking proton-pump inhibitors, including Prilosec, had a two- to three-fold higher risk of death compared with hospitalized patients not taking those drugs. This observation falls in line with a study published in late August in the American Journal of Gastroenterology by doctors in the US that also found people taking a proton-pump inhibitor twice a day for acid reflux had higher odds of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 compared with individuals taking that type of drug once a day or individuals who took a histamine-2 receptor blocker such as Pepcid AC.
Proton-pump inhibitors “may undermine the gastric barrier to SARS-CoV-2 entry and reduce microbial diversity in the gut,” increasing patients’ risk getting COVID-19, the US-based team writes in its report.
Another retrospective analysis published online in Gastroenterology in May found that in a cohort of 1,620 hospitalized patients, proton-pump inhibitors had no relationship to the patients’ outcomes. Meanwhile, famotidine, which blocks the histamine-2 receptor on cells, correlated with a reduced risk of patients being intubated or dying from COVID-19.
...Additional evidence for famotidine’s role in fighting viruses has surfaced. A past study published in 1996 had shown that famotidine could reduce viral replication of HIV, and a more recent computational analysis published in May also suggested that the histamine blocker could have some antiviral properties—specifically, that it might inhibit a protease that processes proteins vital for SARS-CoV-2 replication.
(Excerpt) Read more at the-scientist.com ...
More of this research will be made public ... as soon as more money changes hands.
"Proton-pumps" are also super important for host defense cells such as macrophages and also osteocytes. I've always wondered what impact PPIs had on reducing the potency of macrophages to destroy bad things and osteocytes to dissolve bone.
Zantac is already killing people with cancer. Those bastards.
I remember President Trump was taking a pepcid or equivalent as part of his covid treatment t back in October. My husband has to take proton pump inhibitors..for the rest of his life..
My husband is an esophageal cancer
Survivor and has to take ppi’s for the rest of his life. He only started taking more vitamin d at my urging. .
I tested positive for Covid in October.
It gave me a headache for 2 days. 2 weeks later I developed a slight cough which lasted for a few weeks.
I'm a relatively healthy active 58 year old man with mild asthma.
For me covid was very mild. Barely knew I had it. My employer required I be tested because I admitted to having a headache.
Anyways Prilosec didn't seem to be a factor for me.
I use a tablespoon of baking soda in a glass of water for indigestion.
They don't actually make that connection. Their final conclusion is "Rather, we believe that PPIs are important markers of hidden comorbidities that involve the damage caused by the excess stomach acid in GI tissues."
A teaspoon of baking soda in water gives me 45 seconds of relief. I am on Prilosec and attempts to taper off it and introduce famotidine as a replacement ended with me in the hospital overnight.
Bttt
The Prilosec/Pepcid contrast was initially noted in Chinese research:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3923757
The Prilosec/Pepcid contrast was initially noted in Chinese research:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3923757
I remember seeing reports way back in early 2020, before the USA was really hit. Lots of studies regarding ACE-2 inhibitors, H2 antagonists, PPI’s, etc.
In any case, whenever I took PriloSec for more than two weeks I started getting vertigo. It worked best for my acid reflux, but the side-effects weren't worth the hassle.
I've been taking Pepcid since Zantac was banned and although it doesn't work as well, it works well enough, has no side-effects that I have noticed, and I have yet to get COVID-19.
Fingers crossed.
I consider myself fortunate to have little bouts of indigestion. My sympathy to you for yours.
I hate the few times I have had bad cases of indigestion. So I can just imagine the bad times you’ve dealt with.
Pepcid doesn't work as well as Zantac so I don't know what would have happened if I had to stop PriloSec immediately and go to Pepcid. Zantac has been banned so that's not an option. If you can cut the Prilosec pills in half then maybe transitioning from Prilosec to Pepcid over a few days might work.
I did a tablespoon of baking soda in a glass of water once. Longest, most voluminous belch of my life.
I titrated from 40 mg, my usual dose, to 20 (one capsule), and introduced 20 mg famotidine at that point, still had a hard time. But I am fortunate in that the 40 mg PPI totally alleviates my symptoms.
When proton pump inhibitors first began being prescribed, there was a warning that it NOT be used any longer than 6 weeks. Obviously, there was a reason for that, but somewhere along the line, they were prescribed long term, and finally were made available over the counter, without a prescription. Many people obviously get good results from them, as far as ulcers, etc., are concerned. I have GERD, and have tried prilosec, but it never worked for me, so I take 40 mg of pepcid every night, and rarely wake up in the middle of the night with acid in my throat, as I used to on prilosec. Because of the original 6 week warning it had, I have never been convinced of its safety. Nice to know pepcid might help with Covid, since I don’t plan on getting vaccinated.
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