Posted on 05/28/2022 7:23:12 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Placing hospitalized COVID-19 patients on their stomach is helpful if they're on a mechanical ventilator, but a study suggests it's not a good idea for patients who are not intubated.
"Awake" COVID patients—as opposed to ventilated patients who are kept sedated—did not benefit from lying on their stomach while struggling for breath, according to clinical trial results
In fact, awake COVID-19 patients asked to prone did worse short-term than those left on their backs, said Dr. Todd Rice.
Their blood oxygen levels were lower, and they tended to remain sicker.
Proning is a strategy for improving oxygen levels in ventilated patients that's been practiced for decades in the United States, and previous clinical trial results have supported its use, said Dr. Peter Sottile.
After 28 days, the two groups had no differences in terms of death, their progression to mechanical ventilation, or length of their hospital stay.
There are a couple of possible explanations for why awake patients might not respond well to proning, Rice and Sottile said.
First off, awake people can't comfortably lie on their stomachs for as long as unconscious ventilated patients, so they might not be able to stay prone long enough to benefit from the position.
"Past studies have shown that we need 16 hours or more a day in the prone position to receive benefit," he said. "Asking an awake patient to lay on their belly for 16 hours a day is really probably not feasible."
…It's also possible that proning might actually help spread the virus or inflammation to still-healthy parts of the lung, Rice said, "as opposed to when you're on the ventilator and all of your lung is already involved."
He said doctors might want to rethink asking them to prone while they're still well enough to be off a ventilator.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Asking a Covid patient to lie on their belly for 16 hours a day might probably not be a good idea.
YA THINK???
When I had COVID in January of ‘21, my sister said I should sleep on my stomach. I did not follow that advice because I know my breathing is even more restricted on my tummy than on my back. My lungs, thankfully, never filled with fluid but the advice didn’t pass the smell test to me.
Either she didn’t hear the “on a ventilator” part or she was watching CNN and was intentionally misinformed.
They need to practice “proning” at regular intervals to clear the lungs. You know how Muslims pray, on their knees, head down and bottom in the air? That’s proning. It’s very effective at clearing fluid from the lungs.
My wife has copd/emphesyma and must sleep with oxygen and on a constant o2 monitor while sleeping.. There is a 3 to 5% O2 saturation increase when she sleeps on her stomach. Difference between sleeping at 93-94% vs 97-98% saturation.
She can be sleeping on side or back at low 90's saturation or below and when she repositions to her stomach or at least 75% to the stomach it will rise to 96-98 within a few minutes, every time.
This has the patient lying on their left side with left arm extended with palm up, left leg straight and right leg bent at the knee.
It sounds more complicated than it really is. It amounts to sleeping on your left side.
With a pillow in the right place, it is a very comfortable sleeping position.
I am told that the EMTs use this because it reduces the chances of airway obstruction and improves cardiac performance. It also improves O2 saturation levels. I can attest to that last item from personal experiments.
No, I am not a doctor of any sort. I do check out these ideas with my physicians and they explain as I have described it.
My neighbor got Covid, he took Ivermectin as prescribed, and coughed all the crap out of his lungs. He was fine the next day.
Whatever kills them, the doctors will do it
Whatever kills them, the doctors will do it
Pronation ?
If you got the bad cold, ventilators is pretty much your death sentence.
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