“...- how long must one be taking the Hydroxychloroquine/Zinc combo when one is taking it for prophylaxis? “
I watched a pulmonologist describe the mechanics of how it worked on YouTube. According to him, as long as you were taking it, it stopped the process by which the disease progresses. Once you stop taking it and it’s out of your system, it’s effects are gone and you are again vulnerable.
That’s why Trump should just continue with it so he is protected.
But the half life of HCQ is 42 days, so it takes a while to get out of your system.
Now, remember, Fauci said he would both take it himself and prescribe it so the little pr**k should just shut his mouth.
And I am not a clinician, researcher or molecular biologist. And I am not prescribing, recommending, making claims, etc. You know the drill.
That said, here's what it looks like to me. COVID-19 usually has, by one schema, 8 stages, consisting of:
THEN...
More or less.
HCQ/Zn has by far its greatest success in stages 1, 2, maybe 3, but by all means outpatient, and the earlier the better. It is to be used prevent hospitalization and clear symptoms and detectable virus usu. in 6 days.
This is complicated by the fact that virtually all the research is on patients already hospitalized, which means they are probably already past the stage where HCQ/Zn can make a big positive difference for them.
This is complicated also by the fact that most people under age 60 only get to stages 1 or 2 and then recover on their own. So did HCQ/Zn help them or not?
Here's what Zelenko successfully does on the basis of his own experience. He sees patients on an outpatient basis in the earliest stages and divides them in two groups: low-risk and high-risk.
He doesn't do anything for the early-stage-low-risks at all: if they're young and (previously) healthy, he assumes they're getting better on their own (unless they come back in a day or two and say, doc, it's getting worse.)
He treats the early-stage-high-risks aggressively and a.s.a.p with the HCQ/Zn/Azith, and this is where he's arguably having lots of success, preventing lots of hospitalizations and saving lots of lives.
Zelenko said the idea behind his approach is to treat the spread of the virus in the body before it damages the lungs beyond repair. Once the lungs of a Covid-19 patient exhibit ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), according to WHO, the patient’s likelihood of death is about 50%, according to early estimates.
So he doesn't treat people who are already hospitalized. If they're there, they're already out of his hands as a Family Practitioner, and quite possibly past the stage where HCQ can help them.
This is what was described to me as the prophylactic dosage for health workers and people in the same household with a COVID-19 positive family member:
HCQ has quite a long half-life, so after the loading dose it will subside slowly; the maintenance dose will keep it up to effective levels.
In contrast, Zn is water-soluble, is not stored by the body, and has to be regularly replenished. However, it is needed only in minuscule amounts. Don't bother taking large doses, it's just upset your stomach and then will be uselessly excreted. If you don't have any particular absorption problems, and you eat ordinary amounts of meat, fish and especially shellfish, it's not likely you'd need any supplementation at all. If you want, 25-50 mg/day should do you fine.
No guarantees. That's what I heard. That's it.