Subject: COVID update - testing and treatment Mark Liponis, M.D.
Stonover Health & Wellness
Big developments on the COVID situation the past 24 hrs, so I thought it would be worth sending an update. Thread 1/

2/On the treatment front, there is an accumulating understanding that why people are dying with COVID pneumonia is from blood clots in the lungs. The virus apparently causes severe inflammation that produces clots that impair oxygenation, which is why people need ventilators./

3/Yesterday, physicians started using clot-busting drugs for critically ill patients with success. This is a huge breakthrough in understanding this infection.What that means, is that if someone becomes ill with COVID-19 pneumonia, they should be treated with blood thinners and/

4/and if they are still clotting they may be candidates for clot-busting drugs (also known as "thrombolytics". Of these, the most popular is known as "TPA"). People with pre-existing risk for clotting (e.g. high C-RP or d-dimer blood levels) would be at increased risk .../

5...for clotting with COVID, so they should take extra precautions.
This may also explain why it's been noticed that anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen worsen COVID and should be avoided (because they are associated an increased risk of blood clots)./

6/There are a number of different ways to take blood thinners... herbal products include things like fish oil, garlic, nattokinase, and others. The best OTC blood thinner is aspirin. Many people may also be taking prescription blood thinners like Eliquis, Pradaxa or Xarelto... /

7/ for conditions like Afib (atrial fibrillation).Anticoagulation (thinning the blood) is really only necessary if someone has contracted COVID-19; it is not helpful for prevention or to keep someone from getting the virus. In other words, if someone is exposed to COVID and they/

8/and they develop a fever, cough and chest tightness, they should probably be on preventive anti-coagulation. Aspirin is probably the best, unless you have been on a prescription blood thinner, in which case that would be sufficient (e.g. don't take aspirin and Eliquis together.

9/ The aspirin dose for preventing clots in COVID has not been studied, yet, but this is a larger dose than the usual baby aspirin. If someone is sick at home with COVID and has chest symptoms, I feel they should be taking aspirin, I am recommending 325 mg twice a day, with food/

10/ " I really think this is a game changer and will almost completely eliminate the ventilator shortage and save many lives!"