General Wellness

I was doing my morning meditation using the Calm app, where the theme was World Health Day. To me, every day should be “health day” but we need constant reminders of what we should be doing and remembering. Breast cancer awareness month, world pizza day, diabetes week, Mother’s Day (every day should also be Mother’s Day by the way)… Physical and mental health really need a kick in the ass given the horrible health statistics in this country, and most developed countries for that matter. Canada is not that far behind. The US, of course, is the least healthy developed society on the planet with the lowest life expectancy rate and highest chronic disease rate. I’ve quoted many stats in the past like a 42% obesity rate and another 30% overweight population (that’s ¾ of the US population overweight or obese!!!) along with almost half of Americns on statins. Heart disease and “adult diabetes” in kids and teens… This pandemic has done nothing to kick people in the butt to get healthier. More people have put on weight than have lost. In addition to all the Covid deaths, cardiovascular deaths have also risen, not to mention more violent crime, especially gun violence. Although people argue that they are exercising less because of Covid (a cheap excuse if you ask me), as the saying goes, “you can’t out-exercise your mouth”! One of my other favorite sayings is “If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way, if it’s not, you’ll find an excuse”.

The media does not help either. I don’t know if it is my imagination, but there seem to be even more ads for pharmaceuticals and processed food than pre-pandemic. These industries have a captive audience and they are taking full advantage. Just like the shysters taking advantage of people after hurricanes or the telemarketers abusing naive elderly people and robbing them of their savings.

During my obligatory news update this morning, I was so shocked by a Coke commercial that I rewound it several times to make sure I got the wording right. It shows an elderly man, laying by a pool in a warm climate, no mask, no distancing, lounging in a chair as a young person was watching him with envy as he drank his diet coke. Below is the transcript.

“They say only old people drink Diet Coke. Maybe they drink it because it tastes good. Or maybe, they do it because their secret to making it through this life is drinking and doing whatever they want. So listen to your elders. Drink up”. 

And the saddest part is that people believe it.

This is a purely evil message. On so many levels. Full of chemicals which destroy the gut lining, sugar sweetened beverages are the most significantly impactful Standard American Diet component which contributes to obesity and the “0” calorie artificially sweetened beverages are even worse. I have lots of info on my website as to why that is the case, but it is absolutely true. Coke recently also launched a series of ads promoting how environmentally friendly they are because of their recyclable cans and bottles. What a load of crap. Although it’s important to recycle, it’s more important not to buy, buy, buy in the first place. Less than 3% of what you put in the recycling bin actually gets recycled. The rest is thrown out and it ends up in the oceans, landfills and in our own bodies as microplastics.

How frustrating to hear such crap in the media. How insulting to our elders. If my grandparents, immigrants from Ukraine, who worked their fingers to the bone and struggled to survive to make a life for their families, heard such nonsense, they would be appalled.

“Drinking and doing whatever they want” is what got us into this mess in the first place. Not just the pandemic, caused by people keeping animals not meant to co-mingle, all for the purposes of eating them, but also the now self-propagating climate disaster we are facing, not to mention the social problems our societies face. Looking out for and helping others is the key. 

Back to eating and drinking what you want, the attitude that “I can eat a little more steak or consume a little more sugar since I am on a statin or a diabetes medication” is very narrow-minded. The drugs lower the numbers, not the cause of the disease, which continues to flourish in the body. No study has ever shown that diabetics who normalize their blood work with drugs, but don’t change their lifestyle, have any improvement in death from cardiovascular disease, the #1 killer of diabetics. Fix the problem, don’t just manage the disease.

The same attitude of selfishness is what is allowing the pandemic to continue to flourish. Masks are partly to protect you, but they are mostly to protect everyone else. This pandemic will “normalize” somehow, but we will just experience another one if we do not stop thinking about ourselves in selfish ways. Vaccination protects you, and protects everyone else, but you STILL need to be careful. 95% effective means that 5% still get sick. How many get a much shorter course after exposure is not clear. We do know that vaccination also lowers transmission, but again, it is not 100% and when less than half the country is not yet vaccinated and there is an upsurge in variant viruses, less responsive to vaccination, we MUST continue to be careful.

The mantra still remains in effect:

MASK UP. Can you let up if all parties are vaccinated, probably, but know your audience.

DISTANCE. Can you let up if everyone is vaccinated and careful, sure, but again, do so carefully and in controlled situations.

WASH your hands. Hygiene is still important.

VENTILATE. As part of the relaxation on masking and distancing, ventilation is such an easy way to increase safety. Gather outside. Keep windows open. Use fans and filters.

VACCINATE. Even if you had Covid. Especially if you have long term symptoms. Studies show that at least 40% of “long-haulers” experience improvement in symptoms after vaccination. We don’t know why, but it helps. If you have concerns about vaccines, educate yourself or ask questions. The vast majority of concerns are unfounded, bolstered by media hype. Get whichever one is offered. My dad sent me a link to a great YouTube video by a Canadian Pulmonologist summarizing the vaccines.

GET HEALTHY!!!!! Will an occasional Diet Coke kill you? No it won’t, but if most people really take stock in what they consume daily or weekly, in my experience, thay are almost always surprised by how much poor-quality food they consume. With improved weather, one more barrier to movement and exercise is gone. Get out there. Don;t be silly and wear a mask if you are riding a bike or walking in the park with no one around. Don’t be paranoid but do what makes sense, not only for you, but for everyone.

Stay safe and be well.

AC ✌️ 🌱

When Covid first hit more than a year ago, the initial impression was that it would behave like a regular respiratory virus, albeit more infectious and lethal. We figured it would spread like the regular flu, by way of people mostly who are sick with obvious symptoms, and transmit thought the regular routes like sneezing and coughing. You’d get sick, cough, maybe get pneumonia and a small number of mostly elderly and immunocompromised people might die (remember that in the 2018 season, almost 70,000 Americans died from the flu). Those that recovered (the vast majority) might have a lingering cough for a few months but then that’s it. Back to normal.

We quickly learned that the SARS-Cov-2, the coronavirus which causes Covid-19, behaves, spreads and impacts the body very differently than the influenza virus, which primarily affects the lungs. Although there could be secondary organ issues with the flu, they are from chronic illness, and not from a direct effect of the influenza virus. SARS-Cov-2 directly attacks organs other than the lungs.

Covid is much worse in terms of how it spreads, through simple breathing. It is 2-3 times more infectious  (the variants are twice as infectious as the wild type now) and it can impact on just about every organ system there is. The lungs, heart, brain, skin, hair… In addition, we are finding that many people, even those with relatively minor or even asymptomatic infections, are suffering long-term, and likely permanent organ damage. For example, a recent study from Germany showed that 70% of those who survived Covid-19, even with negligible symptoms, were identified as having permanent heart damage. Another study showed that 1/3rd had permanent scarring in their lungs. Kidney damage leading to needing dialysis, pancreatic damage leading to diabetes and even brain damage.

Some of this organ disease is related to the fact that SARS-Cov-2 binds to the now well known ACE-2 receptor, found on the surface of many cells in various organs. One organ which also is impacted is the endothelium of our blood vessels. We have 60,000 miles of them in our bodies. This single layer of cells which lines our blood vessels is indeed an organ and generates compounds like nitric oxide, a gas which relaxes blood vessels. These cells do deteriorate with age making dietary sources of nitrates more and more important, but the Coronavirus destroys these cells as well. The inflammatory process which ensues leads to activation of the clotting cascade and blood clots develop. Specifically, we see micro-clots. This is one of the mechanisms leading to the varied organ damage we see in this disease and why taking a baby aspirin is helpful early in this disease. This includes some of the more esoteric symptoms like Covid-toes, related to microvascular inflammation, and even hair loss.

POST ACUTE SEQUELAE of COVID. About 30% of those who recover from Covid-19 have long lasting effects. This syndrome is now called PASC, Post Acute Sequelae of Covid. Colloquially, these patients are called “Long-Haulers”. Microvascular damage, neuropathy (nerve damage) and chronic inflammation are thought to be the 3 main causes of prolonged health problems. As mentioned above, you don’t have to have had a bad case of Covid to suffer long-term side effects. Heart problems and lung scarring has been seen in healthy young asymptomatic people.

It is important to get vaccinated, even if you had covid, especially if you have PASC symptoms. Studies show that 40% of patients report significant improvement in their symptoms after vaccination.

The bottom line is that this virus messes us up in many ways. It’s not just a cold or like the flu. It has the potential to be much, much worse, even if you were not all that sick or even asymptomatic. You DO NOT want to get it and you certainly don’t want to be the person who dies a few days before their vaccine. You also don’t want to be the one to spread it to a friend or loved-one.

Respect it. 

Protect yourself and all those around you from it. 

Get vaccinated.

Mask and distance.

Get healthy.

Stay safe and be well.

AC