Ebola Unafraid: A Preliminary Ebola Treatment Protocol, by ShepherdFarmerGeek – Part 2

PROPOSED EBOLA TREATMENT PROTOCOL Disclaimer: There are many foods and supplements with antiviral properties; some of them are common (Garlic^[2]), some of them are exotic (Star Anise^[3]). What I’ve tried to do with the recommendations below is focus on the most common and highly recommended. Nobody knows what will work against Ebola, so try your own favorites to see what you can tolerate when ill. None of this is “medical advice” for purposes of federal obfuscation and interference. Consult your doctor, who will have no idea what to do. The information below is not exhaustive; it is not authoritative; and it is untested. Do your own research and be responsible for making your own decisions. I have no personal interest or investment in any product or item mentioned.

I wrote this up for my own use and for my family’s use. If it can help you, then great, but these are my personal notes that I’ve modified a bit for others to use. You have a favorite herb or supplement? Make your own treatment plan. If new research comes out about some product, add it to your protocol. If the CDC or WHO or UN announces dosage recommendations for melatonin or some other medication, follow those guidelines. However, until then, we’re on our own.

Before Exposure

Before exposure, once Ebola is in your region / town^[5], review hand hygiene practices^[6] and begin taking the following:

1. Elderberry extract, low dose (1 or 2tsp or lozenge), daily
2. Daily multivitamin (includes zinc)
3. Vitamin D3 @ 4,000 units/day (2 gel caps with Costco brand)^[7]
4. Vitamin C @ 1,000mg/day (2 500mg tablets, divided morning & evening)
5. 5. Milk Thistle / Silymarin^[8] 1 capsule at bedtime
6. Probiotics^[9]
7. Garlic oil capsules as directed or desired (fresh crushed garlic with food is best!^[10])

List musical preferences, audio books (Bible reading), radio stations, books, games and hobbies, et cetera for morale if incapacitated. (You will need to dispose of equipment and books afterwards.) Review your Will and Power of Attorney paperwork for medical care. Make sure you have plenty of blankets and sheets on hand, bed pads, pillows, thermometer, heavy re-usable rubber/plastic gloves, trash can, and construction-sized trash bags, towels and paper towels, and bleach. Review hygiene plans^[11]. Pick a spot to burn/bury your medical waste. If you really want to be efficient, dig the hole in advance, keeping it as far away from your well head as possible. Have lime on hand to dust waste. Have small water bottles on hand (lightweight) with caps with straw holes, bottle holders, straws, and 11 one-gallon water bottles to make ORS. Then, fill small bottles in the hot zone. (Discard gallon; don’t reuse!)^[12]

If Someone Is Showing Possible Signs of Illness

Consume high-nutrition, low/no sugar foods and coconut oil (at least 1 Tbs/day)^[13]. Also, eat fresh garlic, follow excellent hydration practice, and engage in moderate exercise1. If medical care is still available GO TO THE HOSPITAL. (Call first to see where they want you to go, which entrance to use, et cetera.) Take your supplements with you and insist that the hospital allow your patient to take them; they should not interfere with the supportive treatment they will provide. Take along the melatonin treatment article, in case they are unfamiliar with that approach. Someone should stay with the patient (outside of isolation) to be a patient advocate (be prepared to stay). Be firm with the hospital staff. If treatment collapses, be prepared to take your patient back home and continue treatment there.^[4] Pray. No, seriously, pray. If you don’t know where to start, just talk with God about what these verses say to you: Philippians 4:6; Psalm 18:2, 27:14, 46:1-3; Isaiah 41:13, 43:2.

Upon Suspected Exposure but No Symptoms

You may not have symptoms for 8-10 days after exposure to the virus. (On average, symptoms could be delayed for as long as 21 days)^[14] Begin taking the following:

1. Elderberry to full recommended dosage (usually 2 tsp four times a day, depends on the brand, might add more)
2. Daily multivitamin
3. Vitamin D3 @ 10,000 units/day
4. Vitamin C @ 5,000 mg/day^[15] (NOTE! A lot of Vitamin C can trigger diarrhea or loose stools, so lower your dose until the diarrhea stops)
5. Increase Milk Thistle / Silymarin to 2 capsules (morning and evening),
6. Probiotics
7. Fresh crushed garlic with meals, as much as can be tolerated^[16]
8. Vitamin A, follow directions
9. Olive Leaf extract capsules, follow directions^[17]

Add to the supplements being given above:

• Colloidal silver solution as directed on bottle, separated from probiotics by several hours or you’ll just kill off your probiotics^[18]
• Zinc @ 50mg/day
• One gel cap of Vitamin E (no dosing recommendation), AND
• a Tbs of granulated Lecithin^[19] with your twice-daily Silymarin capsule
• Seriously consider other supplements such as Echinacea, Goldenseal, Astragalus, Kan Jang, Andrographis Paniculata, Feverfew, et cetera. Follow the directions on the bottle or package.

Consume high-nutrition foods, coconut oil (4 Tbs/day minimum), fresh garlic, and pure water for excellent hydration. Also engage in moderate exercise (walking).

Live in semi-quarantine environment: dust mask WITHOUT exhalation valve (unless walking outside by yourself), no touching items outside of sick room, temperature checks throughout the day, unless outdoors walking for exercise or reading/fresh air/sunlight, should be in sickroom.

Symptoms Present or Positively Exposed

When symptoms start or when positively exposed to Ebola, symptoms are mild and non-specific to Ebola for 5-6 days. The symptoms may just resemble a cold or flu, and you won’t know for sure (without testing) until around day six.

1. Stop Elderberry after you’ve had symptoms for four days^[20]
2. Daily multivitamin, if tolerated
3. Vitamin D @ 50,000 units if tolerated^[21]
4. Vitamin C (If you already know what dose triggers loose stools, do not exceed that dose.)
5. Increase Milk Thistle / Silymarin to four capsules/day (two morning, two evening) + Vitamin E + 1 Tbs Lecithin
6. Probiotics
7. Fresh, crushed garlic with meals, as much as can be tolerated. If fresh cannot be tolerated, then try garlic capsules.
8. Colloidal silver, follow directions
9. Zinc @ 50mg
10. Vitamin A^[22] @ 8,000 IU (160% RDA)

Grind tablets between two spoons (or use a mortar and pestle). Mix crushed tablets with soups/broth or Oral Rehydration Solution (recipe found later in article). This should be tolerated better than swallowing a bunch of pills. Spread supplements out throughout the day.

Add the following to the supplements being given above: (Note: there are prescription medications that probably do a better job, but these are the over-the-counter meds that are available to all of us now.)

• Melatonin 20mg every 6 hours (4x/day). This supplement could be a big deal in treating Ebola. Read the Endnotes!^[23]
• Opiates, if available, for muscle pain (NOT aspirin, Aleve, or Ibuprofin, as these all cause bleeding.) Tylenol’s normal dose (but see important Endnote!)^[24]
• Loperamide for diarrhea, follow directions^[25]
• Meclazine for nausea^[26], follow directions (Ginger root tea might help as well! Or try Emetrol, a phosphorated carbohydrate solution^[27])
• Consider starting Vitamin K2 supplementation (see Point 5, below)
• Push hydration, not just water but Oral Rehydration Solution (see the recipe below)
• Use portable potty (and liners, on a tarp) in sickroom

During illness, maintain full isolation and proper hygiene. Also, assist as needed with music/morale support. Patient should consume easy-to-digest, high-nutrition food, served in frequent small meals, if possible; include coconut oil and eggs, as well as Bone Broth.

Recipe for WHO Oral Rehydration Solution^[28]

• Table Salt (NaCl) 1/2 tsp.*
• Salt Substitute (KCl) 1/2 tsp.*
• [Potassium Chloride] Baking Soda 1/2 tsp.
• Table Sugar 2 tablespoons
• Tap Water 1 Liter (= 1 Qt. + 2 tablespoons)

Chill. This solution can be served with fresh lemon squeezed into it. One can also mix it with Crystal Light or “sugar-free Kool-Aid”. (Don’t use regular Kool-Aid, as it requires extra sugar that can worsen diarrhea.)

If Patient Dramatically Worsens

At about day six, some people begin to get better while most dramatically worsen. As of this writing (October 2014) the mortality rate is 7 out of 10 die, but that is based on the large number of basically untreated patients in Africa. We do not know enough about what the mortality rate can be for a patient who is receiving excellent supportive care. Do NOT give up hope!

1. Discontinue the elderberry, if you haven’t already. Ebola stimulates your immune system to release dangerous amounts of immune system cytokines, and elderberry may make that worse. Continue all supplements and drugs, as tolerated.
2. If all food/ORS is being vomited up, then experiment with eliminating one supplement/drug at a time, and then multiples, to try to identify if the problem is one or a few of the supplements. Give as many as can be tolerated.
3. Increase melatonin to 20mg every 4 hours (6x/day), ground and mixed with ORS.
4. Give Oral Rehydration Solution in small sips as frequently as possible. Also, use IV rehydration, if possible

Add the following:

• Superoxide dismutase (SOD), follow directions^[29]
• Oxygen supplementation if possible
• “Cholera bed” if diarrhea is uncontrollable or patient is too weak to use portable toilet by bed^[30]
• Antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections. Don’t let them get away from you and make things worse, but realize that antibiotics do NOT treat Ebola virus infections.
• Vitamin K2^[31], follow directions. The human body uses it to regulate blood clotting. Note also if you’re giving antibiotics, they can reduce the levels of Vitamin K and Vitamin C in the blood. Don’t wait for uncontrolled bleeding to start, supplement with K2 when you start antibiotics.

Maintain hygiene: wash to prevent rash^[32], treat secondary infections topically and internally Frequently turn patient (every couple of hours during the day) to avoid pressure sores^[33]. Provide music and morale support.

Provide patient with liquid food supplementation, such as bone broth^[34], soups, Ensure^[35] or similar medical liquid food^[36], coconut oil, and mashed or blended easy-to-digest food.

Warnings

Be aware of three more things:

1. Ebola patients in the final stages of this illness can become confused and agitated. They might grab at your face/respirator or your gloved hands or thrash. They might still be able to get up and move around somewhat. This is an added complication that you’re going to have to prepare for, and one more reason to have your equipment firmly attached to your body.
2. The body of an Ebola patient is highly contagious for many hours and maybe longer, and every fluid that comes off it and out of it is deadly dangerous. Don’t assume that if they’ve died that the virus is dead as well.
3. If your patient has died, I’m very sorry for your loss. This has been a traumatic experience for you, but you must stay focused long enough to finish decontamination and make no rash decisions. It will take time, up to a year or so, for you to sort out your loss and work through your emotions. Give yourself time. Get help; find a pastor or counselor. No one should have to face the death of a loved one alone.^[37]

PLEASE READ THESE ENDNOTES. There is valuable information here, and at least give a quick look over the pages that the Internet links lead to:

References

^[1]http://www.naturalnews.com/047232_ebola_natural_immunity_virus.html

^[2]http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/ART00364

^[3]http://www.livestrong.com/article/367860-health-uses-benefits-and-risks-of-star-anise/

^[4]http://www.biodefense.com/ is an audio series you can download as MP3 files to listen to offline. They will give you an exhaustive look at preparing for and treating Ebola in a non-hospital setting. See also http://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/21878

^[5]The measures in this first category might need to be done for many months while Ebola works its way through the population. We just want to prime the immune system, not keep it at Red Alert level.

^[6]http://clinidirect.co.uk/knowledge-centre/21/hand-washing/0/16/patient-carer-section AND http://www.pathtoradianthealth.com/PathToRadiantHealth/For%20Your%20Health/Health%20Tips/Most-Frequently-Missed-Areas-Hand-Washing.html AND https://survivalblog.com/personal-hygiene-in-a-biowarfa/

^[7]http://www.naturalnews.com/024982.html

^[8]http://www.lef.org/magazine/2014/1/novel-method-boosts-milk-thistle-liver-concentration-10-fold/page-01

^[9]http://www.naturalnews.com/026265.html keeping your good bowel bacteria healthy is essential

^[10]Take a garlic oil capsule when your meals that day cannot include fresh garlic

^[11]Make a written PLAN, step-by-step, of how you’re going to “gown up” and enter the sickroom and how to take your protective equipment off so it doesn’t get contaminated. This usually takes two people. Focus on good respiratory protection, good eye protection, good gloves (and Nitrile disposable under-gloves), and splash protection for your clothes.

^[12]As much as possible we want disposable items that go into the hot zone and don’t need to be taken back out, but can just be discarded once contaminated.

^[13]http://www.naturalnews.com/026624_oil_coconut.html

^[14]http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/clinician-information-us-healthcare-settings.html gives information about the symptoms and the course of the disease

^[15]http://blog.drbrownstein.com/what-can-you-do-to-preventtreat-ebola/

^[16]Fresh is always better than capsules!

^[17]http://drhoffman.com/article/olive-leaf-extract-2/

^[18]http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/hi-ho-silver/ while there are NO studies that would support the use of silver as an antibiotic (read the article), with Ebola we’re in uncharted waters. Since moderate doses aren’t going to harm you it’s probably something I would try if I knew I was infected. Lots of people swear by it.

^[19]To add the phosphatidylcholine referenced in endnote “viii”

^[20]We’ve used Elderberry to prime the immune system with cytokines but once (if) symptoms turn severe it’s partially due to an OVERproduction of cytokines and we don’t want Elderberry to contribute to that problem

^[21]Long term high-dose Vitamin D can start to accumulate in a person’s body and become toxic. Use this high dose only when symptoms are severe.

^[22]Vitamin A is another oil-soluble vitamin that can accumulate in the body, it is not as strongly associated with fighting viruses as high dose vitamin D, but it has a role in fighting infections.

^[23]http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpi.12186/pdf AND http://books.google.com/books?id=945qBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=%22Melatonin:+Therapeutic+value+and+Neuroprotection%22+sepsis&source=bl&ots=H2BOQDXhmZ&sig=pX9F8qrN-Mhe5d3EzJIvZj5l604&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YE09VO64Io6togT1iIHQBA&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Melatonin%3A%20Therapeutic%20value%20and%20Neuroprotection%22%20sepsis&f=false AND http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5838/rr/765484

^[24]Fever helps inactivate viruses, but too high of a fever is a destructive over-reaction by the patient’s immune system. Keep their temperature under 103 with Tylenol, cool towels or fans. Exceeding the maximum Tylenol dosage is toxic to the liver under normal circumstances. It. Kills. Your. Liver. There are no studies of administering Tylenol to Ebola patients, whose livers are already stressed and diseased, so it’s possible that even normal Tylenol doses could become toxic. If the patient is not getting pain relief from a regular dose, I recommend just stopping Tylenol all together. What they really need (I suppose) are opiate painkillers to do any good.

^[25]We don’t want to stop the diarrhea entirely. It’s the body’s tool for flushing the virus and toxins from the digestive tract. But too much diarrhea can seriously dehydrate your patient, and that can be deadly all by itself.

^[26]http://www.drugs.com/comments/meclizine/for-nausea-vomiting.html and http://ear.emedtv.com/meclizine/what-is-meclizine-used-for.html It’s not just for motion sickness!

^[27]http://emetrol.com/

^[28]See http://clearingmyemptynest.blogspot.com/2009/02/oral-rehydration-solution-homemade.html You can also buy it premixed, in packets, if you have a huge budget, at places like http://www.moreprepared.com/emergency-preparedness-supplies/oral-rehydration-salt-packet.html?gclid=CLbA1p6Hr8ECFQemaQodfGoA7w

^[29]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9071427 Notice it needs to be combined with lecithin (which you should already be taking with your milk thistle.

^[30]A “cholera bed” (Google it for a picture) is a cot with a large round hole cut into the fabric to allow the patient to discharge their diarrhea into a bucket or tub placed below the cot. Commercial cholera beds have reinforcement around the hole to be sure the material doesn’t tear. Some commercial beds are padded – you might try a foam camping pad glued to a plywood sheet. Make sure the cot is tall enough to put a bucket under it!

^[31]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K

^[32]A zinc oxide cream like Desitin might help prevent or treat “diaper rash”

^[33]http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/pressure-sores-treatment-overview

^[34]http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9890/10-benefits-of-bone-broth-gut-healing-recipe.html

^[35]Ensure is mostly corn oil and sugar, NOT ideal. But it might be the only thing you have on hand that your patient will sip.

^[36]http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/resource-2.0-medical-food-complete-liquid-nutrition-vanilla/ID=prod3085033-product

^[37]http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-death/