Ivermectin precautions; butyrate, biofilm, leaky membranes, and bifidobacterium.

Nattokinase, serrapeptase, bromelain, resveratrol, zinc and resistant starch are highlighted.

Ivermectin can be very safe and effective as an anti-parasitic medication when not used in too large of a dose and it has helped people with CoV issues, however there are rare but bad adverse effects for a few people. While it generally does not cause brain damage because of a channel that actively removes it from the brain, if that mdr-1 gene is dysfunctional, then Ivermectin can be in the brain in large enough amounts to cause cell damage.

Ivermectin is a fine product unless it is unsafe for you - and that caution is not being shared adequately based on what I have seen. Ivermectin is generally very safe as a treatment for parasites because it usually does not accumulate within the brain. However, the ‘LongCovid’ community are not a standard population. Anyone with chronic inflammation is likely to have leaky gut membranes AND leaky blood brain barrier and then the too large Ivermectin may be able to enter the brain where it would be damaging.

“We found proposed evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infects neurovascular cells and increases BBB permeability by increasing the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 that degrades type IV collagen in the basement membrane and through activating RhoA, which induces restructuring of the cytoskeleton and alters the integrity of the barrier. The breakdown of the BBB triggers a severe inflammatory response, causing the cytokine storm (release of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, etc.) characteristic of the severe phase of COVID-19, which includes the recruitment of macrophages and lymphocytes and the activation of astrocytes and microglia. We conclude that the increased permeability of the BBB would allow the passage of drugs that would not reach the brain in a normal physiological state, thus enhancing certain drugs’ beneficial or adverse effects.” (Hernández-Parra, et al., 2023)

If a treatment has a risk of causing brain damage then that is “informed consent” info to be informed about. Otherwise you would not have been adequately warned about risks. AND I have not seen any of the people pushing Ivermectin discussing the known contraindications. It is typically discussed as if it is safe for everyone equally and that is false or disinformation. And the CoV injured are not typical patients as Hernández-Parra, et al., 2023 pointed out.

Also, when people think they have a solution they will stop looking for other solutions.

Ivermectin has been heavily recommended in alt circles for several years now and it has not helped all of the LongCovid community who have tried it based on Twitter communications I have had with people.

Adverse neurological reactions are rare with Ivermectin but do occur. It can involve a gene difference in a channel that actively removes ivermectin from the brain - the mdr-1 gene. (Chandler, 2018)

Additional reference - but side effects are quite rare. The safety record of Ivermectin is quite good and it is even used during lactation in areas with the river blindness parasite. (González, et al., 2008)

Ivermectin was reviewed for potential as an epilepsy drug as someone was suggesting it and the author is fairly strongly saying “That is not a good idea”. (Löscher, 2023)

• CRITICAL REVIEW; Is the antiparasitic drug ivermectin a suitable candidate for the treatment of epilepsy? (Löscher, 2023)

I looked into this in 2021, as Dmitry Kats, PhD was strongly discouraging the trendiness of a drug that might cause harm in fragile people. He is not typically wrong, though he is abrasive.

When one trendy thing is being pushed then the numbers add up to a lot of people using something and rare risks would then be likely to occur for a few of them. There are lots of other phytonutrients that would be safer and can be effective, like artemisinin and pomegranate peel.

The other issue with one popular thing being heavily promoted is scarcity or price gouging, or too easy for government controls to try to limit it. When many many common grocery store items can work just as well or more safely, then it will be difficult to run out of all of the possibilities and impossible for a government to ban them all.

Black seed oil is an alternative recommendation by FLCCC if Ivermectin isn’t available. See this post: Good Deal on Black Seed Oil Post (Substack), while the sale is over, Black seed oil is always a good deal. People with salicylate sensitivity should use cautiously as it is a very rich source of pain relieving and anti-inflammatory salicylates.

This topic was mentioned briefly in a post or note by me and another Substacker replied with this post, What goes into a healing protocol? (Substack). The therapeutic goals included by the author Christine are:

1. Destroy the biofilm

2. Assault the parasitic cells

3. Support the principal anti-parasitic

4. Use binders to collect up the toxic biological remnants

5. Use binders to collect up other toxins

6. Protect the liver.

The post is focused on “Destroy the biofilm”. (Substack) Please note that we don’t want to destroy all biofilm because our cells are also coated with a jelly like substance/biofilm and it is protective. Lack of it would add to leaky membrane gut issues. Eating adequate resistant starch and zinc helps provide us with a healthy gut that has beneficial species out-numbering negative species. Pomegranate peel helps promote that balance. See jenniferdepew.com pages Resistant Starch/Butyrate and How much Butyrate?.

I don’t know who the meme artist is, but the No Bubble Tea meme went viral at the time, early outbreak, summer of 2020. I suspected it was an accurate observation and Dr. Sabine Hazen did prove the correlation was causal - chimeric spike preferentially takes out our butyrate producing bifidobacterium.

A key point to know - the butyrate species eat A LOT of zinc, and current recommendations for zinc are inadequate for the elderly who likely need about twice what is being recommended and provided as a standard of care. When taking zinc as a supplement is is also good to take copper. See page: Prenatal/Child for my Basic Stack and Extended Stack recommendations.

• See this post: Bifidobacterium, CoV, Sabine Hazan, and butyrate producing colon species. Feed them well and you are feeding yourself well too! Vitamin C, D, zinc, inulin, arabinoxylan, and pomegranate peel help support bifidobacterium and butyrate producing species of the microbiome. (Substack).

A meme artist made a ‘joke meme’ from a real CoV outbreak graphic, that suggests that drinking tapioca rich Bubble Tea regularly was a protective difference between nations who had a lot of early outbreak “Covid19” and those with minimal sickness. I suspected that the correlation was causal rather than a ‘joke’. Dr. Sabine Hazan later proved there was a causal relationship. Chimeric spike kills butyrate producing species, so people with more of those species to start with would be better protected and their daily Bubble Tea would be helping provide the butyrate species with the specific food that they need. Resistant Starch/Butyrate.

Unless I missed it, the post about “destroy the biofilm”, What goes into a healing protocol? (Substack) does not include the two biggies in this therapeutic category: nattokinase and serrapeptase. Bromelain may also be helpful for similar reasons. The article Biofilms and Resistance also mentions resveratrol and Japanese Knotweed as an herbal source of resveratrol which has been found helpful to treat Lyme’s disease in combination with antibiotics. (CASI, 2016)

“Two common proteolytic enzymes are nattokinase and serrapeptase. Nattokinase disassembles amyloid-like fibers of the biofilm matrix. The specific actions of serrapeptase are not so clear but its effectiveness in dissolving biofilms is quite clear.” (CASI, 2016)

(4) What goes into a healing protocol?

I 100% agree that a collation of CoV protocols is needed and that is why I spent a lot of time on that very project (Protocol Collation and Therapy goals, google doc), and I did offer to collaborate with Christine on the project. It is a vast goal for one person to undertake is what I learned on my own. What I have also learned is that the majority of people don’t want a 250 page book, they want a one page summary. It is really fairly difficult to condense what is needed to be known into that short of a summary.

But I tried:

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes. 

Reference List

(Chandler, 2018) Chandler RE. Serious Neurological Adverse Events after Ivermectin-Do They Occur beyond the Indication of Onchocerciasis? Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018 Feb;98(2):382-388. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0042. Epub 2017 Nov 30. PMID: 29210346; PMCID: PMC5929173. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5929173

(CASI, 2016) Clinical Applications of Scientific Innovation, Biofilms and Resistance, Dec. 12, 2016, casi.org, https://www.casi.org/biofilms-and-resistance

(González, et al., 2008) González Canga A, Sahagún Prieto AM, Diez Liébana MJ, Fernández Martínez N, Sierra Vega M, García Vieitez JJ. The pharmacokinetics and interactions of ivermectin in humans--a mini-review. AAPS J. 2008;10(1):42-6. doi: 10.1208/s12248-007-9000-9. Epub 2008 Jan 25. PMID: 18446504; PMCID: PMC2751445. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2751445/

(Hernández-Parra, et al., 2023) Hernández-Parra, H., Reyes-Hernández. O.D., Figueroa-González, G., González-Del, C.M., González-Torres, M., Peña-Corona, S.I., Florán, B., Cortés, H., Leyva-Gómez, G., Alteration of the blood-brain barrier by COVID-19 and its implication in the permeation of drugs into the brain, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Vol. 17, 2023, DOI=10.3389/fncel.2023.1125109, ISSN=1662-5102 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2023.1125109

(Löscher, 2023) Löscher W. Is the antiparasitic drug ivermectin a suitable candidate for the treatment of epilepsy? Epilepsia. 2023; 64: 553–566. https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.17511 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/epi.17511