Can Paxlovid Help People with Long COVID? with Evan H. Hirsch, MD

Can Paxlovid Help People with Long COVID? with Evan H. Hirsch, MD

00:00

Can taking Paxlovid help people with Long COVID? A big new study just tried to answer that question. Welcome back to the EnergyMD podcast, where we help you resolve your Long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome naturally so that you can get back to living your best life. I'm Evan Hirsch. Paxlovid has been one of the most talked about treatments in the Long COVID community. A lot of people have tried it or know someone who has. And this week, a big clinical trial came out that bears directly on it.

00:30

So let's walk through what the research shows and potentially what it means for you. So what is Paxlovid and what was it made for? Paxlovid is an antiviral made for acute COVID. It is given as a five-day course, started within the first few days of symptoms to try and stop the virus from multiplying. That's what it was approved for.

00:58

Now the study that made Paxlovid famous reported an 89% reduction in hospitalizations and death. But that trial ran in a narrow, high-risk group back in 2021 during the Delta wave. That's a very different group from most people today. Since then, larger, more recent trials found something different. Two trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine tested Paxlovid in higher-risk outpatients. Neither found a reduction in hospitalizations or death.

01:26

What they did find was faster recovery. In one trial, recovery took 14 days with Paxlovid versus 21 days without. So for acute COVID, the benefit is narrow. It mainly shortens how long you feel sick. For most people, it does not change the odds of ending up in the hospital. So that was acute COVID. People have a separate question and it comes up all the time, which is: can Paxlovid help the chronic version or Long COVID?

01:56

It's a good question. Some people with Long COVID carry small amounts of the virus long after the initial illness clears. Researchers call this viral persistence. So the idea was give Paxlovid for longer, 15 or even 25 days, clear the lingering virus, and maybe the symptoms ease up. A large NIH-funded trial called RECOVER-VITAL put that idea to the test.

02:26

Almost 1,000 people at 69 sites took extended Paxlovid or a placebo and were followed for six months. And here's what they found. It did not help. Unfortunately, not the brain fog, not the dizziness or the racing heart, not the exhaustion or the post-exertional malaise. Compared to placebo, nothing changed. The lead investigator said it plainly: treating viral persistence with this antiviral, quote, did not show evidence of clinical benefit, end quote.

02:54

And this is not one isolated result. A trial at Yale found the same. A trial at Stanford found the same. The drug is safe to take for that long, which is good to know, but by itself, it's not the fix for Long COVID. So why not? Paxlovid goes after one thing, the virus that causes COVID. Long COVID was never just one virus.

03:23

It never was just one cause. Picture a fire in your house. Hopefully this never happens to you. Paxlovid is like throwing sand on part of that flame. It may calm that spot for a moment, but the fire is still burning and the smoke still fills every room. In my experience and according to the research, people with Long COVID have all of the Toxic 5 to some degree, and we have to address all of them to get all the way better. Those are heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections, including the spike protein and neurological dysfunction.

03:52

That's when the nervous system gets stuck in survival mode and cannot reach the states it needs to heal. So, Paxlovid aimed at the virus alone, one small piece of one pillar. That was never the whole story. If this is making sense to you and you want to learn more about how I address the Toxic 5 and Long COVID, head on over to fixyourfatigue.com and watch my latest masterclass.

04:21

The link is in the description. So if Paxlovid only hits the virus, what else is going on? When the spike protein gets into your body, it does not always just sit there. In many people, it seems to wake up viruses that have been dormant inside you for years. Viruses like Epstein-Barr and HHV6, herpes viruses that well over 90% of us already carry.

04:50

Those reactivated viruses keep showing up in Long COVID. Even a mild initial infection can set them off. And the more active they are, the worse the Long COVID tends to be. Researchers have noticed this too. They know Paxlovid only targets the COVID virus. So a new trial at Mount Sinai called SHIELD is combining Paxlovid with an antiviral that covers herpes viruses, plus an anti-inflammatory. They're stacking treatments because a single antiviral aimed at a single virus has not been enough.

05:19

So it's not that Paxlovid failed you. Long COVID is driven by more than one infection and more than one cause. The spike protein was never the only thing making you sick. It was just the straw that broke the camel's back. So what does addressing all of this actually look like? So let's talk about a case I had. I worked with a client named David who had Long COVID for about a year and a half. He took Paxlovid when he first got sick and again later hoping it would help.

05:49

He got some temporary relief, but nothing lasted. When we looked at what was driving his symptoms, we saw signs of more than one infection, including reactivated latent viruses and a nervous system locked in fight, flight or freeze. So we went after all of it. We looked at what was driving his symptoms and addressed all of the Toxic 5, not just one piece. His energy started to come back, the brain fog lifted.

06:18

This time it lasted because we put out the whole fire instead of one part of it. How long does this kind of work take? It's not a quick fix, unfortunately. We're talking about at least 12 months to address all of these causes. And people usually start to notice a difference around month nine or 10. That's totally normal. And it's totally worth it when you've been struggling for years. So where does that leave Paxlovid? It's not the answer and it's not part of how I address Long COVID with my clients.

06:44

It cannot get anyone all the way better on its own, based on the research. And the evidence for it in acute infection is mixed at best.

07:01

The goal is really to address 99% of the causes you have. So when you address 99% of all of the known causes, whether it's Long COVID, ME/CFS, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmunity, and neuropathies, success is a lot more likely. That means addressing the infections, including the ones that are already living inside you and all of the other Toxic 5, the heavy metals, the chemicals, the molds, and the nervous system dysfunction, not one virus with one drug. So if this is making sense to you, head on over to fixyourfatigue.com, that's F-I-X-Y-O-U-R-F-A-T-I-G-U-E.com, and watch my free masterclass.

07:31

The link is in the description. I walk you through the real reasons why you're still exhausted and the four-step system I use to help people clear the fatigue and the brain fog for good. It could be the one thing that makes all of your other treatments finally stick. Thanks so much for watching, and may you be blessed with true healing.

08:01

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08:35

It is provided with the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. Thanks for listening and have an amazing day.