Combination of L-Arginine with Vitamin C for Acute and Long COVID Symptoms

Oxidative Stress and Inflammation Are Key Factors in C19

Continuing from where I left off in my last article on vitamin and microbiome deficiencies resulting from COVID illness and injections, this article provides additional information on how oxidative stress and inflammation are cardinal pathological outcomes and the basis of persistent symptoms of C19.  This information is based on data from clinical research by active treating doctors and published in NIH and PubMed libraries.  The good news is that long COVID is treatable, although few people know how, including medical practitioners.  

Of course, C19 is complex so nutrient replacement is only part of the solution.  In other words, it can help resolve some important aspects of the pathology, but is not a complete treatment protocol.    Individuals must advocate for their own care and search for providers willing to address nutritional needs.  Unfortunately, most allopathic doctors never test for vitamin levels.

Let’s get started.  It is a good idea to first read my recent article on the use of vitamins to treat C19, if you have not yet done so, because I am not repeating that information.

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can result in mild, moderate, severe or critical COVID-19 disease. There are three key factors that lead to severe courses:  hyperinflammation, thrombosis and immunosuppression.  Excessive inflammation damages multiple organs of the body and the endothelium (inner lining) of the blood vessels.  Endothelial damage favors thrombosis (blood clotting) that further damages organs.  The increased inflammatory response has been identified as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in C19 patients with elevated pro-inflammatory markers such as cytokines.  Frequently observed lymphopenia (insufficient white blood cells) mainly effecting T cells necessary for killing the C19 pathogens predicts poor outcomes as well.

Oxidative stress also plays a major role in severe C19.  When anti-oxidants in fighting infection are depleted, an overwhelming production of reactive oxygen species (ROS -  see my recent article here ) and suppression of the adaptive immune system leads to local or systemic bodily damage.  The ROS imbalance is both a cause and consequence of the infectious process.  Excessive ROS results in organ damage, endothelial dysfunction, impaired lymphocyte (white blood cells) function and increased inflammation.  Inflammation and thrombosis (blood clotting) cause renewed formation of ROS, resulting in a vicious cycle of oxidative stress, inflammation and disease progression.  Thus, oxidative stress and inflammation mutually reinforce each other.

Oxidative stress and inflammation also have pathological effects in other diseases, including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, obesity, atherosclerosis, obesity and cancer.  Oxidative stress is observed in non-hospitalized individuals with acute C19 illness and with long COVID symptoms.

L-Arginine

L-Arginine is an amino acid.  Amino acids are building blocks for proteins and are divided into essential and nonessential categories.  Nonessentials amino acids are produced by the body and essential amino acids must be provided through dietary intake.  L-Arginine is considered semi-essential because under certain conditions, ie pregnancy, infancy, critical illness and trauma, it must be externally supplemented.

L-Arginine is necessary for the production of nitric oxide, an important molecule needed for a variety of bodily functions, including blood flow regulation, mitochondrial function (energy production) and cellular communication.  Nitric oxide acts as a key enzyme in endothelial cells.  Endothelial cells play important roles in maintaining vascular homeostasis (balance), in the regulation of vascular tone (aspect of blood pressure and smooth muscle relaxation) and glucose metabolism.

SARS-CoV-2 causes endothelial disruption, leading to vascular inflammation, altered vascular tone, tissue edema (swelling) and thrombosis (clotting).  Most of the COVID results have been substantiated by autopsies of C19 patients.  Patients with pre-existing high blood pressure, smokers, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease are particularly vulnerable.

L-Arginine has many critical roles with deficiency disrupting cellular and organ function, leading to adverse health outcomes.  Functions include the following:

·    Necessary for the development of T-cells in the immune system

·    Improves endothelial function

·    Regulates immune responses

·    Stimulates the release of growth hormone, insulin, and sex hormones

·    Regulation of blood pressure and blood sugar

·    Plays an important role in cell division, wound healing with collagen synthesis, removing ammonia (urea cycle) from the body, and maintenance of acid/base balance in the blood.

The majority of arginine for basic metabolic requirements in non-stressed states is obtained endogenously, mostly from protein turnover.  Arginine can also be synthesized from other amino acid precursors. This endogenous synthesis occurs from conversion of proline, glutamate/glutamine, and citrulline.  However, during times of stress and rapid growth, arginine requirements can be markedly elevated, making exogenous arginine provision necessary. Thus, arginine is classified as a conditionally essential amino acid. 

Normal dietary arginine intake, in the absence of supplementation, contributes approximately 20–25% of total arginine requirements. There are a number of foods that are particularly rich in arginine, such as seafood, watermelon, nuts, seeds, algae, red meats, rice protein concentrate, and soy protein isolate. Watermelon also contains high amounts of citrulline, which is an arginine biosynthetic precursor.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C deficiency has serious pathological consequences because of its potent effects as an anti-oxidant and as a co-factor of many enzymatic processes that effect the immune and nervous systems, blood circulation and energy metabolism.  It has been investigated in 12 clinical studies of 1578 patients with COVID-19 treated with IV high doses as of April 2022.  In those studies, improved oxygenation, decrease in inflammatory markers and faster recovery were observed.  Early IV high dose Vitamin C also reduced the risks of severe complications such as pneumonia and death.

According to Dr Thomas E Levy, MD in an article on his website dated December 2021, Vitamin C and cortisol are the two most important and most powerful naturally-occurring anti-inflammatory agents.

As inflammation in a tissue is the direct result of the oxidation, metabolism, and depletion of vitamin C levels in that tissue, it is of primary concern to normalize cellular vitamin C levels as promptly and completely as possible. Quite literally, when intracellular vitamin C levels are normalized in an inflamed tissue, the inflammation is completely resolved, and the cells are once again in a non-diseased, normal state.

In many hospitalized patients with significant infections, extremely low plasma levels of vitamin C are present. When the depressed levels of vitamin C are present throughout the body and not focal, the associated increased oxidative stress is generalized and typically reflected in elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is a reliable index of systemically increased inflammation that is always present when vitamin C levels are significantly low. Circulating cortisol levels are also the lowest in the most severely ill patients.

As it turns out, cortisol significantly augments the uptake of vitamin C into cells.  More specifically, it appears to stimulate the production of the messenger RNA needed to increase the expression of the sodium-ascorbate co-transporters (SVCTs). This works to enhance cellular vitamin C uptake needed to maximize the protection of metabolically active cells against oxidative stress. This is very likely the primary function of cortisol in the body, as there is nothing more important for the resolution of tissue inflammation and the resulting tissue damage than normalizing elevated levels of intracellular oxidative stress as rapidly and completely as possible by normalizing intracellular levels of vitamin C.  And when intracellular levels of vitamin C are normal, cellular glutathione levels needed to protect the cell are also optimized.

Dr Levy continues by explaining how toxins damage the body.

The physiology of all disease at the cellular and biomolecular level relates directly to the extent to which any of a variety of biomolecules are in the oxidized (electron-depleted) state. All pro-oxidants (toxins) ultimately inflict their damage by directly oxidizing biomolecules, or by indirectly resulting in the oxidation of those biomolecules (proteins, sugars, fats, enzymes, etc.). When biomolecules become oxidized (lose electrons) they no longer perform their normal chemical or metabolic functions. An oxidized enzyme, for example, can be completely inactive.

No toxin can cause any clinical toxicity unless biomolecules end up becoming oxidized. The unique array of biomolecules that become oxidized determines the nature of the clinical condition resulting from a given toxin exposure. There is no "disease" present in cells of the tissue involved in a given medical condition beyond the distribution of, identity of, and degree of oxidation in the biomolecules of an affected tissue. Rather than "causing" disease, the state of oxidation in an array of biomolecules IS the disease.

When antioxidants can donate electrons and restore a normal electron status back to previously oxidized biomolecules (reduction), the normal functions of these biomolecules are restored. This is the reason why sufficient antioxidant therapy, such as can be achieved by highly-dosed intravenous vitamin C, has proven to be so profoundly effective in blocking and even reversing the negative clinical impact of any toxin or poison. There exists no toxin against which vitamin C has been tested that has not been effectively neutralized (Levy, 2002).

Because of this, there is no better way to save a patient clinically poisoned by any agent than by immediately administering a sizeable intravenous infusion of sodium ascorbate. The addition of magnesium chloride to the infusion is also important to protect against sudden life-threatening arrhythmias that can occur before a sufficient number of the newly-oxidized biomolecules can be reduced and any remaining toxin is neutralized and excreted (Levy, 2019). The relationship between cortisol and vitamin C also mandates the addition of cortisol to such vitamin C infusions to optimize the rapidity and degree to which poisoned cells can normalize intracellular vitamin C. This directly and promptly reverses the abnormal increases of intracellular oxidation seen with any excessive toxin (poison or pro-oxidant) exposure.

The Landmark LINCOLN Survey

In January 2022, a key group of 16 Italian physicians designed a questionnaire based on a seminal Nature Medicine paper published in April 2021 on the management of Long COVID.  The questionnaire was then shared with general practice physicians in Italy with the aim of surveying C19 survivors about their long COVID symptoms.  The researching group hypothesized that a supplementation combining L-Arginine (to improve endothelial function) and Vitamin C (to reduce oxidation) could have beneficial effects in Long-COVID.

Patients receiving the survey were divided in two groups, with a 2:1 ratio: the first group included patients that received L-Arginine + Vitamin C, whereas the second group received a multivitamin combination (alternative treatment). 

The subjects had been hospitalized for moderate/severe C19 and subsequently tested negative for at least 4 weeks via RT-qPCR .  The first group had received 2 vials/day of L-Arginine 1.66 g in association with 500 mg of liposomal Vitamin C.  The second group had been treated with a multivitamin combination of B vitamins. 

The treating physicians assessed the symptoms on a 1 to 3 scale, where 1 equaled absence of symptoms, 2 equaled mild symptoms, and 3 equaled severe symptoms.  The following symptoms were assessed:  fatigue, shortness of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, gastrointestinal disorders, headache, anosmia, difficulties in concentrating and sleep disturbances.

Results

·    1390 patients, divided in two groups L-Arginine + Vitamin C vs multivitamin combination, completed the survey.

·    After 1-month treatment, patients in the L-Arginine + Vitamin C group had significantly lower scores compared to the alternative treatment group.

·    There were no other significant differences between the two groups.

LINCOLN Survey Conclusions

The survey indicates that the supplementation with L-Arginine + Vitamin C has beneficial effects in Long-COVID, in terms of attenuating its typical symptoms and improving effort perception.

My Conclusions

Many people are suffering from long COVID 19 symptoms but may not even be aware of that causation, nor its relationship to essential nutrient deficiencies.  Many people have no idea they are vitamin deficient, nor that oral supplementation of vitamin B’s and C alone may be insufficient.  I have learned that IV infusions are often required, so it is important to be treated by a primary care provider that has infusion capacity.  The same needs would be true of any severe infection or toxin exposure.

For my non-medical readers, the technical level of the above information may seem too complicated, but I wanted to demonstrate that the data is well researched, rather than anecdotal.  Also, I must emphasize that long COVID is a serious, possibly life- threatening condition, so those suffering from it must be under the care of a qualified provider as well as advocate for vitamin and amino acid replacement with lab testing.  It will be likely that other treatment, monitoring, supplementation or medication is required as well. 

In my next article, I am going to shift gears again and provide an update on the Lake Mead low water level psyop. I have been following this for several years. It’s a bombshell report. I started Search For Truth News by writing about the complex system and water wars in California last year. A never ending saga.