Melatonin conjecture; neck support

[dmm]

So far, I learned 2 technical things which might be helpful in the event of getting sick.

1) A research group led by someone I know wrote a theoretical paper which presents a reasonably strong case to support the conjecture that melatonin is likely to alleviate the COVID-19 illness enough to make a difference. I am going to put the details and the link to the paper in the comments.

2) A respiratory situation can occur where one cannot be in a horizontal position; it might be important to be able to rest and sleep in a semi-vertical position while at home, if it becomes necessary. I found that a "neck pillow" (a travel pillow hugging one around the neck) is super-useful in enabling doing this comfortably. I believe that whether one has something like this available or not can make an overall difference (I would say that even a hospital bed is not quite adequate in this sense without a pillow like that).

So, it might make sense to have both melatonin and neck pillows at home, just in case...

Comments

[dmm]

Here is the paper in question:

"Can melatonin reduce the severity of COVID-19 pandemic?"

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340361908_Can_melatonin_reduce_the_severity_of_COVID-19_pandemic

PDF is available for download from the researchgate site (if there are any problems, let me know). I'll continue in the next comment.

[dmm]

By Alexander Shneider, Aleksandr Kudriavtsev, Vakhrusheva Anna Vladimirovna.

Submitted to International Reviews of Immunology.

Here is what the first author is saying on his LinkedIn page:

"I just submitted a paper explaining that although we cannot effectively prevent people from getting infected by covid19 , by using the safe over-the-counter drug melatonin and/or drug combinations containing melatonin, we may be immediately able to:

· prevent the development of severe disease symptoms in coronavirus patients

· reduce the severity of their symptoms in the patients who have developed these symptoms already, and

· reduce the negative effects of coronavirus infection on patients’ health after the active phase of the infection is over"

[timelets]

Thanks for sharing.

[dmm]

Offtop: Вчера было отключение электричества, очень короткое. Но ощущается гораздо более стрёмно, чем в обычное время.

Как уже чем-то больной человек оказывается "в группе риска" к новой штуке, так и уже чем-то больное общество - "в группе риска" к новым проблемам. Возможность остаться без электричества (и даже просто без интернета) сейчас воспринимается, как гораздо более острая угроза, чем когда не было эпидемии...

[dmm]

Offtop: Passover вчера вечером, начался на 24 часа позже полнолуния, so weird (especially combined with a story of why so many Jewish holidays last 2 days, especially outside Israel [it is related to whether one can visually observe the actual full moon]).

Плюс, всё это ритуальное мытьё рук vs. противоэпидемическое мытьё рук... feels so weird...