Just wanted to mention this POTENTIAL bonus for those of you who are already on Fluvoxamine (brand name: Luvox).

A study indicates that the common antidepressant might be useful against developing severe Covid.

Basically, through various reasons you could read here, fluvoxamine might be able to stop the infamous cytokine storm from getting out of control.

Of the 152 people who initially participated in this double-blinded, randomized clinical trial, 80 received 100 mg of fluvoxamine and 72 received a placebo three times a day for 15 days. Eventually 115 of the people completed the trial. None of the patients who had received fluvoxamine ended up developing more severe respiratory problems such as hospitalization for shortness of breath or pneumonia or oxygen saturations dipping below 92%. By contrast, six of 72 patients who had received placebo experienced such worsening of their Covid-19.

I’m not posting this as a pitch for fluvoxamine. It’s too small a study to draw any conclusions. And DON’T go to your doctor begging for it.

I’m posting it for two reasons.

First, if you’re already on fluvoxamine, this is another reason to possibly stay on it (per your doctor’s discretion)!

Second, antidepressants get such a bad rap for “unintended consequences.”

Just remember that, of course, all medicines have side effects. But some of those unintended consequences can actually be helpful.

Wellbutrin, for example, is a potentially promising new therapy for IBD (see another study here), and seems to possess some pretty good anti-inflammatory properties.

Nortriptyline (a tricyclic antidepressant) has, for years, been used for IBD, thanks to its effect on tnf-alpha.

In fact, quite a few antidepressants lower interleukin-6 and tnf-alpha levels, and that might be one of the ways they actually help depression, since one school of thought (suggested by a number of studies) is that depression is an inflammatory condition.

I have an autoimmune condition that got much worse once I jumped off nortriptyline, and I suspect the nortriptyline was great help.

In no way, shape, or form am I associated with the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, I think there are a lot of problems with the way the industry operates.

Nevertheless, Christians tend to be particularly leery of big pharma and antidepressants. I’ve had bad side effects on antidepressants. Definitely. But there are also some bonuses (like feeling tons better — for some of us), and who knows — it might even help your body in ways you don’t know.

So talk to your doc.

P.S. Tried Luvox. Didn’t agree with me.

Mindfulness is all the rage right now.

You know, focus only on this exact moment — get really tuned into it, and forget the past and future. Just now. Just for this moment.

I really don’t know much else, because I tried it a few times, and found that not only did it feel borderline impossible, but for me, it actually made things worse.

Well, if you’re like me, you’re not alone.

A new study of studies found that about 8% of people who try mindfulness and meditation actually experience worse anxiety and depression.

The British psychologist Katie Sparks, talking to New Scientist, explains it this way: “It’s like a backlash attempt to control the mind, and this results in an episode of anxiety or depression.”

Of course, 8% is only 8%.

And research has suggested a bunch of health benefits, so this is just a small By The Way about a practice that helps a ton of people.

But just remember — if mindfulness doesn’t just work for you, but also actually makes things worse, you’re not alone.

[Photo: Pexels]