Julia Doubleday
Writer of The Gauntlet, about COVID and public health.
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- “I wonder if this experience- of turning inward, of looking backward- at such a young & typically vital age, an age when most people are in the prime of life- is a state particular to those of us suffering from severe chronic illness.” Me on Proust: www.thegauntlet.news/p/things-past
- Over 10,000 people read my newsletter (!), but only a few hundred pay to read my essays. I know times are hard. But if you can afford to, pls use this discount link to become a paid supporter for under $5/month so I can sustain this work! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe?co...
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- Thank you!
- Reading Proust has been a comfort to me as I became homebound with Long COVID. Like him, I’ve spent more and more time wandering around in my memories as I’ve gotten sicker. Read my new essay here: www.thegauntlet.news/p/things-past
- As always, my personal essays are paywalled in order to fund the reporting side of the Gauntlet (which will always be free!) If you enjoy my reporting and can afford to, I genuinely hope you’ll support the newsletter here: www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe
- Good news: LDN started working for me after 6 weeks! Bad news: my doc forgot to put a refill on the scrip & then went unreachable so my meds ran out and I went through a big crash all last week! Finally doing better & working on a personal essay about Proust :) don’t unsubscribe! New piece coming!
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View full threadMy pharmacy was using avicel, a common filler that they say is hypoallergenic and shouldn’t cause a reaction. However, other patients report reactions to it including headaches. They agreed to try substituting baking powder for my filler in the pills.
- And voila ! VASTLY improved headaches since the switch! sharing in case anyone out there is struggling w headaches from LDN- ask your compounding pharmacy about the filler in your pills!! Even if they think it isn’t likely to be causing a reaction, it might be!
- One thing to note!!! I ended up asking the pharmacy to change the “filler” in the meds on the off chance that it was triggering migraines for me. If you read The Gauntlet, you know that migraines are a major symptom of LC for me and tons of stuff triggers them, including caffeine and gluten. (1/?)
- I was struggling w even worse than usual headaches since starting the LDN and was concerned that the meds were a trigger for me, but on the recommendation of some other patients, inquired about the “filler” at the compounding pharmacy
- If it’s not one thing it’s another 🥲 all told I was off the meds for 5 days, but I didn’t start to feel improved again until I’d been back on them for 6 days. However I am super pleased that LDN is doing something for me at 0.5 mg (dose I started at!)
- ICYMI: As kids keep getting sicker, media ignores scientific papers pointing to immune dysregulation and damage after COVID. Instead, parents are urged to “watch out” for unusual waves of RSV, flu, and more, while masks, clean air & COVID go unmentioned. www.thegauntlet.news/p/kids-keep-...
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- I advise ppl to read the article rather than listening to someone who has been making these claims about Covid since 2020 and has a vested interest in defending his, atp, deeply held belief that Covid cannot hurt children. There is a student absence crisis driven by illness that is well documented
- If you're enjoying The Gauntlet, don't forget to become a paid subscriber for $7/month ($70 annual). Your support enables me to continue writing. Critical public health info will always be free, but paid members DO receive access to additional personal essays! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe
- I think an under discussed reason why the vaccines were initially good at preventing transmission was because real-world trials were done during a time in which masking was largely mandated. More masking means less aerosolized virus, which presents less of a challenge to circulating antibodies.
- No, they were briefly good at preventing transmission! They just took very early data and ran with it, not realizing that the virus would mutate around this protectiveness incredibly quickly. But it did provide good protection for the first several months www.pfizer.com/news/press-r...
- The study in question though compared two groups- vaccinated and placebo, both of whom would’ve been in a more masked environment. Placebo group saw 162 infections, vaxxed saw 8! So they were effective. But virus was allowed to spread so much it mutated rapidly (1/2) www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
- I wrote about viral mutation, variants, and vaccine resistance here: www.thegauntlet.news/p/does-the-p...
- This isn’t exactly correct. 2 MMR doses are 97% effective at preventing infection- enough to drive measles out of circulation if enough ppl are vaccinated due to HERD immunity. But if herd immunity is broken, you still have a small chance of becoming infected if it’s circulating widely. So mask up
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View full threadBreakthroughs though will always happen - like w measles my pt was, 97% is not 100%. 3/100 is even rly that low or rare. You might be in the supermarket w 100 people tomorrow, all of you could be vaccinated and 3 of you could still get the measles !
- I still think Biden admin just as culpable, they should’ve had statistical modeling to work out like how fast does it spread, how fast is it mutating, if we bring down these NPIs how much breakthrough do we see, how fast do we break these vaccines. They didn’t rly care they took the easy route
- And less of course if you’re immunocompromised- I think the last booster it was like only 8% protective vs hospitalization by month 3 or something like that, don’t quote me bc I don’t have the stuff in front of me.
- I don’t think this makes any of what the Biden Admin did any better, I’m basically saying they took a huge gamble w early data and then when it turned out that gamble hadn’t worked they just gaslit the public that it HAD worked and redefined herd immunity to mean something else entirely
- It’s worded weird, it means starting 7 days after 2nd dose admin’d; in placebo group 162 infx, in vax’d group 8 infx. Study linked. I’m not saying there weren’t other issues w immunocompromised folks and DEFINITELY the vaccines wane - but they were protective www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
- And even now the boosters will still provide some protection against infection, you have to go look at the VE data they submit and it’s not variant matched but it’ll be you know 50% reduction in infection risk for a couple months or something. Which is not nothing! It’s just not enough
- This is I think important to know bc there are a lot of lies around the idea that politicians never claimed this- but it literally was true! They did prevent infections quite well on their initial release, but it was irresponsible to assume that would hold up and to not support them w NPI
- And when delta hit is when they should’ve abandoned the herd immunity strategy , but had too much riding on it politically, so essentially they just said fuck it and began lying through their teeth
- Just a small correction, The MRNA shots were NOT effective at preventing infection in 2021, or ever. None of the tests for the vaccines were ever trialed w immunocompromised people nor did they ever even track to ensure ppl weren't getting infected. The govt knew this and encouraged ppl to unmask
- No, they were briefly good at preventing transmission! They just took very early data and ran with it, not realizing that the virus would mutate around this protectiveness incredibly quickly. But it did provide good protection for the first several months www.pfizer.com/news/press-r...
- Herd immunity to Covid crumbled for two reasons: 1) waning efficacy of the vaccines; they have a durability problem 2) new variants. Once delta popped up and then omicron, our vaccines were too genetically distant to protect ppl well. www.thegauntlet.news/p/does-the-p...
- When we talk about “the pandemic never ending”, we should be clear that Biden’s Covid response failed on its own terms. We never achieved herd immunity. The vaccine mandates quietly ended, bc they scientifically make zero sense in a world where everyone is constantly infected
- The MRNA shots WERE very effective at preventing infection, and Biden’s policy AT THAT TIME was one AIMED at achieving herd immunity, of the type we now have w measles and other (mostly) eliminated diseases. That’s WHY vaccine mandates existed. That’s WHY vaccine passports existed
- I wrote here about how the press bait-and-switched the public as it became clear that this Covid herd immunity would never materialize. The goalposts of pandemic success were repeatedly moved, until somehow success became “everyone get reinfected forever” www.thegauntlet.news/p/how-the-pr...
- Source for 2 doses of MMR 97% effective against measles infection: www.cdc.gov/measles/vacc...
- It IS true that the measles vaccine is quite different from the Covid vaccines in that our Covid vaccines do not prevent infection effectively enough to create a “herd immunity” barrier like the MMR vaccine did, drive COVID out of circulation. HOWEVER, early data back in 2021 showed that (1/?)
- Because I mask basically all the time and avoid indoor dining people assume that I am immunocompromised. I am not. I'm just not an asshole and also I low key would like to avoid becoming immunocompromised. My body is already finding so many ways to betray me.
- You’re smart as hell, is what you are Signed, 18 months of long covid over here 🙃😷
- 2 more 👀👀👀👀👀
- Still ~5 subscribers away~ from my April subscriber goal I made this Spring discount link to try and catch up. 30% off The Gauntlet forever. That’s : $4.90/month or $49/ for a full year Paid subscribers get access to additional personal essays! Ty! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe?co...
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- HAHA I say this shit too 😅😂
- If you’ve been enjoying my reporting about the politics of public health, COVID, Long COVID at The Gauntlet, consider becoming a paid subscriber so you can also read my paywalled personal essays. My most recent one is about my Long COVID migraines ❤️ www.thegauntlet.news/p/this-may-h...
- Three!
- Still ~5 subscribers away~ from my April subscriber goal I made this Spring discount link to try and catch up. 30% off The Gauntlet forever. That’s : $4.90/month or $49/ for a full year Paid subscribers get access to additional personal essays! Ty! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe?co...
- Remote work empowers workers, is more accessible, is beneficial for the environment, and frees up urban space for housing. Right-wingers like Elon Musk want to re-assert control over workers, and they’re using pandemic culture wars to do it. My latest: www.thegauntlet.news/p/remote-wor...
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- I’m so sorry
- Four! 👀👀👀👀👀
- Still ~5 subscribers away~ from my April subscriber goal I made this Spring discount link to try and catch up. 30% off The Gauntlet forever. That’s : $4.90/month or $49/ for a full year Paid subscribers get access to additional personal essays! Ty! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe?co...
- Still ~5 subscribers away~ from my April subscriber goal I made this Spring discount link to try and catch up. 30% off The Gauntlet forever. That’s : $4.90/month or $49/ for a full year Paid subscribers get access to additional personal essays! Ty! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe?co...
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- "...the goals of COVID normalizers intersect with the goals of anti-vaxxers; both want to manufacture broad consent to destroy collective belief in public health. And this is the point at which their tactics, explanations and justifications become nearly identical."
- As someone who does vax outreach no other article has explained this topic so well. Liberals vaxx only strategy, where they encourage constant reinfection w disabling disease and refuse to communicate limitations of our current vax (ex that its not sterilizing) has led to record distrust of vaccines
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- Thank you so much!
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- Thank you!!
- If you're enjoying The Gauntlet, please consider supporting the newsletter by becoming a paid subscriber for $7/month or $70 annual. Critical public health information is never paywalled, but paid members do receive access to additional personal essays. Thank you! www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe
- A couple weeks ago, I wrote that the MAHA movement does not want to eliminate chronic illness- it wants to eliminate the chronically ill. Since then, RFK Jr’s actions and statements have only reinforced my belief that his HHS will target disabled and sick ppl. www.thegauntlet.news/p/rfk-jrs-ma...
- Don’t forget to support The Gauntlet if you’re able- here’s a discount link to do so for less than $5/month (or $49 annual!) I never paywall critical public health info, but subscribers do receive access to additional personal essays :) www.thegauntlet.news/subscribe?co...
- When might we begin to see research results about the level of cognitive decline caused by COVID? I really think that this is a significant factor in so many things right now including politics. People are struggling to keep information straight and to make any sort of connections at all.
- There is a lot of research and none of it looks good. This is a good overview: theconversation.com/mounting-res...
- I wrote here about cognitive damage after COVID, but more about the politics of choosing to keep this information from the public, while claiming that ppl are “making risk assessments”: www.thegauntlet.news/p/people-can...
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- And ps thanks so much to those who did subscribe already and turned the week around for me . Rly helped me out 😭🫶🙏🙏🙏
