© by Elizabeth Lee Vliet MD and Kathy Kresnik
I have spent many years working with fibromyalgia (FMS) and musculoskeletal pain patients trying to unravel the tangled thread of the many factors that contribute to these pain syndromes. They don’t respond well to just one or two medicines – it has always involved multiple therapeutic modalities, as we have been exploring in this series on the broad problem of fibromyalgia and other pain syndromes, but it is even more complicated today with the added damage from the COVID shots that most doctors are still ignoring, just as they have ignored the hormone imbalances triggering pain over my whole career!
Today I want to address two more overlooked crucial sources of damage—the abnormal “white clots” we now know are amyloid-based clots, and the more widely appreciated micro blood clot—both of which have led to the dramatic rise in fibromyalgia and other pain syndromes since the experimental COVID shots were rolled out in 2021. While the media isn’t talking about it, and most doctors ignore these findings, a few cardiologists and embalmers from many countries have been speaking out about these unusual massive, white, rubbery clots causing major and widespread vascular obstructions throughout the body.
In a recent post “Bloodstream Code Red: The Amyloid Clots in COVID’s Wake That Nobody’s Discussing”, Dr. Philip McMillan discusses the discovery of misfolded proteins, called amyloid, accumulating at the injection sites of COVID-19 vaccinated. As he puts it, “this wasn’t supposed to happen…suggesting something entirely new was occurring”. We have known since the 1970-1980 time frame that amyloid plaques can form in the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys in particular but since the COVID shots were unleashed on people, we have now learned that the spike protein appears to be causing the same protein misfolding that causes the devasting condition of amyloid damage to critical organs, leading to what Dr. McMillan has called the “emergence of a potentially new form of systemic disease.”
What exactly is amyloid, and condition amyloidosis it causes?
I have written on this extensively in an earlier health tip (see What Is Amyloidosis?) and we have done several seminars on this condition as an outgrowth of COVID shot damage. See Faith Over Fear Archive on our website. Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterized by a fibrillar morphology, typically measuring 7–13 nanometers in diameter. Amyloids result from the misfolding and aggregation of proteins and can accumulate in any organ or tissue. The buildup may happen in a single organ (localized) or throughout the body (systemically). This buildup disrupts normal functioning and can make the organs not work properly.
Amyloid abnormal proteins play a significant role in heart, brain and lung damage following both the COVID illness and the COVID injections, as well as the rise in “turbo cancers”, and a variety of chronic medical conditions–dementia, neurodegenerative disorders, heart and kidney failure for example.
Multi-organ damage due to amyloid deposits is a very active area of research in medicine and biology. In 2022, researchers discovered a link between harmful amyloid production and COVID-19 symptoms. In patients with serious and long-term COVID-19, researchers have discovered that the body’s immune system can affect the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, leading to the production of a misfolded spike protein called amyloid.
Amyloidosis is a group of less common medical syndromes caused by the accumulation of these clumps of misfolded proteins. It can affect various organs, including the heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, nervous system, and digestive tract34. Depending on the affected organ, amyloidosis can lead to symptoms such as heart failure, kidney dysfunction, lung damage, cognitive decline, dementia, neuropathy (nerve damage), and skin changes. There are many different types of amyloidosis. Some are hereditary and some are secondary to other medical conditions, such as inflammatory conditions (obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, infections, autoimmune disorders, and others) or long-term dialysis.
We know now that these amyloid-based or “white” clots, as well as the more common fibrin-based micro blood clots, block arteries and small blood vessels leading to silent hypoxia and organ dysfunction even without obvious thrombosis (macro-clots). When venous return is affected reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lactic acid build up causing muscle pain and exacerbates fibromyalgia symptoms. Adequate circulation is essential to deliver oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products to keep pain syndromes under control, just as I discussed in my previous health tip: Vascular & Lymphatic Damage: The Painful Connection in Fibromyalgia & COVID-19 . Now that we know what these abnormal white (amyloid) clots AND micro blood clots can damage all these tissues and pathways, we see the many ways that these clots can contribute to worsening FMS pain.
There is also a subset of amyloid proteins called “prions.” Prion diseases are a group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain. Prions, short for “proteinaceous infectious particles,” are resistant to our usual methods of break-down, and can cause widespread tissue damage.
Now here is the connection that led me into wanting to discuss this “pain link.” Retired organic chemist Greg Harrison and embalmer Richard Hirschman sent samples of the white fibrous clots to Dr. Kevin McCairn to request that he check these white clots for the presence of prions. Dr. McCairn is a distinguished neuroscientist who has spent his career studying the effects of amyloid proteins on patients suffering from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia.
Dr. McCairn performed Raman spectroscopy which demonstrated clear signature peaks consistent with β-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils, particularly in the amide I and III regions (typically around ~1,660–1,670 cm⁻¹ and ~1,240–1,300 cm⁻¹, respectively). This confirmed the results of the prior Congo Red and Thioflavin-T tests performed on the clots. Then, in March 2025, Dr. McCairn performed a Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion Test (i.e., “RT-QuIC Test”) on 3 different white fibrous clot samples to determine the presence of prion-like seeding activity.
The stunning finding was that all 3 samples of these white clots tested “positive” for prion-like seeding activity. Dr. McCairn’s work strongly suggests the misfolded proteins (prions) triggered by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein creates system-wide damage that resists the body’s natural clearing mechanisms. McCairn identified a crucial difference with spike-induced amyloidosis (as compared to cellar confined amyloids) that makes it far more dangerous. “The boundary condition for these amyloidogenic micro clots is essentially the system,” allowing them to expand throughout the entire circulatory system, potentially reaching the massive sizes now being discovered. This is unlike anything we have seen before!
In addition, our body’s fibrinogen no longer acts normally to convert to fibrin in healthy clot formation, but appears to misfold into an amyloid-like structure that resists the body’s natural clot-dissolving mechanisms and also acts with prion-like behavior. This is a very ominous finding, and again unlike any damage we have seen before in my medical career.
These abnormal, misfolded proteins, or prions, and the abnormal function of fibrinogen, add yet more links to the many causes of COVID-shot induced worsening pain syndromes because of widespread damage to muscle tissues, nerves and vascular/lymphatic pathways.
As I said earlier in this series, there are many mechanisms underlying the diffuse pain in FMS and other chronic pain syndromes. Remember all these multiple causes of damage: nerve pathways, muscle tissue itself, vascular and lymphatic vessels, connective tissue, and the endocrine-metabolic-nutritional-and oxidative pathways to provide the “fuel” that runs our body tissues, including muscles and nerves.
Because there are so many different causes of damage, that’s why it simply never works to fully resolve FMS and chronic pain with just one or two Rx medicines. We HAVE to address all of these adverse impacts on healthy nerve and muscle function. That is why I have been taking time to write this in-depth series on the many dimensions of FMS and chronic pain treatment that have to be addressed.
The problem for most people is that we don’t have many options for diagnosis or treatment, except for some innovative combination approaches I have been using that do seem to be helping.
The Diagnostic Challenge:
Unfortunately, standard medical practices and facilities do not have imaging equipment to detect these micro-clots and there is limited desire to do so. There are specialty imaging protocols for MRI and CT that can help identify micro clots and amyloid deposits in heart, lungs, and brain but these have to be ordered with specialized procedures and contrast materials. I have included the descriptions of these specialty imaging tests in our COVID Vaccine Injury Treatment Guide, available on our website. PET scans may detect these but are expensive and are not for routine screenings.
The standard D-dimer and other coagulation markers are good initial screening for the presence of micro blood clots but may not always detect these amyloid deposits. Few laboratories offer the specialized blood analysis that Dr. McCairn has developed to identify amyloid burden, so unfortunately most physicians in medical practice do not have adequate diagnostic tools for this amyloid complication of the COVID shots.
The Treatment Challenge:
Standard antiplatelet and anticoagulant medications are inadequate for resistant amyloid-based clotting disorders, so that is the reason I have been using a different approach to address the problems of mixed amyloid-fibrin clots: (1 )The prescription medicine doxycycline and (2) the natural anti-fibrinolytic medicine nattokinase, using TruNatto™ Nattokinase, derived from fermenting soybeans.
A word of caution: I have seen over the years too many adverse complications of fixed-dose combination products with similar mechanisms of action, so I don’t recommend buying combination products to treat these complicated problems on your own. For example, there are over 18 different supplements in widespread use that ALL have either anti-coagulant, or anti-platelet activity or both, leading to serious bleeding risks when they are used together. A few examples include bromelain, curcumin (turmeric), fish oils, vitamin E and many others.
To address these abnormal fibrin-amyloid clots, I take the approach of using a single natural medicine, and a single RX medicine, each dosed separately for patients after a careful evaluation of laboratory studies, imaging studies when needed, and assessment of the possible interactions with other Rx medicines and natural medicine supplements.
Why This 1-2 Punch Combination Works:
1-Doxycycline has been used for decades as an antibiotic for many bacterial illnesses. In fact, it was a staple medicine I always carried on scuba diving trips because it could be used for so many different types of illness and did not have many side effects, especially those that could mimic decompression illness (DCI). In recent years, doxycycline has been found to have much broader therapeutic effects: it works as an antiviral and I used it as part of my early home treatment for COVID, it has anti-inflammatory actions, and recent studies have shown it also interferes with the progression of amyloid plaque, and shows promising results in cardiac amyloidosis. In addition, doxycycline is also typically effective against mycoplasma, an atypical bacterium that is often part of a mixed respiratory illness mistakenly thought to be just “COVID.” More than 80% of mycoplasma organisms are resistant to azithromycin, so doxycycline has been an important avenue for treatment.
Doxycycline appears to help reduce amyloidogenic clotting in specific types of amyloidosis, particularly AL (light chain) amyloidosis with cardiac involvement, by interfering with amyloid fibril formation and promoting disruption and breakdown of amyloid plaque deposits that damage tissues. Doxycycline inhibits matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are linked to amyloid-induced toxicity and tissue remodeling in amyloid diseases. Doxycycline also has been shown in animal and in vitro studies to reduce light chain cardiotoxicity by reducing amyloid load and countering the toxicity of amyloidogenic proteins in heart and other tissues. Here is one study that led me to add this medicine for patient with COVID-induced cardiac amyloidosis when the standard cardiology treatments were not showing results: Encouraging impact of doxycycline on early mortality in cardiac light chain (AL) amyloidosis. In my experience, Doxycycline is generally well tolerated when used at standard antibiotic doses and offers a safe option when few others exist to treat amyloid.
2-Nattokinase shows potential to help treat amyloidogenic clotting by directly degrading amyloid fibrils and enhancing fibrinolytic activity according to laboratory and animal studies since we do not yet have its use human trials. Nattokinase, an enzyme extracted from fermented soybeans, exhibits strong fibrinolytic (clot-dissolving) activity at body temperature and neutral pH. It breaks down fibrin (the main structural protein in clots) and amyloid fibrils, which are implicated in both vascular and neurodegenerative diseases. It lowers blood viscosity, decreases fibrinogen levels, and enhances the body’s own production of plasmin and urokinase (key enzymes in clot breakdown). Nattokinase also inactivates plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), further increasing fibrinolysis.
Animal research (especially in Alzheimer’s models) shows vermindering of amyloid plaques and improvement in symptoms, suggesting a dual anti-clotting and anti-amyloid effect.
A note of caution though: Due to the significant effect Nattokinase has on clot breakdown, it is important not to combine with other anticoagulants or anti-platelet medicines or supplements because it can increase the risk of serious bleeding.
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