Introduction
Welcome to the Dry Fasting Club and the beautiful world of dry fasting, I’m Yannick Wolfe and I hope to be able to guide you on your dry fasting journey. Before we continue, it’s important to note that the information provided here is done to the best of my experience and research, however, it should never be taken as medical advice.
You should always speak to a medical professional about your decision to attempt fasting in the first place. Please treat this information as entertainment only.
I’d also like to let everyone know that if you are interested in fasting, and specifically dry fasting; make sure you join the Dry Fasting Club’s discord group. It’s where you’ll find the expert fasters that can answer most of your questions as well as like-minded people that are also on the dry fasting journey. The link to the discord, as well as references to the topics discussed will be in the notes. Ok, let’s get started.
My current dry-fasting overview
As I record this episode, I am currently on day 5 out of my fractional dry fast. I’ll do a full episode on fractional dry fasting once I finally complete this cycle. Having already done quite a bit of dry fasting, doing a 2 day dry fast has been a breeze, but no matter how much experience you have, I believe that you just can’t get away from that cranky first day.
The first day of a dry fast where your body is still remembering yesterday’s meal and asking you why the hell you’re not eating. Also the crankiness when you see your family members chowing down, while you can’t even take a sip of water.
Why I decided to dive into long covid topic?
Ok so, in the previous episode, I mentioned that I started dry fasting to get rid of long covid, and I would love to dive deeper into this for anyone desperately looking for a light at the end of the tunnel. If you are someone who does not believe in long covid, or this topic does not sit well with you, I ask that you please skip it. Continue with the next episodes that will focus on stricter dry fasting topics.
What is long covid?
At first, I thought that I’d go over some medical definitions, common definitions, and symptoms of long covid, but honestly… I think it’s unnecessary.
Suffice it to say, if you’re here due to LC, you don’t need me to recite things you already know. For anyone unsure, if they have LC, just give it a quick google for symptoms, they are quite varied.
From neurological, depression, muscle twitches, and increased allergic reactions, to general feelings of being unwell, to things like skin problems and menstrual cycle changes.
The relapse symptome
One of the most known symptoms and one that I believe defines long covid is commonly called a relapse by the LC community. A very common thing that happens, is that people pace themselves, and go through slow improvements.
They get to a point where they feel like they can exercise again, but it ends up causing a relapse. For some people, they relapse for a few days and are able to continue the slow progress, but for many, it causes 2 steps back and reverts them back to an even worse state. This does not help with the depressive symptoms and causes a lot of people to consider suicide.
The reason I think it defines long covid is that nearly every long hauler experiences this to varying degrees. Most debilitated ones get relapses from climbing the stairs in their house. Some get it from walking too fast. Other, more fortunate people get it from going back to the gym and training too hard.
Remember about support
So if you know someone who has been a little more affected by covid and may have mentioned having long covid. Talk to them about dry fasting.
It’s highly likely that your friend is going through some really tough times, and because this is an invisible illness, no one around them can truly understand it.
How did I get it?
Before the vaccines came out, around February 2019, my whole friend and family circle caught what I supposed was covid. But no one thought anything of it. We continued to isolate as best as possible, and I continued running.
No one else developed long covid from what I could see (although there are now studies showing that 1 in 5 people develop some sort of long haul). If that’s true, then it would seem that a lot more people are hiding symptoms, or just not making the connection between covid and some symptoms that they are experiencing. I should preface this by saying that I was a long-time runner and a high-level sweater. On my daily 5K runs, I could easily sweat a liter of water.
First symptoms
Right after the vaccines came out, I started noticing that I was having a slightly harder time running the same distances. At first, I would get a little more fatigued and a little more short of breath faster and faster.
I wish I had known that this “pushing-through-the-fatigue” and shortness of breath was a deadly combination.
I tested negative for covid, but it didn’t matter. The long-haul effects had taken hold of my body.
Long haul
I now believe that long haul mainly affects people deficient in certain nutrients or vitamins, or pre-existing conditions. It’s a bit of far reach, imagining that topping up on magnesium or potassium could have prevented long haul and saved millions of people. But I believe there’s something there.
There’s a reason long-haul support groups have a high proportion of very athletic runners and weightlifters. It would be interesting to know if sweating a lot brings up some electrolyte deficiencies that if not addressed, make you more prone to having complications.
What did I try during the healing journey and what worked?
Taking into consideration that long haul covid affects different people differently and that there is a host of symptoms that can occur. It means that not everything will work for everyone, and some treatments may be better than others for your specific cascade of problems. I believe everyone should follow the FLCCC. You can find them by typing in flccc.net
Let’s first talk about fasting a little bit. As someone that has been an avid intermittent faster who always skipped breakfast and sometimes lunch. And as an experienced extended water faster who has water fasted for many years, fasting was not new to me. While suffering something like long covid which is similar to Lymes disease and ME/CFS, trying to extended fast is torture.
However, my best feelings and slight recoveries occurred whenever I was able to pull an extended water fast. My best recovery happened after a 7-day water fast. I became functioning, but life was tough, I could not return to full workouts or running without relapses.
Before dry-fasting
I tried almost every supplement that was recommended for long haulers. Only these ones seemed to have done anything noticeable. I also want to give a shout-out to Gez Medinger. He has been talking about long covid for over 2 years, and providing really interesting (but usually depressing) snapshots of the long covid community, their levels of improvement, and symptoms. It’s clear that very educated and motivated people are trying their best to heal from this disease but nothing really seems to be helping. I really wish I could open their eyes to dry fasting. Anyways, let’s continue.
💊 Aspirin, nattokinase, serrapeptase, and lumbrokinase
For the clot-busting properties.
💊 Butyric Acid (via Butyrate Complex)
A study showed that intermittent fasting helped upregulate bacteria that produce butyric acid. They hypothesized that it was one of the reasons intermittent fasting makes you feel good. I felt definite improvements when taking the butyrate complex. However, it only felt like a temporary relief, not a long-term improvement.
💊 Magnesium
I started taking this way too late. After doing more research I felt that I was most likely magnesium deficient most of my life. Did you know that it is estimated that more than half of all Americans are magnesium deficient? Look it up. I started taking magnesium supplements in the form of magnesium l-threonate, which is one of the more expensive forms of magnesium. It’s also one of the best bioavailable ones and it has the best mechanism to resupply magnesium to the brain. Beware of the cheap magnesium oxide supplements.
💊 Potassium
Early on in long covid I realized that when I would take a larger dose of potassium chloride, I was able to minimize or sometimes even completely eliminate my daily headaches. Without having to take things like aspirin, or nattokinase.
💊 Ivermectin
Ivermectin was one of the first medications that I tried for long haul after a few months of brain fog and fatigue. I was very close to losing my job because of these symptoms. It was the first thing that was able to remove my brain fog and give me back some of my energy. I always wondered if I should have continued taking it instead of just doing the very short run that I did. If the viral persistence theory is correct, then I should have been taking it for a much longer time.
💊 HCQ
I was not able to get my hands on any of this for quite some time, if I had, I think I could have avoided some complications from covid. I view this as a slightly less potent version of ivermectin, but one that is safer. Given the fact that HCQ has been used for over 50 years as an anti-malaria medication. It’s been given to pregnant women and children, and thousands of people take the medication daily for their whole lives for certain illnesses like Rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus.
I have a supply on hand now, that I use whenever I get in contact with anyone with a mild illness, and I have not caught anything so far. It is viewed as a second-line therapy by the FLCCC. I don’t feel comfortable recommending any medications on this show. But I do believe in hearing about everyone’s personal experiences. It’s hard to find information on this drug that hasn’t been censored over the last 3 years, but a good way to bypass this is to find forums like the lupus forum on Reddit, where hydroxychloroquine is discussed daily. Side note; I’ve noticed lupus symptoms are eerily similar to a lot of long covid symptoms.
💊 Niacin, nicotinic acid
The reason I heard about and tried Niacin, the nicotinic acid version, so the flush version was because of a protocol called the Niatonin protocol, which mixed high doses of niacin and melatonin.
A lot of people with long covid suffered from not being able to sleep, along with fatigue during the day. Niacin and melatonin seemed to be able to address these issues, but not cure them. Taking Niacin daily seemed to allow me to minimize relapses due to the extra manual labor that I was doing. It made me feel good. Melatonin allowed me to sleep.
After doing research on both of them, they had great safety profiles. Niacin actually had some interesting studies that indicated that there were some very good health effects, specifically on the mitochondria.
The power of Niacin:
- It is an efficient NAD+ booster in humans
- Improves muscle strength and fatty liver in mitochondrial myopathy
- Boosts muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and respiratory chain activity in humans
- Think of Niacin as the precursor to NAD+ and things like serotonin.
- Mitochondrial myopathy patients have NAD+ deficiency in muscle and blood
🥛 Kefir
Although no drastic improvements, I do feel like it’s created a healthy gut microbiome and is my go-to after extended fasting. A lot of fasting experts recommend probiotics when breaking extended fasts. I can’t think of a better, all-natural probiotic than milk kefir made at home with your own grains.
Fasting ⇒ Dry Fasting
The biggest permanent improvement I had (rivaling the ivermectin improvement), was a 7-day water fast. But because my body was weak, it was extremely hard to fast.
It felt nearly impossible to go longer than 3 days. However, somehow I was able to do it at one point, and it got rid of my chronic migraines. But eventually, I was able to attempt dry fasting. Dry fasting was amazing. It was unbelievable that I did not have the hunger pangs that I associated with the first few days of a water fast. I also could not believe how quickly my body felt improved.
My first attempt
My first dry fast was 4.5 days. I refed decently, but not as well as I would have now, I probably stopped refeeding correctly on day 3, but even then I was eating too much anyways. Regardless, after a few days post-fast, I started to have the energy to jump out of bed in the morning. I could cry from happiness.
A few weeks later, sick family members came over for the holidays and got me sick. A lot of symptoms started relapsing and I was devastated. I had started taking supplements too late, but I do believe that it helped make it a much milder infection.
Another approach
Once past the acute stages, I started dry fasting again. This time I did 3x 3.5-day dry fasts with 3-4 day refeeds between them. I fully healed all my symptoms that had restarted and then all the little nagging ones that were still there after the first dry fast.
Now, I drink coffee, alcohol, eat carbs, and do not have any relapse symptoms. I work out and have no relapse symptoms. But I’m still scared of running. I believe I have some PTSD, but I hope to get to that eventually too.
How do I view dry fasting and the implications on long covid?
Whatever the correct theory about why long covid occurs, it’s clear that it causes damage to the body. It’s also clear that no academic group has found a cure for it, similar to Lymes disease and other chronic illnesses. But fasting triggers mechanisms still not well understood by the scientific community. Add dry fasting on top of that, which introduces a completely new set of mechanisms that have barely been touched upon, and we have a potential solution.
Fasting is able to heal cells at a nano level and has evolved for millions of years. It’s one of the most powerful hormetic effects we can trigger. Even though water fasting was helping me, it was not enough, and relapses felt like they would erase water fasting improvements.
The game changer
Dry fasting was such a drastic improvement it was miles ahead of water fasting. I became able to eat huge carbohydrate-filled meals and work out without getting histamine responses or relapses. Each consecutive dry fast improved me more and more. I also realized that there were better improvements when I extended the refeeding portion and took it very seriously.
Here’s an important secret/tip.
I’ve coined a term called the Wolfe Bait and Switch. Picture dry fasting as a wolf that is starving and ready to devour anything in its path. Covid or any chronic illness is the prey. If you can lure the prey out while the wolf is hungriest, it will eat more of it.
Long covid is characterized by relapses when you push yourself a little too far.
The Wolfe Bait and Switch method uses the exercise (or whatever else induced your relapse) as the bait. Once the illness or virus rears its ugly head thinking it’s safe, the wolf pounces on it.
How to use it?
I have used this technique and had some close friends try it, to great success. One was able to stop his cold sores in their tracks and hasn’t had an outbreak for the whole year. I believe you do not want to do this too early, but feel free to experiment. My intuition and experience says that you should do it around 36 hours into a dry fast when the raw power of the dry fast begins, and the longer you can go, the better.
Covid seems to suppress innate immunity with no type I Interferon production. These cells do not get to cry for help. There are some studies that show persistent covid particles in the brain and all organs during autopsies. Filinov often speaks about doing multiple follow-up dry fasts if you can’t do an 11-day one so that you can both clear out the stem and then the root of the disease. All of this means we need dry fasting to devour them all.
What about vitamins deficiency?
People are scared that they’ll get vitamin deficient and worsen during a fast, but It’s also important to remember that fat-soluble vitamins can be stored and released from adipose tissue or the liver, making them available during fasting as fat is used up.[3]
So you don’t have to worry about supplementing during a dry fast, as long as you have enough fat reserves. The saying, what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger is directly correlated to human hormetic effects. We gain health benefits through exposing our bodies to exercise, heat, and cold. Of course, we will gain benefits from the stressors brought upon by lack of food. But let’s step it up and gain benefits from a new stressor; lack of water.
A few words for people with long covid
If you’re listening to this and struggling badly, know that I’ve been there and that you can heal from this. It’s not going to be easy, but if you can heal from severe long-haul covid, most other things in life will be a breeze. You won’t get a miracle cure overnight, and you will struggle. More so if you have very little fasting experience.
Fasting builds a so-called fasting muscle in your body. No one can perfectly explain how this occurs, but most theories revolve around the body’s ability to become fat-adapted. The switch from burning glucose to burning fat with a tiny bit of gluconeogenesis. There are steps to this, as I’ve stated in the previous episodes and will most likely state in future ones as well. It is not recommended that you jump straight into dry fasting, but rather take a gradual approach.
Gradual approach is the key
There are many different approaches when it comes to dry fasting that are less drastic than others. It’s quite clear that the longer you dry fast, the stronger the healing effect, so long as you don’t cause water deprivation damage to the body. This is the fine line you walk with dry fasting. Gradual approaches allow you to slowly dip your toes into this form of fasting. People I’ve worked with have experimented with 3 days on – 3 days off, for a total of 24 days.
Think of this as rolling dry fasts. I’m currently testing fractional fasting which builds up to 5 days, with a step-by-step increase, which is a total of 34 days. These force you to keep having to restart and go through those tough first days over and over, but they do have a cumulative effect.
Safety first
Having said that. I’m also aware that desperation and a cavalier attitude will make a lot of people say screw it and jump straight into dry fasting. Considering the caveat that you will not be as well prepared both mentally and physically, you can do some things to better prepare and to be better aware of. Read as much as possible, ask as many questions as possible, listen to your body, and please try to get medical supervision when attempting extended dry fasting.
All in all, if I was forced to only pick one thing to help with the illness, it would be to dry fast, hands down.
Should you dry fast if you catch covid?
This is a question where the answer depends on who you ask. Some people claim that it definitely helps, while others say it made them worse.
From the many different experiences I’ve had, and from the things I’ve heard of from others, it seems like the sanest approach is this:
If you are able to dry fast the moment you feel oncoming symptoms, you may be able to create an inhospitable environment quick enough that the virus will not be able to replicate well.
Be carefull during acute phase
However, if you try to do this while the virus has already gone through the initial stages and you are very symptomatic, it may make things worse. If you don’t get a chance to catch it early, I would highly recommend staying hydrated, listening to your body (this may mean eating less, and definitely avoiding sugars), and taking some supplements or medication that you have been prescribed or have on hand.
Once you are over the acute phase, then consider dry fasting to get back on your feet. A lot of people base their reply not to fast during a viral infection on a rat/mouse study that water fasted 2 groups of rats. One group was infected with a bacterial infection, while the other with a viral infection. All the bacterial-infected rats survived, while the virus-infected ones died. This makes it quite scary to fast during a viral infection, however, it’s also important to note that dry fasting is different and activates a whole plethora of new protein-degrading autophagic mechanisms that may help where water fasting could not.
So, unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer that I can provide.
How would I approach long covid knowing what I know now?
- I would not buy the crazy amount of supplements.
- Keep on top of the FLCCC guidances. I believe in the FLCCC because they are not afraid to say they do not know all the answers. I especially like that they’ve continuously updated their covid protocols and that they are now proponents of intermittent fasting, which is a step towards water fasting, and eventually dry fasting. Whenever someone promotes fasting it is a good sign in my books.
- Drink coffee or tea between meals. There are multiple studies that show that there’s less effect on nutrient absorption when coffee was consumed an hour before eating.] [2]
- Do not exercise for a few weeks post covid exposure.
- Start dry fasting from the beginning.
- I now dry fast before any flight and during it, as well as when I go to very crowded places. I’ve avoided any of the weird mild sicknesses or sore throat feelings that I would previously get.
- Before work trips or vacations I also start dosing hydroxychloroquine two weeks early so that I can build it up in the system, and I continue taking it daily throughout the trip.
A few words from the author
Well, we’re nearing the end of the episode. If I’ve convinced you to try a day or two of dry fasting, maybe I’ve saved you some money on groceries or some bottled water.
If you would like to support this podcast and my work at exploring dry fasting topics, I have a link in the show notes where you can donate and buy me a coffee. You’ll also get access to a private server for members. If you’re not able to, leaving a 5-star and a like or a comment goes a long way. Moreover, if you’d like to give me any ideas on how to improve the show, or any comments, in particular, I’d love to hear from you. Please send me an email to yannick@dryfastingclub.com.
Also, if you’ve done extended dry fasting before and would like to discuss your experiences, insights, and anything else, drop me a line and maybe we can record our conversation for a future episode.
Summary
To summarize everything in this episode into a TLDR:
The step that actually got me to a point where I consider myself healed of long covid, with no relapses was dry fasting. Prior to that, there were a few things that helped more than others like ivermectin, rest, nicotinic acid, and water fasting. Currently, I only supplement with magnesium and a whole foods-based multivitamin. If I feel sick I’ll take some nicotinic acid, HCQ, and dry fast.
That’s it for this episode talking about long covid and dry fasting. I hope you enjoyed it. If you know anyone with long covid or a chronic illness that could benefit from this talk, please share it with them.
Thanks for listening, I hope to see you in the discord where we’re growing the dry fasting club. Thank you and good luck on your dry fasting journey!
References
Beyond Anti-viral Effects of Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine
Inhibition of food iron absorption by coffee
Water-soluble vitamin homeostasis in fasting northern elephant seals
The Effect of Exercise and Heat on Mineral Metabolism and Requirements
Remodeling of the gut microbiome during Ramadan-associated intermittent fasting
SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistence in the human body and brain at autopsy
