A nurse who spent 28 days in coma fighting for her life after contracting Civid-19 was miraculously saved after her colleagues gave her Viagra as past of an experimental treatment regime. Monica Almeida, 37, would have been declared dead had she not woken up after being given Viagra as hospital authorities were about to turn off her ventilation after 72 hours.
Doctors had almost given up hope on Almeida's chances of survival. Her oxygen level had dropped by half but her condition started improving drastically a week after she was given Viagra. In fact, she recovered so fast that that she was home for Christmas.
Miracle Cure
Almeida, from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, had contracted Covid-19 on October 31 and had to be admitted to a hospital on November. However, her condition failed to improve and she had to be shifted to intensive care on November 16 where doctors had put her in induced coma.
With no signs of improvement for days, Almeida said, doctors were barely 72 hours away from having her ventilator turned off when another set of quick-thinking doctors decided to give her a large dose of Viagra, the popular drug associated with erectile dysfunction.
And it worked miracles. Almeida started recovering fast and on December 14 she woke up and by Christmas she was back home with her family.
When she woke up doctors at Lincoln County Hospital told her that they had given her a large dose of Viagra as part of an experimental treatment regime that she agreed to before going into a coma. And this miraculously worked.
Getting a New Life
Viagra, which is an erectile dysfunction drug, enables greater blood flow to all areas of the body by relaxing the walls of blood vessels, and Almeida says it caused her condition to improve in just a week and the level of oxygen she needed to drop by half as it opened up her airways. Almeida, a specialist respiratory nurse said, "I had a little joke with the consultant after I came round because I knew him. He told me it was the Viagra, I laughed and thought he was joking, but he said 'no, really, you've had a large dose of Viagra."
"It was my little Christmas miracle," she said.
Almeida was already double jabbed but still contracted the virus while treating patients. The mom of two lost her sense of taste and smell and was coughing up blood by day four of her diagnosis.
After visited the hospital first when her oxygen level started dropping but she was discharged after initial medication. However, she had soon to be rushed to Lincoln County Hospital after she started having breathe problem.
She was then shifted to the ICU and was put on induced coma. But her condition continued to deteriorate and her parents were asked to fly over from Portugal to see her for the last time. However, just before doctors were about to take a final call on turning off her ventilation, they decided to use the unusual treatment which had previously been suggested as a way to treat Covid patients as it dilates blood vessels and opens the airways.
Things worked and she was saved just in time to be back home and spend time with her family on Christmas. Tests are being carried out to see whether Viagra could be used to boost oxygen levels - in the same way as inhaling nitric oxide.
Currently the drug can be given to Covid patients in Britain if they have agreed to be part of a study on experimental drugs.
