A double-lung transplant patient is thanking a $10 cold remedy for saving her from Covid.
Amanda Caruso, 25, said in a video that over-the-counter Cold-Eeze lozenges ‘saved my life not only when I had Covid’ but also when she was struck down with the common cold this winter.
Ms Caruso, who is awaiting her second lung transplant, is at high risk for typically normal infections to turn into deadly pneumonia because of her immune system-suppressing medications.
But she said after her nose became blocked in December, she took a Cold-Eeze lozenge — which cleared her illness up within minutes.
The small business owner from New York state heralded the remedy as ‘magic cough drops’, and said she has used them regularly to ease multiple illnesses.
Amanda Caruso, 25, from New York state, says she relies on Cold-Eeze lozenges to get her through the winter period. These help to clear up a cold and Covid, she says, even proclaiming they have saved her life
Ms Caruso, who had a lung transplant when she was one-and-a-half after being diagnosed with a form of lung disease that causes her body not to produce enough of a fluid that stops the lungs from sticking together.
Doctors said when she had the transplant there was only a 50 percent chance she would live to six years old — but she has now more than quadrupled this estimated lifespan.
Now, however, she needs a second transplant as her immune system is rejecting her current organs.
This has left her needing oxygen and unable to carry out many daily tasks, including walking for long periods.
Speaking about the lozenges, Ms Caruso, she said: ‘I don’t know what’s in these f******, but… these saved my life not only when I had Covid, but right now.
‘I don’t know what they do, but I can take one, and then 20 minutes later, I feel like a brand new person.
‘Any congestion that I have? Gone. Chest pain? Gone. Stuffy nose? Gone. Sore throat? Gone.’
She added: ‘They’re just like cough drops, but they’re magic cough drops.
‘If you have any sort of respiratory illness right now, and are just feeling like s***, I recommend these to everyone. Get them, I swear they saved my life.’
Ms Caruso is at high risk of mild infections like coughs and colds transforming into life-threatening pneumonia because of the immune system suppressing medication she has to take
The above shows normal lungs (left) and Ms Caruso’s (right). It reveals more scarring on the lungs, which is a hallmark of her condition interstitial lung disease
Ms Caruso (pictured above as a baby) was diagnosed with a genetic lung problem when she was just six months old. She has a mutation in a gene leading her body not to produce a fluid that stops the lungs from sticking together
She said her video, which has already wracked up nearly 700,000 views, was not sponsored by Cold-Eeze — although ‘I wish I was’.
Cold-Eeze lozenges, which claim to slash the length of colds by 42 percent, use the active ingredient zinc gluconate glycine to suppress viruses.
They claim this stops the virus from replicating in the body, slowing an infection.
Doctors recommend taking the lozenges as soon as warning signs of a cold appear, allowing them to completely dissolve in the mouth.
Adults should take no more than six tablets a day and children no more than four tablets a day.
Ms Caruso was diagnosed with the genetic condition interstitial lung disease after doctors found she had a mutation on her ABCA3 gene, which is responsible for producing a fluid that stops the lungs from sticking together.
An estimated 700,000 Americans have interstitial lung disease. Some are born with it while, for others, it develops later in life.
Patients live on average for two years and six months after their diagnoses.
Those who were male, older and had more comorbidities were not likely to live as long.
Her parents noticed she had a breathing problem when she was six months old, which led to a double-lung transplant at the age of one-and-a-half in St Louis, Missouri.
She spent nearly a year in the hospital waiting for donor lungs and then recovering from the procedure before being discharged home.
Initially, the lungs worked effectively and Ms Caruso was able to do everything other children could — from drama, to dance and gymnastics.
At one point she was attending the gym five days a week.
But shortly after Covid hit in March 2020, her body began rejecting the organs — which has led to breathing problems and a struggle with her daily life.
A lung transplant is considered to be rejected when the immune system recognizes the organ as foreign and starts to attack it.
About 30 percent of lung transplant patients experience rejection of the organ in their first year, but the risk drops the longer someone has had the new organ.
Ms Caruso previously told RochesterFirst: ‘Within the past three years, I’ve gone from pretty much being able to keep up and do everything, to now where I can’t keep up with anyone.
‘I’m on oxygen [as of the beginning of 2023].’
Ms Caruso is now fundraising for her second double-lung transplant via a GoFundMe. It has so far raised $15,703 out of a goal of $20,000 to cover costs associated with the procedure.
