7/21/20 - We are over 1 month out from getting COVID and are still healing! Crazy, I know but we are doing so much better. Scroll to the bottom for any new updates.
Mid-June we got coronavirus. We are still recovering but, I feel that we have turned the corner enough that I can share some of what worked for us. I am not a doctor but I am simply sharing what worked. I am grateful to have so many co-workers who shared what worked for them as well as some input from viral specialists and I have been able to compile it below. Please consult your dr beforehand.
- The goal is to reduce the virus’ ability to replicate. For this you:
a.Gargle with 1% hydrogen peroxide nightly. This kills the virus where it spreads (in your throat). Use your typical 3% hydrogen peroxide and dilute 1 part peroxide to 2 parts water. **the zinc lozenges are the most important here.
b.Take Zinc lozenges (you want the lozenge to slowly dissolve in your mouth) Avoid anything citrus for an hour before and after because citrus binds the free ions and you need those. Gargle with mouthwash can also help.
- Practice Deep breathing exercises every hour.
a. Breath as deep as you can without coughing and slowly exhale
b. Breath in and push your lips together like you are blowing up a balloon (making it harder to exhale) and push the air out. This is really good for the muscles around your lungs and will help prevent pneumonia.
- The virus attacks the muscles (they don’t talk about this enough). It can cause a condition that breaks the muscle tissue down “rhabdo”. The proteins can cause kidney failure. So drink lots of water. If your muscles start hurting, drink more water. I was drinking a gallon per day. Be sure you stay on top of your electrolytes.
- The virus can attack the heart muscle as well and heart palpitations are fairly common. Don’t let your Dr brush them off as just “stress” or an anxiety attack if they do happen. Best way through them is the deep breathing and making sure your electrolytes are balanced. Your magnesium should help with this.
Pills we took
Monolaurin 5 pills x 3 times a day - this surrounds the bad bacteria, doesn't disrupt the good bacteria and helps your immune system
Vitamin D3 1 pill x 2 times a day - do not think that you get enough Vitamin D from the sun. I live in Arizona, the sunniest place on earth, and realized how crucial this was to our healing
Zinc/Potassium/Magnesium 1 pill x 2 times a day - penetrates the cells and stops the reproduction of the virus
Zinc Chelated 1 pill x 2 times a day - zinc is so important to your immune system and this is critical in combination with the Betaine I talk about below.
Camu Camu 2 pills x 2 times a day
Colostrum 2 pills x 2 times a day - an all-natural source of immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, colostrum polypeptides, and growth factors. This helps boost your immune system and really helps to power your through as well as recover afterwards.
The healthier you are, the easier you will breeze through this. I have had 4 auto immunes and had a collapsed lung in my 20's. As you can see from below, even though Mark is older, he had a much easier time of things than I did.
Sleep is crucial. My husband was so fatigued he was sleeping 20+ hours a day. I on the other hand, could barely get 7 hours sleep at night and it was very restless. Despite being exhausted during the day, I was lucky to get in a 1 hour nap. I felt that good sleep was crucial so, I started taking Nyquil at night and it helped me to sleep.
Fever - I had a really difficult time regulating my body temperature. I would go from freezing cold to boiling hot faster than I could grab a blanket. At one point, I passed out cold in the shower and got a black eye and bloody nose (I am lucky I didn't have more damage!) This convinced me to take Tylenol. I know that this is probably controversial but, it helped me a lot. My fever and my aches and pains were more manageable with taking Tylenol.
I also went strict Keto as sugar/flour can feed the virus.
For most people, the symptoms peak at the 8 day mark from symptom onset. There is usually a marked improvement around the 14 day mark but you will still have periods of weakness. We both turned the corner at each of our 14 day mark but still experience occasional fatigue. We are better every day.
Recovery we both had significant improvement after the 2 week mark and thought we were on the home stretch. It is very common "after COVID" to develop chest tightness. It got very difficult to breathe and talk. I made an appointment to go in to my dr but, did some research. I took
Betaine and noticed a significant relaxation of the chest tightness. I took a 2nd
Betaine at dinner and the symptoms completely went away. They were back the next morning but I continued to take
Betaine (with food) as needed and was able to cancel the dr's appointment.
Betaine has hydrochloride which is different than hydroxychloroquine but, when taken with zinc, was sufficient to work for me. You have to take
Betaine with the
Zinc. If I knew this in the beginning, I would have taken at least one to four Betaine a day from the beginning and if I had the chest tightness and difficulty breathing, increased it to 3 x a day.
They say to allow 3 weeks for every 1 week you were sick to recover. You will still have some fatigue but will notice progress every day.
For some reason, everyone wants to know "how we got it". It was from a waitress at a restaurant. Mark got sick first, then the restaurant sent an email out to let their patrons know, and then I got sick.
I truly hope that this helps someone. We were actually glad to get this as we do not get flu shots so, as nasty as this was, this is how we build our immunity. That being said, we are definitely glad to be on the mend! Healing takes time so be patient and take the little improvements that come with each day. I wish you good health.
UPDATE: During recovery, I had a 'cobweb' feeling in my lungs. I was VERY fatigued as I couldn't get enough oxygen. I decided to do what my Functional Dr did when I had health issues a few years ago:
Chinese Coptis: good for dealing with aeruginosa infections. I took this as I was concerned the COVID was settling in to pneumonia. It is anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial.
Charcoal: This has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It 'cleans out' any toxins that you release into your system with taking the Chinese Coptis.
WARNING: you don't want to be far from the bathroom when you take this!
Morinda/Noni: it is a broad spectrum anti-microbial that works against bacteria, fungus, virus and parasites. It also helps to boost the immune system.
Be aware that just because these are "herbs" do not underestimate how powerful they are. Do not take if you are pregnant or have kidney or liver issues. Please do your own research or consult with a doctor. This is the dosage I took
- I took 1 Chinese Coptis and 1 Charcoal and this cleaned out so much.
- The next day I took 1 Noni in the am, noon and pm
- I will probably take another Chinese Coptis/Charcoal (on a day when I can plan to be in the bathroom)
I can't stress enough that you should consult your Dr, a Function Dr, Chinese Practitioner or at the very least, do your own research. I am simply sharing what I did. After one dose, I went from feeling about 75% normal to 95% normal. This article talks about Chinese Coptis which is also known as Huang Lian effectiveness on coronavirus:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7098036/
| Shuang Huang Lian | Lonicera japonica, Scutellaria baicalensis, and Forsythia suspensa | “Clear heat and detoxify, remove lung hotness”, according to TCM theory
Reportedly has anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity
Reportedly has immunosuppressive effects | 78, 80, 116
|
Shuang Huang Lian, a TCM herbal product prepared from Lonicerae japonicae Flos, Scutellariae radix and Fructus Forsythiae, purportedly had the activity to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 78. Interestingly, We have shown that this herbal preparation potently inhibited staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1)-induced production of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ) and chemokines (MIP-1α, MIP-1β and MCP-1) by peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) 79. In line with our results, this herbal product was shown to markedly reduced the transcriptional and translational levels of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine alveolar macrophages 80.
If I got coronavirus again, I would take the chinese coptis/charcoal (along with all the other things at the top of this page) at the very beginning as it could well kill the virus.
