Healing from Covid
About 2.5 weeks ago my entire household (3 adults and my son) all got hit with covid.
*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and while I may be sharing what I have done to heal from covid, nothing here is any sort of medical advice.
The first symptoms we had were fatigue, headache, and fever. The fever lasted about 48 hours and then after that there was an additional 2-4 days of intense soreness and tiredness.
After 2.5 weeks we are all back to functioning in our daily work and chores. But none of us feel 100% back to normal yet. Except my 4 year old son Henry. He had essentially no symptoms and he has been 100% the whole time.
Around day 8 I lost my sense of taste and smell. I am the only one that lost these senses. I lost about 5 lbs with covid. Nothing tasted good or sounded appetizing and so I didn’t want to eat anything.
After describing mine and my husband’s symptoms to a friend of ours who is an MD she suggested that it sounded like neuroinflammation. That sounds pretty scary, but I believe this is something that can happen with any flu or cold and it is side effect of the immune system attacking any invader.
My question about neurological inflammation was… what do I do about it?
The answers are few and simple.
Don’t eat inflammatory foods.
Take anti inflammatory supplements like fish oil, turmeric, ginger, etc…
Get rest and try not to get stressed out. And just know it may take time.
I have not changed my diet much. I have been eating blueberries, chia seeds and flax seeds daily because they have antioxidants and good fats in them. I still eat some wheat and dairy which I know for me can be inflammatory. It is hard to fully cut these out. I do the best that I can.
I have been craving pineapples. Specifically the fresh pineapples and not canned. I have eaten 2 whole pineapples this week and I am started on a third. In doing research I found that bromelain has been found to help with inflammation and specifically in the sinuses. This is fascinating to me because covid virus is known to live and multiply inside the sinuses.
I have continued to do physical work. I don’t know if this is advised generally for people recovering from covid. But I was out mowing my lawn on day 9 and pulling weeds. This work definitely made me sore and tired but it also gave me the proud knowingness that my body was still useful. Do what makes sense for you.
I have been eating spicy foods. I can’t *taste* the spiciness but I can feel it. Cayenne, horseradish, etc… all of them have a distinct “ouch” sensation in the back of the throat that is separate from any taste. Very weird.
The entire time I have been able to sense cranberries and tart fruits. There is a distinct mouth feel that is separate from the actual taste of these items.
Maybe I will come out of covid with a more developed pallet because I have certainly been able to separate taste and smell from other mouth perceptions that happen when you eat something.
I will list out here the various things that I tried for loss of taste and smell (and just general recovery) and how I rate them on a 1-5 scale. 1 = no difference, 5= Noticed a big difference.
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Sepia Homeopathic – 3
I got this to try because it was suggested by a friend. I had some and felt like I got a faint smell of some things after taking it. I would try it again and I think homeopathics can be helpful generally. But I didn’t feel like there was a noticeable difference with this one. Some people reported huge changes after taking this homeopathic.
Fish oil – 4
I have been taking fish oil now each day (sometimes I take a double dose- one in the morning and one in the evening). I take it with a bunch of other stuff, so it is hard to say what is working and what is not. But I feel like the fish oil helped to bring down the inflammation and specifically supplied some nutrition that is known to be really great for the brain. Today I have been able to taste my coffee at about 80% and this is a significant change for me.
Turmeric, ginger, garlic, pepper – 4
This supplement is designed to bring down inflammation in the body. Herbs have been used for thousands of years for their healing properties. I have been taking this supplement for a few days now. Yesterday I had the most energy and felt significant improvement over the day before. I think that this supplement along with the fish oil and pineapple has been helpful in making progress in healing.
Human’s do not create our own vitamin C. We need to consume it in order to get enough. Liposomal just means that the vitamin C particles are coated in a little bit of fat so that they can get into the cells easier. Lots of vitamin C just goes straight through you and isn’t assimilated, so the liposomal vitamin C may be taken into the cells more easily than regular vitamin C. I take this supplement whether I am sick or well and I take it multiple times a day when sick or recovering. I feel that this is contributing to cell repair in the body.
Rest – 5
I have been letting myself rest when I feel tired. There is always a lot to do and a lot that I WANT to do in life. But when the body needs to rest, I try to just slow down and use this time to listen to audiobooks or watch some of the classes.
Overall, I am around day 18 now and I feel 80-95% better. Some days I feel significantly better. Some days I feel very tired still and in need of lots of rest.
I am going to continue to try out new and different things until I recover fully (because that is who I am) and I will keep you guys posted on the results.
Thank you for reading and I hope that if you or someone you know is ill that you feel better soon and have a full recovery.