25 Jan Surviving Covid-19 and Supporting the Body Naturally
I’ve just recovered from Covid-19.
It was a pretty grim and boring two weeks and, to be honest I was surprised that it took me that long to recover but I’m here and thankfully I have no signs of “Long Covid”. Although I’d hope I wouldn’t after thirteen years of looking after my adrenal glands (Post viral syndrome such as Long Covid can involve an adrenal response that causes symptoms of fatigue).
I was really lucky that I had a very mild case and it was apparently typical of the newer variant. It’s common with viral variants that they are more easily transmissible but can be less potent than the original strains. Even so, the mild case I had absolutely floored me for two weeks and the most taxing thing I could do was watch trashy TV.
I had none of the characteristic cough or fever. I did have a low grade temperature and intense fatigue and a few days in I developed back pain that felt like I had been kicked by a horse…. And then on day four I lost my sense of smell and taste.
After a week I thought I was turning a corner and then in true Covid-19 style I turned an unpleasant corner and the cytokine storm kicked in. A cytokine storm is when the immune system becomes overstimulated whilst it’s working hard to beat the virus. The storm creates inflammation and without the cough my inflammation became a migraine that had me in bed in a dark, cold room for three full days.
I’ve been a migraine sufferer my whole life but nothing prepared me for the pain of that headache. It was so bad I had to call the Doctor on the day I couldn’t open my eyes to get anti-sickness medication.
Luckily when the migraine passed my sense of smell and taste returned and I was back to normal but it was not pleasant.
One of my favourite public figures, the wonderful Dr Zach Bush MD talks about viral infections being upgrades to our DNA and our immune system. The benefits of recovering from viral infection are vast for our evolution and resilience.
I knew when I started to feel unwell that I have no comorbidities so I had the privilege of not needing to be afraid of this virus and surrender to the process and allow my body to do it’s job.
To help it here’s what I did:
- • I took paracetamol for the pain – I am an alternative health practitioner NOT a martyr. Some over the counter medications are SUPER useful to have on a short term basis when you are struggling!
- • I drank two and a half litres of water a day
- • I drank herbal teas because the immune system benefits from hot drinks
- • Before the migraine kicked in on day 8, I went outside in my private garden for twenty minutes every day. I walked really slowly, I got fresh air and exposed myself to the winter sunshine
- • I supplemented with Vit D, Vit C, Zinc, Magnesium, adaptogenic herbs and colloidal silver
- • I ate carefully and listened to my body. For the first week I was able to eat protein, fats and carbs at each meal, mostly in the form of soups and stews (see post on why blood sugars are important with covid-19). When I got really unwell I couldn’t eat veggies or much protein. This is normal when we are really poorly, our body can’t break them down and we can go into metabolic stress if we try and override this. During this time I was eating homemade spelt bread and oatcakes with butter, porridge and rice based food. I couldn’t face much at all and in this state the carbs are the easiest fuel source for the body to utilise
- • When I was in the midst of the migraine I drank some apple juice. Ordinarily I am NOT a fan of fruit juices as they are just sugar water. However, that quick release fructose is helpful with a migraine as it opens up the blood vessels in the brain to alleviate the pressure.
• I cuddled my dog. A lot.
So here I am on day sixteen and I am ninety-nine percent better. I’ve just slowly started to exercise again and am building myself up gently after two weeks of being very, very sedentary.
My system upgrade is complete. I think my dog is missing the perma-cuddling…