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Covid-19: Tips and Advice

NOTE: I'm not a doctor. This page is for informational purposes only. Please consult with your doctor re. this information and how it applies to you.

General Advice from a Respitory Therapist

Here is some good information from a retired respiratory therapist. This information was given to me and I've simply copied and shared it here with some minor spelling corrections. As always, consult your doctor. This is for informational purposes only.

CORONA Common Sense

Since they are calling on Respiratory Therapists to help fight the Corona virus, and I am a retired one, too old to work in a hospital setting, I'm going to share some common sense wisdom with those that have the virus and are trying to stay home. If my advice is followed as given, you will improve your chances of not ending up in the hospital on a ventilator. This applies to the otherwise generally healthy population, so use discretion.

  1. Only high temperatures kill a virus, so let your fever run high. Tylenol will bring your fever down allowing the virus to live longer. They are saying that Ibuprofen, Advil, Aleve, Motrin, etc. will actually exacerbate the virus. Use common sense and don't let a fever go over 103 or 104, if you got the guts. If it gets higher than that, take your Tylenol, not Ibuprofen or Advil (or any type of anti-inflammatory drug) to keep it regulated. It helps to keep your house warm and cover up with blankets so your body does not have to work so hard to generate the heat. It usually takes about 3 days of this to break the fever.

  2. The body is going to dehydrate with the elevated temperature, so you must rehydrate yourself regularly, whether you like it or not. Gatorade with real sugar, or pedialyte with real sugar for kids works well. Why the sugar? Sugar will give your body back the energy it is using up to create the fever. The electrolytes and fluid you are losing will also be replenished by the Gatorade. If you don't do this and end up in the hospital they will start an IV and give you D5W (sugar water) and normal saline to replenish electrolytes. Gatorade is much cheaper, pain free, and comes in an assortment of flavors.

  3. You must keep your lungs moist. This is best done by taking long steamy showers on a regular basis. If you're wheezing or congested, use a real minty toothpaste and brush your teeth while taking the steamy shower and take deep breaths through your mouth. This will provide some bronchial dilation and help loosen the phlegm. Force yourself to cough into a wet wash cloth pressed firmly over your mouth and nose, which will cause greater pressure in your lungs forcing them to expand more and break loose more of the congestion.

  4. Eat healthy and regularly. You've got to keep your strength up.

  5. Once the fever breaks, start moving around to get the body back in shape and blood circulating.

  6. Breathe deeply on a regular basis, even when it hurts. If you don't, it becomes easy to develop pneumonia. Pursed lip breathing really helps. That's breathing in deep and slow, then exhaling through tight lips as if you're blowing out a candle. Blow until you have completely emptied your lungs and you will be able to breathe in an even deeper breath. This helps keep the lungs expanded as well as increases your oxygen level.

  7. Remember that every medication you take is merely relieving the symptoms, not making you well.

  8. If you're still not improving, then go to the ER.

I've been doing these things for myself and my family for over 40 years and it has kept us out of the hospital. All are healthy and still living today.

Thank you for sharing this information. We have got to help one another right now.

Vitamin D

Background

I got Covid-19 in the Spring of 2021. I credit my vitamin D supplement with helping me pull through unscathed, and encourage everyone to get their vitamin D levels tested and start taking a supplement if you're low.

More Info

Here are some helpful links:

Important Note

TL;DR - Be careful as you can take too much vitamin D resulting in vitamin D toxicity, so only ever take vitamin D supplements as recommended.

Vitamin D is fat-soluble, which means that it works differently than a water-soluble vitamin like C. Basically, fat-soluble vitamins take time to accumulate and they also remain in the body for a longer period of time after you stop taking them, so this means you may start taking D and your levels will slowly rise over weeks/months, whereas C goes right through you and doesn’t really accumulate, hence you can take a ton and not hurt yourself.

But with vitamin D, since it ramps up and remains in the body and will slowly diminish in the blood stream over time if you stop taking it, it does mean you can take too much. So best to start taking a high does for a bit to let it build up and then diminish the dosage or take it every other day or every few days once your levels are good. A doctor can give you a blood test that will determine your levels, but just an FYI that vitamin D toxicity is a danger, but only long term.

So basically just something to keep in mind - long term, don’t take a vitamin D supplement + a multi vitamin with a ton of D in it + other sources because you can give yourself too much. But you also don’t need to be afraid - I’ve taken 5000 IU (one of those capsules I linked above) every other day or so since 2015 and it’s the sweet spot for me.

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