My Breakthrough Covid Experience pt. 1

DISCLAIMER: This is not medical advice, but an account of my personal experience and health practices. I am sharing this in case anyone reading it finds relevance/inspiration/insight into their own experience. I fully intend to work through this virus at home, using natural remedies within the grasp of my knowledge. I have intentionally not mentioned any of the herbs or supplements I am using, as I wish to in no way be seen as endorsing a specific tradition of natural healing. I take full responsibility for my actions and opinions.

I'm on day 4 of a mild, symptomatic case of SARS-CoV-2. 

My symptoms began as a feeling of fullness in lymph nodes of my neck on Friday evening, progressing to an acute sore throat all day Saturday and into Sunday morning. I took a rapid at-home antigen test Sunday morning which very quickly confirmed that it is the Covid virus. I reported my results to the state tracking system and cleared my schedule for the next week. 

**For the record, I let all the people/groups I had been around know of my status. No one has reported feeling any onset of symptoms.**

Relevant background about myself to help understand my "case:"

• Last year I received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine on recommended schedule, fully vaccinate in late May, then received the Moderna shot as my booster in December.
• My lifestyle is of an alternative health care provider, I do Shiatsu Bodywork and teach Stretching & Self-Care for a living. I've been an avid Ashtanga Yoga practitioner for the past 5 years, practice in a tai chi group, and do not own a car, rather travel by bike or occasional CarShare.
• As of June 2018 my diet is gluten-, dairy-, and grain-free. 
• My "comorbidity" is a pre-diabetic HA1C result back in 2017 which I haven't been able to shake (one hint, using Bree cheese as my main fat for a 6 month Keto diet didn't help with blood sugar/candida issues). 
• Beginning May 19th of this year I have been following a 90-day Candida Cleanse (based on Ann Borock, CNC's The Candida Cure: Yeast, Fungus & Your Health - not an endorsement, simply making note of a significant variable), so my guts have been being disinfected and blood cleansed for a month. 
• I will be 50 in a few months.
• I have no (0) prescriptions and have no (0) history of prescriptions other than antibiotics, most recently for oral surgery in 2017. See above candida concern...
• Last significant factor, which I believe pairs with confession #4 as the reason for the rapid onset of my symptoms: I had a silver amalgam filling removed 7 days before I began experiencing symptoms.

The Confessions:

1. I have not been wearing a mask in my favorite natural food grocery store.
2. The main yoga studio I practice in adopted the Vaccinated Only Facility protocol last fall, so none of us there have been wearing masks. The tai chi group is mask-optional with no vaccine requirement. I have opted not to wear a mask there, too. When teaching Self-Care I have always worn a mask.
3. Most of my clients have had Covid, vaccinated or not. For all of May I have not been masking during every bodywork session. I have worn a mask for clients who have arrived wearing them.
4. On Friday morning I underestimated a sudden change of weather and ended up biking to and from yoga practice in the rain with inadequate rain gear.
5. I do believe that endemicity is necessary to move through the Pandemic, so was taking calculated risks. Is there a "good time" to get a Corona virus?

My Deduction:

As my county has been having a surge in reported Covid cases for the past month, I could have been exposed to the contagion in a few places. Once my immune system was compromised, first by the filling being removed and then exposure in weather that I was not prepared for, there was no stopping it.

Back to the progression of my case:

Sunday night was my deep sweat lodge with the help of extra blankets, clothes and a hot water bottle. In the middle of the night I got up and changed into dry pajamas, then back to bed for more sweating. This helped radically improve the sore throat and kept my mucous flowing, so I did not lose the ability to breathe through my nose.

Monday was another day of sweating between frequent trips to the kitchen for tea and bathroom to let it flush out. I found it very useful to lay with the hot water bottle under my upper thoracic spine/the top of my chest which increased the ease of nose breathing. From natural healing traditions, heat increases the flow of blood and relaxes the nervous system.

Tuesday ready supply of clear mucous and finally expectorating! As I've been paying close attention to the specific physical targets of Covid, and knowing that I'm in a region that has prevalence of Omicron variants (according to the CDC Nowcast - https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#circulatingVariants) I know that the lining in the upper respiratory mucosa are where this mutation tends to lodge, making it apparently more mild than previous variants. Coughing up thick, white mucous is a sign that my body is "clearing out the wreckage" of the adaptive immunity warfare.

A Note About "clearing out the wreckage:"

I know it sounds disgusting, but this is the healing process in action.

Most people at high altitude have experienced the difference between a "dry," non-productive cough and a "wet," productive cough as the tail of a respiratory virus. 

The "dry" version quickly becomes painful, as the lungs are trying to expel waste-laden mucous that is too dry to release with the upward heave of airflow produced by a cough. It makes the throat feel "raw" and ends up being the last lingering symptom of sickness which can carry on for weeks.

The "wet" version only sounds bad. It actually feels very good to hack up a (hopefully) white  mass of gunk. I say hopefully white, as this indicates that it hasn't entered a bacterial (yellow) or viral (green) level within the lungs. Sometimes the last vestiges of a virus are the few gratifying coughs that bring the final goo out of the throat.

I haven't been so brain fogged that I could not deal with rescheduling all of my clients. I've felt most fatigued Sunday and Monday thus far, though I had energy to wash my laundry Monday. I changed and washed and all bed linens, and wiped down all kitchen surfaces, door knobs and light switches with a bleach solution (.24 cup bleach with 1 gallon water)* today.

I have learned not to try and force the process to go faster by taking strong, scouring herbs in the beginning stage or attempt to mute the symptoms with over-the-counter drugs. Both of these things lead to dehydration, prolong the flow of waste out of the body, and leads to the dread "dry" cough.

Instead I am flooding my body with warm, herbal teas and straight water from early morning until just before I get into bed so I will have plenty of fluid to sweat out at night.

I'm not out of the woods yet. As this is still absorbing all of my waking hours, I know it's not over, and that now is not the time to go outside and let my surface temperature drop. My plan is to maintain my candida cleanse diet and supplement routine, stay inside and warm, and pay attention to what brings greater ease.

In a few more days I will report how my strategy is working!

I deeply wish for health and improvement for every human on the Planet.

May we all find the greatest good within our own lives.

Christian

* correction made 5/25/2022 My original notation was way higher. It is actually 1:32 bleach to water.