Corona Warrior: My Corona Journey

CORONA WARRIOR: ENJOYING MY WAY THROUGH MY CORONA BOUT

I had Covid19. And I came out in flying colors !!!

Here's a detailed account of how I did it and you can too !!!

I was very careful till May end ensuring that I wore multiple masks and changed dresses during the few times in a week that I went out for getting provisions. But things took a serious turn when my aunt passed away on May 27 (she tested negative for Covid19). I was running around making arrangements for the funeral and went to a Covid hospital as well. I was completely drained out due to exhaustion by May 28 evening (when the funeral was over) which is when the virus took control of me. It would have been probably on my body from earlier, but we don’t know.

I had a bath on May 28 and slept for an hour or two in the evening after the funeral. I had very high temperature of over 102 degrees when I woke up. I  had already procured a few medicines way back in mid-February anticipating shortage and took a doctor friend’s suggestion on it. I used to conduct medical camps and have a basic knowledge about medicines, being from a pharma background helped as well. I bought allopathic  medicines like Dolo 650, Azithromycin, Vitamin C and multi vitamin tablets based on a doctor friends suggestion. I also bought Zinda Tilismath (Unani medication for cold and throat pain) and Zandu Balm (Ayurvedic medicine for cold and pains). I think the last two were the game changers for me as I have used them when I had ailments earlier with great results. I can assure you that no doctor would ever recommend these, but it worked for me.

MEDICATION USED

I kept popping in Dolo 650 regularly as I was aware that the side effects were minimal. I went through a full strip of around 15 Dolo tablets in 4 days (not recommended clinically). Probably every 5 hours or so I would have to pop in a Dolo which was not common for me as I would typically take Dolo in 8 hours intervals (the normal dosage) in the normal course of a fever. But in this case, the fever was not subsiding which was a source of worry on the third day. I generally try to suppress fever through brute force with Dolo which did not seem to work that well this time. Finally, it reduced on the 4^th-5^th day. It was normal for 2 days after that, then I noticed a slight increase in temperature to 99 again and immediately took another Dolo to suppress it. Monitoring the temperature was the key to stopping it.

 In addition, I started Azithromycin-500 immediately from the next day (29 May) once I realized that I was having throat pain. I had this once on the first day and twice for two days for a total of 4 days (again doctor’s recommended dosage is once daily, but my body gives results with this dosage). I took a total course of 5-6 of these tablets as per protocol. From what I had known about the virus, I had to kill it in the initial stages itself as my body is not what you call an athletic one and fighting it in the next stages would be extremely difficult for me. I also realized that I had body pains and fatigue from the second day onwards. I countered these using the multivitamins (I used Becadexamin) and Vitamin C. I also drank hot water and a few glasses of lemon during this infection time for 3-4 days.

THE GAME CHANGERS

I used the thermos cup, filled it with water and then put a few drops of Zinda Tilismath into it. Then I inhaled it for a minute or two. After it became cold I drank the potion. Yes, Zinda Tilismath is a unani medication which can be taken internally and externally.  I would also put two drops of this wonder drug on my tongue and swallow it before sleeping so that it sticks to the throat all night. This is not recommended and is quite caustic in nature but I have been doing this for years so my body agreed with this treatment. Another game changer for me was Zandu Balm, recommended by a poor ice cream vendor about 5 years ago. He was a very healthy and energetic person in his 70s.  As per his suggestion, I would rub Zandu balm at regular intervals during the day. In the night I would rub a generous portion on the chest, throat and nose. I would like to think that I confused the corona virus with allopathy, unani and Ayurveda !!! Seriously though, I think these two fields of medicine (Unani and Ayurveda) supported the allopathy medicines by removing remnants/traces of the virus and ensuring that it did not increase during the inflammation time.

OTHER SYMPTOMS

Body pains were another symptom which was predominant from the first day. Dolo would help in alleviating the pain a bit. In addition, I also used a dolphin massager to thoroughly massage my body to reduce pain as well as ensure that phlegm (if any) on the chest was pushed down due to the massager vibrations.

Lack of Taste and smell kicked in 2-3 days later but I was blissfully unaware of it until my wife told me a few days later, that I was stinking !!! I did not do anything other than eating tasty food from hotels in the hope that I would get my taste and smell back. This is definitely not a correct practice but something I do for fun during fever times just to indulge myself. Taste and smell did not come back for 2 weeks, I guess, but that’s something that never bothered me too much.

Another interesting observation I had during this course was the loss of body weight. My weight before the virus infection was around 97-98, which I found very difficult to reduce!! But during the 4 days that I had the fever, my weight reduced on an average of 1 kg per day and came to an all-time low of 93 kg. I saw this as a red flag and started eating more from next day onwards. I quickly regained back my weight after this bout by eating all kinds of junk and other outside food (again not a recommended practice but again, this is my story).

Fatigue was something which I observed as a standard covid symptom. Any small work would immediately result in a feeling of tiredness. I knew this was an after effect of the virus and would go away, so I did not bother too much other than taking ample rest (which I am good at !!).

By June 4-5, I was almost okay and going about with no major after effects of the virus except for the lack of taste and smell.

Strictly speaking, I just sauntered and enjoyed my way through the covid infection by happily having choice foods, watching a series of videos and resting as much as possible in a matter of 4-5 days.

WIFE GETS INFECTED

While I was sick, my wife too got infected as she was taking care of me during this time. She got fever on 4^th June 2020 (on the fifth day after I got it) and had the same set of symptoms mentioned above. We repeated the same procedures that I had gone through and she too recovered in a few days using the same techniques adopted for my infection.

We both were in self-quarantine on the first floor till Jun 20^th (as my dad who is 81, lives on the ground floor). Even a month later, we continue to stay as less as possible on ground floor in order that my dad is not infected with the virus through asymptomatic transfer.

EQUIPMENTS

A few equipments at my disposal were – Oxygen Concentrator, Nebulizer and CPAP machine. I had these since 2009 as my mother had used these for some health ailments that she had, before she expired. These equipments greatly bolstered my confidence that I could easily fight this virus, in case of an emergency.

I used the Pulse oximeter to check my oxygen saturation and heart rate from day 1 and was wary that it can deteriorate suddenly without our knowledge. So, monitoring it at least 3 times a day was the norm during the time I and my wife were infected. Thermometer, of course, sounded us off on the high temperatures whenever we had it.

The Dolphin massager was another quirky device that I used to ease body pains during the virus infection.

These equipments greatly improved my confidence in getting through this infection unscathed or with minimal damage.

DO YOU HAVE COVID?

This is the standard question that I get on a regular basis. I never officially tested for the virus as I knew from the symptoms clearly that it was Covid. Many including my wife continue to deny having the infection and this, I feel, could be one cause for it getting aggravated and becoming serious. Also, the main test for Covid takes 2-3 days to provide the results. I felt that these 3 days were critical for me as the infection would go down my throat into the trachea and lungs at which point the treatment would get complex. Hence I acted on it immediately and I guess got the right results.

EFFECTS ON THE BODY

The effects on the body are multiple in nature and until we get a vaccine, we have no recourse but to treat the symptoms. The effects included high fever, body pains, throat pain, lack of taste and smell. So, it is attacking the body from multiple levels. Typical ailments have one or two such symptoms, but this had more than 4-5. Also, at the end of it, it looked like my body was completely reset. This is something I have not experienced in a long while. So, corona is definitely a strong virus attacking us from multiple quarters. This probably is the reason elderly people are not able to cope up that well as their body cannot heal as fast. As me and my wife were less than 50 years, the risks posed to us due to covid was minimal.

SOCIAL MEDIA

I also reduced my foot print on the social media considerably during this time by reducing the time on smart phone using whatsapp and other activities which do not give you peace of mind. Instead I watched a ton of good content on my smart TV on youtube including exotic holiday destinations, food tours, technology updates, financial planning etc which really kept my mind off the virus and ensured that I had a peaceful time during this infection. Infact, looking back I feel like I breezed through the whole saga relatively unscathed in a happy, enjoyable fashion.

FOOD

This is one section I would definitely not recommend that any of you follow my foot steps as it is against standard SOPs to be followed while having covid or any other ailment.

I had a range of outside food during the time as we could not cook much at home. This greatly helped me have better quantities of food which, I feel, aids in indirectly fighting the disease. I am not sure of the quality of the food though.

I had idli wadas and dosa from a nearby eatery almost every morning. This was followed by homemade food – like rice, sambar, rasam, curd, papad, pickle etc on some days as far as veg was concerned along with Chicken, mutton or fish curry every day. On many other days it was biriyani and fried rice, mixture, Osmania biscuits and such food from outside. I would also order dessert from the likes of Pulla Reddy Sweets during this time!! I am a snacker, so I used to keep snacking on these during the day. In the evening I had fried items like aloo pakodas or some other snacks. Evening dinner was again, outside food like idly-wada etc. All in all, the food journey during the covid experience was the best but strictly not recommended to anyone !!! Please do follow your doctor’s guidelines and have simple food as directed by the physician.

THE FEAR OF CORONA

I have observed that the fear of Corona is a great issue in countering the virus infection. I am not easily flustered by such things, but the constant information overload on TV, social media and hearsay does create a certain sense of fear in you, probably at a sub-conscious level. I had to consciously shake myself out if it by doing multiple things like watching select content on youtube, reducing interaction on whatsapp, communicating less with your friends, as I was in no mood to talk to them, narrate my story and have sympathetic bouts of pity and sadness showered on me when I never felt that it was needed with my knowledge of the disease and infrastructure on hand. I just wanted to talk to people about the solution after having completed my course once I was out of it. This I do that regularly now as I try to help as many as possible.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

A few friends and relatives called me before the infection and told me to be careful and avoid going out as they knew that I was the kind of person who is bound to get it as I do not care too much about it.

I think it was worth it because I learned things a bit ahead than my friends, relatives and my community and this will greatly help in aiding and guiding them when needed. It will help in multiple things like counseling, sharing medical information, sharing OTC medicines, sharing equipments (as per doctor’s prescription), directing them to appropriate doctors as needed, sharing plasma to known contacts, among others. I have been doing just that over the past 1 month and I think that’s where I can add value in this pandemic more than distributing food and provisions to the poor (which, btw, we did as a team as well).

THE REALITY

The reality is that Covid is bound to infect us sooner or later. The contagion virus is extremely infectious and until a vaccine is found or herd immunity kicks in (which is a long way off), we will continue to have to live with this disease, face it and win over it. The challenge is how will you take it. Will you run from it or refuse to accept it when it happens or go head on and eliminate it immediately in the initial stages (like I did) because the more you wait the worse it gets. I tried the route to kill it earlier and I am glad I did.  That’s why I say, we should band together as Corona Warriors and eliminate it at the earliest!!!

Please feel free to contact me - Reji John - 9246524294 or rejijohnk@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER:  This is a personal account of my corona journey.  Please consult your physician before you take any medication or use any equipments mentioned in the article above. CPAP machine is a air blowing equipment is not part of this treatment therapy.