We're feeling a little worn out from all of this "new normal" craziness, too. But we keep going for you!
From our terrific overseas natural Viral Health experts, here are updated 2022 cold/flu season recommendations for at-home "COVID-19 related" care:
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Call 9-1-1 in the US if you really feel dangerously sick. The local EMT's should help you, even if you don't have medical insurance or are out-of-town or a foreigner. They will send you a bill later. Please try to pay it, if you can afford to. Make sure you ask if you can stay at-home or in your hotel room while you get better. That is all-around more healthy AND less expensive for everyone.
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If you are not sick enough to call 9-1-1, and you want to try to get over being sick on your own, here's the latest from our 4C's Viral Health pros (thank you to Copeland, Salk, Carver, and Barton):
- Take ANY symptoms seriously if you are high-risk (weak airway, breathing, circulation, and immune systems, including being very old or very young); your lungs and blood can go from "working okay" to "not working okay" very quickly while this coronavirus is still pretty "young", even if you've had a vaccine. Vaccines encourage your immune system into recognizing a new invader and responding faster. They DON'T replace your immune system or make it bigger or stronger than it really is! And they can't make up for weaker or older organs that are susceptible to disease of all kinds.
- Good airway, breathing, and circulation are 1st priority with ANY airborne coronavirus. ALWAYS! This is a lung and blood virus. So, remember your ABC's! And DON'T SMOKE or VAPE!
- On the bright side, just because you have one new coronavirus in your nose doesn't mean that's what made you sick, or that you are going to get SARS, pneumonia, or viremia and die from COVID-19. Our new coronavirus is on its way to being an annoying chest cold. We are into Year Three, and your symptoms or your "positive" nasal swab test could be other things by now. Call your doctor if you aren't sure.
The most dangerous SARS-CoV-2 related symptoms are:
- difficulty breathing or swallowing, especially combined with loss of smell/taste
- fever, sweating, aches, chills, shaking
- feeling light-headed, disoriented, weak, dizzy, or nauseous
- excessive coughing, especially dry
- blue-ish fingers/toes, lips, or skin and feeling slow
- tight strap around your chest or lung area
- dehydration, vomiting, or diarrhea
- If you develop SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), you will definitely know it! It feels like the flu, you get a horrible cough, and your body hurts terribly. It can turn into deadly pneumonia if you aren't careful. Here's our very serious reminder about THAT:
- Ask your regular doctor about getting a coronavirus emergency vaccine or a booster if you are in the 1st few hours of symptoms and are high-risk or want to be extra-safe. They may prescribe it to you, they may not. They will at least talk you thru the pros and cons.
- NO masks or anything to block your lung air intake unless you absolutely MUST go out in public. Stay away from breathing in other people’s germs, and also avoid spreading your own.
- Consider wearing a “high-risk” badge to keep people 6’ away from you if you are out.
- Hydrate as much as you can - anything to rinse away residual viral load and to keep your mucus linings working well. Consider a neti pot or saline sprays, too.
- Focus on oxygen in your blood! Crack a window, turn on house exhaust fans, get lots of rest then a little bit of blood-temp elevating exercise (like an outdoor walk) as soon as you have the energy.
If you start getting a tight feeling around your chest/lungs call your doctor ASAP. It can be a warning sign of pneumonia or hypoxia/hypoxemia (low blood oxygen and/or lung infection/oxygen starvation).
- You can also hold your breath and count-to-10 twice/day to make sure your lower respiratory air sacs/blood oxygen transfer points aren’t also getting infected and/or filled with fluid. If your number starts to go down, call your doctor.
- Consider an IV or an oxygen therapy to boost your immune system. You can possibly avoid the long-term viremia/fatigue and recover faster if the virus has moved from your lungs to your blood.
- Try to get care only at-home or at a local EMT center or a fire station or nurse center because hospitals are very germy right now. They are also slow and expensive and over-crowded.
- Baths can help, either slightly cool or slightly warm, depending on your symptoms. Add some liquid soap. This breaks apart a coronavirus outer shell.
- Eat high oxygen and high-water content foods like chicken, kale, beans, radishes, fruit, etc. if you feel up to it and aren’t allergic, have diabetes, are on a controlled diet, etc.
- Count forward 2 weeks from 3 days BEFORE you first felt sick or noticed symptoms for optimal rest, reduced social interaction period, and/or self-isolation.
No doctor to call about any of this? Lots of people have that challenge. Please consider donating $1 at $ponsor This $heet. It will help get this COVID-19 e-health site professionally edited and fully functional and bring a bricks-and-mortar Viral Health clinic into your community.
In the meantime, feel better, and remember: "It doesn't stink to think!"
- The Care+AIR Health, Inc. 4C's Team
