Covid Infection Support

These are covid infection support suggestions from Susan Bradt, MD, the wonderful functional medicine doctor in Asheville that Spiritsong and I work with. She’s been helping us heal from covid more quickly!

COVID Infection Support

Supplements:

– Stop echinacea if you are taking it

– Zinc 75-100mg daily

– Vitamin C 2000 mg three times a day or more (you can increase this until you have loose stools, then back off a little)

– Vitamin D 50,000 IU daily x 1 week, then 5,000 IU daily

– Vitamin A 50,000 IU daily x 3 days ONLY, then 25,000 IU daily

– Quercitin 1500-2000mg 3-4 times daily for inflammation

– Omega 3 FA 4000mg daily for inflammation

– N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) 1000-1200 mg twice daily, this is a powerful antioxidant that makes more glutathione

– Liposomal Glutathione 500 mg twice daily, powerful antioxidant

– Melatonin 10-20 mg nightly

– Colloidal silver 1 tsp 5-7 times a day during the illness then decrease to 3 times daily once acute illness is resolving, then wean off.

Nutrition:

– Avoid dairy since it can increase congestion and mucus

– Eat only whole foods that are high in nutrients. No processed or packaged foods. Crock pot soups are easy and can give you many meals without further prep. Lots of soups and smoothies packed full of superfoods.

– Drink LOTS of water, especially if you have the dreaded COVID headache. Not much helps with the headache, even medications/NSAIDS, etc. Hydration is the best.

Walk for 10-15 min every 2 hrs during the day and every time you get up at night to keep congestion from stagnating and prevent blood clots

If it gets to your chest:

– Buy an OTC pulse ox monitor from Amazon or a pharmacy and check every few hrs to make sure it stays above 90%

– Sleep on your stomach as much as you can

– When resting, don’t lay back in a recliner all day, sit up straight as much as you can.

– Avoid laying around too much in general. Move as much as you can to keep things moving in your body and in your chest

If you lose smell or taste:

– Don’t worry, it will come back but it could take weeks

– Take advantage of this by eating superfoods that help boost your immune system, especially those you know that you don’t like. Eat lots of dark green leafy vegetables, you can’t taste them now anyway. Same goes for healthy smoothies with all the stuff added you would not normally add…leafy greens, vegetables, ginger, turmeric, etc

Medications to consider in consultation with a medical provider:

Over-the-counter:

– Baby aspirin, 1-2 daily x 2-4 weeks to prevent blood clots which are not uncommon with covid, no matter how healthy you are.

– Pepcid AC 40 mg daily or twice daily has been shown to decreases severity of covid infection in some studies

Prescription:

– Azithromycin – must be started early and usually only if symptoms are significant

– Steroids can be very helpful and are usually started if respiratory symptoms are significant.